I've been on the internet a long time and this meme feels like it's appeared out of nowhere in the last couple years, it's really off-putting. We're talking about the USA. America! Democracy is their brand in every speech and bit of media. They've been been showboating how awesome democracy is and how the free world would prevail the entire cold war. And now suddenly it's "yeah no we aren't actually a democracy"? This meme is the biggest narrative retcon I've ever seen.