2016 probably saw more voter suppression than any previous election. And Trump won with 3% less of the vote than Hillary got. Voter suppression is real, and its very concerning. But even now the skew from that and gerrymandering. While unprecedented in scale, is pretty slight. Say a couple hundred thousand votes in a few key Congressional districts slight.
That along with turn out problems on the Dem’s side were arguably a much bigger factor in Trump winning than those few voters who shifted his way that we keep hearing about. Part of what annoys me about this angle of the discussion. Some pretty important shit is getting ignored to present the idea that Trump is more embedded in power than he is.
But even with all that going on in the election that put him in office. Trump’s numbers still look like they do.
Meanwhile. Even as the GOP is renewing its push for voter suppression, ever more extreme gerrymanders, and the straight up fucking crazy shit like we’re seeing in North Carolina. The courts have turned out to be notably unfriendly to almost all of it. Especially higher up the ladder in federal circuit courts and state supreme courts. Even among conservative and GOP appointed judges.
Part of why their so obsessed with packing the bench right now. G-Dubs packed the fuck out of the federal bench. And they obstructed the hell out of Obama’s appointments. And they still need a far more extreme, partisan, and loyal judiciary than we currently have to keep what they’ve got.
So yeah its a factor. But I do not see it as the sort of factor that makes Trumps re-election a forgone conclusion. Particularly since we’re already seeing increased turn out from the left overcome a whole hell of a lot in those special elections. I think its important to keep stressing just how feasible it is to beat these guys, or remove Trump. So that keeps happening.
