‘First, to keep in full view what I wrote earlier in “Is This What Democracy Looks Like?” – that trump’s candidacy was only viable because the justices he appointed to the Supreme Court: (1) disabled the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment (which should otherwise have barred him from holding office again) and (2) shielded him from standing trial before the election for trying to overturn the 2020 results or for hoarding classified documents (which would have kept his criminality in full view of the electorate, and possibly rendered his candidacy a non-starter due to a jail sentence or loss of support). In any other country, we would understand that as part of an autocratic takeover, not a democratic victory.

Second, as this post will show, the results are best understood as a vote of no confidence in Democrats, not an embrace of trump or MAGA….’ (Michael Podhorzer via Weekend Reading)