MoveOn.org

Public Citizen

Americans of Conscience

Simon Rosenberg's Hopium Chronicles (hope and optimism)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

American Civil Liberties Union

People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch

Anti-Defamation League - You may also wish to read the Forward's recent article on the ADL and its critics.

Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller's Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election was released on the Internet, April 18, 2019. The report identified "sweeping and systemic" Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, including a social media "information warfare" campaign favoring the Trump campaign, hacking of databases and release of stolen materials. Russia also targeted election-related databases in several states, and gained access to millions of voter registration records. 

The report produced more than three dozen indictments and seven guilty pleas or convictions. Fourteen other criminal matters were referred to elements of the Justice Department....

"It has never existed," the New York Times' Maggie Haberman wrote in June about the hope being expressed in Washington for an imaginary person who could keep Trump in line. "... [P]eople keep cycling through, looking for ways, in the campaign and now." In June some were hoping the kindergarten-teacher-in-chief would be the First Lady; this month the talk was of retired Marine general John F. Kelly, Trump's new chief of staff. John Kelly Quickly Moves to Impose Military Discipline on White House, the New York Times proclaimed on August 3, only to be answered barely two week later by the Washington Post headline Trump's lack of discipline leaves new chief of staff frustrated and dismayed.

In the aftermath of the violent Nazi demonstrations in Charlottesville, VA, Trump's noncommittal statement has come under criticism from across the political spectrum, with the exception, of course, of white supremacists. As noted on our home page, the Weekly Standard's Kelly Jane Torrance, appearing on Fox News, condemned Trump's refusal to identify white nationalists as the perpetrators of the Charlottesville violence, or label it domestic terrorism. Also on Fox News, former George W. Bush adviser, Karl Rove, derided Trump's statement as defensive and inadequate.

The neo-Nazi web site the Daily Stormer praised Trump's comments on Charlottesville. "No condemnation at all," the Stormer wrote.

Last week's news was dominated by Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, which Trump admitted to NBC News was related to what he called "this Russia thing with Trump." Pushed somewhat into the background, but with as much or greater potential to affect national politics was the executive order establishing the so-called "Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity." Heading the commission with Vice President Mike Pence will be Kansas Secretary of State Kurt Kobach, who gained national attention for his hysterical allegations of widespread voter fraud, despite there having been only four documented cases in the entire 2016 election.

Trump will be the first convicted felon president. Although he won, as of November 14, as votes continue to be counted his total dipped below 50%.

Much of Theda Skocpol's 2017 "A guide to rebuilding the Democratic Party, from the ground up" in Vox, is still apt. Skocpol, a Harvard sociologist and political scientist urges progressives to avoid the traps of endless "election replays," squabbles over "message," failing to coordinate interests and causes, or giving procedural fixes too much importance. Instead she advocates strengthening Democratic party organizations at the national and state level, identifying groups that can replace the role formerly played by unions, organizing locally to oppose Trump, improving political intelligence, and focusing on near-term state contests. As consensus emerges for countering the Republican takeover we will update this section.

University of Sheffield's James Weinberg (UK) has a reading list on authoritarianism.

Above you'll find links to the national American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, the Anti-Defamation League, and other resources. Finally, if you're concerned about public safety consider contacting a mutual aid group in your area.

"Who's making the decisions in the White House?" Senator John McCain asked reporters on February 14. "Is it the 31 year old?" he continued, alluding to Trump adviser Stephen Miller. "Is it Mr. Bannon? Is it the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff? I don't know." The "whole environment is one of dysfunction in the Trump administration," McCain said.

"“I’ve consulted many people in town about analogies and comparisons and nobody can come up with any," Bill Galston, former Deputy Assistant to President Clinton, now at the Brookings Institution told the Guardian. "Our seismographs are broken.... We appear to have a president who cannot distinguish chaos from order. There are amateurs doing a job that only professionals can do, and even then often not successfully."