Talking Feds “Nobody Cancels Elections. They Just Rig Them."
Mar 12, 2026
Kim Lane Scheppele, law professor who studies democratic backsliding, maps how democracies collapse and which foreign playbooks resemble American risks. She explains rapid autocratic tactics like court-packing and legal rule changes. The conversation covers grassroots defenses, state-level pushback, and why protecting free, fair elections is the last line of defense.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
How New Autocrats Use Law To Break Democracy
- New autocrats win free elections then use legal mechanisms to dismantle checks and balances.
- Kim Lane Scheppele cites Viktor Orban's 2010 blitz: cutting civil society budgets and mass-firing civil servants overnight to neutralize opposition.
Orban Advised U.S. Autocratic Playbook
- Orban's team directly influenced U.S. plans to remodel government by advising Project 2025.
- Scheppele recounts finding a Memorandum of Understanding between Orban's Danube Institute and the Heritage Foundation behind Project 2025.
Executive Orders Plus Packed Courts Can Reshape Constitutions
- In systems with hard-to-amend constitutions, autocrats substitute executive actions and litigation to effect constitutional change.
- Scheppele notes Trump issued 225 executive orders to prompt lawsuits up to a packed Supreme Court.