Are We There Yet?

Making Sense of the Authoritarian Onslaught

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with NPR reporter Frank Langfitt on the state of American democracy. He asked me a very simple question—just how far down the path to authoritarianism are we, really?

I gave some probably-too-nuanced answer to be readily quotable, but it amounted to the idea that I would not classify the U.S. as authoritaria…