The Democracy Index: Launched!

This morning, we launched The Democracy Index over on The Contrarian Substack. It’s a true team effort, with lots of people working on it behind the scenes to help get this right.

We’re here to help you combat outrage fatigue and see past the bright shiny things Trump throws left and right every day, so you can understand what matters most: the significant trend lines of activity in this administration and how they’re affecting democracy.

This week, we assess statements by Vice President JD Vance and others about what has been labeled “a judicial coup” by some (like Utah Senator Mike Lee from his “personal” @basedmikelee Twitter account). There is a lot going on right now, but the possibility that a president would ignore a court order is a serious threat to our system of government and the one trend line you shouldn’t miss. We write, “Presidents don’t ordinarily ignore court orders. That’s a hallmark of the balance of power between the three branches of government and a key part of the rule of law that forms the essential architecture for our democracy. Because of the possibility that Trump will push through that norm, there is reason for us to be deeply concerned about the state of our democracy. But being concerned doesn’t mean we should give up. I’m not going to, and I hope you won’t either.”

I hope you’ll head over and take a look at The Democracy Index! We’re building this airplane while we’re flying it, so we welcome your input! If you missed it earlier, here’s a piece from last month when I wrote to you about what we intend to do with this project.

We’re in this together,

Joyce