I basically see this election as a choice between a man who’s willing to subvert democracy, and a party that is willing to subvert democracy [...] It’s reasonable to think that the risk Trump poses outweighs that, but it’s also reasonable to lean the other way
Which things that Democrats have done are as bad as the following actions from the GOP ticket?
It’s plausible to worry that if Trump wins in 2024, and then a Democrat wins the 2028 election, Vance will simply not certify the election results until states send illegitimate Republican electors, which Republican members of the House would then have the opportunity of choosing.[1] This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s what Vance said on TV that he would’ve done in 2020.
So we could be in a situation in 4 years in which only one party is allowed to win major elections. I believe the technical term for this is “dictatorship.”
I believe the examples of undemocratic activity by Democrats that you’ve listed in your comment pale in comparison to those actions and statements. But even if they don’t, it’s unclear why they’re relevant to your argument, when Republicans have done approximately all of the things you listed. For example:
massively biased media coverage
Have you read Breitbart or watched One America News Network? Can you name one media company whose staff is largely right-wing which produces better and less biased content than the NYT? If not, why does “massively biased media coverage” count against Democrats but not Republicans?
lawfare against opponents
Do you actually expect Trump to be better on that front? As the WP reported, “In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” President Biden and his family. [...] In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office. [...] To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations.”
coordinated social media censorship (I’ve seen particularly egregious examples on Reddit, but I expect that Facebook and Instagram are just as bad)
Trump has called for “a Senate investigation into news outlets for publishing unflattering stories about him” and for journalists to be jailed.
I also wanted to address this sentence from your comment:
RFK Jr, a lifelong Democrat (and a Kennedy to boot), has now endorsed Trump because he considers Democrat behavior too undemocratic.
Secondly, the Democratic Party has evolved a lot over time. And a meaningful change that occurred in the last few decades is that conspiracy theorists are much less common in the party now. Both Richard Hanania and Matthew Yglesias recently wrote about how, whereas conspiracy theorists used to be roughly equally divided between the two major parties just a few decades ago, educational polarization booted Democratic conspiracy theorists into the GOP. RFK Jr is an example of this phenomenon.
This could happen even if Democrats control the House, since the Constitution says that each state should count equally were such vote to be held:
The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote
Which things that Democrats have done are as bad as the following actions from the GOP ticket?
Calling for the Constitution to be suspended
Saying the President should ignore the Supreme Court
Saying that Pence shouldn’t have certified the 2020 election results
Planning to use the military for domestic law enforcement
Calling for journalists to be jailed
Ending a 220-year tradition of peaceful transfers of power and spending considerable and relentless effort attempting to overturn an election
It’s plausible to worry that if Trump wins in 2024, and then a Democrat wins the 2028 election, Vance will simply not certify the election results until states send illegitimate Republican electors, which Republican members of the House would then have the opportunity of choosing.[1] This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s what Vance said on TV that he would’ve done in 2020.
So we could be in a situation in 4 years in which only one party is allowed to win major elections. I believe the technical term for this is “dictatorship.”
I believe the examples of undemocratic activity by Democrats that you’ve listed in your comment pale in comparison to those actions and statements. But even if they don’t, it’s unclear why they’re relevant to your argument, when Republicans have done approximately all of the things you listed. For example:
Have you read Breitbart or watched One America News Network? Can you name one media company whose staff is largely right-wing which produces better and less biased content than the NYT? If not, why does “massively biased media coverage” count against Democrats but not Republicans?
Do you actually expect Trump to be better on that front? As the WP reported, “In public, Trump has vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” President Biden and his family. [...] In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office. [...] To facilitate Trump’s ability to direct Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions from political considerations.”
Trump has called for “a Senate investigation into news outlets for publishing unflattering stories about him” and for journalists to be jailed.
I also wanted to address this sentence from your comment:
This isn’t good evidence of issues with the Democratic Party. First of all, RFK Jr is a prolific, long-time conspiracy theorist. He claimed that the 2004 election was stolen, that vaccines cause autism, that it’s not conclusive that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS, that hydroxychloroquine is an effective COVID-19 treatment, that the COVID-19 vaccines are not safe, that secret unidentified participants were involved in both JFK’s and RFK’s assassinations, and so on. I wouldn’t rely on his opinion about which party is better for democracy.
Secondly, the Democratic Party has evolved a lot over time. And a meaningful change that occurred in the last few decades is that conspiracy theorists are much less common in the party now. Both Richard Hanania and Matthew Yglesias recently wrote about how, whereas conspiracy theorists used to be roughly equally divided between the two major parties just a few decades ago, educational polarization booted Democratic conspiracy theorists into the GOP. RFK Jr is an example of this phenomenon.
This could happen even if Democrats control the House, since the Constitution says that each state should count equally were such vote to be held: