Democracy is about putting process above outcomes. The whole idea is that people who don’t agree about what’s good and right should nonetheless be able to agree on the procedure by which collective decisions are made. Democracy is only as strong as the willingness of the body politic to put the process ahead of all their individual differences.

Reinforcing democracy thus requires that, after an election, everyone reaffirms their shared commitment to the process, reaffirms the legitimacy of that shared process, and affirms the legitimacy of those selected pursuant to that process.

As a foreigner from a flawed democracy, what I used to admire the most about Americans—more than free markets or free speech or anything else—is their commitment to process. It used to be that Americans would jump off a bridge if directed to do so pursuant to a proper process.

Good examples are the conduct of every Republican who lost a presidential election up until Trump: H.W. Bush, Dole, McCain, and Romney. (Possibly before that but I wasn’t alive then.) Nobody alleged cheating. Nobody impugned the rules. Nobody denied that their successor has the mandate—both legally and morally—to govern. And of course Trump is exactly the opposite of that. Not just because of the outright lying. But the whole chain of conduct from calling into question the reliability of the post office, criticizing the reliability of the voting methods, etc.