Susan Rice: Trump’s ‘Anti-Democratic Authoritarian’ Policies a Serious Threat to Democracy

Thursday, during an interview with Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty, former Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice said President Donald Trump’s “anti-democratic authoritarian” policies “pose a “very serious threat to the integrity of our democracy.”

While discussing the Senate Intelligence Committee’s final report on the alleged 2016 Russian interference efforts, Rice said, “I almost never say this, but I’m 100% convinced that Russia is doing much of what it did in 2016 and certainly more.”

She continued, “I’m more concerned what is likely to happen is that at least on the Republican side there is an impulse to look the other way at best or to put lipstick on a pig as Marco Rubio did in his characterization of the findings of the report. All in an effort to change the subject just at the time that we need to be focused on this threat most directly.”

She added, “The other thing is we can’t look at what Russia is doing and what the Trump campaign may be doing to encourage Russian involvement in isolation, it’s of a piece. Combine that with Donald Trump calling into question the validity of results saying if he doesn’t win, it’s got to be because of fraud. That is the height of anti-democratic authoritarian policy. It is exceedingly dangerous to our democracy. His treats to mail-in voting, his threat to the post office you add all of these things together, calling in the troops to urban areas in order to use violence against peaceful protesters, this is all a dangerous series of tactics that taken together pose a very serious threat to the integrity of our democracy.”

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