Since the 2024 election and the inauguration of Donald Trump (and dating back to the 2016 election), democracy in the United States, along with its democratic norms and practices that have historically secured American democracy, has been eroding due to many factors. One of which involves the mutual toleration between the political parties in the country. In How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, they explain how mutual toleration “refers to the idea that as long as our rivals play by the constitutional rules, we accept that they have an equal right to exist, compete for power, and govern” and that it also means “recognizing that our political rivals are decent, patriotic, law-abiding citizens– that they love our country and respect the Constitution just as we do.” However, with the current political climate of the United States, these norms of mutual toleration are weakening by the minute which is resulting in the hard sustainability of democracy. 

Not only is Donald Trump not a law-abiding citizen, but he also does not respect the Constitution, and his actions are morally un-patriotic. In respect to his illegal committings, Trump was  found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, which were part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election. He was convicted by 12 jurors, but Judge Juan Merchan indefinitely postponed his sentencing and granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the case. To know that Donald Trump was allowed to be elected because of his illegal expenditures that silenced anyone who had something bad to say about his persona, only furthermore proves how unfit and unqualified he was/is to serve as president of the United States. 

Regarding his patriotism, Trump has recently pardoned all  January 6 rioters, including some who were convicted of violently assaulting police officers. Mike Fanone,  one of the officers who was assaulted, has come forward to express his outrage at the president and his country for pardoning the far-right rioters who nearly beat him to death. Fanone has now sought protective orders against the five men who pleaded guilty to his violent assault, as they were pardoned on Trump’s behalf.  Understanding that Fanone spent more than 20 years protecting the District of Columbia and serving his country, it is highly unpatriotic of Donald Trump to allow his assaulters, as well as every other January 6th rioter, to walk free with no charges. 

Moreover, Donald Trump does not respect the Constitution or the norms surrounding it. There have been growing concerns regarding the increasing power of the executive branch, along with the weakening of the checks and balances system, all of which has raised alarms about the balance of power and the future of American democracy. Trump’s attempts to ban birth-right citizenship, pass anti-DEI bills, defund the Board of Education, etc., less than a month into office, further demonstrates his disregard for the Constitution and its legalities. Trump has also pursued court packing, which can take two forms: “impeaching unfriendly Supreme Court justices and replacing them with partisan allies, or altering the size of the Court and filling the new seats with loyalists.” When Trump was first elected in 2016, he appointed three conservative Supreme Court Judges, Neil Gorsuch; Brett Kavanaugh; and Amy Coney Barrett to further his political agenda of returning the United States to full conservatism. 

The other fundamental norm that the Republican party has not abided by is institutional forbearance.  Republican house member Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a resolution that would allow Trump to serve a third term. Before the ratification of the 22nd Amendment, the two-term limit was merely a norm of forbearance. However, it was strongly considered unwise and unpatriotic for a president to continue for a third term. As Ziblatt and Levitsky argue, “any departure from this time-honored custom would be unwise, unpatriotic, and fraught with peril to our free institutions.” Such a move would only further divide the government and bring about a constitutional crisis for the country. 

Given all of these issues regarding Donald Trump and his behavior, the erosion of mutual toleration and forbearance has become more prominent than ever. Both parties are increasingly refusing to accept one another as legitimate rivals. Andrew Bates, a democratic spokesman at the White House, said, “Republicans have revealed their establishment-bought true colors and are selling out every American except their well-connected donors,” further demonstrating the disappearance of the mutual toleration within the government.