Biden defeated Trump by nearly 8m votes in 2020, a substantial if not overwhelming margin of victory. Matters were very different in the electoral college. A combined total of 44,000 votes handed Biden victory in the swing states of Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Had Trump succeeded in “finding” 45,000 more votes in these three states, the 2020 election would have resulted in an electoral college tie, an unseemly result that, by the terms of the constitution, hands the task of electing the president to the House of Representatives. In a travesty of democratic rule, when the House elects the president, each state delegation, and not each representative, gets a single vote, and while Democrats still controlled the House after the 2020 election, Republicans actually enjoyed a majority of state delegations. Trump would have won.
While it is hard to imagine Trump defeating Biden in the popular vote in 2024, the electoral college remains another matter. Polls already predict another tight electoral race. Maga zealots and election deniers continue to target and attack independent election officials in the key swing states. Add to the mix the possibility of a third-party candidate, who, like Ralph Nader in 2000, would have no prospect of winning but could peel away votes in these crucial states, and the perils magnify.
Generations of Americans have recognized the defects in the way we elect our president. The first serious effort to eliminate the system came in 1816 and hundreds have followed, all failing given the extreme difficulty of amending our constitution. It is a grotesque fact that a candidate who has made clear his hostility to democratic governance could only be returned to office through an antiquated, dysfunctional and anti-democratic electoral system.
If you are referring to religion, then just say that? I’m no fan of the christian right, but fortunately they are more of a boogie man these days as opposed to the 80’s and 90’s. For the uneducated, well if you want to continue to not give a fuck about them, then I’m sure all the people in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana will surely be lining up to vote for whatever out of touch liberal you are supporting instead of the person who actually engages with them.*
*In this hypothetical, Trump was the person who actually engaged with them, and he won in 2016 because of that outreach.
You know, I made my account on Lemmy.ml for a reason, so maybe you can back off and realize we’re on the same page. Like dude, my first comment was advocating direct democracy, not praising the fucking sick broken system we live in. I’m not exactly a fan of political parties here myself, or the founding fathers, or the constitution, so take it down a notch.
And to be fair, Trumps outreach was being a racist fucking pig and authoritarian who promoted killing your enemies. Is that the outreach you want us to use, or aren’t we supposed to be out here punching Nazis, not breaking bread with them? Like holy shit you had me until that bullshit. They voted for him because they want to be able to grab women by the pussy with no repercussion like he does not because they’re fucking misguided.
I disagree with your characterization of even a majority of 2016 Trump voters. But I don’t want to re-litigate 2016. I just want to remind you not to dismiss wide swaths of the country for classist reasons, and using term like “yokel” or whatever classist term you love to use to otherize isn’t helpful.
You’re the one acting like working class people must be uneducated, and thus a word like “yokel” would apply to them.
Also, Trump literally had no platform in 2020. How is that engaging the voters? What did he engage them on, sir?
I’m not re-litigating 2016, I’ve spent 7 years being browbeat by the “Fuck your feelings” Trump voters who are happy to abuse minorities and anyone they deem “different.” So the fuck out of here with that noise.
I live in the city where Trump and his goons had someone extrajudicially murdered, so it hits pretty fucking close to home, thanks.