Huh, just to throw another data point in here, I’m in Michigan and I vote by mail. (Well, by dropbox, but same difference). Our primary ballots this year were not separated into Democrats and Republicans. Both primaries appeared on the same ballot and there were big, clear instructions on the top stating to only vote in one primary. If you selected candidates in both primaries it would automatically void the ballot.
but you know better than that, don’t you? When they can create a t-bone shaped district to get rid of Cleaver, and no objection from courts, well
Even better, it (and the income tax ban) was defeated in every county. Particularly nice because part of the ‘pro’ campaign was “the big cities are ruining the state” (which is a popular belief in the rural areas), and no one fell for it.
One of the most insidious and largest triumphs of the cynical sorts on the Right was to convince the conservatives who are religious that Christianity is under attack by liberalism. That way, they get to paint any sort of equal protection, or removal of favoritism as an attack on Christianity or Christian values, instead of having to frame it as simply being fair to non-Christians.
That’s a large part of the vitriol against a lot of liberal policies. “No prayer before a football game?! The liberals are persecuting us!” when in fact, it’s just an acknowledgement that not everyone in the stands is necessarily Christian and shouldn’t be compelled to listen to or deal with your religion. But the cynical types have convinced them that sort of thing is essentially their right, and that not doing it, or not having the 10 Commandments on the courthouse lawn is somehow attacking them/removing their God-given right.
In a larger sense, it’s that “small world” mentality that many of these people have that is the biggest contributor to the way they think. I mean, if you live in Idaho in a small potato farming town, and your state has less than 1% black people, you’re not likely to have a frame of reference that knows how to handle something like the George Floyd protests or the concept of systemic racism. You’re going to assume that your world is the world, without realizing that you’re in a very small, very specific corner of it, and have no concept of how things are elsewhere.
I as much as possible avoid even seeing the man on screen for even a moment but, unfortunately, I was watching the news last week when they showed a short 60 second blurb of him getting ready to board his jet. He was asked a question and, before answering it with his usual bullshit, he suddenly whisked out a cap from seemingly nowhere and donned it for the camera. It said, “Trump 2028”. The absolute unmitigated gall of that man never ceases to astound me.
A deranged MAGA social media take on Trump being concealed in a food service truck so he could sneak onto a military flight to evade Iranian nogoodniks, is that it was a daring escapade just like in the James Bond movies.
I don’t recall 007 hiding out behind the plastic snack platters, while the bad guys aim weapons at a decoy plane flying with Her Majesty’s Secret Service staff and a group of reporters.
In the next film, dramatic music plays while Trump takes out a succession of would-be Islamic assassins on the golf course with dead accurate drives and sterling iron play, while winning his 43d club championship.