China and Russia are challenging the west and its liberal democracies- and the west is not winning.
Trump is aiding and abetting the autocrats like Putin.
Trump is degrading US democracy.
China has won the trade war.
'Alexis de Tocqueville understood this much better than most contemporary self-described democracy advocates and defenders do. He saw democracy as a torrential force overturning traditional hierarchies and ways of life. It was powerful for both good and evil. It was irresistible in the long run, which is why he advised prudent and thoughtful people to make their peace with it.
What democracy needs most today is the one thing that its earnest and respectable advocates have so signally failed to provide: leadership. Democratic societies require leaders who understand the realities of their time and can inspire their fellow citizens to support the policies their countries need. When the vital center fails to produce strong leaders, demagogues rush in to fill the void.
Too many democracy advocates today argue that the ignorant and willful popular masses have failed the cause of democracy. This is a cop-out. It is the elites and the establishments of the democratic world who are failing. In times like these, with war clouds darkening abroad and economic and social changes roiling the waters at home, conformity, senility and mediocrity won’t do.'