Three ex-aides of Donald Trump warn his re-election would lead to 'end of democracy' in US

As the race to the White House intensifies, Former US President Donald Trump's ex-aides said that Trump's second presidency would mark the “end of American democracy” as the world knows it. Three women who worked in the Trump administration gave testimony to the US House committee investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 US presidential elections. While speaking about their testimonies to the press the three women noted that Trump's presidency was filled with “chaos". The three ladies insisted that Trump's second term would be much worse than the last one, raising many concerns. 

“People in general have short memories, and might forget the chaos of the Trump years,” Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary who resigned on the day of the deadly Capitol riot told ABC News. “They also might not just be paying attention to what he’s saying now – and the threat to democracy that exists. It does really concern me if he makes it to the general [election] that he could win. I’m still hopeful that we can defeat him in the primaries, but we’re running out of time," she added. Matthews's proclamation was supported by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah Griffin, his former communications director.

Trump's 'cult-like' following' 

While giving out her take on Trump's presidency, Griffin noted that she is dreading the former US President getting re-elected. “Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don’t say that lightly,” Griffin said. “We all witnessed him trying to steal a democratic election before and go into historic and unconstitutional lengths to do so. That just shows he’s willing to basically break every barrier to get into power and to stay into power," she furthered. Griffin noted that she is also scared about the death threats and harassment Trump's critiques face from his “cult-like following”. “What scares me as much as him and his retribution is the almost cult-like following he has, the threats, the harassment, the death threats that you get when he targets you, is really horrifying and has no place in our American discourse," Griffin exclaimed. 

Meanwhile, Hutchinson, ex-aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, said that voters should have believed when Trump said that he would be “acting like a dictator” on his first day. “The fact that he feels that he needs to lean into being a dictator alone shows that he is a weak and feeble man,” she in the interview on Sunday. Matthew noted that Trump had already signalled what his tenure would look like, through his provocative remarks. “We don’t need to speculate because we already saw it play out. To this day, he still doubles down on the fact that he thinks that the election was stolen and fraudulent. And his rhetoric has just gotten increasingly erratic. He’s literally called for things like doing away with parts of the constitution, [and] wanting to weaponize the Department of Justice to enact revenge on his political enemies," she said. I knew that by coming forward and speaking out against Donald Trump I could … face security threats, or death threats, online harassment. Despite all the personal sacrifice, I knew that ultimately it was the right thing to do. I just would encourage others to come forward because they’re running out of time in order to try to stop Trump from being in the Oval Office again," she added. Several American politicians including Joe Biden have said that Trump's comeback will be “dictatorial” and “harmful” to the American democracy.