There are lots of "dictatorships" where living is better then in lots of other "democracies", but this is not something you'll figure out from your internet feed, you really have to actually travel.
There are other, more recent and more fitting examples you could choose if you want to use a specific politician.
You could also have used research that shows that people in general support or reject policies based on what party they think came up with them and not based on the (sometimes quite obvious ahead of time) consequences of those policies.
Trump instead lowered taxes for the rich. He was one of the rich, and he served himself. It was his rhetoric and dramatic conversational style that essentially caused people to unknowingly vote against their self interest.
I apologize for using the word "stupid" here. People and voters aren't stupid. Trump, however, was indeed an example of people not using the best strategy in the name of their self interest.
In democracies voters can fix their mistakes without risking their life and freedom.
Democracy is also much more beholden to corporate interests as much of the US government has already been infiltrated by big business.
I think the US has grown up. We are well past the time of worshiping the idealism of democracy and we are now actually seeing the raw truth. That democracy is simply one side of a coin. It is just one side of debate between monolith and micro services.