There are three possibilities for a post-Trump America.
1) A quick democratic recovery. Trump either loses enough support, is not reelected, or more dramatically, is impeached or resigns. Democrats are energized and sweep back into power. Republicans pay a heavy price for their flirtation with Trump. America's reputation in the world is restored and the Trump interlude is seen as a tragic mistake where catastrophe was avoided and democracy saved.
2) Trump and the Republicans continue to win with their white supremacy appeal. The country moves forward with large-scale deportation, immigration restrictions, the purging of voter rolls, and the adoption of ever stricter voter-ID laws. White majority and eventually only white plurality rules and crushes any opposition.
3) The more likely scenario is more polarization, increasing institutional warfare, the curtailing of democratic norms, democracy without solid guardrails. Polarization and division in the country is accepted as "simply the way it is" with no immediate end in sight. Government shutdowns will seem normal and blind allegiance to Trumpism continues as Democrats flail away.
1) A quick democratic recovery. Trump either loses enough support, is not reelected, or more dramatically, is impeached or resigns. Democrats are energized and sweep back into power. Republicans pay a heavy price for their flirtation with Trump. America's reputation in the world is restored and the Trump interlude is seen as a tragic mistake where catastrophe was avoided and democracy saved.
2) Trump and the Republicans continue to win with their white supremacy appeal. The country moves forward with large-scale deportation, immigration restrictions, the purging of voter rolls, and the adoption of ever stricter voter-ID laws. White majority and eventually only white plurality rules and crushes any opposition.
3) The more likely scenario is more polarization, increasing institutional warfare, the curtailing of democratic norms, democracy without solid guardrails. Polarization and division in the country is accepted as "simply the way it is" with no immediate end in sight. Government shutdowns will seem normal and blind allegiance to Trumpism continues as Democrats flail away.
Taken from "How Democracies Die" by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
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