Nancy was effectively president for Reagan’s second term. People were mad about Biden, but they also hid how far gone Reagan was. FDR, too.

Cute.

I don’t think that degree of optimism is justified.

My notes on this are a little old, but:

No VRA protections, voter purges/caging (Crosscheck), targeted disenfranchisement & gerrymandering, insecure/unauditable voting machines, undermined census, and gaming the electoral college, all impact the fairness of our elections, on top of the naive first-past-the-post implementation.

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/this-anti-voter-fraud-program-gets-it-wrong-over-99-of-the-time-the-gop-wants-to-take-it-nationwide/
• https://capitolfax.com/2017/10/13/dem-house-members-want-state-to-withdraw-from-flawed-national-voter-registration-crosscheck-system/
• https://capitolfax.com/2017/10/19/accidental-and-apparently-harmless-password-leak-could-prompt-move-away-from-crosscheck-program/
• http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article184229328.html
• https://www.thenation.com/article/house-republicans-just-voted-to-eliminate-the-only-federal-agency-that-makes-sure-voting-machines-cant-be-hacked/
• https://apnews.com/af2f0ede054d8baebbe1bb6ca47b4895
• https://www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/01/09/rnc-ballot-security-consent-decree-328995

Thanks for digging into that!

Do you have any references for this? I only ask because “cities are dangerous shitholes” has been a talking point of reactionaries for a long time.

A lot of hate for this, but it’s true.

Incumbents aren’t to blame for voters picking the familiar, that’s a symptom of another problem.

We’re seeing what an inexperienced government looks like now. They don’t know the limitations they’re supposed to have, and they don’t care.