Want to say again that it is insane that a margin of thousands in a few arbitrary geographic units was the difference between victory and defeat for a candidate who won the overall vote by millions (and counting).
and everything you might want to say to defend it — “it protects small states and rural areas and makes sure the candidates visit all regions!” — is demonstrably false.
I don’t understand how this is “misleading” unless millions of votes suddenly don’t count because the percentage margin is < 5%.
And Republicans who think they couldn't win without the Electoral College should look at the fact that Trump increased his vote share and conclude that maybe an outright popular majority is possible if they work for it.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I've said this a few times before but I am not so certain there is anyone who can replicate Trumpism and get the same political results except for Trump. Somehow, we still greatly underrate the extent to which Trump's sui generis celebrity is his special sauce.
Yep, tens of millions of people over the course of a decade watched a "reality" television show that relentlessly pushed the idea that Trump was among America's greatest businessmen. Who else has that kind of juice?
Some future Republican may be able to assemble a winning coalition for a similar politics, but I don't think we can just assume it will be Trump + competence, since I don't think Trump's appeal to marginal voters happens on the level of "normal" politics.
rewatched MICHAEL CLAYTON and boy, this movie. it’s perfect. flawless. and those last fifteen minutes? sublime.
the crazy thing about it, upon this rewatch, is that in memory it feels like a movie that is constantly moving, but it actually has these nice moments where it just breathes and lives in the world its built.
it's a nearly two hour movie that feels barely longer than 80 minutes
first, we did a big package at @nytopinion looking at what the trump years have meant for the united states, you can read through the whole thing here. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
my contribution argues that the only thing we've lost is our illusions about what this country is nytimes.com/2020/10/30/opi…
.@surlybassey made this point earlier, but it is difficult to see this incident without reflecting on how white supremacy has exploited black motherhood throughout this country’s history, in exactly this way
i.e. slavers stealing children, destroying family bonds, and then using that destruction as justification for enslavement, “they don’t care about their own.”
or more recently, immiserating black communities through segregation, incarceration, disinvestment and capitalist exploitation, then pointing to the results as evidence of the fundamental unfitness of black mothers. i.e.