U.S. democracy is really and truly at risk

June 12 (UPI) -- Make no mistake: America's democracy is really and truly at risk! Let me repeat that: America's democracy is really and truly at risk.

Why? For the first and only time since 1776, both presidential candidates and their parties assert and believe the other is a clear and present danger to democracy. Worse, many Americans of both political parties believe this.

President Joe Biden has called twice-impeached and once-convicted felon Donald Trump a "dictator" who will impose his own style of autocratic government on the nation. For those who want hard evidence, read the ultraconservative Heritage Foundation's report "Project 2025" or those of former Trump adviser Russ Vought's views on radically changing the Constitution that propose actions a second Trump administration would take if re-elected.

In response, Trump sees Biden as the "worst president in U.S. history." Vowing retribution and revenge if elected, Trump claims that means he will have a successful presidency. But most see a darker side to this promise.

Republicans claim that Democrats have weaponized the Justice Department to prevent or derail the Trump campaign through lawfare and the sham New York trial over hush money. Democrats fear that Republicans will be even more aggressive in retaliating against them if returned to office.

Both parties as well as most Americans are irreparably divided over virtually every issue. Hate and venom have banished civility and respect from the public discourse. And compromise and dignity have been "disappeared" from politics. With just under five months to the general election, conditions can only deteriorate.

As an aside, readers should appreciate the irony that the election is set for Nov. 5 -- known as Guy Fawkes Day in Britain and the infamous Gunpowder Plot to destroy Parliament in 1605.

A crisis of legitimacy now exists in American politics where most of us are highly distrustful of all or most institutions and even of fellow citizens. Polls across American society clearly demonstrate the magnitude of this distrust. Even the once-sacrosanct Supreme Court is trapped in this quagmire as actions by justices from flying flags and accepting millions of dollars in "hospitality" gifts come under closer scrutiny.

A political system based on checks and balances cannot function without trust and legitimacy. A possible breaking point is after the election. Trump did not and does not accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. Nor do many of his base. And despite attempts to imply otherwise, Trump is not prepared to accept 2024 unless he wins. And what if he loses? This could lead to the most intense crisis since 1861.

Both parties have declared and deeply believe that the other is a menace and threat to democracy. Could either party accept defeat when that loss, in this view, could mean an end to America as we know it? It would be naive to expect that either party would accommodate to losing given the level of animosity and even mutual hatred. The notion of good sportsmanship winning through is folly.

Then could the events of Jan. 6 and the riots that led to an occupation of the Capitol metastasize into an American version of Israel's Oct. 7, escalating into massive armed violence. While Americans would not repeat the despicable tactics of Hamas in perpetrating bestial crimes, it is not inconceivable that hostages could be taken in attempts to change Electoral College votes.

The predicate is what happened after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman in 2020 except on a scale far greater across the nation. The legal presence of hundreds of millions of firearms and powerful destructive devices and other weapons presents several terrifying scenarios. Some will argue that extreme and possibly ubiquitous violence is not possible because of constitutional checks and balances and the ultimate reluctance of Americans to commit violence on other Americans.

But would Americans apply restraint especially if there is such mutual conviction that the other party will indeed wreck democracy? Why entrust government to a party that will destroy it? That becomes an unanswerable and potentially existential question if these animosities go unchecked.

What can be done? Cooling down the rhetoric is like King Canute demanding to roll back the ocean to demonstrate his impotence. The rhetoric will become more inflamed, passionate and probably more irrational as the election approaches and both parties become more desperate to win, possibly at all cost. As Ben Franklin observed, "You can have a republic for all long as you can keep it." Nov. 5 may test that advice.

Harlan Ullman is UPI's Arnaud de Borchgrave Distinguished Columnist, a senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and author of "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Follow him @harlankullman. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.