@realTuckFrumper
T**** has exposed a serious flaw in our system:
A criminal can openly sell their office (without shame) on behalf of their biggest donor(s), (ab)using their power to help that donor, argue they are "above the law" so there is no consequence, and then game the #ElectoralCollege so they win despite getting fewer votes.
They called Bill Clinton a philanderer. Investigated Hillary for failing to stop an attack on a gov't building, & LockHerUp for a pvt email server. #GOPHypocrisy
Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before... Ari Berman in Mother Jones: May+June 2024 Issue
"...The timing of our modern retreat from democracy is no coincidence. The nation is now roughly 20 years away from a future in which white people will no longer be the majority. New multiracial coalitions are gaining ground in formerly white strongholds like Georgia. To entrench and hold on to power, a shrinking conservative white minority is relentlessly exploiting the undemocratic elements of America’s political institutions while doubling down on tactics such as voter suppression, election subversion, and the censoring of history. This reactionary movement—which is significantly overrepresented because of the structure of the Electoral College, Congress, and gerrymandered legislative districts—has retreated behind a fortress to stop what it views as the coming siege.
Do you feel you have less interest posting about politics / current events lately?
Why?
Do you notice the same responses over and over again?
Do you feel headlines and events seem to go nowhere or seem to repeat?
Do you think people are more polarized or less polarized?
Are people beholden to their sides’ ideology— the kind of people where if you looked at their profile you would know exactly what they think on most issues without nuance?
I see the (nice) extream "radical liberals" saying Dems in #congress and #biden policies will get a #trump win
I see (nice) cool liberals pointing out above, except they label them as liberals and not "radical liberals"
(some of the best Mastodon posters)
I see (nice) pro #BidenHarris posters who give DAMN GOOD reasons to VOTE in the #nov5th election, seriously need to register esp in the key States its a #electoralcollege event
Big news: Maine joins the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact! The inter-state agreement now includes states with 209 electoral votes, and will come into effect when enough states join that include 270 votes. Making progress!
"Rural white voters have long enjoyed outsize power in American politics. They have inflated voting power in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Electoral College. …
The unfortunate fact is that polls suggest many rural white people’s commitment to the American political system is eroding."
One more time for those in the back: GET RID OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. It's nothing more than a loophole to let parties ignore most states and fraudsters like Trump rig things in their favor.
Trump and GOP leaders push to change #Nebraska electoral votes to winner-take-all
“Former President Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen are calling on the state’s Legislature to change the way Nebraska doles out its Electoral College votes, a move that would almost certainly benefit Trump in his 2024 presidential bid.”
#Nebraska legislators buck Trump by blocking Electoral College vote change — for now
“Nebraska legislators on Wednesday night blocked a late effort to change how the state allocates its Electoral College votes, despite public pressure from former President Donald Trump to shift to a winner-take-all system that would likely benefit him in the fall.”
“Name a force or impulse that threatens the stability of the American political system – distrust in the fairness of elections, conspiracy theorizing, the embrace of authoritarianism – and it is always more prevalent among rural Whites than among those living elsewhere."
~ Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy (New York: Random House, 2024), p. 5
“Because it violates the ‘one person, one vote’ standard, malapportionment in the Electoral College and especially the U.S. Senate is the primary means by which White voters—and rural Whites most of all—retain electoral advantages at the national level. ...
No group was ever dealt a better electoral hand than rural White Americans."
"The inflated power of rural White voters confers upon them an unusual ability to force state and national governments to cater to their preferences and grievances. Herein lies the danger: precisely because they wield inflated power, rural Whites’ increasingly tenuous commitments to democratic norms and traditions are magnified across the U.S. political system in many of the same ways their preferences have been for two centuries.”
“The Republican Party and its rural White voter base also enjoy a pivotal advantage in presidential elections, which are decided by the Electoral College rather than by a national popular vote as is used in every other democracy in the world. Thanks to the inflated power that smaller states enjoy in the Electoral College, the past two Republican presidents entered the White House despite having lost the popular vote."
It's not just possible but likely that yet another Republican in the near future will win the White House despite receiving fewer votes than their opponent. ...
Although Democrats support a national popular vote at higher rates than Republicans, the share of Republicans who prefer a national popular vote rule grew steadily from 40 percent in 2000 to a 54 percent majority by 2016."
"Then Donald Trump was elected. What happened next? On cue, Republican support for electing presidents based on the national popular vote dropped by half, from 54 percent to 27 percent.”
"Maine votes to join multi-state agreement to elect the president by popular vote"
It's not passed into law yet, but seems likely at this point.
This map shows a credible path to achieving 270 votes before the 2028 election. If you're in one of the blue states on this map, please write to your state legislators and governor!
Maine Senate Passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Bill.
Maine has 4 electoral votes which will bring the total to 209. When we get to 270, no more swing states / battleground states deciding elections. No more losers like Trump and George W. Bush taking office.
TFG & Republicans pose an existential threat to America bc the presidential election could be decided by the House. Dems need to win enough seats to take the HSE, but it'll be difficult given Rs' power structure in red & swing states.
"Hair-raising piece from M Tomasky, laying out the nightmare scenario in which Trump wins the election when it goes to the HSE, with concrete suggestions for Dems to do something about this right now."
Everything I promised: How to listen (or not listen) to legal pundits.
It's also about what is dangerous about the entire industry of punditry, speculation, and cable talk shows.
For years I was perplexed by what I was seeing on left-leaning Twitter, political blogs, and partisan reporting. I had the feeling that, in its way, what I was seeing was comparable to Fox: Lots of bad information and even unhinged conspiracy theories.