COVID-19 pandemic putting democracy under greater threat: Ex-Trump national security adviser McMaster

Former Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster is just one of many leading figures who is warning that the coronavirus pandemic is harming democracy.

Axios reports that a letter signed by McMaster, along with other prominent leaders such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, warns of governments "amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Parliaments are being sidelined, journalists are being arrested and harassed, minorities are being scapegoated, and the most vulnerable sectors of the population face alarming new dangers as the economic lockdowns ravage the very fabric of societies everywhere," the letter also states.

The letter also argues that democracy is the best system to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, as it promotes "credible and free flows of information, fact-based debate about policy options, the voluntary self-organization of civil society, and open engagement between government and society."

Read the whole letter here.