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When a European looks at the winding queues at polling stations on US presidential election day, he does not seem to see a well-functioning democratic institutional system. How can someone in the United States be waiting hours to vote? And if things look bad from the outside, it is almost understandable that people within the United States have weakened their faith in the electoral process and, therefore, in the democratic system, the CEU Institute of Democracy said at a panel discussion on the current state of American democracy. Participants agreed that a democratic crisis has taken root in the United States as a result of Donald Trump’s four-year term, which will hardly disappear with the election of a new president.
This manifests itself in nothing more than the concept of Trumpism, which is becoming increasingly entrenched in the public consciousness and does not yet have a precise definition.
According to David Runciman of the University of Cambridge, the serpentine lines illustrate the magnitude of participation, which is positive. At the same time, the record turnout (more than 150 million Americans have never voted) also points to the polarization of society, including the
that one side fears the victory of the other.
The rejection of Trump’s second presidential term is the first step in normalizing the established democratic system. Nonetheless, Runciman expressed his belief that if there were no coronavirus epidemic, Trump would be re-elected. Although the president didn’t have the real thing,
An exceptional activist, he addresses the masses in a way that has long been an example.
He also managed to mostly accompany the rural, working-class, and uneducated masses, even though he himself had an educated, metropolitan, and cosmopolitan background, as did a significant portion of Democratic voters.
Apocalypse now
And Stephen Holmes, a New York University staff member, says this signals that half of the United States doesn’t understand the other, which only exacerbates Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his electoral defeat.
And before the elections
he applied the rhetoric that if he didn’t win, he was the last option in America.
This apocalyptic vision resonates well with many who feel that they have been forgotten by society and are in dire straits.
This creates in them the image that they only have a future with Trump.
Republican voters believe that the electoral process has been affected to their detriment, although the reality is that it is the Republicans who have shaped the electoral system, for example, by redesigning the constituencies or the composition of the electoral body, to their benefit. That’s why Democrats also feel like they’re trying to make it impossible.
So the electoral system is galvanized, that’s a fact, but in the meantime, supporters on both sides are pointing fingers at each other, increasing mistrust between them.
Stephen Holmes thinks.
Runciman said that American democracy was also in crisis because
Voters think that democracy is about presidential elections every four years.
However, the presidential election is not a democracy in itself that manifests itself at the state, county and city levels, regardless of who the president is. It is as if the outcome of the 2020 elections has been a turning point from which there is no turning back. Runciman highlighted:
If anything was truly a unique occasion, it was the British Nazi Brexit vote in 2016.
And according to US policy, the outcome of the 2016 elections will have a much greater impact going forward, as three conservative justices, among others, were elected to the federal Supreme Court as the Constitutional Court during Trump’s term, including Runciman.
Nadia Urbinati, from Columbia University in New York, said at the CEU forum:
a key element of democracy is the “losing contribution”, that is, the recognition of electoral defeat and the search for a common denominator.
However, under Trump, the voices promoting conspiracy theories intensified and the president himself contributed greatly to increasing doubts and mistrust of democratic institutions. We are currently witnessing the overthrow of the rules of democracy and war: supporters of the two main socially and economically divided American parties are convinced that the other camp is incapable of meeting the conditions of a functioning democracy. According to Nadia Urbinati, therefore, there is also a general opinion that the other party is not willing to compromise, so it is better not even to look for a common denominator with them.
The culture of challenge
Stephen Holmes is convinced that the Trump-instigated rebellion will not be absorbed by the fact that Joe Biden is expected to move into the White House in January. According to
the president also has a role to play in setting an example for citizens on how to behave.
However, Trump sets a negative example, which is a kind of empowering people to bring out the worst in themselves. Simply put, Trump’s defiance of the election result sets a kind of behavioral example for his supporters. His message that the entire system is illegitimate affects the thinking of the entire country and calls into question the legitimacy of the Democratic presidency.
However, Runciman said it is also worth a message that Trump is the first of the world’s autocratic leaders to “fall.” He will have more message value if he has to be physically expelled from the White House. However, it can also be reversed. The big question, according to Runciman, is: how much fuss can Trump cause in the future?
It is conceivable that
the President of the United States will remain in public life after January 20, and RECEIVED FROM THE FIRST DAY going through the Biden presidency.
A Cambridge University staff member recalls that the president is extremely adept at mobilizing his supporters, and how much galiba he will cause after his tenure depends on how many people he supports.
Why not set up a TV channel that has your adventure on screen for 24 hours? Runciman begs the question, echoing Urbinati’s finding that
Trump leaves the White House, but not the country.
Trump has been whipping and trying to discredit the press that criticizes him for years, but he is no stranger to the media world and has mastered the use of social media to perfection. Only the Twitter page, which yesterday declared that it won the elections, is followed by almost 90 million. The question arises:
What if, once his term is over, he proclaims himself legitimate president and convinces millions of his supporters of it?
Runciman is optimistic: While Trump is capable of doing more damage to his faith in democracy, it’s easy for his voice to die over time and become dull. This, in turn, will already depend on the Biden presidency.
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