So, anyone here ever taken PoliSci 101? Or wait — here we have the State Department explaining Democracy 101 to benighted, backward regimes to whom democracy must be explained:

That’s the big selling point when you’re trying to sell democracy to people who aren’t sure why this “democracy” thing Americans bang on about is better than a president-for-life, a junta, a monarch, a sultan, a council of faqihs, or a Central Committee of the People’s Permanent Revolution. Peaceful transfer of power. This is what we’ve been earnestly been telling ourselves and the world about why it’s great to be a democracy and why we think they should be a democracy, too. We have a system that allows us peacefully to transfer power. Yes, yes, we know you love your king. True, he’s a descendant of the Prophet, and certainly, the people do love him, that we can see … but are you quite sure all will be well when he dies?

Google “democracy” and “peaceful transfer of power,” and this is what you’ll find:

Yesterday, Donald Trump offered this thought to Chris Cuomo about what would happen if he reached the convention with a lead short of an outright majority:

I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re 100 short and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically. I think it would be — I think you’d have riots. I think you’d have riots. I’m representing a tremendous, many, many millions of people.”

If you disenfranchise those people and you say, well I’m sorry but you’re 100 votes short, even though the next one is 500 votes short, I think you would have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen, I really do. I believe that. I wouldn’t lead it but I think bad things would happen.

Note: Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans don’t have the kind of superdelegates who can change their votes. So if Trump has a majority of the delegates, there’s no possibility of a contested convention. A contested convention could only occur if he fails to secure a majority. In that case, by definition, the majority would represent non-Trump candidates. Should they decide at the convention to pool their votes against Trump, it would not be undemocratic; nor would it be rigged. While Trump’s supporters would surely have cause to feel disappointed, they would have no cause to feel themselves robbed.

It’s one thing for a media figure or a disinterested observer to say, “Man, that could get ugly, I hope we don’t end up there.” But this is the candidate himself, the man who proposes to be the leader of the world’s most powerful former-democracy, saying, don’t go there, I’m warning you. There could be really bad violence.

This is really dark. We can argue about what the correct word is for a political figure who’s eager to wield the power of the state against his personal enemies, contemptuous of the idea of a free press, obsessed with bizarre conspiracy theories, prone to propagating lies faster than anyone can even keep track of them, and who casually — for the first time in any living American’s memory — proposes violence as a way of transferring power.

“We’re going to open up libel laws and we’re going to have people sue you like you’ve never got sued before.”

“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. They were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”

The editor of National Review “should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him.”

“Sixty-eight percent would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder. It think it means anything.”

“I would certainly be open to closing areas [of the Internet].”

“I think our country does plenty of killing also.’’

“Obama doesn’t get along with Putin. Putin can’t stand our president and it’s causing us difficulty.’’

On people selling anti-Trump t-shirts: “Mr. Trump considers this to be a very serious matter and has authorized our legal team to take all necessary and appropriate actions to bring an immediate halt … ”

So, how do you feel about being threatened with violence by Donald Trump? Good? Bad? Indifferent?