Defeating Trump in November will not save democracy

[Hume]

There is a serious chance that American voters will deliver the presidency to a man who tried to overturn the results of the last election, who directed his supporters to storm the Capitol to keep him in power and who repeatedly calls for vengeance against his political opponents. He still won’t say whether he will accept the outcome of the November election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/23/autocracy-voters-democracy-trust-decay/

 

[Hume]

Unlike the military dictatorships of yore, stained by their illegitimate use of force, the new authoritarians ride waves of popular support. They represent themselves as the righteous sword of some unitary, aggrieved “popular will” in an existential battle against not a standard political opponent but an illegitimate and corrupt enemy, whose defeat requires wielding power unfettered by irksome checks and balances.