President Biden met with civil rights groups on Thursday to discuss voter suppression efforts following the demise last week of Democrats’ Voting Rights Act in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers in Texas are renewing their effort to pass restrictive new voting laws in that state. It’s part of a nationwide trend unfolding since the 2020 presidential election.

Democrats are accusing Republicans of undermining democracy with those new laws. But Osita Nwanevu, a writer for The New Republic, says the problem with American democracy goes even deeper.

Here & Now‘s Callum Borchers speaks with Nwanevu.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.