"When It Comes to Eating Away at Democracy, Trump Is a Winner"

[tblue37]

When It Comes to Eating Away at Democracy, Trump Is a Winner:
Donald Trump’s drive to undermine American democracy has proved strikingly successful.

Take the most recent analysis by Varieties of Democracy, better known as V-Dem, an international organization founded in 2014 to track trends in democratization:

While the United States remains a liberal democracy, V-Dem data shows that it is only a fraction away from losing this status after substantial autocratization. The U.S. Liberal Democratic Index score dropped from 0.85 in 2015 to 0.72 in 2020, driven by weakening constraints on the executive under the Trump administration.

Of 179 countries surveyed, V-Dem found, the United States was one of 33 to have moved substantially toward autocratization. From 2016, when Donald Trump won the presidency, to 2021, when he involuntarily left office, the United States fell from 17th to 29th in the global V-Dem democracy rankings:

Liberal democracy remains significantly lower than before Trump came to power. Government misinformation declined last year but did not return to previous levels. Toxic levels of polarization continue to increase. Democracy survives in the United States, but it remains under threat. Of all the forces undermining democratic traditions in elections and policymaking — Donald Trump’s big lie, the politicization of ballot counting by Republican state legislatures, the attempt to disenfranchise segments of the population — one that has devastating potential is operating under the radar: the growing cynicism of younger voters.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/opinion/us-democracy-trump.html?referringSource=articleShare

[unblock]

1. Wtf? Why use words like "winner" and "successful" for this crap?

Emotionally, this frame is highly supportive of his efforts.

Why not frame as "our democracy suffered immensely under Donnie"?

Or "Donnie was a clear disaster for our democracy"?

[tblue37]

2. I agree.