Back From the Brink
On November 3, 76 million Americans said no to Donald Trump and his effort to steer American democracy toward autocracy. As a candidate and as president, Trump had prompted concerns about the fate of democracy within the United States. He had questioned the legitimacy of elections, attacked the free press, called for the arrest of his political opponents, encouraged white supremacists, violated anti-corruption safeguards, implemented nepotism, advocated measures that limit voting, sought more control of the civil service, claimed unbridled executive power, treated the federal government (even the White House grounds) as his own private duchy, and embraced despotic leaders around the world. After the 2020 election was called, Trump branded the results a “fraud,” insisted he had won, and asserted that victory had been stolen from him by left-wing radicals, corrupt Democrats, and the media. He signaled to his supporters that American democracy was utterly crooked—that they shouldn’t trust the results—and many leaders of the Republican Party joined in this treacherous subversion of the election.
Trump’s defeat at the ballot box marked a popular rejection of his drift toward authoritarianism. But beyond his post-election tyrannical tantrum, the most significant bad news was this: After a full term of Trump displaying disdain for
