They are the unhinged activists, professional partisans and paranoid conspiracy theorists on both the far right and far left of the political spectrum, whose hate and hyper-partisanship since Obama's inauguration threatens to mock the promise upon which he was elected. In "Wingnuts", journalist John Avlon travels to the outer-reaches of American politics to explain how far-left and far-right extremists came to dominate the nation's political dialogue. From the revolutionary-inspired "Tea Party" protests to the healthcare town hall 'hijackings', principled policy opposition to government spending has taken a sharp right turn into Crazytown. Not to mention Sarah Palin's rants about administration 'death panels', attacks like Obama-as-Hitler/Communist/Antichrist and actual death threats against elected leaders. For those with a vested interest in stirring the crazypot - like the hyper-partisan talk-show radio and cable news hosts - all of this has been good for business: hate is a cheap and easy recruiting tool. But it can be murder on a democracy...

    Democracy no longer ends with a bang--in a revolution or military coup--but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die--and how ours can be saved.

    The Death of a President, November 20-November 25, 1963 [Hardcover]