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Putsch, American Style
A news outlet not given to hysterics reports on our “backsliding” democracy
Now I’m really worried.
On Wednesday’s PBS NewsHour, the soberest, least sensational newscast in the television universe, the lead story was about the shaky status of American democracy, and the “P” word came up.
That would be “putsch,” as in the infamous “beer hall putsch,” a coup attempt in Weimar Germany that was thwarted but nonetheless marked the serious beginning of the rise of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party.
The segment’s main guest was Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a law professor at American University in Washington and the research director of its Polarization and Extremist Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL).
Never mind the acronym that sounds like something out of a James Bond novel or Marvel comic. It’s a serious endeavor.
And while it’s not at all surprising that a university studies polarization and extremism, it is unnerving to hear its research director mention that our country is now considered a “backsliding” democracy.
Brazil, India, Hungary and Poland are some of the other regressing nations. Great company to be in, eh?
The larger purpose to the NewsHour report was to examine the potential impact of so many Republican voters continuing…
