Article #281784

If the president’s first term didn’t inoculate the American body politic against tyranny, there is no guarantee that a second dose will work

Donald Trump is a despot and the US is a democracy. These things can be true simultaneously but not indefinitely. There is now deadlock in the struggle between a president who would be king and a constitution drafted in repudiation of monarchy. But it is a battle to the death. Tyranny will either break the spirit of the republic or be quelled by it.

Since the US is the world’s paramount power, the outcome of this contest has epic consequences for countries, such as the UK, that depend on Washington for security.

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist