I think the point is that democracies are supposed to be able to vote goons out, otherwise it isn't a democracy. In the case of the U.S. though we sort-of voted the goons in, so I'm not sure what that makes us.
I think you nailed something. There's a huge chunk of people who believe the US lost its democracy (covid restrictions, #meToo, etc.), and so they voted like they were fighting a war.