Republicans use state powers, law enforcement and the judiciary, to criminalize and oppress their opposition and to promote their own interests. I don't see Democrats doing the equivalent of any of the following. I'm not saying that to be partisan, but to point out a very serious situation that has become normalized - I would say the same if the Democrats were doing it. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it is semi-authoritarian.
* Bill Clinton was impeached. As you point out, he did commit perjury. However, the legal standard for impeachment is high crimes and misdemeanors; it was one of only two impeachments in 240 years (EDIT: Plus a third, Nixon, who IIRC would have been impeached if he hadn't resigned). Those are very high standards; obviously if Bill Clinton's wrongdoing was the standard far more would have been impeached. In fact, perjury is very rarely prosecuted for anyone. For example, GW Bush ran an illegal surveillance program - a far more serious crime - and there were no consequences.
* The 2000 Presidential election was decided by Republicans on the Supreme Court. Arguably it may also be a legally legitimate decision, but it was apparently a political one, as the vote was party-line.
* Democratic voters are accused of criminal fraud, with no evidence, and the GOP uses the government to suppress their voting.
* Organizations that register Democrats to vote are criminalized and shut down. Acorn is one prominent example of many.
* Organizations that promote Democrat-favored causes are criminalized. Planned Parenthood is one.
* The GOP used state powers to investigate Hillary Clinton endlessly, on Benghazi and her email server (note that nothing was found for either). Trump is still leaving open the possibility of continuing to investigate her. It cost her the election. Compare that to Trump, for whom there are no known investigations despite brazen sexual harassment, sexual harassment of minors, tax fraud, and much more.
* The FBI openly took actions, contrary to its rules and traditions, that undermined Clinton and probably cost her the election.
The list goes on and I think the pattern is clear.
> it was one of only two impeachments in 240 years
Technically true, but there was that other time when the President resigned rather than face impeachment, which should be counted. If anything, both times that the President was impeached shouldn't count since both were politically motivated. In our country's history, only Nixon--the one you didn't mention--committed crimes that warranted impeachment.
I absolutely agree. It should be anathema; people of all parties should unite to vote out anyone who tries.
However, the article talks about Democrats scheduling local elections (e.g., school board) at times when fewer people vote (e.g., odd years). If true (FiveThirtyEight is credible and the article seems well-reseached), I oppose the practice but I don't think it is at all equivalent to widespread programs intended to actually stop people from registering or voting.
Is there evidence of Democrats doing something more substantial?
The article talks about Democrats deliberately scheduling local elections at times when it's harder for people to make it to the polls: a weekday that's a separate day from a national election when people might be taking time off work to vote anyway. I would call that fairly substantial; that sort of "make it hard for people to get to the polls" thing is _exactly_ what lots of people rightly complain about Republicans doing. And it is in fact quite widespread; as the article notes it's going on in 44 out of our 50 states.
Update: For the rest, if you're looking for exact counterparts to your list of talking points, I don't have the time to look up references right now.
If you just want a general example of malfeasance, look no further than the systematic way the Democrat-dominated Illinois legislature discriminates against third-party candidates by requiring different numbers of petition signatures for different parties to get on the ballot at all. I have no doubt whatsoever that they'd do this for the Republican party too if there were just slightly fewer Republican voters in the state.
This sort of thing varies by location, of course; my experience in Massachusetts has been that there is a lot less of that sort of thing going on than in Illinois. We do have the election-scheduling thing in Massachusetts, though...
I agree the Democrats do things I don't like, and they should be addressed. Again, I don't think it's at all comparable to what I posted above and I think false equivalencies, often in the name of non-partisan 'fairness' (I don't know if that applies to you), are dangerous.
A good point and I'd forgotten about that allegation; thanks. My thoughts:
My memory is that the IRS was legitimately investigating illegal campaign finance, which happened to be among some Republican groups. GOP members of Congress used their power to shut down a legitimate law-enforcement investigation. (Note that the GOP has a history of this: They also have effectively disabled the Federal Election Commission by appointing members who veto almost every enforcement action against Republicans.) If my memory is accurate, it's further abuse of state power for the party's interests.
As a result, the U.S. has no campaign finance enforcement AFAIK. The IRS won't get near it, fearing Congressional Republicans, and the FEC has been hobbled.
Finally, even if my memory is false, it doesn't match up to the GOP pattern of behavior.
* Bill Clinton was impeached. As you point out, he did commit perjury. However, the legal standard for impeachment is high crimes and misdemeanors; it was one of only two impeachments in 240 years (EDIT: Plus a third, Nixon, who IIRC would have been impeached if he hadn't resigned). Those are very high standards; obviously if Bill Clinton's wrongdoing was the standard far more would have been impeached. In fact, perjury is very rarely prosecuted for anyone. For example, GW Bush ran an illegal surveillance program - a far more serious crime - and there were no consequences.
* The 2000 Presidential election was decided by Republicans on the Supreme Court. Arguably it may also be a legally legitimate decision, but it was apparently a political one, as the vote was party-line.
* Democratic voters are accused of criminal fraud, with no evidence, and the GOP uses the government to suppress their voting.
* Organizations that register Democrats to vote are criminalized and shut down. Acorn is one prominent example of many.
* Organizations that promote Democrat-favored causes are criminalized. Planned Parenthood is one.
* The GOP used state powers to investigate Hillary Clinton endlessly, on Benghazi and her email server (note that nothing was found for either). Trump is still leaving open the possibility of continuing to investigate her. It cost her the election. Compare that to Trump, for whom there are no known investigations despite brazen sexual harassment, sexual harassment of minors, tax fraud, and much more.
* The FBI openly took actions, contrary to its rules and traditions, that undermined Clinton and probably cost her the election.
The list goes on and I think the pattern is clear.