Month: September 2025

The Rise of ‘Competitive Authoritarianism’

Buck Banks

“The kind of authoritarianism I fear is emerging in the United States, which political scientists call ‘competitive authoritarianism,’ doesn’t involve the outright criminalization of the opposition or formal martial law. … Instead, it depends on perverting the law, modifying and twisting it with the intent of incrementally undermining the opposition’s ability to compete fairly in elections.”

— Zack Beauchamp

CEOs Agree: Trump Is Bad for Their Business

Buck Banks

“In private, the leaders of some of the country’s best-known companies say that a number of White House policies have been bad for their businesses — and possibly illegal, per the results of a survey from Yale School of Management,” Axios reports.

Some results:

  • 71% of the CEOs said tariffs were harmful to their businesses.
  • 74% said that the courts were correct to find that the Trump’s tariffs are illegal as executed.
  • 80% said that the president was not acting in the country’s best interest by pressuring Fed chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates.
  • 76% said that Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. is putting U.S. public health at risk.

It’s Still Amateur Hour at the Pentagon

Buck Banks

“This is so dumb that I have a hard time believing it is true. We don’t want a bunch of Pravda newspapers only touting the Government’s official position. A free press makes our country better. This sounds like more amateur hour.”

— Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), on X in response to the Pentagon’s decision to prevent reporters from accessing military or defense information that has sparked condemnation across the aisle and backlash from media organizations that argue the move hampers press freedom, the Washington Post reports.