To your point they are literally saying freedom of belief is a threat to democracy, I don’t think they actually want democracy.
A lot of conspiracy theories these days are anti-West and anti-democracy.
Of course it can and has happened. You have to ask yourself whether those societies were actually free and open, which I know sounds like a cop-out.
It is always the people saying how democracy is flawed and we should be more like China that are also trying to crack down on conspiracy theories.
It is entirely plausible that a free and open society is better than the alternatives on several different bases, despite the possibility that it could all go wrong and end up as becoming one of the alternatives. There is no evidence in human history that society has any stable points, let alone that it has desirable points of stability.
> Of course it can and has happened. You have to ask yourself whether those societies were actually free and open, which I know sounds like a cop-out.
... it also has elements of the No True Scotsman fallacy.
Also though, just because he wins doesn't mean he can actually deliver that promise. Most democracies have multiple layers of laws that would have to be passed after the election and would probably result in civil war without a super majority.