Yeah, the whole "we're a republic, not a democracy" is just a bad faith attempt to justify rule by the minority. This story is a couple of years old, but hits on some similar points. https://medium.com/politically-speaking/stop-saying-were-a-republic-not-a-democracy-b8b5cf561b08

Btw I love the Madison quote. The Federalist Papers are just like the Bible. Right wingers invoke them but don't even read them.