Trump has vowed to shake some of the pillars of democracy

Calvin Woodward, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s presidential election is the moment when the nation holds up a mirror to look at itself. They are a reflection of values and dreams, grievances and scores that need to be settled.

The results say a lot about the character, future and core beliefs of the country. On Tuesday, America looked into that mirror, and even more voters saw former President Donald Trump deliver it far-reaching victory in the most controversial states.

He won for many reasons. One of them was that a huge number of Americans, from different points of view, said that the state of democracy was the main problem.

The candidate they chose campaigned through a lens of darkness, calling the country “garbage” and his opponent “stupid,” a “communist,” and the “b-word.”

Bikers show their support for President-elect Donald Trump as they ride along I-84 Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, near Lords Valley, Pa. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The mirror reflected not only the discontent of a restless nation, but also childless cat ladies, false stories of pets devoured by Haitian immigrant neighbors, a persistent emphasis on calling things “weird,” and a sudden burst of democratic “joy” that was now suppressed. This campaign will be remembered both for profound events, such as two assassination attempts on Trump, and for his curious chatter about golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitals.

Even though Trump won, a majority of voters said they were very or somewhat concerned that Trump’s election would move the U.S. closer to being an authoritarian country where a single leader has unlimited power, according to the data. AP VoteCast poll. However, 1 in 10 voters still supported him. Nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters said they want a complete overhaul of how the country is run.

The economy was in shambles, Trump said, even though nearly every measure suggested otherwise, and the border was an open sore feeding bloodthirsty migrants while actual crossings plummeted. All this happened in his signature language of catastrophism.

His victory, only the second time in U.S. history that a candidate has won presidential elections back-to-back, demonstrated Trump’s keen sense of what stirs emotions, especially the feeling that millions of voters were left out – whether because someone cheated or received special treatment or otherwise came under the destructive influence of the enemy within.

This is who the Americans decisively chose.

A centuries-old democracy has handed power to a presidential candidate who gave fair warning to voters that he could destroy the core elements of that democracy.

After already trying to derail the peaceful transition of power when he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020, Trump wondered if his decision would be vindicated. seek “cessation” all rules, regulations and articles, even those contained in the Constitution.”

This is in contrast to the oath he took and will take again to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” to the best of his ability.

One crude and clearly imperfect indicator of whether Trump really means what he says is the number of times he says it. His direct threat to try to repeal or suspend the Constitution was largely a one-off.

But the 2024 campaign was filled with his vows, rally after rally, interview after interview, that if implemented, they would undermine the core practices of democracy, its defenses and institutions as Americans knew them.

And now, after his victory, he says: “I will govern by a simple motto: promises made, promises kept.”

On the campaign trail, to thunderous applause, Trump vowed to use the presidency’s power over the justice system to prosecute his personal political opponents. He then upped the ante further by threatening to use military force against such domestic enemies. “The enemy from within.”

It would destroy any semblance of independence of the Justice Department and pit soldiers against citizens in ways unseen in modern times.

He has vowed to hunt down and deport immigrants in large numbers, raising the possibility of using military means or military-style resources to do so.

Spurred by his rage and denial of his 2020 defeat, Trump supporters in some state governments have already engineered changes to how votes are cast, counted and certified. These efforts are based on the false notion that the last election was rigged against him.

On Tuesday, Trump won the election under a Democratic administration. During his time, states will fight to overhaul election procedures.

In his sights is another pillar of the system—the non-political civil service and its political masters, whom Trump collectively calls the “deep state.”

He means the generals, who did not always listen to him last time, but this time they should.

He’s referring to the people at the Justice Department who refused to condone his desperate attempts to gather votes he didn’t get in 2020. He is referring to the bureaucrats who stalled parts of his first-term agenda and whom Trump now wants to purge.

Trump wants to make it easier to fire federal workers by classifying thousands of them as non-protected government employees. That could weaken the government’s ability to enforce laws and regulations, draining some of its workforce and allowing its administration to staff its offices with more pliable employees than last time.

But if some or all of these principles of modern democracy collapse, it will happen in the most democratic way possible. Voters chose him—and by extension, him—over Democrat Kamala Harris, the vice president.

And according to preliminary estimates, these were clean elections, just like in 2020.

Eric Desenhall is a scandal management expert who has followed Trump’s business and political career and correctly predicted his victories in 2016 and now. He also foresaw that criminal cases against Trump would help him, not hurt him.

According to him, figuring out what Trump really intends to do and what may be bluster is not always easy. “There are certain things he says because they come into his head at a certain moment,” Desenhall said. “I don’t attach much importance to it. I have a preference for themes, and there is a theme of revenge.”

So it remains to be seen whether America will get the two special days promised by Trump.

According to him, after taking office again he will be a “dictator”, but only for one day. And he vowed to let police have “one really brutal day” to crack down on crime with impunity. His campaign said he didn’t really mean that remark, just as his people said he wasn’t serious about undermining the U.S. Constitution.

Voters also gave Trump’s Republicans clear control of the Senate, so the majority decides whether to confirm loyalists Trump nominates to top government positions. Trump controls his party in a way he did not in his first term, when major figures in his administration repeatedly thwarted his most ambitious ambitions.

“The fact that a once proud people twice chose to humble itself before a leader like Donald Trump will be one of the great cautionary tales in history,” said Cal Jillson, an expert on the constitution and presidency at Southern Methodist University whose new book “ Race” “Ethnicity and American Decline” foreshadowed some of the existential issues of the election.

“Donald Trump’s actions during his second term will be just as divisive, ill-considered and despicable as they were during his first term,” he said. “It will undermine Ukraine, NATO and the UN abroad, as well as the rule of law, individual rights and our sense of national cohesion and purpose at home.”

On the political left, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wasn’t thinking about any threats to democracy when he launched a scathing attack on the Democratic campaign.

“It is not surprising that the Democratic Party, which abandoned working people, would find that the working class has abandoned them,” he said in a statement. “Will they understand the pain and political alienation that dozens of Americans are experiencing?”

He concluded: “Probably not.”

For his part, Trump says he intends to restore democracy, not destroy it.

He and his allies argue there was nothing democratic about seeing military leaders challenge the elected commander-in-chief, whether over troop deployments or his desire for a high-profile military parade. Or see Democratic presidents set immigration policy and provide huge student loan relief through executive action, bypassing Congress.

But this case is built from the ground up on lies about the stolen 2020 election, his machinations to stop those votes from being certified, and his mob’s deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He comes to the office intending to pardon some of the people convicted for this riot and perhaps get the criminal cases against him dropped.

The fences remain. One of them is the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority loosened the leash on the president’s conduct in its ruling. expanding their immunity from persecution. The court has not yet been fully tested on how far it will go to accommodate Trump’s actions and agenda. It is not yet known which party will control the House of Representatives.

The Republican’s victory was the result of a public so alienated by America’s trajectory that it welcomed his brash and disruptive approach.

Among voters under 30, just under half backed Trump, an improvement from his performance in 2020, according to the AP VoteCast poll of more than 120,000 voters. About three-quarters of young voters said the country is heading in the wrong direction, and about one-third said they want a complete overhaul of how the country is run.

At least they’ll get it, Trump says.

AP Poll Editor Amelia Thomson DeVoe contributed to this report.

Originally published: November 6, 2024 5:12 PM CST