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Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.

This line from the book’s foreword refers to Richardson’s warning that the United States is in real danger of becoming an authoritarian state. She argues that this risk comes not through violent uprising but through lawful election of authoritarians or the failure to stop them from stealing elections. Richardson argues that the rhetoric of movement conservatives demonizes marginalized groups, employs false versions of American history, and supports manipulation of the electoral system to undemocratically seize power. In failing to resist these tactics, Americans could empower Trump to become an autocrat and lead the country into a dictatorship.

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