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President Donald Trump holding an issue of The Washington Post announcing his acquittal

This is How Democracy Falls

While democracy centers around the power of individuals, authoritarianism forces a submission of all to one authority figure with consolidated and unchecked power. But authoritarianism only occurs with the consent of large groups of people. One piece of advice from historians and experts who have studied authoritarianism and fascism is to "not obey in advance," in order to prevent a democracy from becoming an autocracy.

The moment that 52 Senate Republicans voted to acquit President Donald Trump despite the overwhelming evidence of his abuse of power, they obeyed in advance. They relinquished their duty as senators to serve and protect the citizens they were elected to represent and gave the president the unchecked power he had been seeking by turning a blind eye to his blatant corruption.

Now the president has begun firing those who testified as witnesses to his crimes and is making statements about how and who the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) should prosecute. It appears that his demands are not falling on deaf ears. Immediately following a tweet from Trump, the DOJ followed through on reversing a sentence for Trump's ally Roger Stone, leading four career prosecutors to withdraw from the case in protest.

With the permission of 52 senators and U.S. Attorney General Barr, Trump will continue to attack American democracy, leading the nation closer and closer to authoritarianism.

CAP Action's Moscow Project breaks down how far Barr's intervention goes »

Major Stories This Week

Trump's K-12 Education Budget

For the fourth consecutive year, the Trump administration and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have proposed substantial cuts to the U.S. Department of Education's budget that would hit public schools hard and put vulnerable schools at risk.

Taking Food From Working Families

The Trump's proposed budget for FY 2021 includes additional devastating cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—a vital support that was used by 34 million Americans in an average month in 2019.

A Lack of Judicial Diversity

The goal of this report is to help lawmakers and advocates identify federal jurisdictions where representation of judges belonging to historically underrepresented groups is most sorely lacking. Although women, people of color, and LGBTQ judges are underrepresented in nearly every federal jurisdiction across the country, some jurisdictions are worse off than others.

Protester holding a sign that says I love NEPA

Something Americans Agree On

A recent survey conducted by Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Center for American Progress found that Trump's proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) are extremely unpopular with Americans across the political spectrum.

CAP in the News

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The prayers President Trump isn't hearing, op-ed by CAP's Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

Vox
The next president can force the financial sector to take climate change seriously

Inside Sources
We Can't Let the Trump Administration Pretend Poverty Away

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