Paul Krugman (The NYT):
One thing all of this makes clear is that the sickness of American politics didn’t begin with Donald Trump, any more than the sickness of the Roman Republic began with Caesar. The erosion of democratic foundations has been underway for decades, and there’s no guarantee that we will ever be able to recover.
But if there is any hope of redemption, it will have to begin with a clear recognition of how bad things are. American democracy is very much on the edge.
What was held out of sight is now, as in the state of North Carolina, overt. Democratic institutions are under direct assault. The office of Governor there has been stripped of many* of its state constitutional powers. There is nothing but a naked power grab to justify this.
What are you doing as our Rome burns?
* correction: several, and none obviously outside the bounds of the NC constitution. That recognized, the move to consolidate power within one party even as the electorate chose a different way smacks not of democracy, but second-rate dictatorship.
A Random Stroll 