Opinion: Goodbye, democracy — it’s Trump’s America now

Story by Chris Truax, opinion contributor. November 8, 2024.

  • Election Result: Donald Trump has been re-elected as President of the United States, despite concerns about his approach to democracy and rule of law.
  • Voter Sentiment: The article suggests that voters were aware of Trump’s controversial traits and still chose to support him.
  • Future Concerns: There is a fear that this election result could lead to increased demagoguery in American politics, potentially affecting both parties.
  • Democratic Trust: The author expresses concern that the cycle of political retribution and distrust may continue, undermining democratic principles.

Donald Trump is a wolf in wolf’s clothing.

  • Trump disdains the rule of law and democracy1.
  • Voters knew about his dark impulses.
  • Voters knew about his lust for retribution. (How could they not? “I am your retribution” was one of his slogans.)
  • Voters knew about his conspiracy theories2.
  • Voters knew about his lies3.
  • Voters heard the warnings from his own past advisers that Trump wanted to rule as a dictator.
  • Voters heard from his past advisers that Trump was “fascist to the core.”
  • Voters were okay with all this. Many of them relished it.

Kamala Harris reached out to centrist voters and ran a good campaign with a clear message about defending American democracy.

In 2016, we could all pretend that Trump was an aberration. Not this time. People knew exactly what they were voting for. Democracy just isn’t that high on the list of priorities4.

The likely chaos of the last two years of Trump’s upcoming term may become fertile ground for a populist demagogue. A billionaire who flouts the laws that apply to everyone else and hands out pardons and special deals to his cronies while ordinary people suffer is a tempting foil if you want to whip up popular anger.

For 250 years we have had this quaint notion that democracy was an end in itself. But all good autocrats know that democracy is just a tool5 to be discarded when it’s no longer useful.

Trump is very open about his belief that the only fair election is an election he wins; his running-mate, JD Vance, has said much the same thing. Assuming Trump does not run for a third term — an idea he has floated in the past — Vance is likely to be the Republican nominee in 2028. Given the amount of power Trump plans on accumulating as president, it’s hard to imagine Trump and the people around him shrugging their shoulders and walking away from the presidency simply because they lose an election.

@RalphHightower: Elected Trumper legislators have chosen “Party Over Country.”

  1. @RalphHightower: The only times that Trump prefers law and order is when it suits him. ↩

  2. @RalphHightower: Trump spread fears through conspiracies during FEMA’s recovery operations in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, undermining government’s recovery operations. @MTG out-Trumps Trump in crazy, conspiracy theories. ↩

  3. @RalphHightower: Trump is a pathological liar. ↩

  4. @RalphHightower: ↩

  5. @RalphHightower: People are tools to Trump. ↩