Democracy, in its idealistic and theoretical format is a boon to society as at its core it envisages a society that is free and equal and the fundamental tenet of democracy is the people’ s involvement in the way they are governed.
Democracy espouses popular sovereignty affirming that ultimate power rests with the people and that the people cede power to their representatives and that there is political equality in that every eligible elector’ s vote and voice holds equal weight.
Individual freedoms and rights are guaranteed in democracy and these fundamental liberties include freedom of speech, which has spawned a vibrant press, freedoms of assembly and of religion which are protected for both believers and nonbelievers.
Democracy is insistent on the rule of law and everyone, including the government, is subject to the law. This goes hand in hand with the principle of accountability where the government is responsible to the people and can be removed through regular free and fair elections.
However, as one would say, things on the ground are quite different and democracy has failed to live up to its high ideals due to inherent flaws in the system aided by external pressures including the fickle human nature itself.
Trump’ s evil genius is his ability to figure out the flaws in the democratic system and use those flaws to circumvent the checks and balances while at the same time appealing to his fanatical MAGA base to legitimize illegal activity.
Trump has used the tyranny of the majority to oppress and disregard the rights and interests of minorities. He has even succeeded in revoking the legal status of immigrants in the country bypassing due process labeling them as criminals.
The democratic ideal assumes engaged and informed voters, in practice however, this is never the truth as most voters are ignorant of key policy issues and they vote purely on emotion and identity without any rational considerations.
Trump knows how to whip up the emotions of his political base and most of his voters did not even understand that the very issues that they supported in practice would cause them to pass ill-conceived laws that would eventually harm them.
The bureaucratic nature of democracy is both slow and unwieldy and the periodic nature of elections creates policy instability through frequent government changes which makes it hard for leaders to pursue long-term projects.
Trump has found a convenient loop-hole in executive orders which he issues with total abandon and although most of them are actually illegal, by the time the matter is challenged in court, he has achieved the required effect cheered on by his base.
Political financing is what drives democracies today. It has been repeatedly said that without money one cannot go into politics and here we are talking about megabucks which can only be supplied by special interest groups and corporates.
As the saying goes, the financier calls the tune and in Trumps government we have witnessed how the role of money subverts democracy. The United States is currently an oligarchy run by a handful of billionaires originally led by Elon Musk.
In countries where the income gap between the wealthy and the common man is huge then the idea of political equality is a myth. The wealthy control politics, they most likely own the media which in turn influences the public opinion.
Trump by any definition is a media celebrity and whether or not he is an actual or reality billionaire is not the issue here since he is a voracious consumer of media and is more concerned about his media rating than his performance as a president.
The Trump base are enamored with their president’ s antics and they relate to him more as an entertainer than a politician. His political meeting and press conferences are performances where the more insulting and vulgar he is the better.
Democracy has a tendency to create political polarization in that opponents don’ t see each other as individuals with better ideas to serve the public but as mortal enemies. Americans tend to be born into parties rather than choose the one with a better manifesto.
This has created a dreadful anomaly in The United States where the president is actually elected by seven swing states since all the other forty-seven states are predetermined by party allegiance which is akin to religion.
Trump was able to pull the monumental feat of managing to sweep all the swing states ensuring his victory albeit by a thin margin. And it is more significant when you take into consideration that he did not win the popular vote.
You can hardly call this democracy where you begin elections with voters holding rigid positions and a partisan media with an influential social media presence that by and large erodes basic democratic norms that dictate that voters make an informed choice.
It has become very clear in the modern-day democracies that the threat to democracy does not come from an ideological difference but that democracies are undermined and subverted by duly elected democratic leaders although the veracity of the elections is also debatable.
These democratic leaders use their power and financial inducement to weaken independent institutions like the judiciary and the legislature so they rewrite electoral rules while intimidating opponents and supporters alike to ensure they toe the line.
Trump in his first term packed the Supreme Court with conservative judges with the specific view that he can then influence the decisions of the courts. Trump is not shy to threaten his own party members who do not do his bidding and is even willing to campaign against them.
Important offices like the Attorney General and sensitive federal offices like the FBI and the CIA including crucial cabinet positions like the State Department in Trumps administration are held by unsuitable cronies whose only qualification is their ability to answer to him.
Trump has managed to dismantle the system of checks and balances with a contemptuous disregard to court orders and manages to ridicule and threaten judges by his now familiar dismissive remark of them being un-American.
His base loves this tough persona as they equate it to the good old days of the wild west where being tough and ruthless was currency for survival, a clearly revisionist view of cowardly criminals exterminating unarmed natives to steal their land.
There has been a general spike in farright political sentiments across the globe and with it has come a resurgence of populist politics that lead naturally into authoritarianism since the leaders claim to speak for the people against the corrupt elite.
This narrative is so effective yet totally inane in that a billionaire can present
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