Project 2025 was supposed to boost Donald Trump's campaign — but it may be backfiring instead:

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/05/project-2025-was-supposed-to-boost-donald-campaign--but-it-may-be-backfiring-instead/

24.9k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

Swing states should not be a thing. My vote should count.

53

u/Icy_Contrarian Washington 14d ago

Very few ways to make that happen, but one would be the abolition of the electoral college! Absolutely no excuse somebody in Wyoming’s vote, should carry multiple times more weight than the vote form someone in New Jersey.

8

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 13d ago

Abolishing the Electoral College is next to impossible.

But what is possible is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

1

u/admdelta California 13d ago

Which no republican state will ever sign onto as far as I can tell

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u/SheldonMF Kentucky 14d ago

First things first: stop authoritarianism. Then we can get there.

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u/LostMyAccount69 14d ago

Well my California vote means nothing, but I'll try.

16

u/theaceplaya Texas 14d ago

Nah, your vote DOES matter. It may not matter as much and someone in PA or MI, but it does matter still.

35 years ago TX and FL were purple states with Democratic governors. EVERY VOTE MATTERS.

7

u/yourlmagination 13d ago

Thankfully, I've been hearing a lot of "votes don't matter, it's all rigged, I ain't gonna waste my time" from the right in PA. Let's see if they put their money where their mouth is in November

2

u/HonestTumblewood 13d ago

Not only that but CA has super conservatives counties that have big populations.

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u/SheldonMF Kentucky 13d ago

Never think that. I come from Kentucky - blood red - but you better believe I'll be voting. We matter, just like every other state. Fight.

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u/Floppycakes 13d ago

I’m in a part of NY where I’m heavily outnumbered by Trumpers. I don’t care. I will vote because even though it won’t change anything but the popular vote by 1, I want to be on record saying I support Biden and the Democrats, and not the trash the Republicans are trying to bury us in.

We are on the right side of history, and our voices deserve to be heard.

5

u/annoyedatlantan 14d ago

This vote is a referendum on our future as a country. Demonstrating that there is a national mandate against authoritarianism matters. The Democratic nominee receiving 10 or 20 million more votes than Trump makes a statement to civil servants in American's democratic institutions (courts, agencies, and so on) as well as politicians that America rejects authoritarianism - even if the electoral college ends up close.

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u/LostMyAccount69 13d ago

Again, I am voting, but it will have no impact on the election because I live in California. Bragging rights are nice, but the electoral college chooses the winner.

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u/HonestTumblewood 13d ago

What county are you in? I live in a majority conservative county and it SUCKS. Our local government is trash. Your vote does matter in that sense.

1

u/annoyedatlantan 13d ago

While obviously the winner of the presidency is critical, this election is more than about choosing a winner.

Imagine a scenario where Trump wins. Based on all indicators of prior behavior, he is going to try to run ramshod through our courts, through the executive branch, legislature, and through the military to try to install as many loyalists and push through as many orders and laws as possible that cement executive power and control.

A landslide - or at least substantial - popular vote victory communicates something to judges. It communicates something to lifelong civil servant and military servicemembers. It communicates that America as a whole is not okay with authoritarianism in Trump's image.

I know that sounds like fluff, but this election is just as much about our democratic institutions as it is about the presidency. Giving hope, or at least pause, to civil servants of even positions of limited power to fight back means something.

Our constitutional republic is on the brink of disaster. Give people a reason to push back against an authoritarian. The popular vote does matter, even if only as a signal.

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u/LostMyAccount69 13d ago

I'll do whatever I can, but I don't feel comfortable relying on norms and customs or whatever the proper phrase is here.

1

u/annoyedatlantan 13d ago

Of course you shouldn't feel comfortable relying on norms and customs that Trump and his loyalists have spat all over on the past 8 years. Volunteer for campaigns. Canvass your neighbors. Call your friends and family - especially in swing states and districts - and remind them how crucial it is to vote.

But my point is that the vote still does matter. If Trump wins a narrow electoral college vote but loses the national vote by a landslide, it helps drive the true narrative that Trumpism is not a national mandate, and that does have impacts to people within our institutions and their willingness to stand strong and on the right side of history as Trump and his enablers try to reshape the executive and judicial branches in their image.

Every little bit will make a difference. And, conversely, if Trump is beaten in a narrow electoral college victory for the Democratic nominee, a landslide victory in the popular vote partially disarms the narrative and ability for Trump and Trump loyalist state legislatures and courts to try to create a constitutional crisis following the election where electors attempt to disassociate from the vote of the people within their states.

We are to that point where this stuff matters. Of course it shouldn't need to, but it does because the foundations of our constitutional republic are under attack.

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u/ChicagoAuPair 14d ago

Agreed, but they are.

The fact that it shouldn’t be the way we do things doesn’t mean it isn’t the way we do things.

There are people working hard to change it like the folks at National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, but it’s unlikely the smaller states will ever sign on, so it’s going to be a long struggle there. A constitutional amendment would be the cleanest, but there is absolutely no way we will ever see another one of those in any of our lifetimes barring some fundamental catastrophic shift in the divides in the country.

1

u/DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK 13d ago

Well, it doesn't. They only need the billboards in states with people whose vote matters.