For four years, the press was urged to shift to emergency mode while covering presidential politics.

But that's all over, right?

We live in a two-party system, and one of the two parties is anti-democratic.

That is a civic emergency.

From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

To understand the erosion of democracy in the states, don't look to their internal politics.

Those don't seem to explain democratic backsliding. What does is when a state becomes controlled by the current national Republican Party.

Also this week, how the term critical race theory escaped academia and was conscripted to fight on the front lines of the culture war.

Anything that might talk about diversity in some parents' minds,

like, oh, this is critical race theory.

So it's being turned into this buzzword that sets people off.

It's all coming up after this.

From WNYC in New York, this is on the media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And now I want to introduce you to journalist, author, and podcaster, Lewis Raven Wallace.

He's been on the show before. We're fans. He lives in North Carolina, and he's joining us for an

episode that puts Washington on the back burner, kind of. Hey, Lewis. Hi. Yeah, we're looking at

battles over voting rights and free expression framed in Washington during the Trump administration, but fought in state after state. It's kind of like some of the trends that Trump was driving didn't go away when Trump decamped. They just bubbled up and spattered all over the place.

So, what should we call the episode?

Take your time. It's hard.

Little pasta sauce splatters everywhere?

No, that's not quite it.

What about little fires everywhere?

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