RaveVoxIn their new book How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt flag this as a key threat to democratic stability. Institutions don’t typically collapse under sudden attack. Rather, 'if a charismatic outsider emerges on the scene, gaining popularity as he challenges the old order, it is tempting for establishment politicians who feel their control is unraveling to try to co-opt him' ... So far, Trump has been extremely long on demagogic bluster but rather conventional — if extremely right-wing in some respects — on policy. But Levitsky and Ziblatt note that this is entirely typical ... But they argue that demagogues typically do 'eventually cross the line from words to action,' because 'a demagogue’s rise to power tends to polarize society' ... This is, according to Levitsky and Ziblatt, often a slower process than one might imagine — 'the erosion of democracy takes place piecemeal, often in baby steps.'
