Trump is trying to erode democracy

Re: Cohen ignores the real tyrants, Oct. 13.

I read Doug Baum’s interesting letter regarding Andrew Cohen’s column. I do not disagree with his implied characterization of the dictators of Russia, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. It is particularly sad that Russia, which not many years ago seemed headed for democracy, is now ruled by an autocrat as odious as Josef Stalin.

However, I agree with the point Cohen was trying to make, that Donald Trump represents an even greater existential threat to democratic government. Most of the world’s dictatorships have never been democratic. However, if the United States becomes a dictatorship, it will mean that the three most militarily powerful countries will be undemocratic. At the moment, Trump is restrained by the U.S. Constitution, but it is difficult to escape the conclusion that he is doing everything in his power to undermine its checks and balances. Democracy is not the election of a dictator for a fixed term.

The other very real threat that Donald Trump represents to democratic government is the contempt for objective reality. Trump will not recognize a single fact as having objective reality if he does not want to. There will always be facts on which the evidence is less than clear and about which reasonable people can differ. Democracy cannot function, however, with a complete denial of facts no matter how cogent the evidence is, let alone insisting on the exact opposite of the truth if that truth is inconvenient.

Bruce F. Simpson, Ottawa