Trump won't destroy liberal democracy if he wins, unless we let him

As Donald Trump’s election victory looks more probable with questions swirling about President Joe Biden’s health and fitness, many people left of center — and Trump critics on the right — are voicing urgent concerns about the survival of American democracy. Is this political hyperbole or a real danger? And what can we do to keep liberal democracy alive?

The argument that we already had a Trump presidency and democracy is doing fine isn’t as heartening as one might think. When Trump took office in 2017, he hadn’t really expected to win and didn’t have a structure in place to take over the government; the Trump administration was full of more traditional Republicans who were not Trump loyalists or Trumpist ideologues. What’s more, Trump’s presidency ended with a blatant attempt to overturn a legitimate election — and his 2024 campaign is filled with rhetoric about revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable.

If Trump takes office in January 2025, many critics say, he will have a ready-made blueprint for restructuring American government in his image: Project 2025, prepared by the pro-Trump Heritage Foundation with input from many former Trump administration officials. While Trump has claimed to know nothing about the project — and, given his notorious intellectual laziness, it’s plausible he has only the sketchiest knowledge of it — it is very likely that it will have significant input in a new Trump administration.

Whether Trump enacts some of the project’s more socially conservative recommendations such as taking the abortion pill off the market, there is little doubt he will implement changes increasing his power: for instance, replacing thousands of career civil servants with Trump movement loyalists and giving the president more direct authority over federal agencies including the Justice Department.

The recent Supreme Court ruling that gives the president total immunity from prosecution for official acts related to the presidency’s core functions, and presumptive though rebuttable immunity for other official acts, is seen as creating further danger of Trump-led authoritarianism.

If a new Trump term happens, the U.S. will enter a dangerous time. But overselling the danger in the hope of energizing the anti-Trump vote can backfire in the event of a Trump victory by breeding debilitating fear.

Unlike other countries that have experienced authoritarian backsliding, such as Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the United States has a liberal democratic tradition more than two centuries old, with a massive and complex network of institutions on the federal and state levels. Some of those institutions will almost certainly be damaged by a new Trump presidency. Others may be strengthened by resistance to authoritarian moves from Washington. Their cumulative power is a restraint.

The Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity does not make Trump a king. He can still face impeachment — though, of course, it’s up to the voters to elect Congress members willing to hold him accountable. A Democratically controlled Senate or House would be an effective check on Trump’s power even if it’s unable to override his veto or remove him from office. His actions can still be blocked by the courts even if the options for subjecting his executive overreach to criminal prosecution are reduced. Trump may repost social media calls for televised military tribunals for his political enemies, but nothing in American law would authorize such proceedings.

Above all, Americans will still have the ability to vote and to protest. American democracy will be tarnished by a new Trump presidency. It will not be destroyed if we’re willing to defend it.

Opinions expressed by Cathy Young, a writer for The Bulwark, are her own.

By Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a writer for The Bulwark.