Letters | Dynamic US democracy makes removal of Donald Trump from White House possible

Perhaps Mr Pierre Herbst misconstrued my view as that of an American exceptionalist, but my argument about the redemptive power of an election involving a clearly amoral, autocratic incumbent like US President Donald Trump remains unaddressed.

Instead, his letter seems to discard the very role of elections as a defining aspect of democracy. While he defends the rights to opine, debate and protest as ultimate proof of democracy, what about the power necessary to guarantee such rights?

He suggests that Hong Kong’s political structure is more representative than the US’. The simple fact that over 127 million votes were cast in the United States in 2016 renders this point moot.

The argument that the electoral college is institutionally anti-democratic is unconvincing even to a twice-burned, red-state Democrat like me, but the suggestion that the US’ constitutional remedy for demagoguery is the equivalent of Hong Kong’s functional constituencies is one that demands more support than offered.