“IS DONALD TRUMP a Threat to Democracy?” Or just to entrenched power?

N+1 on whether anxieties about Trump are couched in the language of democracy, but are actually anxieties about power:

“IS DONALD TRUMP a Threat to Democracy?” “An Erosion of Democratic Norms in America”; “Will Democracy Survive Trump’s Populism? Latin America May Tell Us”; “An Erosion of Democratic Norms in America”; “Trump, Erdoğan, Farage: The attractions of populism for politicians, the dangers for democracy”; “How Stable Are Democracies? ‘Warning Signs Are Flashing Red.’” A steady succession of concern pieces has appeared across the press... As one moves from headline to text, however, a notable but subtle shift occurs in defining what’s actually under threat. The basic meaning of “democracy”—that is, the rule of the people, or popular sovereignty—is nowhere to be found. Instead, “democracy” appears to be constituted by a series of institutions and norms, not all of them obviously democratic."

https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/democracy-without-the-people/