From Democracy To Democrazy: A Warning To All Americans

by Elizabeth Graham

This book attempts to warn Americans of Trump's relationship to Putin. People across the United States think that Trump's crimes were committed because of his inflated ego and his desire to continue as a big-shot President on the world stage. What if his real crime is treason? What if he was compromised by Putin - which means there are photos, or he was being controlled and bribed because of money owed to Russians? Trump and his followers talk about "saving America" but the realistic facts and proof show us that they are destroying our country. Proof was seen in the insurrection on January 6th, 2021.

Mitt Romney commented on the level of "fear" used in Trumpism. The American Congressional Republicans and especially those who have been radicalized (MAGA) operate by instilling fear of Trump's revenge. In the Russian Congress (upper and lower houses), no one votes against Putin for fear that they or a member of their family will be threatened, thrown in prison, or murdered - sound familiar? Putin and other dictators worldwide instill fear and make threats to elected officials, so they do as the leader wishes - just like Trump. Government by fear is called a dictatorship and NOT A DEMOCRACY.

Kirkus Professional Review Graham's comparative assessment between life in the U.S. and life in Russia is a deeply personal account of her own life. It is an intriguing and informative "must read" from a woman who is probably among the best-informed Americans on Russian history, the terrifying realities concerning Putin's motivations to destroy the U.S., the global controlling efforts of the KGB/FSB, the lethal rules of crime/business in Russia, and most importantly the dark clandestine relationship between Putin and Trump - a relationship which has obstructed American politics and American lives from 2015 to today.

236 pages, Paperback

Published October 12, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Elizabeth Graham (1):
E. Schattner wrote as Elizabeth Graham and Emma Church.

Reviews

[Thomas Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the author's perspective from living and working in Russian and post-Soviet states. At times, there is an alarmist tone, which while I do not disagree with her concerns, the ALL CAPS and repeated "wake up," etc., I think is more offputting than convincing. Her book is well-researched with extensive bibliography for each chapter and key point.

She assesses Trump and his MAGA following in ways I find accurate, particularly seeing Trump as a Putin-lover:

Donald Trump has a sizable following of similar-thinking voters throughout the U.S. They ignore his vulgarity, his lack of leadership ability, his daily lies and constant conspiracy theories, his massive ignorance, his manipulation of the law for personal gain, his lack of even basic reading skills and retention, his racial slurs, and his four bankruptcies. They do not understand that he is mimicking Putin...

....

Our country is so full of bull shit that people no longer know what to believe – especially about Trump. This results in people voting along party lines without a concerned conscience or a logical and informed decision process. Voting is not intended to be a rote process – it is a serious responsibility. It requires each voter to study their choices and vote based on factual information. Intelligent voting is critical to a democracy and should not be about “loyalty” to a party or a man.
...

After visiting Moscow in 2001, Trump was quoted as saying: “I have just returned from Russia. The women there have no morals. You gotta get out there.”

It makes me wonder all the more about Still a summit secret: What happened in Helsinki between Putin and Trump?

She tracks this back to his business dealing and overtures which I have heard him deny or downplay which I feel is disingenuous:

Trump was obviously indebted to these Russians and has been associated with many Russians, some as early as 1990. Dmitry Rybolovlev29 and Oleg Deripaska30 are among Trump’s Russian connections. In fact, Deripaska was recently arrested (November 2021) by the FBI in Washington, D.C. with issues related to the 2016 Trump campaign. Both these men were involved in the Christi auction of the supposedly daVinci painting called Salvator Mundi31 along with two Saudi’s who purposely outbid each other possibly to laundry money. This painting has since disappeared.32 Rybolovlev bought a Trump Palm Beach home for $100 million33 (he later demolished the property) which was purchased by Trump four years earlier for $40 million. The Mueller investigation suggested that this purchase was to save Trump from another bankruptcy. The question is why? In 2016, Trump reportedly met twice with Rybolovlev just before the U.S. election.

She goes after the innate racism of the society that supports Trump, particularly through severe and lethal policing:

...studies have shown that those police officers with military experience are more prone to commit local shootings and killings and to use unnecessary force and brutality.

She points out the police union leadership in this right-wing direction which I read of in Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul:

...police unions’ role in the warping of American law enforcement has also prompted some difficult conversations on the left. The presence of a segment of a union movement that’s unapologetically right-wing and hostile to Black communities has tested the limits of solidarity from more left-wing unionists.

She points out the first Trump reign saw fiscal mismanagment that cannot be entirely blamed on the pandemic.

...This was the largest descent in the history of the United States. And yes, Trump was accountable for this fiscal blunder because managing the U.S. economy is included in the job description handed to every single President of the United States. “Donald Trump built a national debt so big (even before the pandemic) that it will weight down our country’s economy for years.”6 As a reminder, Trump has declared bankruptcy four times – not just once! Once is a mistake, but four bankruptcies are an indication of gross financial mismanagement or deliberate fraud...

Perhaps the most concerning content is the details on Putin's covert efforts to undermine American democracy and it's role as a world leader.

Inflation in the United States as of November 2021, has impacted the approval rating of President Biden. Inflation prices of meat, gas and oil, other groceries and goods, are all due to Russia’s cyber-attacks on the supply chain and delivery of products to the American consumer. Microsoft has proved that at least 58% of the supply chain issues in the U.S. are due to Russian hacking.

This includes hints as Russian-orchestrated assassinations in the, perhaps very close to Trump if they are true.

Ivana Trump died from a blunt blow to her head. News and media outlets reported that she fell down her apartment steps – the same steps which she successfully navigated daily for decades, and of course it is possible that she did accidently fall. However, her death also could have been a warning to Trump that Putin is not happy with the way things are going in the U.S.

...

In August 2022, “the mysterious death of a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – in a Washington, D.C.’s West-End neighborhood is drawing fury from some of the Kremlin’s best-known global detractors – but scant notice in Washington, where police say they don’t suspect foul play – it is about Dan Rapoport’s fall from a luxury apartment building on the night of August 4th, 2022.34 Rapoport made a fortune in Moscow and then moved back to the U.S. after running afoul of the Russian Government.

There is even a suggestion of Russian influence leading to the 9/11 attacks.

In 2000, I was driving from the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan. There was a poster on a telephone pole that caught my eye. I asked my driver to stop the car and I climbed up the pole – wearing a dress - and retrieved it. Because I cannot get copyright approval to publish a copy of this poster, I can only describe it. The poster was a photograph of an angry President George W. Bush pointing a finger and saying in Russian, “if you do not believe in (our) democracy, we will fly to (attack) your country next.” Later I learned that this poster was seen all over Central Asia and was believed to be the work of a local division of al-Qaeda. This poster of President Bush was found twenty-one years ago. It was only six months later that commercial airlines flew into the Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania – but was intended to hit the nation’s symbol of democracy – the Capitol.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

So we didn't learn our lesson from Trump's first presidency and of course, American's memories are so short and their hatred for differing opinions and ways of life so strong that they'd vote for this twice impeached, convicted felon, sexual predator, failed businessman and overall poor excuse of a human being again. God help the USA and our form of democracy. I wish everyone would have truly done their homework and research (including reading this book) before voting. I pray that we stay together as a nation during the next four years...