'With fear for our democracy, I dissent." So wrote the supreme court justice Sonia Sotomayor in a minority opinion last week. She was far from alone in the view that, with Donald Trump threatening an "imperial presidency", American democracy is at a moment of maximum peril.
Millions are pinning their hopes on the Democratic party as the last wall of defence. Surely, they believed, Democrats would field their best and brightest, led by a dynamic presidential candidate and demagogue slayer. Instead the party is offering 81-yearold Joe Biden and an internal civil war.
Biden's career-worst debate performance against Trump last month has triggered acrimony, angst and panic among Democrats just four months from election day. There are growing calls for the oldest president in US history to step aside. But Biden has so far dug in and vowed to fight on.
It would be a hugely consequential decision for any party at any moment, but the one thing that Democrats agree on is the stakes are uniquely high. "American democracy is facing a category 5 disaster here," said Charlie Sykes, a conservative political commentator and Trump critic.
"Not just the election but the court. Unfortunately, the Democratic party feels like it's paralysed and refusing to acknowledge reality."
Esta historia es de la edición July 12, 2024 de The Guardian Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 12, 2024 de The Guardian Weekly.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Bring it on home Led Zep's first biopic
How were the famously interview-shy rock gods persuaded to take part in a film about their early success with the band telling their own story?
Dead souls
The Nobel laureate bears witness to Korea's traumatic past as one woman's quest is told through haunting, harrowing imagery
Object lesson
An expat couple curate their lives by plants anc Radiohead LPs in this deliciously pessimistic chronicle of Berlin life
Legacy of violence
A seething and erudite-but flawedindictment of the west's role in the creation of Israel and everything that has flowed from it
The right are wrong on climate-why is the UK following their lead?
If you care about the world we are handing on to future generations, the news last Thursday morning was dramatic.
Power pointe
Ballet has always been more than just a job for Carlos Acosta. And as director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, he is trying to make it bigger than ever
Borders can't contain the devastating, destabilising crisis engulfing Sudan
As Sudan approaches its third year of civil war, the dynamics are shifting.
Heroes to villains
With 13 Oscar nominations, Emilia Pérez's cast and crew should have been flying high. Then came a social media scandal and a fearsome backlash
Bukele's rise Strongman who became the darling of the right
Five hours after being shot in the belly, a Haitian accountant sat in a Port-au-Prince emergency room pondering how his homeland might be saved.
Trump is fuelling lethal fantasies of driving people from their land
The shock and awe continues and it only gets more shocking and more awful.
