It Can Happen Here

Although I rarely recommend television news programs, Fareed Zakaria’s recent documentary, “The Fight to Save American Democracy,” is the real deal. The parallels with what is going on politically in the U.S. with Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 Germany are striking.

One point Zaharia makes effectively is Hitler didn’t have to seize power; Germany’s establishment handed it to him.

While what we are witnessing in 2022 America differs in the specifics, it could have a similar result. Republicans who should know better are going along with Trump’s lies about the 2020 election in order to regain the upper hand in Congress in this year’s midterm elections and perhaps also win the White House in 2024.

Should they do that, and install Trump in the Presidency two years from now by manipulating the electoral process in key states, U.S. democracy will have failed. Our system is vulnerable — 2020 showed that.

Only a small number of ethical Republican state and county officials in a handful of swing states held the line against Trumps’ pressure to overturn the legitimate victory by Joe Biden.

Democracy held, but barely.

Now many of those ethical officials are gone, replaced by people who believe in Trump’s Big Lie that Biden stole the election. I can not over-emphasize how dangerous this lie is to our hopes for a future free of authoritarianism. 

In fact, our defenses against having an election actually stolen by Trump are eroded to the point we may not be able to prevent it from happening in 2024.

This stuff is not something dreamt up by a spy novelist. This is actually happening in a statehouse or county building near you. And the nightmare will come true unless the rest of us start paying attention and figure out how to stop it.

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. Who were they, and how did they shape the U.S.? — The Washington Post has compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents. (WP)

• Imagine another American Civil War, but this time in every state — If America has another civil war, it is more likely to be a war within the states than between them. Citizens of any state of any size, red or blue, may not have to go far to find a fight. (NPR)

• Past seven years hottest on record - EU satellite data (BBC)

• The United States staggered through a steady onslaught of deadly billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in an extra hot 2021, while the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions last year jumped 6% because of surges in coal and long-haul trucking, putting America further behind its 2030 climate change cutting goal. (AP)

• Podcasting Hasn’t Produced A New Hit in Years (Bloomberg)

• "Americans say they read an average of 12.6 books during the past
  year, a smaller number than Gallup has measured in any prior survey
  dating back to 1990. U.S. adults are reading roughly two or three
  fewer books per year than they did between 2001 and 2016.” (Gallup)

• A Rise in Deadly Border Patrol Chases Renews Concerns About Accountability — The increasing number of deaths adds urgency to questions about when and how agents should engage in high-speed chases as they pursue smugglers and migrants. (NYT)

• Stock markets struggled as U.S. Treasury yields reached a new two-year high and investors fretted about the prospect of rising interest rates and a surge in COVID-19 infections. (Reuters)

• Omicron Is Forcing Us to Rethink Mild COVID — The staggering number of infections among the vaccinated is changing Americans’ pandemic mindset. (Atlantic)

• Stock Losses Deepen as Tech Shares Fall (WSJ)

• A pet dog ran off into the mountain wilderness. Four months later, rescuers found it trapped in 5 feet of snow. (WP)

• Chicago fight with teachers union stretches into 2nd week (AP)

• Record Rain and Snow Shut Down Roads and Schools in Washington State (NYT)

• Emerging economies must prepare for U.S. interest rate hikes, the International Monetary Fund said, warning that faster than expected Federal Reserve moves could rattle financial markets and trigger capital outflows and currency depreciation abroad. (Reuters)

• U.S. emissions surged in 2021, putting the nation further off track from its climate targets — The increase was driven in part by a jump in coal-fired power generation, according to a report from the Rhodium Group. (WP)

• Climate change is helping invasive species take over trout habitats in Montana (WP)

• Marked by devastating hurricanes and cold snaps in the United States, 2021 proved the second-most costly year on record for the world's insurers, Munich Re said. Insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled around $120 billion, second only to the $146 billion in damages during the hurricane-ridden year of 2017. (Reuters)

• In 2021, 129 people died in homicides in Oakland, the highest number in nearly a decade. (SFC)

• The Omicron variant spreads more easily than the original virus that causes COVID-19. (Medicare letter)

• Nearly 8,000 detained in Kazakhstan over violent protests (AP)

• Treasury begins distribution of quarter featuring poet, activist Maya Angelou (Politico)

• Lion Bones Are Popping Up in Some Very Unexpected Places — Archaeologists long assumed that the only lions on the continent were mythical. Then they started finding bones. (Atlantic)

• Ichthyosaur: Huge fossilised ‘sea dragon’ found in Rutland reservoir (BBC)

• North Korea Holds Quiet, Low-Key Nuclear Test Just For Self (The Onion)