'The United States in decline': Trump's attack on democracy sets off alarm bells in new report on global freedom

A new report from Freedom House, an independent watchdog that monitors freedom and democracy across the world, contains some disturbing information about the status of democracy in America under President Donald Trump.

The organization's 2019 "Freedom in the World" report claims that freedom in the United States has continued to backslide under President Donald Trump and his brash challenges to democratic norms and American traditions.

In fact, the trends in America are so disturbing that Freedom House has dedicated an entire section in its press release that details "the United States in decline."

Even though Freedom House believes that democracy in the U.S. is still "robust," it warns that American institutions are no longer as strong as many observers once believed.

"Having observed similar patterns in other nations where democracy was ultimately overtaken by authoritarianism, Freedom House warns that the resilience of US democratic institutions in the face of such an assault cannot be taken for granted," the organization writes.

Among other things, Freedom House says that America's score has been hurt over the last year by "policies and actions that improperly restricted the legal rights of asylum seekers, signs of discrimination in the acceptance of refugees for resettlement, and excessively harsh or haphazard immigration enforcement policies that resulted in the separation of children from adult family members, among other problematic outcomes."

Read the whole report here.