# Have their reactions to Trump raised or lowered your opinion of the Republican establishment?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-their-reactions-to-trump-raised-or-lowered-your-opinion-of-the-republican-establishment/756764>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [June 7, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-their-reactions-to-trump-raised-or-lowered-your-opinion-of-the-republican-establishment/756764 "2016-06-07T19:41:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-their-reactions-to-trump-raised-or-lowered-your-opinion-of-the-republican-establishment/756764/81 "2016-06-11T04:18:55Z")

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> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> For centuries our system was held together not by good design, but by norms. We know this because countries that adopted our institutions such as bicameralism and a separate Presidency tended to suffer gridlock, collapse and coup. While democracy has a terrific brand, our particular democratic design is known to be unstable. Problem is, norms are breaking down. Gingrich started that process, Mitch McConnell continued it. (Actually, I’d say it started in the late 1980s, when weaknesses in the filibuster rules were discovered.) If Trump is elected, expect more of the same. Imagine what a guy who doesn’t care about democratic norms could do with the power of the pardon for example.

Previous thread on this point: [What is the second-oldest presidential/congressional republic?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=743648)

After some debate, we appeared to settle on Costa Rica being the second oldest continuously operating congressional/presidential republic.

Since 1948.

The US model does not have a good track record when exported to other countries, for the reasons you set out.

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