US democracy at risk, with or without Trump
Americans should not take democracy for granted, and must overcome their deepening partisan animosities.
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PRESIDENT Donald Trump hasn't destroyed the republic. This should not surprise us. Our democratic institutions are strong. And Mr Trump, despite his reckless attacks on democratic norms, is a weak and inept leader.
But that doesn't mean democracy is safe. The problems America faces run deeper than the Trump presidency. While Mr Trump's autocratic impulses have fuelled the US political system's mounting crisis, he is as much a symptom as he is a cause of this crisis.
We should not take democracy for granted. There is nothing intrinsic in US culture that immunises us against its breakdown. Even our brilliantly designed Constitution cannot, by itself, guarantee democracy's survival. If it could, then the republic would not have collapsed into civil war 74 years after its birth.
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