I think the reference is to the war on whistleblowers. That part is more common. Also it is true that protesters are treated worse more recently than they hav

I think the reference is to the war on whistleblowers. That part is more common. Also it is true that protesters are treated worse more recently than they have been for a few decades. The problem though is that if you go back more than a few decades, it is not clear the trend is downward so much as cyclical.