The GOP is actively trying to purge its pro-democracy, anti-coup members. We should wonder how much worse the last three months would have been without effective gatekeepers in the rank-and-file. A safe assumption for policymakers is that it will be a lot worse next time.
Even if they don’t succeed at removing Cheney and McConnell, GOP-controlled states are going to spend the next 4 years passing new restrictive voting laws, cutting polling places, killing mail-in voting and drawing partisan maps to give themselves even bigger advantages.
Hard to see the Republicans as anything other than a fundamentally minoritarian, anti-democracy, anti-election party right now.
More: State GOP orgs had a real chance to turn away from the misinformation and illiberalism that made the Capitol attack possible, and they are unanimously deciding in the opposite direction. It looks unlikely we’ll get any real party change out of Jan 6.
Remember, this is happening while McConnell is trying to block the Dems from realizing their full majority status in the Senate. It has been disappointing to see the potential of his commitment to the transition of power on Jan 6 fizzle out as the underlying causes get worse.
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Democrats would need to be FDR-levels of popular and productive to avoid mid-term losses the first go-around. I don’t know about y’all, but while I think Biden is talented, I’m doubtful he can lead the party to THAT strong a record. Operating assumption is GOP Congress in 2022.
Final thought: You can save this tweet for later, but I really doubt this changes the electoral environment at all. For one thing, the GOP’s favorability ratings haven’t suffered at all from the attack on the Capitol. If anything it has helped them.
I think people are thinking too hard about this. Just look at the polls. Most of the starting reforms proposed by Biden are pretty darn popular news.gallup.com/opinion/pollin…
Getting rid of the filibuster is also pretty popular (depending on how you frame the question)
So if voters want, for ex, a public option, and they’re okay with getting rid of the filibuster to do it, I’m not so sure the conventional wisdom about Biden/Democrats incurring huge costs by “forcing” policies through the branches of gov is right
One of the more depressing things about covid, from a political-psychological & sociological point of view, is just how little many Americans’ support for public health (the bureaucracy, professionals, and safety measures) has risen over the course of 400k deaths.
Covid has tested our commitment to each other in a bleak, dispiriting way. After a year of deaths, partisanship & conspiratorial thinking are still the leading predictors of whether people will even wear masks. Makes you wonder what could really prepare us for the next pandemic.
If a virus that kills over half a million Americans by the end of its pandemic stage isn’t enough to significantly shore up bipartisan funding for public health, expand access to healthcare, and significantly raise opinion for a robust public response, what is?
The last week has proved that almost nothing can stop the GOP’s politicization of their illiberalism—now ranking near Poland and Turkey’s right-wing parties for their endorsement of authoritarianism. They have radicalized their voters against democracy. Dark days for the republic
We might have three major (endogenous) ideological dimensions in America now: left-right economic, open-closed social attitudes, and liberalism-authoritarianism in support for democracy. That last divide is untenable. It’s incompatible with our government.
If the GOP can basically just campaign against pro-democracy, anti-corruption speech with traditional culture-war arguments (against censorship &c), it’s really hard to see the path forward. No electoral incentive for leadership, no accountability. Are we too far gone?
I don't see Congress is at all addressing what happened today. Trumpism, Republican power ideology, and our electoral institutions brought us to this point, and there doesn't seem to be any reckoning with that (I'm mainly talking about from the GOP side).
Sure, Romney, Graham, and some others have objected to the anti-certification nefariousness, but that's not going to stop what's really threatening American democracy right now.
Saying "enough is enough" in no way repairs years of perpetuating conspiracy theories about fraud and otherwise destabilizing democracy. Republican lawmakers need to reckon with what they've created (violent, anti-democratic mobs) or it's all for naught.
It's early in GA, but the NYT needles are pretty good. Plus: AP Votecast has Trump's approval in GA down since Nov; polls were good in the general; and the $2k checks and Trump call could be big factors. I'm happy if I'm a Dem, but Atlanta results could tip the scales.
It is worth noting that the average shift since November in counties that are 100% reporting (per the NYT) is about two percentage points toward Democrats. I'm not expecting Ossoff/Warnock to win by _that_ much, but directionally this is often a good indicator.