These Trump supporters say US isn’t a democracy. And they’re okay with it

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan talks to MAGA Republican voters and die-hard Donald Trump supporters who are pushing back on the rhetoric around Trump being bad for US democracy because America is actually a republic.
#DonieOSullivan #CNN #News

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[conniek]

Translation...."We can't win on our platform anymore so we'll throw America under the bus to take a victory."

[TheBigStink]

I don’t care about you, I just want your vote, I don’t care…oh, and “I love the poorly educated”

[OhLookItsJonBoy]

I was taught this decades ago in school. We're a constitutional republic. While we elect our leaders directly by a democratic vote at the local and state level, the leaders operate under the constraints of the constitution. One big departure from a democracy is our system of checks and balances, breaking our government into three branches vs one branch voted by a majority.

[acricucci]

Abraham Lincoln regularly used both terms Democratic Republic and Constitutional Republic. With minimal homework, it's easy to understand why a Republic is different from what James Madison called a “pure democracy” which is not what the founders wanted. Their goal was that we work for the PRINCIPLE of democracy within the STRUCTURE of a constitutional republic. Madison made it simple by saying "In a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; In a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives."

[PapaGiorgio]

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

--Benjamin Franklin's response to Elizabeth Willing Powel's question: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"

[CrossoverManiac]

1:52 - That is a lie. I've heard people saying "America is a republic and not a democracy" decades before Trump ran in 2016. This isn't something that Trump just made up. The distinction between democracy and republicanism goes all the way back to James Madison and the Federalist Papers.

[motorwhisperer]

"I pledge allegiance to the and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands..."SMH.

[LosTCoz]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USA and to the democracy... oh, wait. 😂

[shanehub]

U.S. Constitution. Article 4, Section 4. "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion."

[drawntoview]

The lack of education of our press is dismaying. I think it is because civics is no longer taught in schools.

The U S. is NOT a democracy. It is a representative Republic. If it were a democracy we wouldn't need to have an electoral college or two senators per state. In a democracy the president would be elected directly by the people.

We should be glad that this country was not a democracy - thankfully our founding fathers realized that a democracy would result in a 'tyranny of the majority'. Presidential candidates would only need to campaign in the most populous states and the needs of the other less populous states would be ignored

[Randze]

The United States embassy in Argentina literally admits its a constitutional federal republic, the fact CNN carelessly posts misinformation like this to its viewers is deeply concerning.

[thatguy]

While often categorized as a democracy, the United States is more accurately defined as a constitutional federal republic

[kellyeidson]

The USA isn’t a pure democracy. The electoral college is the reason we are a Republic and not a democracy. We don’t vote directly for the president. We vote for electors who vote for us. If the US were a true democracy Hillary Clinton would have won the 2016 election. The winner of the popular vote doesn’t always win the Presidency. Yes we do have a democratic form of government, but we are considered a republic. It’s all about the electoral college.

[beigefox]

If its not a democracy, so why the hell are these people even voting???

[TaterGrenadier]

This is actually disturbing that you would knowingly LIE and say we aren't a Constitutional Republic

[ytmndan]

Democrats: "The Senate is undemocratic! The Supreme Court is undemocratic! The electoral college is undemocratic!"

Republicans: "That's because we're not a democracy."

Democrats: "YES WE ARE"

[leslievaughan]

“And to the Republic, for which it stands”

[tammywright]

A scathing indictment on the American educational system. Unbelievable

[thereligionofrationality]

The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. It is nice to see that a solid majority of the people who rated this clip understand this fact.

[erice]

This is from a US Embassy website, "While often categorized as a democracy, the United States is more accurately defined as a constitutional federal republic."

Democracy is simple majority rule, and it can be very oppressive. A Republic is where the citizens govern through elected representatives. We do not vote on every law. We elect people to do that on our behalf, and those votes are held in strict accordance with rules defined in the Constitution.

Under a democracy, 51% of the population can oppress the other 49%. That is why we have systems like the Electoral College. Otherwise, the population of a few cities would decide elections for the entire country. You can argue that some parallels exist but we are most certainly not a simple democracy.