Democrats have warned that former President Donald Trump will destroy democratic institutions if he is re-elected to the presidency in November. Trump, however, claims that democracy will cease to exist if he is not elected in 2024.
Does any American president have the power to destroy democracy?
The Constitution is the founding document of America. It defines three branches of government: executive, which includes the position of the president, legislative - the House of Representatives and the Senate, and judicial - which consists of the Supreme Court and other courts.
Each branch should control the rest. Such separation of powers is at the heart of American democracy.
"We are in uncharted waters due to the indicated willingness of President Trump, in case he is re-elected, to perhaps go beyond the limits of the presidential powers that have been valid until now," believes Ronald Chen from Rogers University.
Trump, the Republican candidate for the US president, said earlier that he wants to be a dictator, as he indicated, for just one day - and no longer than that.
What if the next president tries to expand his powers?
"If there is a hint that one branch of government is willing to overstep the principle of separation of powers, frankly, I don't know if our system has been determined to be strong enough to withstand that," Chen explains.
One of the main campaign messages of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is that Trump is a threat to democracy. Democrats point to Trump's unwillingness to accept the results of the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
"Our fight is for freedom. Across the country, we are witnessing a full-scale attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights," Harris said in her presidential campaign.
On the other hand, Trump rejects allegations that he threatens anyone.
"They keep saying that I am a threat to democracy. What the hell have I done to democracy? Last week I took a bullet for democracy," Trump said, also during the campaign.
As the experts point out, voters do not necessarily accept the argument that American democracy is under threat.
"Talked to someone a few weeks ago who said, 'You know, you hear all this stuff about Donald Trump trying to overthrow democracy, but he hasn't done it,'" reports Chris Edelson, from American University.
David Ramadan, of George Mason University, observed that some independent voters believe that the system has worked if, as he says, it has resisted.
"The transfer of power has happened, so we are fine," he says.
It is not easy for populist leaders to destroy democracy, says Kurt Weyland, who studies democracy and authoritarian rule.
"This only happens if there is a real weakness of the institutions and some special occasion when many factors come together at once. My argument is that in the United States, these conditions really do not apply," he believes.
Wayland says several factors limit the president from taking full power, including how well public officials do their jobs.
He recalled the case of the Republican Secretary of State in the state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, who refused Trump's requests to, as the then president and Republican candidate told him, find additional votes that would bring him victory in that state in the 2020 elections.
"American democracy is strong and resilient, and the American people are committed to it and officials are committed to fulfilling their institutional duties," says the American expert.
Weyland says that leaders have a better chance of destroying democracy when they have massive popular support, and a popularity rating above 70 percent.
Trump's highest approval rating while president was 49 percent, while Biden's was 57 percent.
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