https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls

This just feels like it was a “it won’t happen to me” election. Leopards eating faces, yada yada, but it seems to me that vast numbers of people did not (do not) see increased chance of personal harm to themselves or anybody near them in their futures as a result of this election. And that’s what they based their votes on.

Increased harm to somebody else? Not on the radar. Calls from various religions (including atheism as a religion here) to act to reduce harm to the the Other? Not on the radar.

https://www.wral.com/story/riggs-appears-to-win-nc-supreme-court-race-but-griffin-calls-for-a-recount/21729251/

Current margin is 625 votes, out of 5.5+ million.

«In 2020 another race for a Supreme Court seat — the chief justice race between Republican Paul Newby and Democrat Cheri Beasley — went to a recount in which Newby eventually won by 401 votes. That process lasted until mid-December.»

Votes surely do matter.

Ouch. (The headline is wrong. It should be “Democrats”, not just “Biden”. The article basically blames the entire Dem establishment. But….)

The problem with an analysis like this is that it only carries weight in the context of the one poll that matters.

https://www.vox.com/policy/385932/biden-inflation-record-worse-unpopular-mistakes

(Wish I could make this a gift link, but I can’t. 😦 $5/month, though! (Less for a full year.))

«Democrats had also likely been conditioned to ignore concerns about inflation after a decade in which deficit hawks had constantly warned of imminent inflation that never seemed to arrive, and after Trump had spent freely with no practical or political consequence.»

«Given norms against presidential influence on interest rate decisions,»

More norms!

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/how-to-stop-president-elect-trumps

«The fact that past presidents have done so relatively rarely is more a product of longstanding political norms than hard legal limits.»

Too late now, but maybe (if we get another chance) folks should game out how all the “norms” can be broken and strengthen them with some actual laws. Even if it won’t be Trump again, it’ll be somebody else.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/world/biden-g20-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.a04.RAkg.TQWpeilBDwoT&smid=url-share

I don’t hate Joe Biden with the heat of 1,000 suns, but if now, why not a year or more ago?

I don’t think history will judge his “institutionalism” kindly. In the same way we don’t look kindly on Obama for thinking he could work with Republicans.

Just had an urge to look it up. Yup, still in prison.

Hopefully, not to be undone by a recount.

https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2024/10/29/the-big-law-firms-and-lawyers-leading-election-legal-battles/

Hmmm.

👀

https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/

David Brooks, every liberal’s favorite conservative:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/opinion/identity-groups-politics.html

«In 2024, Kamala Harris did worse among Black voters than Joe Biden did in 2020. She did worse among female voters. She did much worse among Latino voters. She did much worse among young voters.

She did manage to outperform Biden among two groups: affluent people and white voters, especially white men. If there is one sentence that captures the surprising results of this election, it is this one from the sociologist Musa al-Gharbi: “Democrats lost because everyone except for whites moved in the direction of Donald Trump this cycle.”

Going into this campaign, I did not have that one on my bingo card.»

I stopped reading here:

«In both cases her identity grouping came before her individual qualities.»

But that first bit.