One of the main critiques of Trump is that he is “antidemocratic.” If democracy is “rule of the people,” then to be antidemocratic is to undermine the people’s rule. But, in our representative government, the people’s rule is primarily exercised through the vote. And our country voted in a president who stated pretty clearly his objectives to do everything he’s doing now. So, while his actions are authoritarian, unconstitutional, and illegal, it’s actually less clear to me if they are antidemocratic.
The other day, a friend told me that Trump’s actions are revealing that our democracy has been a facade the whole time. In many ways this is true — partisan politics have made Congress minimally responsive to the people’s will in recent years. And, with each representative more closely aligned with their party than with the more nuanced politics of their voters, it’s impossible that Congress reflects the breadth of political ideology in our country. Yes, representatives are responsive to public opinion and (to some extent) to their voters, but they are also responsive to factional forces like interest groups and partisan politics.
We can look at public opinion to see that many of Trump’s actions (and Trump himself) are unpopular, but this has certainly been true of many prior presidents without such widespread accusation of being antidemocratic.
Trump’s authoritarian, unconstitutional and illegal actions do undermine the pillars of our government and our society. They should provoke us to think more deeply about what “democratic” and “antidemocratic” truly mean. Assuming we can successfully defeat Trump, what do we want to build in his wake? How do we recommit our country to the underpinnings of democracy?
A society that was so easily steamrolled by an authoritarian needs a democratic reawakening. We can start practicing this now. The Democratic party can spearhead deliberative polls, citizens’ assemblies, and digital deliberative tools to re-engage Americans in real democratic decision-making. We need to learn to communicate with our fellow citizens across arbitrary ideological divides, find consensus on priorities and measures of success, and set our government to work on advancing the will of the people. The task of democratic reawakening is just as important and urgent as the task of opposing Trump’s illegal actions and electing Democrats in the midterms. I hope you’ll join me in pushing our party to be a bold leader in real democracy.
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