Gazza M also, democratic systems have been built by trial and error over thousands of years. they have checks and balances in place so nobody can typically impose their will on people. what Trump and Elon have figured out is that the government works through both rules and norms. They might not be able to break the rules - i.e., if anything is illegal, the courts will roll it back, but they can avoid the norms - i.e., implement illegal actions that would typically not be done because the system usually relies on negotiation with multiple stakeholders on every little topic, knowing that if you do enough of this you an a) change the perception of what is considered possible, and b) have some impact before the courts roll back your actions, including winning favour with your supporters and eliminating your enemies.
It's a very effective approach which people used to operating under democratic processes will have no idea how to deal with.
