In the days and weeks after the 2024 presidential election was called for Donald Trump, his supporters have been relishing in victory. On the other side of the aisle, Democrats and their voters are questioning the future of this country, and rightfully so. American democracy is on the line.
The United States government was set up very intentionally. Thinking back to freshman-year U.S. history class: checks and balances are woven into our democracy to keep someone from absolute power.
Checks and balances are a constitutional principle in America. They divide the federal government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. These branches all have individual powers that limit the powers of the others, so one person or entity cannot have absolute power.
The issue for Democrats, and the country, is Trump will now lead the executive branch, as president and with his cabinet of secretaries, and effectively lead the legislative branch, with Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, and the judicial branch, with a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court.
While it is not uncommon for a president-elect’s party to have single-party control, it is the fact that Trump is in control that is concerning. His threats to democracy, such as calling Democrats “the enemy from within,” evoke a sense of dread for what he can accomplish with this overarching power.
Trump has shown he does not hold this country’s democracy and system of government in high regard, and the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, was only the beginning. The sitting president encouraged his impassioned supporters to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to stop the verification of the 2020 election, a constitutional process.
However, that is not the only constitutional principle he has threatened. There is nothing that gets Trump riled up quite like journalists. Using only the words he has said on the most recent campaign trail, Trump has continually called for stripping journalists of constitutional rights like the First Amendment, and even throwing them in jail. He continually calls the press “fake news media.” He has also called for ABC to be punished, suggesting the stripping of their licenses, because of the singular debate they sponsored and aired.
These are examples of blatant disregard for the constitutional systems that allow this country to run politically. Any leader who does not respect the words of the document that is a cornerstone to this democracy should be watched closely.
My biggest worry come the next four years is that elected officials who side with Trump will not adhere or respect the oaths they have been sworn to. Time and time again, lawmakers do whatever it is Trump tells them to do. I believe this is due either to real belief in his policy or a way to improve their positions of power, but it is highly concerning either way.
I believe there are more examples that they agree with him to obtain higher and more powerful positions in the government. His own Vice President-elect, J.D. Vance, once despised this man. In 2016, Vance was a staunch critic of Trump and called him an “idiot” and allegedly compared him to Adolf Hitler in private.
Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio, ran against Trump in the 2016 Presidential primaries. During this time while running against him, Rubio warned, “For years to come, there are many people on the right, in the media, and voters at large, that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump.”
These men are very aware of the threat that Trump poses. Yet they sit beside him, submissive and docile, and turn a blind eye to anything Trump does and come running when he is calls.
The fear of American democracy falling has also been manifesting in obsession over his cabinet nominations that have started to come out. These nominations include an anti-vaxxer for Health and Human Services, an oil executive for Energy secretary, and a Fox News host for Defense secretary.
While most of these positions must get Senate approval and are – hopefully – unlikely to go through, I believe Trump is doing this as a test to his allies in Congress.
He is testing how much he can get away with and how far “off the script” he can go before his fellow Republicans put a stop to his madness.
It is valid to fear the future of the country when it is taken over by someone who has shown time and time again that they are power hungry. I do not let these fears plague my mind often; I worry in private and fight in public.
If the system of government that inspires confidence in so many Americans truly works the way it should, no one, not even Trump, should be able to take it over.
We fight through creating community and mobilizing into action. We fight through the legal system and in the 2026 midterm elections. Trump cannot, and will not, win. If he does, our democracy goes with him.
