David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist will be giving his talk “How to Save Our Democracy” in Jamestown tonight. Submitted photo

David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist who has made his name known in the world of economics and investigative reporting will speak tonight in Jamestown.

Johnston is a specialist in economics, tax issues and Donald Trump. His discussion tonight at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown, 1255 Prendergast Ave., at 7:30 p.m. tonight is titled “How to Save Our Democracy.” At 76 years old, Johnston has written multiple bestselling economic books, and has also written multiple times on Trump, saying he has covered Trump longer than anyone else — with coverage dating back to 1988 — and knows him extremely well.

Johnston has been writing about the troubles that society faces because of the economy since 1980, focusing specifically on issues such as taxes, economic policy and subsidies. His economics bestsellers include “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill”, which he published in 2008. “Free Lunch” focuses on hidden subsidies, rigged markets and corporate socialism. His earlier book “Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich–and Cheat Everybody Else”, looks at the United States tax system and changed the way people understand taxes in America, also winning the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2003 Book of the Year award.

Johnston has penned eight books overall, including three on Trump: “The Making of Donald Trump” — a 2016 biography –, “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” — published in 2018, assessing Trump’s efforts to dismantle civil rights and environmental laws –, and “The Big Cheat” — documenting how Trump enriched himself and his family during his first term.

These days, Johnston serves as a Professor of Practice at Rochester Institute of Technology where he teaches criminal justice, law, journalism and is set to soon be teaching public policy. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He has given talks on every continent except for Antarctica, including in Jamestown before, and his talk in Jamestown on Thursday will focus specifically on Trump and the dangers he and his administration pose to democracy.

“On February 26 Donald Trump effectively declared himself a dictator,” Johnston said. “I have been warning people for years that he would do that and that he would never leave peacefully, and look what happened on January 6.”

Johnston gave a few examples of how Trump has already tried to be a dictator in his second term, including claiming he is in charge of not only the country but the world, and his federal funding cuts to things such as schools and educational systems. He said the economy plays a big part in what has allowed dictators to come to power such as during World War II during the first half of the century, and what allowed for dictators then is the same thing that allowed Trump to return to power now.

“When fascists came into power during World War II, the economy was not working for people so they turned to the ones who said they could save them,” Johnston said. “Donald Trump said the same thing and that he could save them from the economy that was not working for them.”

Johnston referred to Trump as being “appallingly ignorant” in many ways, including that he had to have it explained to him why there is a memorial at Pearl Harbor. He added that Trump is “all bluster” and “the greatest con artist in history.”

“I have exposed multiple con artists, murders, and spies over the history of my career and Donald Trump was one of the people that I identified to pay attention to back in my 20s and 30s,” Johnston said.

Other people Johnston had on his list that he helped to expose include the hotelier Barron Hilton, the son of the man who created Hilton Hotels, political spying in the Los Angeles Police Department and multiple other crimes, along with misuse of charitable funds at United Way and news manipulation at WJIM-TV in Lansing, Michigan. Additionally, in 1983, Johnston’s reporting of newer information regarding a problematic murder investigation helped a man who had been previously tried four times to win an acquittal during his fifth trial, also solving his first murder at 21 years old.

“I thought Donald Trump would be someone to keep an eye on as he was so good at manipulation and lying,” Johnston said. “I said he would become president one day, and he did. I was one of the first to say that back in 2011, but that is on track with my career as I often write things before they are widely understood. Our democracy is in danger from Donald Trump, who has said his only mistake in life was leaving office in 2021; he sees himself as a dictator.”

These days, Johnston added that a lot of people do not know what it takes to be a successful democracy in the first place, citing that the original American government failed after seven years, leading to America currently being known as the Second Republic, after the original government was removed and the country went under the power of the Constitution. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution, which gives power to Congress for things such as taxes and tariffs, and regulating commerce, is also part of a successful democracy, he said.

Johnston added that there is no guarantee that any democracy will remain prosperous and that people’s freedoms will endure. He gave modern day examples such as ICE holding people that are legal citizens, tourists coming into the country over the border being held in “horrible conditions”, and Trump trying to consolidate his power by firing inspector generals.

“He told specific people who call themselves Christians that if they voted for him they would never have to vote again,” Johnston said. “I have been warning people for years that he would never leave peacefully, and then January 6 happened, and he pardoned people who had committed vicious crimes that day. I believe it is important for people to understand what is happening and what they can do about it.”

Institutions used to exist until the 1990s to help people understand political and social justice issues such as this, Johnston said, because ordinary citizens were not expected to be able to do everything and it was not seen as reasonable for them to work, raise a family, do everything else and still be involved with politics.

Johnston also recently wrote a column for the DC Report titled “I’m Not Leaving” following three professors at Yale University leaving the country to work in Toronto because they felt they could not continue their work. He said his column talks on how he’s not leaving the country even as he believes Trump will round up people he detests, including Johnston himself.

“On Thursday I will explain things that ordinary citizens should know and do to make sure democracy lives as Donald Trump asserts his authority in renaming sports teams, what people can teach, and grabs people off of the streets,” Johnston said. “Our democracy is in serious trouble and we will lose it if people don’t understand. I have been at this a long time and I’m still batting 1,000 when it comes to my predictions with Donald Trump. I have not been wrong once. I know there are people who are not going to want to hear this message because they think he is some great savior, but my insights have always been spot on.”