The hardship Iranian Americans have faced under Trump is just one example of how American democracy is in a crisis.
![A woman reads a Farsi magazine in Westwood, Los Angeles, California on July 14, 2015. [File: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2015-07-14T120000Z_2108965198_GF10000159338_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-NUCLEAR-OBAMA.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Sina Toossi is a senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).
The hardship Iranian Americans have faced under Trump is just one example of how American democracy is in a crisis.
![A woman reads a Farsi magazine in Westwood, Los Angeles, California on July 14, 2015. [File: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2015-07-14T120000Z_2108965198_GF10000159338_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-NUCLEAR-OBAMA.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Trump’s sanctions are hurting the Iranian people, but forcing the country’s decision-making elites into cohesion.
