a useful exercise is to ask how the political press would be framing the election if the positions were reversed, meaning, if Trump were an incumbent presiding over a strong economy wielding a powerful campaign apparatus and Biden was the shambolic challenger on trial for multiple criminal offenses

Trump would be leading by +20 and we’d be reading think pieces about what mountain top we were going to carve into an image of his face.

I legitimately can't even imagine it. It's just outside the boundaries of my imagination at this point.

It’s going to lead to increased cognitive dissonance for many Rs if Trump loses — even more than Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2020 — which means there’s a much higher chance for a backlash / different and more virulent election denialism.

it's a useful exercise for most media narratives. imagine if the Uyghurs revolted, up to and including terrorist acts. presumably the framing would be the mirror imagine of israel-palestine. hard to imagine pro-uyghur campus protests being steamrolled to the same extent.

They would probably be sympathetic to Biden, because they want a horse race and in that case Biden would be the one needing propping up

The key thing to remember is that *most* people (press included) have no idea what a strong economy is or looks like / most don’t understand what the key measures are.

That's not the positions reversed unless Biden was also a former President.

Press coverage seems to mostly depend on who the billionaire class likes, and who has the most terrifying cultist followers.

The dynamic should by all rights resemble 1996, or even 1984/1972.The dynamic should by all rights resemble 1996, or even 1984/1972.