In Global Elections, Strongmen Are Taken Down a Notch

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( [Abbreviated Pundit Roundup]( is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet. - [In Global Elections, Strongmen Are Taken Down a Notch]( With a billion-plus people going to the polls in more than 60 countries, some analysts had feared that 2024 would pose a fateful test for democracy — one that it might fail. For years, populist and strongmen leaders have chipped away at democratic institutions, sowing doubts about the legitimacy of elections, while social media has swamped voters with disinformation and conspiracy theories. In some of the biggest, most fragile democracies, leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey had been regarded as close to invincible, using appeals to nationalism or sectarianism to mobilize supporters and bending institutions to suit their purposes. Yet now, Mr. Modi and Mr. Erdogan have both had their wings clipped. Soaring inflation, chronic unemployment and uneven economic growth have widened inequality in India, Turkey and elsewhere, frustrating voters who have shown a willingness to buck the establishment. - [Bit of a moment for Rahul Gandhi: new dawn for India’s opposition, but where to now?]( The coalition, united under the acronym INDIA, won 232 seats, taking more than 60 from the BJP and preventing Modi’s party from forming a majority government. “We fought as one,” said Rahul Gandhi, the best-known face of the Congress party, at a press conference on Tuesday. [...] Analysts say the onus is now on Gandhi to capitalise on this resurgence and reform his creaking party. Already, his ideological leadership has pushed the party radically further to the left than in previous generations, when it was seen as a centrist, upper-caste party. Many believe Gandhi will also take on the role of formal head of the INDIA alliance. The job of keeping it united will be a tricky one, and exactly how the coalition will take shape remains unclear; whether it will come together with a form of uniting document or simply be a temporary marriage of convenience to stand up to Modi in parliament. - [How Donald Trump Could Weaponize US Surveillance in a Second Term]( Nixon and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover famously surveilled the president’s political opponents and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., through a program called COINTELPRO. One of the main goals of the program was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” civil rights groups. If he so desired, Trump could create his own version of this program, but he’d be working with much more advanced technology—and it’d be in a time when there are countless data points available on every American. Hoover could have only dreamed of a world where everyone was walking around with tracking devices. [...] The administration may not even need to come up with a justification for surveilling Americans without a warrant, because it could simply purchase scores of people's personal data. The federal government has been known to purchase data from private brokers in the past, and doing so doesn’t require a warrant. “We are just awash in data, and data brokers can just collect and sell these data,” Vagle says. “Law enforcement or quasi-law enforcement can collect that information.” - [Daily Kos has an average donation of just $9.44. Click here to join thousands of others and start a monthly recurring donation]( - [House speaker appoints Trump loyalists Perry, Jackson to Intelligence Committee]( Perry, a hard-line Republican who previously served as the chair of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, played a key role in promoting false claims of election fraud and pushed the Trump White House and Justice Department to investigate baseless claims and prevent the transfer of power to President Biden. The FBI seized Perry’s cellphone records in 2022 as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to subvert the election, and Perry sought to block what the federal investigators would be able to access on his phone. In December 2023, a federal judge ordered that Perry disclose nearly 1,700 records from his cellphone to the investigation being conducted by special counsel Jack Smith. Perry’s lawyer has said that U.S. officials never described Perry as a target of their ongoing investigation in their discussions with the congressman, and he has not been charged. Jackson, a retired U.S. Navy officer who joined Congress in 2021, served as the physician to Presidents Barack Obama and Trump. He was demoted in rank from retired rear admiral to captain in July 2022 following a damaging Pentagon inspector general’s report thatsubstantiated allegations about his inappropriate behavior as a White House physician. Jackson has denied the report’s allegations and claimed they were politically motivated. The appointments of Jackson and Perry come a day after Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, broadly outlined a “three-pronged approach” on how the Republican majority can target the Justice Department, New York and other jurisdictions for investigating Trump — using, among other things, House oversight powers. - [Abortion is the top issue in the country. Let everyone know where you stand with our 'Abortion is Healthcare' t-shirt!]( - [Senate rejects move to codify right to contraception]( Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Democrats in voting to move forward on a bill that would guarantee the ability for health care professionals to provide contraception and related information. The bill would also guarantee the rights of individuals to access contraception. The Senate needed 60 votes to advance the legislation; the final vote was 51-39. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., voted no in order to be able to bring up the bill under Senate rules at a later date. Democrats say they are worried about access to contraception because the 1973 Roe decision was based, in part, on a 1965 contraception case known as Griswold v. Connecticut, which protected the rights of married couples to use contraception. Friday will mark the 59-year anniversary of that decision. - [Small Shift Toward Biden After Trump Verdict]( In interviews with nearly 2,000 voters who previously took New York Times/Siena College surveys, President Biden appeared to gain slightly in the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s conviction last week for falsifying business records. The group favored Mr. Trump by three points when originally interviewed in April and May, but this week they backed him by only one point. [...] The shift was especially pronounced among the young, nonwhite and disengaged Democratic-leaning voters who have propelled Mr. Trump to a lead in the early polls. Of the people who previously told us they had voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 but would vote for Mr. Trump in 2024, around one-quarter now said they would instead stick with Mr. Biden. Voters who dislike both candidates — who have been dubbed double haters — were especially likely to defect from Mr. Trump. Overall, Mr. Trump lost more than one-fifth of the double haters who once backed him. That group of defectors was about evenly split between moving to Mr. Biden and saying they were now undecided. Want to write your own stories? [Log in]( or [sign up]( to post articles and comments on Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Follow Daily Kos on [Facebook](, [Threads](, and [Instagram](. Thanks for all you do, The Daily Kos team We're not asking for much Over the past 12 months, the average donation to Daily Kos has been just $9.44. These donations may seem small, but they're a big deal to us. In fact, they are our largest source of income. We literally couldn't do the work we do without them. Can you join thousands of other Daily Kos readers and help us with a donation of $9.44 right now? [Chip in $9.44]( If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible. 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