Honest question: Will there be an election in 2020?

[oraclebones]

What are the odds that Trump brings us down a path of genuine authoritarianism and there is either no election in 2020 or only a nominal election?

Does anyone else fear this? I wouldn't put it at more likely than not, but I would put it forward as having a nontrivial chance of happening.

Alternate but related theories are that Trump loses in 2020 but refuses to cede power, or that he wins in 2020 then refuses to cede power even after his second term is finished.

[oraclebones]

Trump has shown himself to be a master at manipulating people through messaging, and the mainstream media has shown itself to be supremely inept and cowardly in confronting his constant stream of falsehoods. A completely cowed media is a good first step towards authoritarianism, and he's practically there.

The American public has also shown that it, by and large, has no awareness of history and no real will to resist in any meaningful way, so...

[oraclebones]

The constitution is strong enough. I fully trust this great document.

Well, at least someone does. It terms of the mechanics of government (e.g. having a presidency, a House of Representatives, a Senate), I think major portions of the constitution have outlived their usefulness. A multi-party parliamentary system would be much better for this country at this point (something I've been saying before Trump began his campaign). And as the presidencies of the past, oh say, 200+ years have shown, constitutional rights can easily be trampled upon, particularly in times of crisis.

To fully trust a document does not really make sense to me, because it's just a piece of paper.  It is an inanimate object. What matters is people choosing to uphold it and being willing to stick to it in difficult times as well as in easy times. That so many people would vote for an utter narcissist, a person who claims to believe in God but who literally couldn't name a single time he has asked God for forgiveness, someone who has no positions and happily spews lies, who himself has shown a complete disregard for the constitution, gives me little to no faith in the public's willingness to fight for much of anything.

Again, not saying I think authoritarianism is more likely than not, but it seems like a distinct , if small, possibility.

[oraclebones]

I was wrong to assume that this country could not elect Trump

Exactly. Not so much about you in particular, but that so many in general thought this country could not elect Trump. He was going to be on the ballot, so why would anyone think it's impossible? This is a two-party system!

I do believe that there are enough people in this country who will not stand for doing away with elections.

He wouldn't need to do away with elections entirely. Russia still has elections. Putin's United Russia party most recently won three-quarters of the seats in the State Duma.

[oraclebones]

We have overcome far worse.

I appreciate the measured optimism. But when have we faced an incoming president so manifestly bereft of personal or public morality as Trump, and thus as manifestly dangerous as Trump? As dreadful a president I think Bush 43 ended up being, at least he ran on the idea of compassionate conservatism. Trump ran on the idea of hateful, angry populism. When have we overcome anything like that? And thanks to Democratic and Republican presidents alike, the executive has more power now than it ever did. Power that will soon be, God help us, in the hands of Donald Trump.

If our democracy makes it to 2020 not irreparably damaged, it will be through some miracle--and I do not say a miracle is impossible.

[oraclebones]

Additionally, seeing people who like Fidel Castro warn about a Trump dictatorship makes me unsure if I ought to laugh or cringe.

Who is it that liked Fidel Castro who's warning about a Trump dictatorship? That's a straw-man argument.

And you ask, "Do none of you understand the constitution?" I understand it quite well--better than most, in fact. And it's quite plain that Trump either knows nothing about it or doesn't care about it in the least. That's precisely the problem.

[oraclebones]

I'm bumping this post because we are now five days into the actual Trump presidency, and he has shown that he plans to carry out the fascist agenda he advocated during the campaign. His party has shown no interest in resisting his authoritarian tendencies.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there ends up being only a sham election in 2020.

[oraclebones]

So the growing consensus of this thread is if the democracy survives a Trump presidency...Republicans are doomed for the foreseeable future because of demographic changes?

Good?

You know, if we're really lucky, both the Republican and the Democratic parties will crumble. Then maybe parties befitting an actual democracy will form in their place.