Ask HN: What Is the Future of Democracy?

It seems the transition of power in United States is going to be anything but smooth. From the outside, it appears as though the incumbent administration is starting to mobilize the state apparatus - Senate Majority, DOJ, WH - that exists to uphold the democracy, against the democracy. It surreal that reality distortion is being deployed to undermine a mature democracy.

I understand that there is a possibility of voting fraud and the incumbent administration has the right to ask for investigation. However, given the history of reality distortion, it's hard to grant that benefit of doubt innocently. Doing so innocently feels like walking into the exploitative trap.

In this post-truth world, are democracies doomed and susceptible to larger than life reality distortion? Is it the goodness and innocence of the people being taken for a ride? How should democracies be engineered to deal with large scale reality distortion?