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Hi Elliott,

I believe Republicans seeking unilateral control of running elections will end up with Republicans installing permanent minority rule. I can't see Republicans letting Biden or Harris be sworn in on January 20, 2025 if they win the election. I think Republicans will control both houses of Congress and will decertify a Democratic Electoral College win. Republicans could attempt to overturn the election by using state legislatures as well. Attempts to reform the Electoral Count Act will fail due to Manchin and Sinema's support of the filibuster and their desire for "bipartisan election reform". I guess I could see McConnell getting Republicans votes to certify the election for Democrats in exchange for the promise of Biden/Harris appointing conservatives to the Supreme Court and the lower courts and significant policy concessions. That's probably what a "McConnell Agreement" would look like. I think Republican minority rule is inevitable. I'm alarmed when people say "Well, our institutions held. Biden is the President, not Trump", Americans are really asleep. Americans are going to wake up to the end of American democracy and minority rule.

Both Norman Ornstein and Ruth Ben-Ghiat do not believe that a Republican Congress will allow a Democrat who wins the Electoral College to take office.

https://twitter.com/MehdiHasanShow/status/1394805058735333380

We need majority rule. I've stated before that I prefer parliamentary systems with multi-member districts or the mixed German system. Ranked choice voting is key. I don't believe the U.S. will ever get rid of the Presidency, so electing the President by popular vote and splitting executive power between the President and the Speaker of the House is a good reform. I want to get rid of the Senate. Every state should not have equal representation in the government. In reality, my utopica will never happen.

I don't want to go full "doomer" here, but my most optimistic take is that Mitch McConnell gains significant power in a Democratic Administration.

Happy Thanksgiving! My mom and I are going to make Apple Pie. My parents and I commit blasphemy and cook Prime Rib instead of Turkey on Thanksgiving.

-Elliot

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This assumes of course that neither party has any ability to change its coalition and persuade voters to vote for another party. Since this is obviously not true I will continue to point out Democratic choices to deliberately increase these divides are self-defeating, and if they want to keep wielding political power they need to compromise far more than they currently are in today's environment. The Democratic Party has moved far to the left: reversing that trend would 'save democracy' and allow them the power to have more leeway.

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I'm thinking about Portugal as a good destination, even though we just moved to Democristan in August. But on Thursday, I'm making an apple pie, and we're dining on a small Nieman Ranch ham and a fresh salad, with a good cabernet.

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