Rob Mickey speaks to Vox about the possibilities of the midterm elections and “backsliding”
November 5, 2018
All that said, there are a few potentially troubling outcomes even if Democrats take one or more houses of Congress. Mickey noted that such a development runs the risk of encouraging more unilateral action from Trump, a kind of “constitutional hardball” that contributes to a concentration of power in the presidency, itself a democratic risk factor. So even if the Democrats have a good night, we may still not be out of the woods.¶¶“Analysts of backsliding disagree on the importance of forbearance,” Mickey explained. “My sense is that some of this difference comes down to different assessments of the current dangers — those who think the current dangers are higher are more apt to say ‘screw minority rights, Democrats in power must crush their opponents before they get up off the mat.’”