Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering

Washington Post ^ | 8/10/22 | By Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker and Tyler Pager

[EBH]

When Biden met with historians last week at the White House, they compared the threat facing America to the pre-Civil War era and to pro-fascist movements before World War II

President Biden paused last week, during one of the busiest stretches of his presidency, for a nearly two-hour private history lesson from a group of academics who raised alarms about the dire condition of democracy at home and abroad.

The conversation during a ferocious lightning storm on Aug. 4 unfolded as a sort of Socratic dialogue between the commander in chief and a select group of scholars, who painted the current moment as among the most perilous in modern history for democratic governance, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.

Comparisons were made to the years before the 1860 election when Abraham Lincoln warned that a “house divided against itself cannot stand” and the lead-up to the 1940 election, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled rising domestic sympathy for European fascism and resistance to the United States joining World War II.

The diversion was, for Biden, part of a regular effort to use outside experts, in private White House meetings, to help him work through his approach to multiple crises facing his presidency. Former president Bill Clinton spoke with Biden in May about how to navigate inflation and the midterm elections. A group of foreign policy experts, including former Republican advisers, came to the White House in January to brief Biden before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

These meetings have come as Biden faces the isolation that is endemic to presidency, a problem that some Democrats say has been worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, which restricted visitors through much of the first year of his presidency, and...

[GOPJ]

History will not be kind to these self absorbed idiot liberal ‘historians’... Reminds me of an old TimeLife book on 1964... close to 200 pages on ‘important events in 1964 and only one and a half pages devoted to the civil rights movement. Stunningly stupid.

[Starboard]

I strongly believe that the only way to preserve what’s left of our liberties, our way of life, and a responsible government that respects the people is to elect
representatives who are TOTALLY COMMITTED to reducing the size, scope and power of the overbearing and oversized federal behemoth, which is the wellspring of the Deep State’s power and control. Take that cudgel away we will start down the road toward the federalism envisioned by the Founders.

If we can’t cut the government down to size nothing else will matter. That is the key to our national revival IMHO.

To accomplish this we need to demand results and accountability from our elected officials. Whining, promises, excuses and double talk won’t cut it. Produce or you’re gone. We need fighters, not talkers.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree with that.

I also think it’s time to either address our universities and k-12th grade education, or shutter it and go private.

We also need to pull out any laws we can use to combat the full scale
Civil war that is being privately paid for by rich leftists.

That is the real Insurrection, and it has to stop.

[wardaddy]

I admit I was somewhat oblivious as to how prescient parts of the Turner Diaries were

[wardaddy]

I admit I was somewhat oblivious as to how prescient parts of the Turner Diaries were

[sport]

It can and will get a hell of a lot worse. And it will do it very quick when it starts. Judging by the FBI’s raid on Trump and other things. The Democrats have moved from the talking stage to the action stage.

[ronnie raygun]

My question is who is left to save the republic

[Starboard]

I also think it’s time to either address our universities and k-12th grade education, or shutter it and go private.

***********

You make a VERY important point. Our so-called education system is nothing more than a gigantic indoctrination camp. Its disgraceful.

The nation has been intentionally dumbed down. The Dems have been very successful at doing this and turning people into sheeple.

First thing we need to do is get the federal government out of education (which is consistent with downsizing and de-scoping it). That would be a step in the right direction.

An uninformed populace is inconsistent with a healthy democracy. They are mutually exclusive. We must reform education to have any chance of restoring the greatness of this country.

[Albion Wilde]

...Biden, at these tabletop sessions, often spends hours asking questions and testing assumptions, participants say....

Asking the same questions over and over again, probably.

When I was a kid and we would go to the old people's home to visit my dad's aunt, on the ride over Dad would tell us, "When she starts telling the same stories again for the third time, we will rise and leave."

[DoughtyOne]

I agree, and it is shameful that it has gotten this bad.