I spent a bit of time looking for a definitive list of the ways Donald Trump is using the transition period to sabotage American democracy, and why we should care about it, but I didn't find one. I'd like to put together a compilation, but that's a moving target... and there's a lot of "debatable" in parts of it. At the risk of leading my target with scatter shot, the "salting the earth" falls into several groups:
* Doubling down on questionable policy positions which are in the President's purview, but are openly opposed by outside experts - e.g. the appointment of Judy Shelton to the Fed's governing board and speeding up a retreat from Afghanistan
* Undermining trust in the election process with broad, unsubstantiated claims of fraud: Democracy and the law both depend on trusting the systems and people to act in accordance with the written rules, and that trust is undermined when a con man with a megaphone convinces partisans and subordinates there is doubt. Trump is losing the various legal battles but damaging the reputation of election officials in the process, even Republican ones.
* Trump continues to encourage violence in his name, and many of those who believe his claims of fraud are joining in. His encouragement of violence in defense of his ego is part of a long pattern.
* He undermines the safety and security of Americans, and the proper functioning of the federal government by illegally blocking Biden's team from classified briefings, from coordination with current federal employees, and from preparing for the January transition. You know the few weeks (or months) of being confused at a new job, wondering who's in charge of different issues, or who to report problems to? Perhaps you've worked for a startup where there was confusion about job responsibilities or the company's business plan? Multiply that across the entire federal government. Congress mandated that the transition be as smooth as possible to minimize these problems and their impact on national security. National security, the economy, and federal response to the coronavirus will all likely be damaged.
* By purging those he sees as loyal to the law over him personally, and pressuring other high level officials to pretend he won, he is making preparations to attempt to stay in office illegally. At the very least, he is raising doubts within the civil service about what they should do if Trump's cabinet refuses to go peacefully, orders more heavy-handed tactics, or if there are competing claims to high level control of the federal government.
* He has a history of pardoning cronies, of promising pardons to those who break the law on his behalf, and of saying he can pardon himself. I expect additional pardons in the coming weeks, but obviously can't forecast who and when. Such pardons are likely to complicate efforts to understand and mitigate the damage that has already been done, lower the bar for pardoning future criminals, and introduce raw partisanship into the legal process.
* His ongoing use of disinformation makes it harder for the news media to be accurate, clear, persuasive and parsimonious: We know and understand less than we would if he were silent because outside experts must spend so much time and effort debunking his lies.