"Criticizing Democracy at a Philosophical Level to Actively Justifying Unconstitutional—and Racist—Repression"

"The norms most important to sustaining democracy are the acceptance of opposing political parties as legitimate rivals and an institutional forbearance—that is, not wielding the powers of state for partisan gain, a version of Kloppenberg's reciprocity. The Republican party is openly undermining these norms. And the GOP's enablers within the conservative movement have decades of arguments to draw on to justify its anti-democratic turn."

Joshua Tait at The Bulwark writes that "[c]onservatives' theoretical arguments against democracy have long provided ammunition for opponents of reform."