That's not weird at all. Democracy as the word is commonly used does not require direct popular vote, let alone at the highest tier of government. Every "democratic" country I'm aware of uses a more complicated scheme.

Then you've got the part where the US was never billed as a "democracy" to begin with but rather a "democratic republic".

What's weird to me is how quickly a group with an advantage will attempt to discard compromises and other agreements once they have what they wanted.