On his way out the door, Trump will still be insisting that the election was rigged and the Democrats stole it through massive fraud involving absentee ballots ⤵️
Absentee balloting makes voting widely accessible. It's easy. There is a paper trail. It's harder to suppress the vote by scaring people away from the polls and shutting down polling places.
At first, the Fox-GOP partnership was a boon to GOP candidates, but what the authors call “outsourcing voter mobilization” has drawbacks. Eventually, FOX exerted control over GOP officials . . .
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They were forced to cater to Fox’s demands, which forced GOP officials to adopt more extreme policies.
Now it appears that Trump has taken over from Fox.
Trump controls the GOP voters. That's where he gets his power.
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The courts aren't going to install a dictator (which is what ignoring the vote would do).
Lawsuits require evidence.
Moreover, federal judges with lifetime appointments have no motive to install a dictator and (effectively) give up all their own power to a vindictive person.
People are asking about the military. The military is not going to install Trump as a dictator. Soldiers and generals would have to obey illegal orders and circumvent the Constitution. Not. Going. To. Happen.
This country is too big.
That said, Trump is up to something.
He's figuring out how to line his own pockets and cover his tracks.
He's figuring out how to maneuver the levers of government for his personal enrichment while he controls them.
He's figuring out how to consolidate influence (collect favors, perhaps) to remain relevant.
The fear is also explained by Richard Hofstader, who wrote the classic work⤵️
Hofstadter reviewed American politics from before the founding of the nation through McCarthyism. He noticed a pattern among an impassioned minority on the fringes of the political spectrum.
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He called their behavior the “paranoid style” in politics.
Those embracing the paranoid style of politics believe that unseen satanic forces are trying to destroy something larger in which they belong.
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💠Latino communities in California
💠Southern African American communities
💠Urban intellectuals
💠Big, diverse cities
💠Democratic socialists from Queens
💠Asian communities in California
💠LGBTQ
💠 Pro-union working-class Whites
Etc. Etc. Etc.
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When we say, “The GOP demographics are aging and shrinking, and the Democratic base is expanding” Democrats cheer. It means we can win elections.
It also means that we are a huge, diverse heterogeneous group.
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