Erosion of democratic norms

Adam Peck of ThinkProgress reports that the Republican National Committee and pro- nasty guy super PAC America First plan to intimidate and harass journalists who report facts considered critical of the White House. Materials are ready to attack their “ridiculous claims about collusion.”

Melissa McEwan of Shakesville adds:

Those are the sorts of reports that we *must* understand as an erosion of our democratic norms. This is a recognizably authoritarian tactic. It's intimidation of the free press. It's a deliberate strategy.

And that gets lost in the frustratingly ubiquitous rhetoric about Trump being "stupid." The erasure of his cunning and deliberate malice will, quite literally, be the death of this republic.

At a recent rally the nasty guy said in part:

The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit. … Partisan investigations, or whether they will apologize to the American people and join us to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

Again, McEwan has something to say:

That's...quite the framing. Democrats have defrauded the public and now need to apologize and capitulate to Trump, who wants nothing more than to Make America Great Again. Shiver.

We need to be aware of and understand where this is headed, as every last vestige of potential accountability for Trump falls away. The more unfettered power he knows he has, the worse this is going to get.