The checks and balances assumed the entire country didn't vote the exact same people into majorities in all 3 branches
Trump's cult-like pull and the associated threat of the world's richest man (who still talks about the dangers of the global elites with no sense of irony) bankrolling a primary against anyone who steps out of line have effectively erased the congress as an independent branch entirely.
There are Republicans in the house and senate and even Trump's own administration that I believe aren't aligned with what he is doing but they lack the spine to say so beyond the most superficial talk about their "concerns" (and then still voting for everything he demands).
As with "DEI mayor", "urban youth", "rootless cosmopolitans", etc., it's a euphemism.
Firstly, its not because of reasons that people win in America, not anymore. People didnt know that the ACA was Obamacare, or that Biden dropped out.
Fox and the GOP created an orwellian political power that has parasitized democratic processess.
Classic example would be climate change, in the 90s, when FOX was created.
Fox platformed cranks, and made them look legitimate. Republican lawmakers pointed to Fox news reports, and stalled if not killed climate change legislation.
The governing principle at that time, was to not provide credibility to cranks. However, shocked by the effectiveness of Fox, scientists decided to talk directly to viewers on Fox.
This resulted in them being fed to the media lions, because the goal of Fox was to discredit them, along with the ivory tower education systems.
Through this process, FOX and the GOP own the overton window for climate discussions. THEY decide what positions Dems must take.
Repeat this proces year after year, and eventually there is no place you can hold a position to win at a national level.
For state level elections this is different, apparently local knowledge overcomes this distorition field.
However, thats not the only trick.
Republicans are beholden to never grant Democrats any credibility. See Romneycare and Obamacare. It shocked me even then, that Repubs actually credited Obama for getting Osama.
This election, people remember Harris as being the Trans supporter. The Campaign itself never focused on this topic.
The Repubs sets the stage on which everyone dances.
Yes - the other candidate should earn peoples votes. They should create the right message.
Yes - as a voter, you should know when its not a fair fight.
Simply so that you can apply the right handicap when viewing candiates.
My decision to not vote for Harris boiled down to my opinion that she failed in her one duty as VP, which was to effectively step in and govern in the event that Biden was unable to function as president. That much was painfully obvious during his debate, which exposed her dereliction of duty.
Or it can mean “I am not ok with either”. That is the reason I didn’t vote for Trump or Harris. Why should I participate when neither viable political party actually respects my vote enough to run a candidate that is worthy of a vote?
I don’t need to vote for the lesser of two evils or to feel like I voted for a winner.
One of them is promising that you won't be able to vote again. And are you doing anything to fight foor the changes needed to dismantle the two party system?
Also, I am not a Trump voter and have never been, but can y’all please stop taking snippets and quotes of his out of context? It’s so fucking tiring and intellectually dishonest and is one of the reasons he won this election. If you don’t know that your “won’t have to vote again” quote is out of context it would be intellectually honest of you to go watch the whole speech and understand the context and audience in which that was said. That way people like me who don’t like the man but happen to think truth is valuable and important in discourse don’t have to defend him.
In the US elections are not a crime and “not voting” is not a crime.
I got the following small margins of victory smaller than the 1.5% in 2024, five of which are positive and five of which are negative.
-7.8% in 1824, 1.4% in 1844, -3% in 1876, 0% in 1880, 0.6% in 1884, -0.8% in 1888, 0.1% in 1960, 0.7% in 1968, -0.5% in 2000, -2.1% in 2016.
Nixon attempted something similar but Congress didn't let him get away with it (and passed the Impoundment Control Act, which Trump is now flouting).
They're afraid of their voters, as they should be, as Trump is more popular with their voters than any of them are. All Trump/Musk need to do is endorse an opponent in their primaries.
Behind this, is the desire to win elections at all costs/.
He's doing the exact opposite, shutting down and shrinking departments to reduce the power of the executive branch.
electing a bunch of pathetic apparatchiks to the legislature and letting the Heritage Foundation choose a bunch of lunatics for the courts is why there's no counterbalancing force. the Founders assumed the other branches of government would have some self-respect.