Bi-Weekly Discussion - Is America Sliding Into Authoritarianism?, Sun, Oct 26, 2025, 3:00 PM

Details

This is going to be an online meetup using Zoom. If you've never used Zoom before, don't worry — it's easy to use and free to join.

Click on the link above at the scheduled date/time to log in...

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IS AMERICA SLIDING INTO AUTHORITARIANISM - OR ARE LIBERALS SUCCUMBING TO "TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME" AGAIN?

INTRODUCTION:

What you're seeing below is a blank discussion outline. If there's no title listed above for this meetup, it probably means I haven't decided on the topic. If there's a title but not much else, it means I've picked a topic but I'm still looking around for articles & videos clips to stimulate discussion.

If you see the topic and think it's interesting, please RSVP early since this gives me a general idea of about how many people will be showing up.

I typically try to finish up the discussion outline the weekend before a meetup, but sometimes I can't finish it until a couple days before the discussion. Luckily, I only ask that people watch a few video clips prior to attending the meetup and they generally only come to 30-45 minutes total, so even if it takes me until the day prior to finish up the discussion outline you'll still have time to prepare.

So what's up will all the X's below? Meetup's new format gives me a very short character limit that makes long discussion outline impossible. However, I found a way around it - by copying old meetups before the new character limit was introduced. But there's a catch, if all of the blank space isn't filled when I copy the meetup, the new shorter character limit will be applied, so I'm forced to fill up all the available space with X's. I know that sounds kinda ridiculous, but it's the only way I can still write up long, detailed discussion outlines.

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RELEVANT MATERIALS FROM PAST MEETUPS:
Back in September, shortly after the shooting of Charlie Kirk, we had a meetup entitled "Is Political Violence Increasing in America?"

Back in Jan. 2021, just after the storming of the Capitol on 1/6, the Skeptics had a meetup entitled "Bad History & Our Political Crisis". We looked at political turmoil & violence in Weimar Germany and the U.S. in the lead-up to the Civil War and compared & contrasted this with modern-day America.

DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over democratic decline in the U.S. over the past decade. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about about XX minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I've listed some questions under each section to stimulate discussion. We'll do our best to address most of them, as well as whatever other questions our members raise. I figure we'll spend about 40 minutes on each section.

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I. ARGUMENTS FOR WHY TRUMP IS CAUSING A RAPID SLIDE TOWARDS A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS OR A SYSTEM OF "COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM" THAT COULD LINGER FOR DECADES:

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