President Trump's attack on open internet imperils democracy

[Commentary] No act of the recklessly authoritarian Trump Administration poses a greater threat to democratic discourse than the now-announced plan to gut network neutrality rules. With newspapers dying, radio syndicated, broadcast television commercialized beyond relevance, and cable television mired in scandal and dead-end punditry, the internet is the essential tool for the communication of ideas and the mobilization of those who choose to resist the autocratic impulses of President Trump and his crony-capitalist cabal.

“Chairman Pai’s plan to gut the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules will devastate black communities,” said Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, the civil rights group that played a vital role in securing the FCC’s embrace of genuine net neutrality in 2015. “Net neutrality is essential to protecting our free and open internet, which has been crucial to today’s fights for civil rights and equality.”