There’s the obvious issue of voters not understanding the process of governance, and as a result the utter malice of the GOP.
Obama took office with a 1T+ deficit, he wanted a trillion stimulus package, only got 700bn and had to make cuts to social services to accommodate them, and got called a socialist (imagine that, a self-professed Tom Friedman fan). Then in 2014 after the mid term loss had to do a sequester deal with the GOP, slowing the economic recovery even further. When he left office, the deficit was down to 600bn.
The first thing the GOP did when they got in again? The Trump tax cut. And now the deficit has shot up again to 1T+, and the US isn’t even in a recession. If they win again, great, they would continue appointing judges and scale back on federal agencies, further entrenching them to continue wielding power, or obstruct effectively. If they lose, the next Dem president will be left with a shit show that will take years to clear up, and then people will be agitating for change again because their lives aren’t getting better.
The establishment Democrats are far from innocent in all this, of course, and someone like Biden who openly brags about getting along with Republicans will smooth things even more for them, but it’s still a dilemma that can’t be solved if the electorate don’t take a longer view on politics. The evangelicals, the Old South racists are far from content with the GOP, but they understand the long game and never compromised, even if they encounter setbacks along the way.
