True; many institutions performed well in resisting Trump (state election administrators, the judiciary, the military). But also true that a second term of Trump could pose a more profound threat - look at Orban's Hungary after he regained power.
https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/1445353112055783426
More fundamentally, I have to admit I don't understand the impulse to rush into contrarianism on this point. Even if Kagan et al. are overestimating the risk of a successful coup or the equivalent, @DouthatNYT grants that such outcomes are possible. Isn't that a case for alarm?
If @DouthatNYT were at the airport and the gate agent said, well, the pilot may try to crash the plane but the co-pilot and the crew probably won't let him get away with it, would he tell everyone to calm down about the risks?
As always in Trump Times, two things can be true:
1. The risk of outright authoritarianism is being overstated by some critics/pundits.
2. The risk of substantial democratic erosion or worse is unacceptably high.
1. The risk of outright authoritarianism is being overstated by some critics/pundits.
2. The risk of substantial democratic erosion or worse is unacceptably high.
And even if Trump is an incompetent would-be authoritarian, what is happening at the state level (where elections are decided) is highly alarming
https://twitter.com/kdrum/status/1445371425792016387?s=20
More on how state-level subversion could take the process of the rails - thread
https://twitter.com/nate_cohn/status/1445514163871096832
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