It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorships,

she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.

This program is made possible by the members and donors to the show.

To support the work we do and get members only bonus content,

please visit the Contributes tab at bestofleft.com.

And welcome to the award-winning Best of the Left podcast with clips today from NPR,

The Trumpcast, The Daily Show, in-deep with Angie Coyrow, and at the Tom Hartman program.

Now, I'm starting today by taking a big step back to give some context.

This first clip is from NPR way back on March 10th of 2006.

It's about former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

And I want to say right now, right up front, before we had started,

that I put myself squarely in the O'Connor School of Thought on dictatorships

and abundance of caution with an eye on the future.

And I know many may take offense to the comparisons made in today's episode,

but I really want to stress that I have gone out of my way to find people speaking with a great

deal of nuance on this topic. And the comparisons are not made lightly

or to fear monger but to draw real lessons from the past for use in our current situation.

So while you listen to this first report from 2006,

think about the modern-day Republicans nakedly partisan effort to prevent a new Supreme Court

justice from being appointed during Barack Obama's term while their party simultaneously nominated

a candidate with the most autocratic tendencies we have ever seen in this country.

Supreme Court Justice has kept many opinions private, but a former justice is speaking out.

...