Hot Take: We have been experiencing the pains of DEMOCRATIZATION, not democratic BACKSLIDING. The US through most of its history was way closer to institutionalized autocracy rather than a real democracy.

Prior to 1965 we didn’t even meet the minimal requirement of universal suffrage. Elites used a system that they designed themselves to strike intra-elite bargains (sound familiar? ) and entrench their political and economic power. Sounds pretty authoritarian to me.

I would argue that since 1965 we have come closer to *actually* becoming a democracy. As a result, now we’re getting violent pushback from elites and groups that were used to benefitting from the former authoritarian power structures. Democratization is hard.