Democracy under fire: Donald Trump and the breaking of American history

In: Oxford scholarship online

Abstract

How did democracy become so vulnerable in America? Donald Trump is a shrill warning of the political system's fragility, but he alone is not the problem. The vulnerability is broader and deeper - and looms still. Even before Trump ran for president, his disdain for the rules and norms of democracy and the US Constitution was well-known by many prominent Republicans who were unable to stop his nomination. Trump's presidency is the culmination of a series of political decisions since the late 18th century that ceded party nominations to small cliques of ideologues. 'Democracy Under Fire' provides a readable, if disturbing, history of American democracy and proposes recommendations to restore it.