There is no such thing as a 'democratic republic'. The United States was never a democracy. It was organized as a federated republic.
A democracy is government by popular vote. I has not constitution and no representatives. A republic is government by law (in other words, a constitution). That constitution defines what representatives exist, their power and authority, their term of office, and the procedure used for electing them.
A federation is layered government. In the case of the United States, each city, county, and State also have their own constitutions. They are also republics.
The term 'democratic republic' is an oxymoron. A republic is not a democracy, and a democracy is not a republic.
Democrats have and continue to commit election fraud, causing elections to fault. This happened in the 2020 election, and continues to happen in the 2022 election (which caused faults in AZ and PA).
The 2024 election is already taken a dirty new direction with the indictment and pending trial of Trump, based on no definable crime.
The Democrats don't want a republic. They deny and discard the Constitution of the United States and all State constitutions. The Democrats executed a coup in place of the 2020 election and installed Biden as Chief Puppet. Obama is the real power, effectively executing a '3rd term', which is as unelected as Biden is. Democrats want an oligarchy. That is a dictatorship by committee. This is the same path the Nazis took.
I travel across the States fairly regularly. I talk to people in every region of the States. The Constitution isn't dead. It is held in honor by the people across the States. They want to see the government to once again honor the constitution that defines it. The only exception I find are hard core Democrats.
Frankly, I don't see how civil war can be avoided now. Consider:
If Trump wins, the Democrats will go ape and begin the war.
If Trump loses, the Democrats will to ape and implement tyranny, starting the war.
Already, many Democrats (including many here) are rushing to claim 'innocence' and 'victimhood' in trying to deny what they've done and what they plan to do.