Saving American Democracy
With Republicans set to win back both chambers of Congress this fall (I hope I’m wrong but that’s what it looks like), we’re in grave danger of permanent Republican Party rule, similar to what they have in Russia.
Their plan is simple: with majorities in both houses of Congress, they can (and make no mistake, they will, Trump will demand it and they won’t dare defy him) refuse to certify any reasonably close adverse election results because of imaginary “voter fraud”. They’ll install Trump (or maybe DeSantis, it doesn’t really matter) as president, and from there they can pass draconian voter suppression laws and laws that let Republican state legislatures decide election results. Then they’ve got us by the balls, it will be practically impossible for a Democrat to win a significant election ever again.
So how can Democrats prevent this? Well if they can pull a rabbit out of the hat and hold onto the Senate this fall that will at least delay the Republican takeover a bit. Failing that, they have to win the presidency in 2024. But winning like Biden won in 2020 won’t be good enough next time if Republicans have majorities in Congress for the reason I outlined above. If Biden (or whom ever the Democrats nominate, I figure it’ll probably be Biden again even though I think I’d rather it be someone else) ekes out narrow victories in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the Republicans in Congress won’t certify the results in those states and it will be enough to give Trump the victory.
So the best bet I can see is for the Democrats to find the next Obama. They need to find a very broadly popular candidate that can win big enough that the outcome is no longer seriously in question when election night comes around. Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin need to be solidly blue, instead the “battleground” states probably need to be Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas. That will give him a cushion so if he gets narrow wins in a few of those and they get overturned he’ll still have enough electoral votes to win.
I suppose Congress could still refuse to certify the results, but they’ll be facing a lot more pressure if they can’t even fool the swing voters into thinking maybe there was enough fraud to affect the outcome. Anyway, I figure that’s probably the best we can hope for.
Their plan is simple: with majorities in both houses of Congress, they can (and make no mistake, they will, Trump will demand it and they won’t dare defy him) refuse to certify any reasonably close adverse election results because of imaginary “voter fraud”. They’ll install Trump (or maybe DeSantis, it doesn’t really matter) as president, and from there they can pass draconian voter suppression laws and laws that let Republican state legislatures decide election results. Then they’ve got us by the balls, it will be practically impossible for a Democrat to win a significant election ever again.
So how can Democrats prevent this? Well if they can pull a rabbit out of the hat and hold onto the Senate this fall that will at least delay the Republican takeover a bit. Failing that, they have to win the presidency in 2024. But winning like Biden won in 2020 won’t be good enough next time if Republicans have majorities in Congress for the reason I outlined above. If Biden (or whom ever the Democrats nominate, I figure it’ll probably be Biden again even though I think I’d rather it be someone else) ekes out narrow victories in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the Republicans in Congress won’t certify the results in those states and it will be enough to give Trump the victory.
So the best bet I can see is for the Democrats to find the next Obama. They need to find a very broadly popular candidate that can win big enough that the outcome is no longer seriously in question when election night comes around. Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin need to be solidly blue, instead the “battleground” states probably need to be Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas. That will give him a cushion so if he gets narrow wins in a few of those and they get overturned he’ll still have enough electoral votes to win.
I suppose Congress could still refuse to certify the results, but they’ll be facing a lot more pressure if they can’t even fool the swing voters into thinking maybe there was enough fraud to affect the outcome. Anyway, I figure that’s probably the best we can hope for.
