Alex Beam has a Boston Globe column:
the "democracy is imperiled" crowd insists that democracy has become endangered ever since Donald Trump took office. I disagree...
Playing the pitch pipe for the "democracy is imperiled" amen chorus is Yale professor Timothy Snyder, who has likened Trump to Adolf Hitler. Snyder preaches that "we are hanging by our teeth to the rule of law," and that a presidential coup attempt "is more or less inevitable."There is quite an audience for this pap, reinforced by Snyder's status as a once-respected professor at a university that people have heard of....
Trump is a president I would not have wished on my worst enemies. Having said that, people seem to forget that 63 million Americans voted for Trump and his vaguely defined agenda: Sort out immigration, build a conservative firewall on the Supreme Court, and minimize — or better, eliminate — government regulation in many fields.So that's democracy. Your idea, perhaps my idea of where the country should be heading is indeed imperiled. But just because the system isn't working for us doesn't mean it's not working.
For my two cents this is valuable context and perspective. But I do think the commercial incentives of clicks and ratings work more in favor of "democracy is imperiled" than "calm down." I could be wrong.