Something is very wrong here

On the tarmac in Palm Beach, the President of the United States spent 22 minutes talking about bombing “our little hearts out,” comparing ICE deployments at airports to the invention of the paperclip, and floating the idea of appointing himself into a joint leadership position over the Strait of Hormuz. “Maybe me,” he said. “Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is.” He asked for $200 billion in war funding and when pressed on whether it was necessary, said, “It’s always nice to have. It’s a very inflamed world.” That was the man leading the country on a Monday morning in March.

And while he stood there rambling, three of the world’s most respected democracy watchdog organizations released their reports. All three arrived independently at the same conclusion: American democracy is in freefall. The V-Dem Institute, the largest global dataset on democracy, found the United States experienced the most rapid democratic decline in its history, dropping from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries in a single year. For the first time in over 50 years, the U.S. lost its classification as a liberal democracy. Freedom of expression is at its lowest level since World War II. Congress’s ability to check presidential power is at its lowest point in over 100 years. Bright Line Watch, a survey of over 500 political science professors, recorded the steepest single decline in its history and now classifies the U.S. as a “mixed regime,” nearly midway between liberal democracy and dictatorship. And Freedom House gave the United States its sharpest decline in freedom out of all 88 countries in the “free” category.

This is not one organization with an agenda. This is every major democracy measurement system on earth, using different methods, arriving at the same conclusion. Inspectors general fired in the night. Over a billion dollars in public broadcasting funding revoked. The FCC investigating every major outlet except Fox. Nearly 200 federal assaults on the First Amendment documented in a single year. The DOJ caught surveilling a member of Congress during a lawful investigation. And the Supreme Court hearing arguments that could end mail-in ballot grace periods in 14 states just months before the midterms. It looks like chaos. It feels like chaos. And that’s the point. Because while we react to the outrage of the day, they are dismantling the system behind the curtain.

See the full story in the video above.

I’m sharing video versions of my nightly posts in addition to the written ones. We are living through a pivotal moment for our country, and my goal is to reach as many people as possible with clear, factual information about what is happening. The more people who understand what is unfolding, the better our chances of pushing back against chaos, cruelty, and corruption ahead of the midterms.

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I’m fighting to save our country (before it’s too late).

I’ll see you tomorrow,

Heather

This video is based on my written post, available HERE.

*This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.