“ You’re fighting a war. It is a war for power….This party does not need another generation of cautious, prudent, careful, bland, irrelevant quasi-leaders….What we really need are people who are willing… Steven Levitsky
“ The disenfranchisement of African Americans wiped out the Republican Party, locking in white supremacy and single-party rule for nearly a century. As one black southerner observed, The whole South—eve… Steven Levitsky
“ The combination of a would-be authoritarian and a major crisis can, therefore, be deadly for democracy. Steven Levitsky
“ The Trump administration also mounted efforts to sideline key players in the political system. President Trump’s rhetorical attacks on critics in the media are an example. His repeated accusations tha… Steven Levitsky
“ The McGovern–Fraser Commission issued a set of recommendations that the two parties adopted before the 1972 election. What emerged was a system of binding presidential primaries. Beginning in 1972, th… Steven Levitsky
“ Sin embargo, existe otra manera de hacer quebrar una democracia, un modo menos dramático pero igual de destructivo. Las democracias pueden fracasar a manos no ya de generales, sino de líderes electos,… Steven Levitsky
“ Most often, the capture of the referees is done by quietly firing civil servants and other nonpartisan officials and replacing them with loyalists. Steven Levitsky
“ Many Americans are justifiably frightened by what is happening to our country. But protecting our democracy requires more than just fright or outrage. We must be humble and bold. Steven Levitsky
“ In his 1964 essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, historian Richard Hofstadter described the phenomenon of status anxiety, which, he believed, is most likely to emerge when groups’ social sta… Steven Levitsky
“ If, twenty-five years ago, someone had described to you a country in which candidates threatened to lock up their rivals, political opponents accused the government of stealing the election or establi… Steven Levitsky
“ Germany’s 1919 Weimar constitution was designed by some of the country’s greatest legal minds. Its long-standing and highly regarded Rechtsstaat (rule of law) was considered by many as sufficient to p… Steven Levitsky
“ Even if Donald Trump does not break the hard guardrails of our constitutional democracy, he has increased the likelihood that a future president will. Steven Levitsky
“ This book has reminded us that American democracy is not as exceptional as we sometimes believe. There’s nothing in our Constitution or our culture to immunize us against democratic breakdown. We have… Steven Levitsky
“ Most Republican leaders ended up holding the party line. If they had broken decisively with Trump, telling Americans loudly and clearly that he posed a threat to our country’s cherished institutions,… Steven Levitsky
“ Would-be autocrats often use economic crises, natural disasters, and especially security threats—wars, armed insurgencies, or terrorist attacks—to justify antidemocratic measures. Steven Levitsky
“ To better understand how elected autocrats subtly undermine institutions, it’s helpful to imagine a soccer game. To consolidate power, would-be authoritarians must capture the referees, sideline at le… Steven Levitsky
“ This perception may explain the rise of a discourse that distinguishes real Americans from those associated with liberals and the Democratic Party. Steven Levitsky
“ There is one thing more powerful than the Constitution….That’s the will of the people. What is a Constitution anyway? They’re the products of the people, the people are the first source of power, and… Steven Levitsky
“ The strength of the American political system, it has often been said, rests on what Swedish Nobel Prize-winning economist Gunnar Myrdal called the American Creed: the principles of individual freedom… Steven Levitsky
“ The second category in our litmus test is the denial of the legitimacy of one’s opponents. Authoritarian politicians cast their rivals as criminal, subversive, unpatriotic, or a threat to national sec… Steven Levitsky
