Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump
How policies forged after September 11 were weaponized under Trump and turned on American democracy itself

In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, the American government implemented a wave of overt policies to fight the nation’s enemies. Unseen and undetected by the public, however, another set of tools was brought to bear on the domestic front. In this riveting book, one of today’s leading experts on the US security state shows how these “subtle tools” imperiled the very foundations of democracy, from the separation of powers and transparency in government to adherence to the Constitution.

Taking readers from Ground Zero to the Capitol insurrection, Karen Greenberg describes the subtle tools that were forged under George W. Bush in the name of security: imprecise language, bureaucratic confusion, secrecy, and the bypassing of procedural and legal norms. While the power and legacy of these tools lasted into the Obama years, reliance on them increased exponentially in the Trump era, both in the fight against terrorism abroad and in battles closer to home. Greenberg discusses how the Trump administration weaponized these tools to separate families at the border, suppress Black Lives Matter protests, and attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Revealing the deeper consequences of the war on terror, Subtle Tools paints a troubling portrait of an increasingly undemocratic America where disinformation, xenophobia, and disdain for the law became the new norm, and where the subtle tools of national security threatened democracy itself.

1138906365
Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump
How policies forged after September 11 were weaponized under Trump and turned on American democracy itself

In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, the American government implemented a wave of overt policies to fight the nation’s enemies. Unseen and undetected by the public, however, another set of tools was brought to bear on the domestic front. In this riveting book, one of today’s leading experts on the US security state shows how these “subtle tools” imperiled the very foundations of democracy, from the separation of powers and transparency in government to adherence to the Constitution.

Taking readers from Ground Zero to the Capitol insurrection, Karen Greenberg describes the subtle tools that were forged under George W. Bush in the name of security: imprecise language, bureaucratic confusion, secrecy, and the bypassing of procedural and legal norms. While the power and legacy of these tools lasted into the Obama years, reliance on them increased exponentially in the Trump era, both in the fight against terrorism abroad and in battles closer to home. Greenberg discusses how the Trump administration weaponized these tools to separate families at the border, suppress Black Lives Matter protests, and attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Revealing the deeper consequences of the war on terror, Subtle Tools paints a troubling portrait of an increasingly undemocratic America where disinformation, xenophobia, and disdain for the law became the new norm, and where the subtle tools of national security threatened democracy itself.

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Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump

Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump

by Karen J. Greenberg
Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump

Subtle Tools: The Dismantling of American Democracy from the War on Terror to Donald Trump

by Karen J. Greenberg

Hardcover

$29.95 
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Overview

How policies forged after September 11 were weaponized under Trump and turned on American democracy itself

In the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, the American government implemented a wave of overt policies to fight the nation’s enemies. Unseen and undetected by the public, however, another set of tools was brought to bear on the domestic front. In this riveting book, one of today’s leading experts on the US security state shows how these “subtle tools” imperiled the very foundations of democracy, from the separation of powers and transparency in government to adherence to the Constitution.

Taking readers from Ground Zero to the Capitol insurrection, Karen Greenberg describes the subtle tools that were forged under George W. Bush in the name of security: imprecise language, bureaucratic confusion, secrecy, and the bypassing of procedural and legal norms. While the power and legacy of these tools lasted into the Obama years, reliance on them increased exponentially in the Trump era, both in the fight against terrorism abroad and in battles closer to home. Greenberg discusses how the Trump administration weaponized these tools to separate families at the border, suppress Black Lives Matter protests, and attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Revealing the deeper consequences of the war on terror, Subtle Tools paints a troubling portrait of an increasingly undemocratic America where disinformation, xenophobia, and disdain for the law became the new norm, and where the subtle tools of national security threatened democracy itself.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691215839
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 08/24/2021
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Karen J. Greenberg is director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law, an international studies fellow at New America, and a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her books include Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State and The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Subtle Tools 1

1 Ground Zero 8

2 The Patriot Act 27

3 Homeland 40

4 President Trump and the Subtle Tools 52

5 The Muslim Ban 82

6 Crisis at the Border 97

7 The Deadly Strike: The Killing of General Soleimani 121

8 The Black Lives Matter Protests: Militarizing the Home Front 145

9 The 2020 Elections 173

Conclusion: Biden's Ground Zero 198

Acknowledgments 211

Notes 215

Index 261

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A superb portrait of American democracy’s encounter with Trump—and how we got there. Greenberg offers us a narrative full of fresh, eye-opening insights into the deeper lessons of the post-9/11 era. A great, not-to-be-missed addition to the field.”—Ali Soufan, author of The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11

“A valuable and original work of scholarship that focuses a new lens on American history from 9/11 to the January 6 insurrection.”—Lawrence Wright, author of The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid

Subtle Tools has a great number of original things to say about how the war on terror reshaped the United States in a myriad of ways, many not for the good. Greenberg’s book is argumentative in the widest and best possible sense of the word, and anyone interested in the law, politics, and journalism of the post-9/11 era should read this book.”—Peter Bergen, author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden

“A compelling, fascinating, and original contribution to a topic that is urgently relevant. Greenberg offers the most thorough account that I have read about how the legal and policy choices after 9/11 opened the door for Trump’s rampant executive abuses.”—Jeremi Suri, author of The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office

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