Unpopular Opinion
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The Nazi party did not have an absolute majority, but it did come (easily) first in a free and somewhat fair election. Today, that outcome is generally perceived as winning. IMO it's too easy to blame institutions. In democracy, voters have responsibility.
Luckily, American institutions and democratic traditions are far more deeply rooted than Germany's in the 1930s. And then there's the federal constitution. Unchecked dictatorship is not on the cards. There are still plenty of bad outcomes short of that.
I'm not that optimistic. Like the "object to counting and send it to the House where they pick Trump" option, there was a spurious but plausible "legality" to Hitler's rise.
In Russia and China, the institutions still exist, and probably still pass general laws and adjudicate day-to-day matters with apparent legitimacy. But once Putin or Xi expresses his respective will, they are merely intermediaries and there is no independent check on their power.
Similarly, the press in Russia or China presumably isn't micromanaged at every level, but instead, like we're already seeing the first signs of with the Post and LA Times, preemptively compliant with propagandistic goals, with occasional punishments and examples made to keep everyone afraid of crossing the line (which is intentionally never clearly defined).
There are lots of ways that institutions are the illusion. Those institutions are just collections of people. People are flawed, open to intimidation. When Trump sends in deputized posse to arrest or beat non-compliant politicians, or editors, or judges, sanctioned by the Supreme Court as an official act because he makes some argument they were interfering with executive duties, the rest of the politicians, editors, judges will fall in line. They won't save us if Trump is in power.
The USA has 240 years of rule of law behind it, plus a century or so, or at least several decades (depending on definition), of genuine democracy. Russia has 10 years of those things, and China none at all. I think you underestimate the importance of this hugely different cultural context. I agree that this does not make the USA immune from authoritarian collapse, but the American version will certainly be less extreme than elsewhere.
I hope you're right.
Apologies für stating this, but this kind of thinking being superior to such issues is also part of the issue.