We've been extensively covering the damage that the Trump administration's policies have caused in Michigan—from losses to medical coverage, more expensive groceries, and much more.

But if you've read some recent op-eds written by two Michigan Republicans, you might've been sold a completely different reality from what's going on.

Today, The ’Gander's Kyle Kaminski shines a light on the misinformation coming straight from our elected officials.

Plus: What actually is authoritarianism? We break it down.

ArtPrize winner's work locked away due to shutdown (WOOD-TV): The winner of this year’s ArtPrize can’t see his own artwork right now. The reason? It’s locked inside the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum due to the US government shutdown. Artist Mark Lewanski’s massive woven glass tapestry, Arras, took six months to create and weighs over 400 pounds. While the closure has put celebrations on pause, Lewanski says he’s using the prize money to build a bigger studio and keep pushing the limits of glass art.

Tigers force Game 5 in ALDS (The Associated Press): Riley Greene and Javier Báez powered the Tigers to a 9-3 win over the Mariners in Game 4 of the ALDS, forcing a decisive Game 5 on Friday in Seattle. Tarik Skubal will take the mound for Detroit against George Kirby, with manager A.J. Hinch calling it “an easy decision to hand the ball to the best pitcher in baseball.”

UP County breaks ground on museum expansion (WLUC): The Baraga County Historical Society broke ground Wednesday on a $2 million expansion that will quadruple the size of its museum. The project will add new galleries dedicated to Copper Country and Anishinaabe history, including the Fred Rydholm Ancient Copper gallery. Construction is expected to begin within weeks and finish by next summer.

We don’t usually like to amplify misinformation—but this was too wild to let slide.

In this edition of "so what, Michigan?" political correspondent Kyle Kaminski pulls the receipts.

(The ’Gander TikTok)

Political experts say modern authoritarians use tactics to slowly and stealthily strip away freedoms (Lucas Sankey/Unsplash)

Could you recognize the warning signs of authoritarianism if they were creeping into your everyday life?

There has been a lot of talk about the looming “death of democracy" on the news and social media lately, but it can be hard to put a finger on what that means.

That's why for the next several weeks, I'm going to bring you this segment where we unpack political terms in the hopes that you can get a better sense of what's going on in Michigan and around the country—no preachiness, no finger pointing, just learning together.

So, going back to democracy, let's try to put it in the simplest terms possible: At its core, democracy is a form of government where political power is held by the people. Here in the US, we elect people to represent us; think Congress and the White House.

Now, let’s consider the alternative: authoritarianism, which is defined as “the blind submission to authority and the repression of individual freedom of thought and action” in politics and government. In other words, one relatively small group of people ruling over the rest with no accountability, no checks, no balances, none of that. 

Experts say aspiring authoritarians almost always follow the same playbook with these seven tactics.

Authoritarians:

While historically, authoritarianism would often take hold of a country quickly, with new leaders swooping into power by way of military action—think coup d’etats or the less swift and often more bloody revolution—many of the world’s modern authoritarians have used what are called “salami tactics,” slicing away at the institutions of democracy one sliver at a time.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Why is this happening?" podcast, Harvard professor Erica Chenoweth described how in modern authoritarianism, "there are no bright lines. People often find out the world they’re in after the fact."

So now that you know the warning signs, it’s worth asking the question: How much salami has been sliced?

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Karel Vega with stories from USA Today via Reuters Connect and Kyle Kaminski. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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