I think the Chinese have a term for this when it happens: "Losing the Mandate of Heaven"
We would call it a "Crisis of Legitimacy".
First off please lose the term “American democracy”, we began as a constitutional republic which is not the same thing no matter how many so called leaders try to say that it is. The word democracy was not commonly used to refer to this country until WWII, “The war to make the world safe for democracy”. The founders wanted nothing to do with democracy which in their wisdom they considered pretty much a dirty word.
The American Republic has been undermined largely by the failure of the press (now the media) to do its duty of reporting the facts. We now have, with the exception of talk radio and to some extent Fox news, only a propaganda arm of the left wing. Had we a media doing the duty of reporting the truth as closely as it could be determined, this would be a very different country and we would still be referring to it as a Republic and not a Democracy.
There is a reason why totalitarian states so often call themselves the Socialist Republic, Democratic Republic, People’s Republic etc. rather than simply Socialist or Communist. The word Republic is the lipstick on the pig. They may have the form of a constitutional republic but they ignore the constitution, exactly what is happening here and now. When you start to hear this country referred to as a “Democratic Republic” you will know that you live in an end-stage communist hellhole.
A very good article.