I am surely restating much of what has already been said. I think the biggest threat to democracy in the US is the Republican party, working in concert with foreign actors.
What I have observed is that over many years, there has been a focused, significant, relentless campaign to undermine trust in our institutions by the Republican party. Education, justice, government, elections, the media, all have been targeted and successfully altered to their liking.
It is guided by billionaires and others in power who belong to or subscribe to the aims of the Federalist Society. At every opportunity, they have undermined education, spent almost unimaginable amounts of money to elect their preferred candidates at all levels, to take over state legislatures and insert their judges throughout the legal system. They make sure their candidates infest school boards. They nudge up against and work closely with religious entities to push their agenda. It includes extreme gerrymandering and efforts to pervert the Census. Nothing is out of bounds for them.
They gin up opposition to hot-button issues such as immigration and abortion to goose election turnout. They exploit existing racism in this country to achieve their aims.
This has been happening for decades. It is the system that permitted the selection of George W. Bush over Al Gore as president in 2000. Bush became president based solely on the vote of Antonin Scalia.
Under Trump, the Federalist cabal went further than they ever have before. They have been shameless and bald in their pursuit of power, including enlisting help from abroad.
The Republican party today stands for absolutely nothing but taking power for power’s sake. They hope to impose a society that pretends to be a democracy but where the game is perpetually rigged in favor of themselves. This includes manipulating an uneducated public with lies intended to frighten them and undermine reasoned thinking. Much like Russia.
There’s no bottom to it. They don’t care if they kill their fellow citizens by spreading pandemic misinformation. They will use illegal and unethical means to spread lies about, well, everything: Democrats, government, education, science, climate, fossil fuels, events like January 6th. The list is long. They will lie about anything they perceive will assist them in their long-term goal.
They believe they are at the end game now. They have their Supreme Court in place, didn’t care how many rules they exploited to accomplish it. They are currently setting the table via state legislatures to overrule the outcome of any upcoming election and let their candidates choose their voters rather than the reverse.
If we don’t stop them now, they will succeed.