The peaceful and orderly transfer of power through elections is an absolute bedrock of democratic systems. If the government is voted out, they go - no ifs, no buts. But that doesn't seem to be the case in America anymore:
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 15% among registered voters nationally and holds a 20-point lead when it comes to who Americans trust to handle the coronavirus pandemic, according to a major poll out on Sunday.
In the same ABC News/Washington Post poll, Biden led by two points in March and 10 points in May. Now, among respondents who said they will certainly vote in November, Biden leads by 11%.
Fox News also released a poll on Sunday. It put Biden ahead on coronavirus, race relations and the economy and eight points up nationally.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday recorded at the White House on Friday, Trump said “I’m not losing, because those are fake polls” and refused to say if he would accept the result if Biden won in November.
“I have to see,” Trump said. “I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.”
The mere fact that the question is being asked shows that US democracy is deeply sick - its just not something which is ever asked in a normal, functioning democracy. But the fact that the President feels he can equivocate, and that his party is not immediately and publicly disavowing his comments, is worse. And it shows that the US is now longer the "world's greatest democracy" (if it every was). Instead, it seems to be tottering on the brink of dictatorship.
