Donald Trump is a “threat to democracy.” So goes a major Democratic Party talking point. The Biden campaign says this will be one of the major campaign points in the 2024 race. That seems incredulous to me. Trump already served as president from 2017-2021 before Biden took office, so he’s a proven commodity. Seems like our democratic republic survived just fine.
I’m thinking back through time to understand if there is historical precedence to this Democratic claim. Vice President Aaron Burr was considered treasonous about the time he won America’s most famous duel with Alexander Hamilton two centuries ago. I sort of discount the American Civil War because the dynamic was so much different when 11 states seceded from the Union and established their own government. Nothing like that this time around. In 1964, LBJ said that his opponent would start World War III; but a threat to democracy – no. I cannot recall any other circumstance when a major party has labeled their opposition as a threat to democracy itself.