The Dictatorship
The Marshall Plan was created to defend democracy in 1948. We wrote a new version for 2025.
It is no secret that American democracy is in crisis. From the 2020 flood of actions and disinformation that culminated in the events of Jan. 6, 2021to the repeated threats to weaponize the rule of law and fire civil servants to replace them with loyalists, we are clearly in a renewed moment of democracy crisis. We are in danger of losing our rights and freedoms unless we act boldly and swiftly. Unfortunately, too many are sleepwalking through our present moment and not understanding or doing anything about this threat to America.
Fortunately, political science research and the lived experience of other backsliding democracies — and how they reversed course — offer solutions. Our organization, the Brookings Institution, conceptualized and published the original Marshall Plan. One of its main goals was to secure democracy in Europe against autocratic threats after World War II. That legacy inspired us and our colleagues to formulate a new Marshall Plan to meet this dire moment: the Democracy Playbook.
Perhaps most important of these steps is that American elections and their outcomes must be protected.
In this document, we survey the political science data and current events landscape, pull tactics and lessons learned from global democracies — both those that are backsliding and those holding strong. Out of all that effort emerged a set of specific steps and recommendations, including seven pillars to save democracy. These pillars can be a guide for pro-democracy actors in the U.S. to prevent backsliding and, when possible, go on the offensive to strengthen democratic institutions. We pull from scholarship and practice to capture the lived experiences that are sometimes overlooked by engaging with political scientists, government officials, activists and practitioners. And we use the examples of PolandBrazil and the Czech Republicall of which successfully ousted their undemocratic regimes.
Perhaps most important of these steps is that American elections and their outcomes must be protected. That is because free, fair and transparent elections are the way out of backsliding. But that system has been pressured, as is happening right now in a state Supreme Court election in North Carolinawhere the losing candidate is currently contesting to overturn his electoral loss by citing baseless allegations of voter fraud.
Would anyone be surprised if we see moves to undermine the bedrock of our democracy this year in Virginia and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races? Or in the critical races in 2026 to determine control of Congress and other midterm-year contests that will shape how American elections are adjudicated and our nation governed going forward? Will elections continue to be free, fair and transparent, like the one that delivered Donald Trump to the White House? Or will future American elections mirror the facades of “electoral autocracy” like in Hungary?
Equally important to preserving democracy is vigorous action to protect the rule of law and guard against the dangerous erosion of checks and balances. Our research shows that the path to autocracy is paved with examples of abuse of legalism, prosecutorial and judicial capture and weaponization of the state. Using the government as a cudgel to go after political opponents is never acceptable in a thriving democracy — look at how state power is bluntly wielded against citizens in Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
When undemocratic candidates gain power, sometimes through elections, there must be a fail-safe that protects against autocracy: the law. We highlight the current threat environment, including to the U.S. judiciary and its independence. Even conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who has joined numerous deeply troubling opinionshas nevertheless echoed these concerns. The American democratic framework is built to bend but not break under bouts of irresponsible governance — with critical checks and balances by way of constitutional norms that leverage courts, legislatures, civil society and media to establish anti-autocracy guardrails. But it will be tested as never before.
Protecting our democracy does not stop there. The forces that support autocracy feast on corruption and efforts to dim the lights of transparency and accountability.
Of course, there is much more than just those three steps to saving a democracy.
That is why we raised combating corruption to be the third of our seven pillars. We saw this challenge in Trump’s first administrationand America is heading further toward oligarchy. For example, Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, contributed $277 million to Donald Trump’s campaign and the races of other Republican candidates. Musk has been rewarded with a semi-official position in Trump’s government with questionable oversight or accountability. His supposed role gives him the chance to pressure or cut funding to agencies that regulate his commercial industries. With over a dozen billionaires lined up for senior positions, Trump’s second administration will be the wealthiest in American historyfeaturing secretaries in the top 0.0001% who may share a steadfast allegiance to Trump rather than to the Constitution.
Of course, there is much more than just those three steps to saving a democracy. In the Democracy Playbook, we lay out four more main pillars: reinforce civic and media space, protect pluralistic governance, counter disinformation, and make democracy deliver.
You might well ask, why only seven? Part of the challenge of dealing with autocracy is autocrats take a flood-the-zone approach that shocks people and quickly overwhelms the system. It is therefore important to not only be reactive, but also to be proactive to figure out what actions pose the greatest risks to democracy — and vigorously respond to them. Responding to flood-the-zone tactics in this fashion is among the reasons that Polandthe Czech Republic and Brazil restored democracy while Hungary did not.
Where do we go from here? Every sector of American life must get its act together, and fast, if democracy is to be saved. Media can’t engage in false equivalences or burnish dangerous disinformation. Civic society needs to activate. Big tent coalitions will be necessary, as was the case in those countries where backslide was reversed. Labor has an essential and foundational role to play, as does business, including the tech and media sectors.
But above all, it’s up to the American people. Across party lines, the majority of Americans agree democracy is the best form of government. While Trump and his supporters insist the election was a sweeping mandate, it was an extremely close contest in which the opposition of many Americans to deeply controversial plans associated with Donald Trump’s campaign contributed to him receiving less than 50% of votes cast.
Since the time of the Marshall Plan, America has succeeded in meeting enormous challenges. We are at another one of those moments in which the outcome of our actions will have a generational impact. As we point out in our playbook, those who count America out prematurely have learned from their mistakes, and we certainly do not believe the American people are prepared to abandon freedoms.
Using the Democracy Playbook as a guide, we envision a modern version of a Marshall Plan that can restore democracy to the country that has been, in the words of former President Ronald Reagan, a “shining city on a hill” for over two centuries — but only if we all work together.
Norman L. Eisen
Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.) is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and an expert on law, ethics, and anti-corruption.
Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Katz is the senior irector of the Anti-Corruption, Democracy, and Security (ACDS) project at the Brookings Institution.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” some Medicaid funding to the state of Minnesota over fraud concernsas part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds.
Vance, who made the announcement with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration was taking the action “in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money.”
Oz, who referred to people committing fraud as “self-serving scoundrels,” said the federal government would hold off on paying $259.5 million to Minnesota in funding for Medicaid, the health care safety net for low-income Americans.
“This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota, it’s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously,” Oz said.
Wednesday’s move is part of a larger Trump administration effort to spotlight fraud around the country. That effort comes after allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis prompted a massive immigration crackdown in the Midwestern city, resulting in widespread protests. President Donald Trump, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, announced Vance would spearhead a national “war on fraud.”
Trump also recently nominated Colin McDonald to serve as the first assistant attorney general in charge of a Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud.
Minnesota pushes back
Oz said the administration was simultaneously notifying Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz as he was making the announcement publicly.
“We will give them the money, but we’re going to hold it and only release it after they propose and act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” Oz said.
He said Walz would have 60 days to respond and advised health care providers and Medicaid beneficiaries who were concerned to contact Walz’s office.
Walz, former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, said in a pair of social media posts that the administration’s move had nothing to do with fraud.
“This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota,” Walz said. “These cuts will be devastating for veterans, families with young kids, folks with disabilities, and working people across our state.”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement that his team has secured over 300 Medicaid fraud convictions since he took office in 2019. And he noted that he called on the Legislature earlier Wednesday to give him more staff and new legal tools to combat Medicaid fraud.
“Courts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,” Ellison said.
Oz said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were also taking action to crack down on fraud in Medicare, the health care system relied upon by millions of older adults.
He said CMS for six months would block any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or other supplies used to treat chronic conditions or assist in injury recovery.
The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found last year that Medicare improperly paid suppliers nearly $23 million for durable medical equipment from 2018 through 2024. But it found that most of that was before January 2020, when changes to the system were implemented.
Oz also announced a new crowdsourcing effort he said would help “crush fraud” by soliciting Americans’ tips and suggestions.
“All of us are smarter than any one of us,” he said.
In a news release accompanying the announcement, CMS said the funding being paused in Minnesota included some $244 million in unsupported or potentially fraudulent Medicaid claims and about $15 million in claims involving “individuals lacking a satisfactory immigration status.”
Immigrants who are not living in the U.S. legally, as well as some lawfully present immigrants, are not allowed to enroll in the Medicaid program that provides nearly-free coverage for health services.
CMS said in the release that if Minnesota fails to satisfy its requirements, it may defer up to $1 billion in federal funds to the state over the next year. CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden said the agency’s review of potential fraud cases would include sampling claims to see if they comply with federal requirements, and potentially requesting more information about specific claims.
Akeiisa Coleman, the senior program officer for Medicaid at the Commonwealth Fund, said CMS was taking a “highly unusual step” in deferring funding. She said if the state doesn’t have enough funds available, it may have to halt payments to providers, which could affect care.
Democratic-run states face cutoffs
The administration has threatened to cut off funding for various programs for some Democratic-run states over fraud concerns over the last few months.
One judge blocked those actions and required that payments flowing to Minnesota and four other states — California, Colorado, Illinois and New York — for a variety of social service programs. The government had said that there was “reason to believe” that those states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally. It did not initially explain where that information came from, but a government lawyer told the judge it was largely in reaction to news reports about possible fraud.
Another judge said she would not let it cut off funding for administrative costs for 22 states that have refused to hand over information about applicants and recipients of food aid through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
The latest action was prompted in part by a series of fraud cases, including a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future accused of stealing pandemic aid meant for school meals. Prosecutors have put the losses from that case at $300 million.
Since then, Trump has targeted the Somali diaspora in Minnesota with immigration enforcement actions and has made a series of disparaging comments about the community. During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said “pirates” have “ransacked Minnesota.”
Federal agencies have also been enlisted to assist in targeting fraud in Minnesota.
Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department issued an order requiring money wire services that people use to send money to Somalia to submit additional verification to the Treasury.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Minnesota in January that it intended to freeze parts of payments for some Medicaid programs that were deemed high-risk. The state said that those cuts would add up to more than $2 billion annually if they lasted and made an administrative appeal.
___
Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
Conservatives’ crusade against reproductive freedom is deathly serious. Two controversies over the past week highlight some of the violence undergirding the MAGA movement’s assault on the idea of people choosing when and whether to bear children.
In Tennessee, two GOP state lawmakers are gauging interest in legislation that would make people eligible for homicide charges — and potentially the death penalty — for receiving or assisting with an abortion.
The bill’s co-sponsor in the state Senate said he doesn’t think the bill currently has the votes but ultimately could. Per the WSMV television station in Nashville:
“We want to be very open and have a conversation, whether it’s controversial or not — let’s hear from all sides to see where we are as Tennessee and where we stand,”[stateSenMark[stateSenMark] Pody said. “Talking to some colleagues, we don’t have the votes to move something like that in the Senate at this moment.”
Pody said he does not consider the bill dead on arrival in the Senate, adding he believes there is a possibility for negotiation and that Republicans in the House and Senate could reach an agreement on language that could pass both chambers.
Most Americans seem to think we shouldn’t kick the tires on state-sponsored executions for abortion recipients. Pody apparently disagrees.
His fellow co-sponsor in the House, state Rep. Jody Barrett, didn’t sound any more sane in his exchanges about the bill with reporter Chris Davis from WTVF, the CBS affiliate in Nashville.
“Murder should be murder, whether it’s a person in being or a person in utero,” Barrett said.
I asked Barrett directly about the criticism that the bill unfairly targets mothers.
“I think that’s a talking point saying that you’re targeting mothers. We’re not targeting mothers. We’re targeting unborn children and trying to protect them and give them the protection under the law for you and me,” Barrett said.
The tacit admission came later:
“A simple examination of the death penalty in Tennessee would show that that’s just not realistic. Now, do I have to admit that the death penalty is a possibility? Sure. But since the death penalty was reinstated in Tennessee in 1977, there’s been less than 200 people sentenced to death, and only 16 have actually been executed — none of them women,” Barrett said.
It’s safe to say the latter remarks are probably not going to be enough to soothe concerns about this morbid proposal — one that mirrors several others across the country in the past year.
In Vermont, a different controversy is unfolding over a right-wing influencer named Hank Poitras, who was elected chairman of a county GOP committee — and who once delivered an extremely graphic diatribe about committing an act of violence on a woman’s womb after she got pregnant.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
The Trump administration is temporarily halting $259 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota, Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday.
Vance said the payments will be paused “until the state government takes its obligations seriously to stop the fraud that’s being perpetrated against the American taxpayer.”
The news of the temporary halting of the massive amount of federal funding — which provides health insurance to low-income people — comes as the state has been a target of the federal government following allegations of fraud perpetrated by child care providers in the state. In December, federal officials froze $185 million in child care funds to Minnesota, and last month, the administration announced it was freezing $10 billion in funding for social services programs in five Democratic-led states, including Minnesota.
The latest news also follows President Donald Trump’s announcement at the State of the Union address Tuesday night that he was tasking the vice president with waging a “war on fraud.”
Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Wednesday that officials identified “scammers” who he claimed “hijacked … a certain part of the Minnesota Medicaid system.”
Federal prosecutors have confirmedthere was large-scale social services fraud in Minnesota, with dozensof people — many of whom are Somalis — having been convicted of stealing more than $1 billion in public funds intended for food, housing and services for people with disabilities. But the administration did not provide detailed evidence on Wednesday of the alleged large-scale Medicaid fraud in Minnesota that Oz claimed.
“These schemes disproportionately involve immigrant communities,” Oz said. Generally, undocumented people are not able to be enrolled in Medicaid.
Vance mentioned a program that he said claimed to offer after-school services to autistic children but did not actually do so, though he did not offer any identifying information.
Oz added that the top fraudulent biller in the state “submitted 450 days where they claim they were working more than 24 hours a day,” but also did not provide corroborating information.
According to the health policy research organization KFF, Medicaid covers nearly 1.2 millionkids and adults in Minnesota, more than half of whom are nursing home residents. More than three-quarters of Medicaid enrollees in the state are working full time, that data also shows.
Oz said the federal government will only release the funds “after they propose an act on a comprehensive corrective action plan to solve the problem,” adding that Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., has 60 days to do so. He suggested similar announcements to come in other states “soon,” and mentioned Florida, New York and California as potential future targets.
“This is not a problem with the people of Minnesota,” Oz said. “It’s a problem with the leadership of Minnesota and other states who do not take Medicaid preservation seriously.”
Vance added: “The main reason that we’re doing this is that we want to make sure that the people of Minnesota have access to the services that they’re entitled to.”
In a post on X on Wednesday night, Walz said the announcement “has nothing to do with fraud,” and added, “The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DOJ is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week, Trump pardons another fraudster.”
Minnesota lawmakers and the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, have introduced legislation that would add more than a dozen new staffers to the AG office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and that would strengthen state fraud laws.
In a statement provided to MS NOW, Ellison hinted the state may sue in response.
“Courts have repeatedly found that their pattern of cutting first and asking questions later is illegal, and if the federal government is unlawfully withholding money meant for the 1.2 million low-income Minnesotans on Medicaid, we will see them in court,” he said.
Shireen Gandhi, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which administers Medicaid, said the government’s actions “significantly harm the state’s health care infrastructure and the 1.2 million Minnesotans who depend on Medicaid,” adding that federal officials “chose to ignore more than a year of serious and intensive work to fight fraud in our state.”
Spokespeople for Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Nour Longi and Emily Hung contributed reporting.
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
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