I have heard several people saying or implying that a victory for Trump could spell the end of democracy in the US. Will be resolved yes if conditional on Trump winning the 2024 election the 2028 election is held in a manner not significantly less freely than past elections in my opinion. If you have anyquestions on how exactly I will asses a fair election ask below. Will be answered no if either the election is not held or methods such as the banning or arrest of opposition members or other such techniquesare used to rig the process. If Trump does not win in 2024 will resolve NA.
Correct. GE. Although if Trump say passes some sort of law requiring himself to be the nominee of both parties that would count.
Which of these scenarios would count?
Trump creates a new state from a Republican area (e.g. Jefferson)
Trump makes immigration easier for European conservatives than liberals
Trump actively encourages internal immigration of his supporters from Mississippi to Pennsylvania
Supreme Court allows Trump to run for a third term
The first would count. The second would depend on how he does it. A law blatantly stating that only conservatives can enter the country would count. But if it is simply that people believe a more conventional law favours the sort of people that are likely to vote Trump then it would not count. The third would not count. The last depends. An ammendment of the constitution legally done would not count. But if the supreme court simply arbitarily allows trump to run again it would.
I'm surprised you say passing an amendment would not count. If amendments are on the table I think he can simply amend the constitution to remove the voting rights of democratic demographics, or change the electoral college weighting to make it nearly impossible for republicans to lose. Surely this should not count as a fair election by the standards of past elections?
If he alters the constitution to remove voting rights from certain demographics or alter electoral college weighting that would resolve as yes. But plenty of countries lack term limits and they are not generally considered non democratic. So altering term limits alone can't, I think, be considered ending fair elections if it is done by the proper constitutional method.
@SamuelMillerick changing term limits of a president, by that president, is generally considered a highly autocratic move. I don't know if that directly means the elections are free and unfair, but if I knew nothing about a country and heard that the president (constitutionally) removed term limits, I would guess that it's not a real democracy anymore.
@Tater I agree that constitutional doesn't guarantee that something is fair!
I agree that it would be an autocratic move. But I want to keep this question focused on the election itself. It is already going to be a potentially difficult question to resolve uncontroversially and if we expand it to if America is as a whole more or less democratic or more autocratic than it was it becomes a very subjective question.
@SamuelMillerick Do you hear yourself? Trump (or Harris for that matter) cannot unilaterally pass ANY law! He can only sign bills in to law, that have been passed by both The House and The Senate.