I say this as someone who has never and will never vote for him. Like... he's a blustering, bumbling buffoon. A carnival barker. His schtick is sometimes annoying, sometimes endearing, mean or funny and nearly always just... dumb boomer.
But I don't get the "existential threat to democracy" hyperbole. Like... we all remember his presidency. We wished he would shut up, but, like... policy-wise he was probably better than average compared to other Presidents of my lifetime, if a little disjointed. Things to like and things to dislike, but he didn't really radically upend the system and drain the swamp nor did he go all dictator fascist Hitler. More moderate than those who hate and those who love him seem to be able to admit. The whole notion that he's this evil force just seems like such nonsense, and I don't get how people I respect take that position on him seriously.