comment: >
  
  Wealthy people are protected in a capitalistic system, of course. That's how capitalism works. But to suggest that D's and R's are equal in the struggles of the poor is not just intellectually dishonest, but obviously factually incorrect. I understand your frustration but it is very clear for anyone to see that there is one party which brings policies to the table that help the middle and working class much more than the other. That party is Democrats. Strictly from a policy perspective it isn't even close. Could they do more? Absolutely. But all R's have done for the past 30 years is give the wealthy more opportunity to build their wealth, obstruct any attempts by D's to make progress with the wealth gap, and fear monger over the "others"...oh, and wipe their feet on the Constitution while seditiously attempting to overthrow a free and fair election.
context: "A precariously narrow but consequential slice of the electorate broke with its own voting history to reject openly extremist Republican candidates — at least partly out of concern for the health of the political system." >
  
  I would love to see what percentage of that slice watches stuff like Fox News with any regularity. It just seems like if you watch that stuff it’s impossible to conclude that any Republican candidates are crazy because the network is actively preventing you from learning that fact. 
  What I’d like to know is: is there any portion of the population that watches that deliberate propaganda and then decides someone like Marjorie Taylor Green is too extreme anyway? >
  
  I am one. I voted trump and watched Fox on the reg. Only fox. When the Jan 6th insurrection happened I watched in horror. I even teared up a touch. I was burning with fire in my heart as I waited for trump to act. Clearly he would show up or stream or something! He would call these misguided people acting like lunatics out for their actions done in his name! Hour after hour… nothing. Then he made a tweet about his VP that was derogatory. 
  It all came into focus. He wanted this. He would be ripping a country apart to serve his twisted Cheeto dusted ego. I had been growing uncomfortable with how he handled and spoke to the press as COVID swept the nation. Plenty of other things I wished he would do different. But on January 6th he lost me. I was wrong to have ever supported him. I’m sorry to my fellow Americans that I didn’t see what others saw so clearly. 
  After that travesty of a day, I waited with baited breath as I knew the Republican Party would lambast him. That he would be out on his ass. Who now couldn’t see this man for the wicked selfish person he is? We know how that went. I’m the silent (until this post at least) percentage of the demographic discussed in this article who will never vote party lines again. I’ll never vote republican so long as this keeps getting more and more crazy. I stopped fox. And I’ve started listening to democrats and what their views and motivations are. 
  I’ve learned we are all just doing our best. Most anyway. The media needs to be understood as a court jester. Mostly putting on a performance to capture your attention. At any cost. Mostly though I was wrong. >
  
  
  It all came into focus. He wanted this. He would be ripping a country apart to serve his twisted Cheeto dusted ego.
  
  Curious, why did his previous actions not set off any alarm bells? Dude spent months aggravating the hell out of his base and encouraging them to be more extreme. >
  
  Fox News is a drug that makes it difficult to see reality clearly. >
  
  And if he was only watching Fox he wouldn't even have heard about a lot of the stuff Trump did.  When something important but bad for the GOP (or good for Democrats) happens I occasionally check the headlines at the major American news sources.  Even when literally every other source has it as the A1 headline Fox will often have it buried in a tiny headline or on a page you have to click to get to, or even not mention it at all.
  One relatively recent example comes to mind;  when the Oath Keeper guy was convicted of actual sedition for the Jan 6th insurrection it was splashed all over the main page at  CNN, MSNBC, WaPo, NYt etc.  It was a major story at Reuters.  And so on.  Fox News' site didn't even mention it.  Not in small type.  Not buried in the links.  It was literally not covered.
  Maybe they got around to a story later I have no idea.  But that sort of thing is why it's hard for people to escape the bubble.  They aren't simply told what to think about the news, they are never presented with some of the news at all. >
  
  Trump isn't in jail. We barely have the Senate. The Supreme Court is still stacked in favor of fascism and are ignoring precedence and conflicts of interest. Voting rights are still not sufficiently protected. Propaganda is still rampant and our leadership is full of old men who cannot stop coddling the fascists.
  My worst fears are still very much alive. >
  
  But they didn't come true in 2022, and they could have. >
  
  Considering how sick to my stomach nerve wracking the days leading up to the election were, this was a massive relief. But it feels like a relief on a boiler that’s still got the heat on. >
  
  Those same politicians or others just like them learned a lesson not to focus on election denial and will be back next cycle hammering on the culture-war boogeyman de jour. >
  
  Not averted so much as delayed. With the crime caucus taking over the HoR, 2022 doesn't feel like a turning point of any sort. >
  
  Yep. All that happened was after multiple years and clear evidence, we might be able to put their first major attempt/candidate in jail. No one's going after the ones who invested in the trump and actually got him his presidency. All they have to do is just grab another investment and push it again. >
  
  I’d lean more to the headline “temporarily averted” >
  
  Hey NY Times… if you can come out from under that rock that you’ve been living under since 2015 and take a good look at the US. 
  You will still see that Democracy is still in danger. The worst of fears never stopped. >
  
  The midterms wasn’t a victory for the dems as much as it was averting disaster—and by doing so we have bought ourselves time. Nothing more. Just time. And in that time, if we cannot move the overton window more to the left, it’ll only get worse. >
  
  Democracy is a rare plant that needs constant care and attention.
  Don’t let it die. >
  
  We’re still not out of the woods. This was a rehearsal with a bunch of incompetent traitors. Next time we’re not going to be so lucky. Republican voters are still voting for, and sending nazis to congress, Fox News still spreading lies, and social media still massively sharing disinformation. >
  
  Criminal Conservatives…. >
  
  i thought there'd be a lot more shenanigans and violence, in particular, surrounding the election. it started to look that way with armed 'ballot box drop-off watchers', but i was pleasantly surprised after election day, for a couple reasons! >
  
  This is an ominous fucking year-end headline.
  Gird your loins, Children! >
  
  ...for now. The threat won't subside until all Christofascist Republicans are expelled from government. >
  
  They haven’t been averted until the legislative and executive coconspirators are behind bars. >
  
  My worst fear was that we would do nothing to hold Republicans accountable, and we still haven't held any of them accountable. In fact, the American people even handed an extremist terrorist organization control of the house of representatives. I'd say many of my fears came true. >
  
  The reason the Elites want everyone to obsess over Republican vs Democrat is bc both parties protect the Elites, and to maintain this cushy way of life they also need the Poor to be swept up in Red vs Blue so they don’t realize that the fight is really the Elites vs everyone else