a relevant this is hell episode. The past 20 years have seen the republicans party using the constitution to undermine the constitution. From Bush V Gore to Merrick Garland. Dozens of instances.
I think if we didn't live in a normalization era and if you asked somebody which is more unthinkable, the Merrick Garland scenario or a Republican state legislature refusing to accept the popular vote for president, I don't think they could say one is clearly more unthinkable than the other.
I've heard people suggest that if a state just replaced it's electors, it'd be tantamount to civil war. Merrick Garland wasn't.
And there's several Airbud style loopholes. Congress certifies the count and with a bipartisan objection, they can adjourn to discuss the results. McConnell: "well technically there's no rule that says we explicitly have end discussion before Jan 20"
My hot take: there is NO WAY Biden becomes president even though he wins. It won't be civil war because constitutional democracy already ended a good 20 years ago and everybody got over it. They will get over this too.
160/160 post title, never leave any character off the table.
This is kind of what I'm afraid of, slash, expecting. I mean, part of me knows it's unlikely, but the other part of me is ready for it.
Dems wouldn't oppose it, they'd just shrug and accept it. Libs wouldn't riot, they'd just hold socially distanced crying sessions.
Republicans don't actually care about the Constitution. They kinda treat it like the Bible. They call it sacred, but it ultimately says whatever they want it to, and they'll go to some crazy lengths to make it so, where this one vague statement somehow contradicts a crystal clear one.
Like, one of the central reasons why Robert Paxton, author of "The Anatomy of Fascism," didn't want to call Trump a fascist, despite being very concerned about all the authoritarian behavior, was because of how Trump claims to hold the Constitution sacred, but it doesn't really click with Paxton that Trump and his followers don't actually give a shit about the Constitution, beyond it being an American Civil Religion requirement that they pretend to.
yes, I've made the bible comparison in my head too in that it says whatever they want it to but if they're super reverent it won't look like they're just using it for expediency.
I think it's a likely outcome because Republicans already broke the ice long ago. The difference between electoral fuckery and Bush v Gore isn't large. It only seems like it because we've lived with B v G a long time.