The Democracy Clock

The Democracy Clock is a rigorously documented account of democratic change in the United States during the first year of Donald Trump's second term, measured in real time as events unfolded. Inspired by the Doomsday Clock, the book introduces a structured framework for assessing democratic health based not on rhetoric or polling, but on observable governance actions, institutional behavior, and shifts in power. Drawing on a comprehensive weekly archive of executive actions, legislative developments, court decisions, and enforcement practices, Jim Vincent traces how democratic norms are weakened, reinterpreted, or normalized through repetition rather than rupture. Each chapter examines how specific decisions across elections, courts, executive authority, civil liberties, and the rule of law accumulate over time, producing measurable democratic strain. The book is organized around fifty-two consecutive weekly analyses, allowing democratic change to be observed incrementally rather than retrospectively. This is not a work of journalism or prediction. It is an analytical record grounded in contemporaneous evidence, designed to separate observation from interpretation and structure from outcome. Where companion event logs preserve the factual weekly archive, The Democracy Clock interprets those events cumulatively-showing how democratic systems absorb pressure, bend, and fail. Written for engaged citizens, educators, journalists, and policymakers, the book serves both as a historical record and a civic diagnostic. It does not argue for a party or ideology. It argues for the importance of measurement, accountability, and institutional memory in sustaining democratic governance.