Viability of the American political model

The growing hyper-partisan polarisation that divides the country cannot be good for its democratic well-being.

Americans have voted for Donald Trump for the second time, knowing well what he stands for and how he is. Not only did they know their candidate and what his presidency meant, but they also seemed to want more of the man who was convicted. The most impressive democracy chose a man who was charged with conspiring against the rights of the citizens. As The New York Times rightly wrote on Friday, post-election, “he is not a fluke who somehow sneaked into the White House in a quirky, one-off electoral college win eight years ago.” A burning question that comes to mind, therefore, is: If a country that was seen as a viable template of liberal democracy and a superpower committed to the world has elected a felon, is liberal democracy a misnomer?