I should have expressed myself differently. My argument was from a democratic point of view. But the USA is definitely no longer a democracy.

While I can appreciate the cynicism “democracy” is a spectrum, not a boolean. It’s certainly less democratic now since they have a dictator in charge. But the system is large and while he has captured a tremendous amount of federal power the states still have quite a bit of autonomy (yes yes, I hear your “for now” rebuke).