Can American democracy recover from Donald Trump? We don’t yet know — but history may offer us some clues. Zack Beauchamp digs into academic research on the question to reconcile two superficially contradictory answers and explain what we know about “democratic U-turns.”
Ultimately, he writes, America might be what is called a “careening democracy”: Not irrecoverable, but not out of danger. It’s a valuable explainer for how to think about our current moment, and this kind of work is made possible by our Vox Members. If you would like to support Vox’s independent journalism, please consider becoming a Vox Member today.
—Elias Isquith, senior editor for policy, politics, and ideas
