The news presents a crowd of rioters flocking up the steps of the nation’s capital. An image that should be from a third-world country– a coup for a failing government — that no one could find on a map. Yet, there on the news, the stars and stripes fly. 

   The iconic red, white, and blue that’s synonymous with freedom and democracy. Free elections and rights. Now flies with terrorizing and treasonous motives, in the hands of dissenters breaching the front doors of the capitol building. These images aren’t from somewhere far away. This is America. 

   Recent events within the 2020 election and the previous four-year presidency of Donald Trump revealed tremors, shaking the supposedly strong structure of America’s democracy. The proud democracy constructed over 245 years, towering over the world, now crumbles before our eyes.  

   Action and justice should be the first thought on the United State’s mind in response to these attacks on democracy. 

   America and the world have seen how tampering with elections can result in authoritarian leaders in democratic countries. Take Venezuela for example–Hugo Chavez was elected as a populist leader, much like Trump in 2016, in a democratic election. Nevertheless, his moves to restrict voting and cripple elections enabled him to remain in power and rule as an authoritarian leader. 

   Vladimir Putin, the “president” of Russia, was first elected in a democratic election in 2000. He was freely elected, but, yet again, his efforts after he was elected showed his authoritarian tendencies. Putin undermined Russia’s elections, censoring his opponents, and passing laws that allowed him to continuously “run for president” through the Russian constitution. 

   The connections to these authoritarian leaders are dangerously similar to Trump’s efforts in the most recent election cycle. 

   Events such as January 6, the raiding of the United States Capitol Building by thousands of Trump supporters in response to the results of the 2020 election, highlight the fading nature of America’s democracy–an attempted coup where Congress members barely made it out with their lives since they didn’t vote to overturn a fair and credible election. 

   Even worse, with the assault on the Capitol, Trump and the Republicans unlocked possibilities of violent takeovers and altercations based on election results for the future. The traditionally peaceful American transfer of power has been violated. With the urging of his devout supporters to take the Capitol, Trump allowed the threat of a violent coup to potentially take place, which would push America towards authoritarianism. 

    If the base is strong enough, all under the banner of a populist leader such as Trump, violent takeovers and coups could happen easily. The day after the attack on the capitol, 138 House Republicans voted to reject election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.  Trump had lawmakers on his side to overthrow democracy. Let that sink in. 

   The majority of the country did not want this, yet it still occurred. Trump unveiled a serious flaw in our democracy, one that cannot be patched by a fresh coat of paint. The cracks are revealed, and they are growing.  

   Recently, more evidence on how Trump’s legal team planned to undermine the democracy within the US and the fair election system set in place was unearthed, when a memo by then-Trump lawyer John Eastman showed how the Trump legal team would go about stealing the election. 

   The memo asked Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the votes for seven states due to alleged “competing electors” that didn’t represent the state’s electors. This would bring the electoral college tally to 232 votes for Trump, and 222 for Biden. 

   Since no party reached 270 electoral votes, the election would go to the House of Representatives where members would vote for the president. Since Republicans held a majority in the house with 26 states, the election would fall to Trump.

   The detail to which the plot goes into to overthrow the election shows how coordinated the Trump White House was to maintain power. Trump would accept dictatorship over stepping down to a newly elected president. 

   The people’s votes, the people’s voice, all thrown away. The right to vote taken advantage of and made useless to give the un-rightful leader power once again. 

   If that doesn’t scream authoritarian, what does? 

   Furthermore, after the election, misinformation was spread by Trump and his cronies on unproven voter fraud and miscounting of votes. Laws were even passed in states like Texas and Georgia that restricted the right to vote, an essential part of American democracy.

   These laws made it harder to vote for the working class, the majority of America, the key deciders of every election. The time period to vote was changed in many states, making those working during the day have to take an entire day off just to vote. Various suggestions have arisen, including making Election Day a national holiday; however, this seems unlikely since restricting voting ability is becoming a national norm. 

   Minorities faced new restrictions based on where they lived and the number of polling stations in neighborhoods and cities. Gerrymandering, or the act of redrawing districts to best keep an elected official or party in power, affected cities especially when many districts were redrawn. Districts jut out in weird places, keeping the most voters in a certain area (packing), or cutting off the opposition voters from reaching a majority (cracking). By doing this, the districts will either be unwinnable by the opposition, or too many of their voters will be in one area, causing other districts to easily fall to those who redrew the districts. 

   Cities will often be gerrymandered according to minority populations, with the packing method being very common to keep as many of the minority voters cramped together as possible. These efforts are all an abounding leap backward from the progression made by laws and acts passed previously to fight racial discrimination in voting (e.g. Voting Rights Act of 1965).  

   In addition, the recent election saw the use of voting by mail in large quantities across the country. The nationwide effort allowed many people to vote easier, not having to take a day off work to vote. Voting by mail should become more commonplace in the US, however, its record was tainted due to Trump’s claims of voter fraud in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan where it was virtually nonexistent. 

   Ironically, the one case of voter fraud with mail-in voting found was from a man in Pennsylvania who voted for Donald Trump on behalf of his long-deceased mother. 

   His supporters backed his claims, believing them to be credible when in reality were disproven in multiple instances. In fact, voters in many states have been voting by mail for the president for years before the 2020 election, including Trump himself!

   Trump spouts claims of voter fraud, but his claims were only to divert away from the fact he wasn’t winning the election. Declaring oneself the winner in a state just because they claim thousands of rightful votes were fraud is authoritarian. 

   Trump’s supporters followed his every word, as bases do for a populist leader. Trump laid the groundwork for his authoritarian tendencies to reveal themselves, and his lies, from voter fraud to distrust of the media, to gain footholds within the American public. 

   Repeated instances of attacking the institution that is American democracy should not go unnoticed and without consequences. Trump unearthed flaws in American democracy and how it’s prone to the rise of populist leaders. Now it is up to the American people to maintain what has been built for centuries. If consequences aren’t enforced; if American citizens do not recognize the growing authoritarian threat, then the most successful democracy the world has seen will be leveled as quickly as it rose.