My $0.02: I always thought the peaceful transition of power in the US was a given. I think Trump has done his best to make me rethink it. His baseless claims of election fraud have left many Americans (most seem to be here on USMB) feeling that Biden is not our legitimate president. That may be Trump's lasting legacy. The irony is his MAGA mantra may have done just the opposite.My two cents:
Well in any system, there are those who benefit and those who don't. A system is stable, when there is a balance, the number of those who benefit is large enough and those who don't aren't too numerous and/or not screwed too badly.
When a system fails to find this balance, those who are at the losing end of that system will rise up sooner or later. Depending on the situation, one ideology or the other will give them a narrative for their discontentment and a purpose to overthrow the system. Like communists or fascists.
A free system, a republic like in the US, has the benefit that it gives much leeway for peaceful transition of power, so you can change the government without throwing the entire system out with the bathwater. That's a good thing, I'd say, because revolutions are usually bloody.
However, republics can fail to create such a balance, too. In that case, it gets dangerous.