Watching cable news is a frequent source of despair, but one especially fraught spiral occurred Monday while subjecting myself to "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. The segment guest was Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, who was promoting his magazine's thorough, frightening and entirely accurate warning that Donald Trump's goal is to end American democracy and replace it with a fascist system. A variety of Atlantic journalists from across the political spectrum contributed with heavily researched and smart analysis laying out Trump's agenda of ending the rule of law, using extra-legal violence to suppress dissent and securing his power so thoroughly voters will be unable to remove him peacefully.
There's been a surge of such reporting in recent weeks, from some of the most reputable publications in the country. On Monday, the New York Times published a lengthy exposé of Trump's long history of admiring authoritarian dictators, even ones who use murder to silence opponents. This follows another investigation into the ominously named "Project 2025," created by a team of very smart but evil people who want to dismantle democracy and are working through the details of how to pull it off. The Washington Post has even tried to draw attention to Trump's plans through listicles that use bold fonts and short paragraphs, so even the drunkest uncle could probably read it — if he wanted to.
