Once that belief starts to go, the rest can remain in place and still mean less than it used to.
That is the American danger. Not a perfect replay of the past. Not some foreign model dropped whole onto our politics. Something more familiar: elections still held, courts still open, newspapers still publishing — while the trust that makes those rituals work is slowly poisoned.
Ruby Freeman was not rich. She was not famous. She did not have a faction, a donor network, a cable show, or a legal defense fund. She had a name.
Then the president spoke.
And she lost even that.
Bibliography
1. U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. “On the January 6th Investigation.” Congress.gov, June 21, 2022.
2. Georgia Secretary of State. “State Election Board Clears Fulton County ‘Ballot Suitcase’ Investigation; Report Finds No Evidence of Conspiracy, No Fraud.” June 20, 2023.
3. Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way. “Elections Without Democracy: The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy, April 2002.
4. David Smith. “‘I Am Your Retribution’: Trump Rules Supreme at CPAC as He Relishes Biden Rematch.” The Guardian, March 4, 2023.
5. Steve Holland, Tim Reid, Raphael Satter, and A.J. Vicens. “Trump Signs Orders Targeting Two Ex-Officials Who Criticized Him.” Reuters, April 10, 2025.
6. The White House. “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Addresses Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship.” April 9, 2025.