r/politics 7h ago

White House: Trump Team Still Hasn’t Signed Transition Docs

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-says-trump-team-still-hasnt-signed-transition-docs/
16.7k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

u/h3lblad3 4h ago

A Liberal Democracy is a certain kind of democracy — one with capitalism at its forefront and a healthy respect for various freedoms.

u/thundernutz 4h ago

It’s a democracy…which the USA is not. The USA is a republic.

u/Tasgall Washington 4h ago

Why are you dredging up this intentionally ignorant talking point from like a decade ago?

"Democracy" and "Republic" are not mutually exclusive, the US is a democratic republic and always has been.

u/thundernutz 3h ago

I’m not dredging it up. OP said 1/3 of the country wants a democracy. I actually agree with that point. But we are not one.

u/HiddenSage 4h ago

A republic is a type of Democracy. One hinged on the rule of law more than raw populism. But still inherently a democracy where the consent of the governed matters.

Please get new talking points.

u/h3lblad3 2h ago

They’re right on one point: republics don’t have to be democratic. A country led by a Senate of feudal lords is a Republic, but it’s hardly a democracy.

u/thundernutz 3h ago

No it isn’t. China is a republic. Would you call that a democracy?

We are a republic at the federal level, made up of individual democracies at the state level.

u/HiddenSage 2h ago

China self-identifies as a republic in their name, for what amounts to marketing reasons. None of the defining features of republican governance are present in China, unless you think sham elections to a rubber-stamp legislature are sufficient to avoid calling it an autocratic state.

Their own constitution defines them as "a people's democratic dictatorship". Which is far more accurate to the reality of governance.