Rand Paul called for Alvin Bragg to be thrown in jail if he indicts Trump. This isn’t just a random tweet & @GOP attacks on Bragg aren’t just normal partisan politics. It’s all part of the party’s slide toward authoritarianism… A short 🧵… 1/
Successfully enabling a non-military autocratic takeover requires 3 things: You alter electoral rules to limit the ability of the opposition to win (voter suppression). You weaken or silence dissent (change libel laws, press = enemy of the people, jail journalists). 2/
And, you impair the independence of the judiciary & eliminate it’s ability to check your power. It’s not enough to simply capture the courts (stealing Supreme Court seats), though that helps. You must also attack the independence of prosecutors. 3/
You do realize that you just describe what the Dem Party has been doing. They altered, illegally, the election laws, they used the gov to censor their opponents, they used the gov to go after its political opponents, etc. Last step, then claim the other party is doing what you are doing. Great job.