Shanked

A lot has been made of the idea that Donald Trump is "a threat to democracy." Personally, I don't consider Mr. Trump to be the problem. I chalk it up to a rather childish view of democracy that only wants votes where one is sure that they'll win. And while this sort of thinking isn't limited to Trumpists, it's gained a fair amount of traction there.

Normally, when I talk about things that I've cone across on LinkedIn, I don't link directly to them, because the actual post is tangential to whatever point I'm attempting to make. But this time, it's central to the point, so here is a post from Donald Trump Jr. promoting a worn and misattributed quote.

The word "lunch" didn't enter English in it's current form until the Industrial Revolution, not the American Revolution.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the politics of grievance that Donald Trump Sr. is so well-known for. This portrays supporters of the former President as an embattled minority, who are being preyed upon by the rest of the American electorate, and therefore justified in taking up arms to enforce their minority position. (Note that in the earliest known variation on this quote, from the 1990s, no mention of guns is made.) Granted it's not an overt call to political violence in the face of an election loss. But it sure looks like one from here.

The second thing that stood out for me was simply the fact that Donald Jr. posted this in the first place. Why rail against the majoritarian aspects of Democracy if one thinks that they're going to win the upcoming election? This may be the first sign of a lack of confidence that Mr. Trump can regain the White House. Because this isn't a warning against a subversion of democratic processes; it's rallying people for a potential loss.

The original sentiment, as I understand it, was that: "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." In other words, it should be something more than a means for one interest group to enrich itself at the expense of another. But in about 30 years, that idea has been lost, if for no other reason than so much of American history is differing groups looking to prey upon one another. Donald Jr. is simply playing into that here.