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picklefactory's avatar

The reality of the situation as I see it is that the federal GOP has a strategic objective — minority rule — and a few ways to help achieve it, two of which are giving free rein to the rabid conspiracists and carnival barkers in government and outside it, and obstructing Biden and all Democrats everywhere via the Senate filibuster / activism from the remade judiciary.

Effectively, to your first point, we simply can’t have much in the way of governance: just one reconciliation bill per period that will pass the bad-faith and unknowable-in-advance tests of Manchin and Sinema, show legislation that won’t be passed in the House, and the Senate doing its best to slow-walk Biden’s nominees to fill out the executive branch.

I don’t think the GOP is going to turn on these goals or methods. They probably see them as having had a great deal of success so far.

> The message that moderate voters absorbed … we could debate the accuracy of this narrative … Democrats in their political incompetence let it take hold.

So as for the second half, I don’t find the way you’ve assigned “Democrats” responsibility for this outcome very convincing or specific.

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