Gerrymandering has existed for a long time. It is an act of disenfranchisement where politicians choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives. A few states created independent commissions to have neutrally drawn maps, but many draw them to maximize one party’s success, biasing elections against what people actually voted for.
Trump escalated gerrymandering by pushing Republicans in states they control to gerrymander shortly before an election, rather than after a census brings new data. This is Trump trying to win the midterm elections by way of changing lines on maps rather than by convincing people to vote for his party. Democrats retaliated by also gerrymandering before the mid-terms. For the midterms, Republicans are predicted to net 7 to 10 extra seats due to changing the maps, rather than convincing voters to vote for them.
Proportional representation may be a better way to elect representatives.
Democrats have a difficult media arena because Republicans have a synergistic bullshit ecosystem that globs onto the same messages and is naturally integrated from biased news to biased think tanks to biased pundits and influencers. It even ropes in people whose content isn’t focused on politics, but they fall for the bullshit, and then become bullshit spreaders themselves, like Joe Rogan.
People say don’t clickbait, but they only click the clickbait, so they are voting with their clicks.
“Economics creates the conditions — insecurity, a sense of decline, distrust of elites. But immigration (framed as cultural threat, not just economic competition) is what converts that grievance into a right-wing populist vote. The slogan “It’s the economy, stupid” famously explained Bill Clinton’s 1992 win. For right-wing populism, researchers are now saying almost the opposite: it’s the culture, not just the economy.”
American Olympians were asked what they thought of Trump’s policies. They said they didn’t agree with a lot of what’s going on but they are still here to compete for their friends and family. Trump and some Republicans attacked them viciously.
Respected general arrested by Chinese President Xi may have written a letter describing the problems with Xi’s rule and warning of where Xi is taking the country. He may have not actually written this letter.
There’s a good chance that the Chinese company ByteDance still controls the TikTok algorithm, so Trump’s deal does not solve the national security concerns, yet it makes some of Trump’s friends a lot of money.
“Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has long sought close ties to the Trump administration in its quest for powerful international allies and an end to its political isolation at home.
But as public sentiment in Germany increasingly turns against U.S. President Donald Trump and his foreign interventionism — in particular his talk of taking control of Greenland and his seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — AfD leaders are recalibrating, putting distance between their party and a U.S. president they previously embraced.
“He has violated a fundamental election promise, namely not to interfere in other countries, and he has to explain that to his own voters,” Alice Weidel, one of the AfD’s national leaders, said earlier this week.”