For whatever reason there’s a fringe, but somewhat common, tendency in the U.S. to insist that “democracy” means “direct democracy” and that “republic” means what everyone else calls “representative democracy”. This is then used to derail people complaining about the U.S. being undemocratic, as you can see here.
I have no idea where this meme comes from, because for 99% of people “republic” just means not governed by a monarch or traditional aristocracy and is orthogonal to democracy. For example, Canada is democratic but not a republic, North Korea is a republic but not democratic, Saudi Arabia is neither, and France is both.
Honestly, if you look up the definition of republic and democracy, if you blink, you’ll miss differences, and even then, the USA is best described as a democratic republic.
Obviously, the last several years has taught us why the right wing is so intent on getting rid of the word “democracy” in describing the USA, and they fundamentally do not believe in the right to vote.
