I Think That Donald Trump Is Dangerous For This Country

Not kidding around: Donald Trump is actively threatening to weaken American democracy.

Western democratic governments share some fundamental characteristics. These include the protection of civil liberties such as the freedom of speech, assembly, religion, etc. That includes especially the liberty to criticize the government and its leaders without fear of retribution or harm.

In the weeks since Trump won the presidential election, he has sought to undermine each of these democratic foundations in the United States, sometimes on multiple occasions. Examples include:

▪ Attempting to weaken First Amendment guarantees to free speech by threatening the revocation of citizenship or jail time for flag-burning, a protected form of free speech affirmed by the Supreme Court.

▪ Attempting to weaken First Amendment guarantees to freedom of assembly by using government influence to interfere with several non-violent protests planned for inauguration weekend in Washington, D.C.

▪ Campaigning during the election on a promise to impose a ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S., in clear opposition to First Amendment guarantees of freedom of religion.

▪ Attempting to weaken America’s freedom of press by openly bullying and criticizing news reporters.

▪ Attempting to silence private citizens who criticize him through bullying and intimidation on Twitter, which some supporters have taken as an implicit green light to threaten those critics with physical violence.

▪ Questioning the legitimacy of our electoral institutions by falsely claiming that there was widespread voter fraud (this is especially important because public faith in the integrity of our election systems is a key foundation of civic stability and political legitimacy).

▪ Attempting to weaken American institutions by siding with a foreign government over the U.S. intelligence community about Russian interference with our electoral process