Summary Reports: American Democracy Summit Opening Plenary - America at a Crossroads

Two AI Reports: Summary of the Whole Opening Plenary and a Deeper Dive into Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's Keynote

May 20, 2025

American Democracy Summit Opening Plenary - America at a Crossroads: 2 Claude AI Reports

This powerful opening session sets the tone for American Democracy Summit 2025, diving into the precarious state of our union and the choices ahead.

Former FEC Chairs Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter will unpack the systemic failures undermining our elections—including unchecked money in politics, coordinated billionaire spending, and structural breakdowns at the FEC and Supreme Court—as well as the growing threats of politicization of our electoral process. A high-energy fireside chat with Amb. Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata of Society for the Rule of Law will dig into efforts to undermine existing systems of accountability and how we might work on these issues across ideological lines. And Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, CEO of RepresentUs, will close with a keynote that calls us to meet this moment with courage, imagination, and unity, recognizing that we are not alone, and that a government that is genuinely accountable to the people is worth standing up for.

Our Elections: Threats and Challenges // Ellen Weintraub , Trevor Potter
Defending Systems of Accountability // Norman Eisen , Gregg Nunziata
Opening Address // Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno
Our Call To Action //Anh-Linh Kearney , Ben Levinsohn

ADS Opening Plenary - America at a Crossroads (5/14/25)

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/4c4fcae7-47a0-49d6-91bb-1b7d6a9caeb2

Executive Overview and Summary

The opening plenary of the American Democracy Summit 2025 set a powerful tone with the theme "We the Future," diving into the precarious state of American democracy and the critical choices ahead. The session brought together leading voices from across the democratic reform movement to address systemic failures undermining elections, threats to the rule of law, and the growing politicization of electoral processes.

Key highlights from the session included:

FEC Crisis and Campaign Finance: Former FEC Chairs Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter exposed how the dismantling of the Federal Election Commission has enabled unprecedented corruption of campaign finance, including Elon Musk's $300 million coordination with the Trump campaign.
Executive Overreach: The session revealed alarming patterns of executive orders attempting to control independent agencies, manipulate election procedures, and undermine judicial independence.
Rule of Law Under Siege: Ambassador Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata discussed the systematic intimidation of judges and prosecutors, with over 150 court orders already issued against unconstitutional actions by the administration.
Cross-Ideological Defense: Conservative voices like Nunziata emphasized that defending democracy requires coming together across partisan divides to protect constitutional principles, demonstrating that these are not partisan issues but foundational American values.
Learning from Global Authoritarianism: CEO Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno drew powerful parallels between current U.S. trends and the authoritarian takeover she witnessed in Peru, warning that democracies often die through "a thousand small cuts" rather than sudden coups.
Call to Movement Building: The session concluded with a powerful call to build a broad-based pro-democracy movement that both defends against immediate threats and reimagines a more responsive democratic system.

Throughout the plenary, speakers emphasized that while the current threats are unprecedented in modern American history, they also present an opportunity to build a more powerful cross-partisan movement for democratic renewal that addresses both acute authoritarian threats and chronic democratic dysfunction.

Opening Remarks: John DeVaan and Max Carver

The session opened with John DeVaan, Chair of the Board of RepresentUs, who set the tone by acknowledging the difficult moment for American democracy:

"We're convening at a very difficult time for democracy in the United States. Many people are afraid to speak out or support our collective efforts. That's why it's really important that we convene. We're the people who are going to refuse to lose our democracy."

DeVaan emphasized the power of collective courage, noting that "courage is contagious" and that the summit participants were there to "model the perseverance and courage we need."

Actor and activist Max Carver then took the stage as MC, sharing a personal perspective on the stakes:

"I'm 36. I'm recently engaged. We're in family planning, always wanted a family, and for the first time in my life, that's actually really scary. You see where things are going. It's not necessarily a check mark. It's a question mark."

Carver introduced the summit theme "We the Future" as a call for people across the country from all backgrounds to come together and shape America's path forward as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary.

Former FEC Chairs: Systemic Election Failures

Ellen Weintraub and Trevor Potter delivered a sobering analysis of the systematic dismantling of election oversight.

Weintraub revealed she had been illegally removed from her position at the FEC through a simple email from the president despite having no legal authority to fire her:

"I got a little email from the president, and he said, you're out. Nobody else is in... Presidents nominating Commissioners, the Senate has to confirm them. Doesn't say anything in the law about presidents firing Commissioners."

The illegal firing was part of what she described as "a systematic effort underway to silence opposition voices, to silence independent voices. They're going after independent agencies. They're going after independent voices in Academia and the media."

Potter emphasized that this was "clearly illegal" under current law, but the administration was "counting on the Supreme Court changing the law" and reversing its precedents.

The conversation exposed how two executive orders have further undermined election integrity:

An order requiring independent agencies like the FEC to clear regulations and court cases with the White House
An order attempting to change voter registration procedures by requiring physical proof of citizenship

Potter revealed that their organization successfully challenged the second order in court:

"We were in court Monday morning... we asked for a preliminary injunction... and the judge agreed with us. The judge wrote a masterful opinion of the Constitution, the views of the framers, history since then to make the point that the Constitution has zero role for the president in federal elections."

The most alarming revelation concerned the 2024 election's unprecedented campaign finance abuses:

"Elon Musk, one individual, the wealthiest person in the world, spent 300 million dollars plus... on behalf of the Trump campaign, much of it spent in key states... and spent in close coordination with the Trump campaign."

Weintraub explained how this violated campaign finance laws:

"The Supreme Court has upheld contribution limits to candidates, and those contribution limits are meaningless if somebody can coordinate directly with the campaign and spend hundreds of millions of dollars."

She contrasted today's corruption with Watergate:

"The FEC was organized in the wake of the Watergate Scandal, which involved about a million dollars. The country was scandalized... In this past election, there were six individual donors who each gave more than a hundred times that amount."

Potter closed by highlighting the complete failure of FEC enforcement, revealing that of 64 complaints filed against Trump and his committees, the FEC staff found 33 showed violations of law, but the commission investigated zero of them.

Senator Raphael Warnock Video Message

In a brief video message, Senator Raphael Warnock encouraged summit participants:

"These are indeed tough times. We're seeing devastating actions at every level of government impacting the kitchen table to Main Street and beyond. And while it may seem overwhelming, we cannot give in to despair. This is what the demagogues want."

He emphasized that "democracy cannot be outsourced" and reminded participants that "our country does not belong to the people in power. The power is in the people."

Rule of Law Fireside Chat: Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata

Ambassador Norm Eisen and Gregg Nunziata of the Society for the Rule of Law provided a cross-partisan perspective on defending democratic institutions.

Nunziata, representing a conservative viewpoint, emphasized why the rule of law transcends partisan divides:

"American democracy is impossible without the Constitution and the rule of law. Without these things, democracy is just a struggle for power between two mobs. It's our laws, our constitution that gives us a framework for our democracy."

Eisen highlighted the unprecedented legal pushback against executive overreach:

"There are now more than a hundred and fifty court orders stopping his unconstitutional and illegal activity... The Democracy Defenders Fund has been involved in about 60 legal matters, pushing back on Trump's illegality."

The conversation then turned to the intimidation of judicial officials. Nunziata described a "deliberate campaign to try to delegitimize the Judiciary, to try to intimidate the Judiciary" including:

The arrest of a judge for managing her courtroom
"Wanted posters" in the House of Representatives for federal judges
Threats to impeach judges who rule against the president
Administration officials calling judges "insurrectionists" or "enemies of the state"

Eisen noted they had organized over 150 retired judges to speak out against these tactics:

"We got over 150 judges appointed by Democrats appointed by Republicans federal state Coast to coast to speak out about the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan. She was indicted this week for simply controlling her courtroom."

He concluded with a message of resilience:

"Donald Trump wanted to dox and harass 6,000 FBI agents because they did nothing more than follow the law and prosecute January 6 violent insurrectionists. We got a court order saying, you can't do that... We're going to keep defending the rule of law."

Miles Taylor Video Message

Former Trump administration official Miles Taylor delivered a video message describing his personal experience with political retaliation:

"A month ago... the president of the United States issued an executive order directing federal agencies to investigate me personally. Now, I'm told by our legal team that this is the first time in the history of the United States that an individual private citizen has been targeted by presidential order for investigation because of their dissent."

Taylor warned of the chilling effect on free speech:

"We worry about this tactic being used to not just punish dissent, but to chill free speech all across our country by targeting people by criminalizing criticism."

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno Keynote

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, CEO of RepresentUs, delivered a powerful keynote drawing parallels between current U.S. trends and her experience with authoritarianism in Peru:

"When I was eight years old, my Peruvian and American family moved to Peru... In 1990, Peruvians voted for an unknown politician, a man called Alberto Fujimori, and over the following years, Fujimori built a criminal system of total control of the government."

She described how Fujimori gradually dismantled democracy:

"Early on, he had his intelligence service engage in surveillance of the opposition. He ran secret death squads... In 1992, Fujimori dissolved Congress and the courts saying that they were corrupt, they were obstructing his agenda and that we needed a new constitution. Many people supported him because it felt like he was bringing order to the chaos."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno explained this pattern has become common globally:

"Fujimori was an early example of what has become a common path to dictator-like power all over the world. They don't come into office through military coup. They're democratically elected leaders who, through a thousand small cuts, hollow out democracy from within."

She then connected this to current events in the U.S.:

"President Donald Trump was democratically elected, but from the moment he took office, he and his network have been dismantling independent institutions from inspectors General offices to the Department of Justice and intimidating the courts."

However, she pivoted to emphasize the current moment also brings opportunity:

"People are starting to reawaken to the importance of core American Democratic ideals... These ideals are no longer something that you read about in history books. They're alive now that they're under assault in a way that they haven't been for a long time. And that's not a left versus right issue. It's an American issue."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno stressed that simply defending the status quo is insufficient:

"In this moment of so much threat, we cannot just be calling for a return to the status quo as of January. Legalized corruption in the form of money in politics has meant that powerful interests have had far more sway in Washington than ordinary people."

She concluded with a message of hope drawn from her experience with Peru's eventual democratic transition:

"Change is always possible. You can't give up. And a government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Closing Call to Action

The session concluded with Anh-Linh Kearney and Ben Levinsohn from RepresentUs delivering a call to action:

"We're usually thousands of miles apart from each other in the different corners of our nation. But this week, we all get to be in the same building... Make a promise to yourselves and to each other that when you get up and walk out of here, you introduce yourself to the person that's here and say, 'How can we support each other? How can we do this together?'"

Conclusion, Summary and Implications

The ADS Opening Plenary painted a stark picture of democracy at a crossroads, with several key themes emerging:

Systematic Institutional Breakdown: From the FEC's paralysis to judicial intimidation, the session documented a comprehensive effort to dismantle the guardrails of democratic governance. The illegal firing of FEC commissioners, executive overreach, and judicial harassment represent a coordinated attempt to consolidate power beyond constitutional limits.

Money as a Corrupting Force: The revelation of Elon Musk's $300 million in coordinated spending highlights how the corruption of campaign finance has reached unprecedented levels, dwarfing the Watergate scandal that originally prompted campaign finance laws.

Cross-Partisan Imperative: Conservative voices like Gregg Nunziata emphasized that defending democratic institutions transcends partisan divides, with constitutional principles providing common ground for Americans across the political spectrum.

Global Democratic Erosion Patterns: Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's powerful comparison to Peru's slide into authoritarianism revealed how democracies typically don't die through sudden coups but through "a thousand small cuts" - a pattern now recognizable in the United States.

Resilience Through Legal Challenges: The 150+ court orders against unconstitutional actions demonstrate that institutional resistance remains potent, though under increasing pressure.

Movement Building Opportunity: Despite the gravity of the threats, speakers consistently emphasized that this moment presents an opportunity to build a more powerful pro-democracy movement that both defends against immediate threats and reimagines a more responsive democratic system.

The session underscored that this critical juncture requires both immediate defensive action to protect democratic institutions and a longer-term vision to address the underlying dysfunctions that have eroded faith in democracy. The American Democracy Summit's theme "We the Future" captures this dual imperative - protecting democracy now while reimagining and rebuilding it for future generations.

As Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno concluded, the struggle for a "government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno Keynote: Lessons from Global Democratic Erosion (ADS 2025)

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d31457c5-f9fa-4955-aeca-6445bada1b96

Executive Overview and Summary

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's keynote address at the American Democracy Summit 2025 provided a powerful analysis of democratic erosion through the lens of her personal experience in Peru and her extensive global human rights work. As the newly appointed CEO of RepresentUs, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno offered unique insights that connected international patterns of authoritarian takeover to current developments in the United States.

Her address presented several crucial frameworks for understanding the current moment:

The "Thousand Cuts" Model of Democratic Erosion: McFarland Sánchez-Moreno described how modern authoritarians typically come to power through democratic elections, then systematically hollow out democratic institutions rather than staging traditional coups.
Personal Testimony from Peru: Drawing on her childhood experience in Peru during Alberto Fujimori's rise to power, she outlined how a democratically elected leader systematically dismantled democratic guardrails and established authoritarian control.
Crisis as Opportunity: Despite the gravity of current threats, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno identified a unique opportunity to build a powerful cross-partisan pro-democracy movement as Americans reawaken to the importance of core democratic values.
Beyond Status Quo Defense: She emphasized that simply defending pre-2025 democratic systems is insufficient, as chronic democratic dysfunction and "legalized corruption" have eroded public faith in democratic institutions.
Movement Building Strategy: McFarland Sánchez-Moreno called for pro-democracy advocates to work across differences, think outside the box, and forge new alliances to build a more accountable governance system.

Her keynote integrated personal narrative, comparative international perspective, and strategic vision to provide a comprehensive framework for both understanding and responding to the current democratic crisis in America.

Personal Experience with Democratic Erosion in Peru

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno began her address by recounting her childhood experience in Peru during a period of political upheaval:

"When I was eight years old, my Peruvian and American family moved to Peru. It was a really difficult time. It was a time of internal war. It was a time of hyperinflation. Price of goods would go up a hundred times in one day."

She described how this environment of chaos and disillusionment created conditions for the rise of an authoritarian leader:

"Many Peruvians were feeling incredibly disillusioned with our political system. They felt their leaders were corrupt, were not listening to them. They were sick of existing parties. And in 1990, Peruvians voted for an unknown politician, a man called Alberto Fujimori."

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno then outlined Fujimori's methodical dismantling of democratic institutions:

Intelligence Service Surveillance: "Early on, he had his intelligence service engage in surveillance of the opposition."
Death Squads: "He ran secret death squads that massacred innocent civilians so that he could show results in the war."
Dissolution of Democratic Institutions: "In 1992, Fujimori dissolved Congress and the courts saying that they were corrupt, they were obstructing his agenda and that we needed a new constitution."
Judicial Control: "When his new Supreme Court ruled that he couldn't run for a third term, he removed three of the justices and ran for president anyway."

Crucially, she noted that many people initially supported these actions because "it felt like he was bringing order to the chaos." By 1997, when she moved to the United States, "it wasn't clear how the country was ever going to get out of it."

The Global Pattern of Democratic Erosion

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno expanded her analysis to identify Fujimori's approach as a template that has been replicated globally:

This framework of "a thousand small cuts" provides a powerful analytical lens for understanding how democracies erode in the modern era—not through dramatic military coups, but through the gradual dismantling of democratic institutions, norms, and safeguards.

Parallel Developments in the United States

Drawing direct connections to current events in the United States, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno outlined alarming parallels:

She detailed specific patterns of democratic erosion taking hold in America:

Dismantling Independent Institutions: From inspectors general to the Department of Justice
Judicial Intimidation: Threatening and attacking courts and judges
Election System Weakening: Undermining the ability to hold free and fair elections
Civil Society Attacks: Including forced disappearances targeting marginalized groups
Corruption of Executive Power: "Exerting influence and control through fear and by effectively selling access to the presidency"

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno warned that "unchecked, the network now in power could fundamentally change the nature of the United States in the long term and entrench itself indefinitely."

Crisis as Democratic Opportunity

Despite the gravity of her analysis, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno pivoted to emphasize the unique opportunity presented by the current crisis:

"When I look at this landscape, I also see a moment of tremendous opportunity. Because people are starting to reawaken to the importance of core American Democratic ideals."

She observed that democratic principles "are no longer something that you read about in history books. They're alive now that they're under assault in a way that they haven't been for a long time. And that's not a left versus right issue. It's an American issue."

This reawakening creates space for "building the kind of powerful pro-democracy and anti-corruption movement that we need to yield large-scale reform nationally at the state level at local level."

Beyond Defending the Status Quo

Perhaps most significantly, McFarland Sánchez-Moreno cautioned against merely seeking a return to pre-2025 democratic conditions:

She identified structural problems that had eroded faith in democracy before the current crisis:

"Our gerrymandered and uncompetitive election systems have made it hard for people to even make much of a difference in the ballot box. For many people, democracy simply hasn't delivered."

This analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the current moment, recognizing that addressing both acute authoritarian threats and chronic democratic dysfunction is necessary to rebuild public faith in democratic governance.

Movement Building Strategy

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno concluded with specific strategic guidance for building an effective pro-democracy movement:

Cross-Movement Collaboration: "For this Summit, we very deliberately brought as broad as possible a cross-section of our movement together from both inside the Beltway and throughout the country. Grassroots and grass tops, structural reformers, litigators, and everybody in between."
Working Across Differences: "Now, more than ever, we need to work across our differences. We need to push back and we need to craft that better Vision for what is possible that will bring others in and carry us through these dark times with power."
New Alliances and Innovation: "This is a time for outside the box thinking and new alliances."
Persistence Despite Challenges: "I've seen many brave, ordinary people, even in the worst and most challenging circumstances, persistently stand up for what is right. And that work makes all the difference."

Lessons from Peru's Democratic Recovery

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno provided hope by sharing how Peru ultimately overcame Fujimori's authoritarian regime:

"The Fujimori government I grew up under eventually came to an end after videos surfaced of his intelligence chief, giving piles of cash to the opposition, big media owners, business people, judges."

She described her personal involvement in holding the former dictator accountable:

"I was later involved in Fujimori's extradition from Chile to Peru to face trial. I was there in the courtroom in 2009, when he was convicted of crimes against humanity."

This experience taught her two critical lessons:

Change is Always Possible: "First, change is always possible, can't give up."
Democratic Maintenance is Ongoing: "A government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."

Aspirational Vision

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno closed with an aspirational vision for the pro-democracy movement:

"If we do our jobs well, I believe we can generate a decisive rejection of corrupt authoritarianism in this country, and we can create the space for the flowering of a new, truly Democratic culture."

This vision balances both defensive actions against immediate threats and proactive work to build more accountable and responsive democratic systems.

Conclusion, Summary and Implications

Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's keynote provided a comprehensive framework for understanding and responding to the current democratic crisis in the United States. By drawing on her personal experience in Peru and extensive global human rights work, she offered unique insights that illuminate both the gravity of current threats and the potential for democratic renewal.

Several key implications emerge from her address:

Pattern Recognition: Understanding the "thousand cuts" model of democratic erosion enables pro-democracy advocates to recognize and respond to authoritarian tactics earlier.
Dual-Focus Strategy: Effective pro-democracy work must simultaneously defend against immediate authoritarian threats while addressing the chronic democratic dysfunctions that eroded public faith in democracy.
Cross-Partisan Foundation: Democratic principles can unite Americans across political divides when framed as foundational American values rather than partisan positions.
Movement Ecosystem: Building an effective pro-democracy coalition requires bringing together diverse approaches—from litigation to structural reform to grassroots organizing—under a shared vision.
Sustained Commitment: Democratic maintenance requires perpetual vigilance and ongoing work, rather than a one-time victory.

McFarland Sánchez-Moreno's comparative international perspective offers a sobering assessment of democratic vulnerability while also providing hope through examples of democratic resilience and recovery. Her emphasis on both democratic defense and democratic renewal provides a comprehensive strategic framework for the American Democracy Summit and the broader pro-democracy movement.

As she concluded: "A government that is truly accountable to the people is something we need to work on all the time, every day. It's a struggle that's never over, but it is so worthwhile."