We don't have a democracy, or even a direct republic as our political system. It's an oligarchy of the wealthy (by the wealthy, for the wealthy). Every four years the owner class picks (independently of public opinion) which privileged persons get to play the role of elected officials, then put on a show involving a lot of wasted money and time pretending that the common citizen has the ability to affect the political process.
The owner class has determined that the best way to stay in power is to stoke the deep-rooted tribalism in every person by highlighting trivial differences. This results in one side of the owner class pandering to intentionally under-educated bigots, and the other side of the owner class occasionally pretending to not be bigoted.
Whether by accident or intent, the more openly bigoted presidential candidate has made clear the end game of the owner class: outright fascism. The less openly bigoted side of the owner class has decided it is in their best interests to not put up any meaningful resistance to this.