That’s my point. The definition of a republic (res publica) is an entity that tends to public affairs.
There are different ways of doing that.
The way we’re doing it is more and more through a huge, unelected, administrative state - the “swamp”. Right?
The way the Roman 'republic' was doing it was an unelected administrative state, so by your way of thinking, there was no real break between not having an emperor and having one.