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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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There are a lot of people who dislike Trump. Biden’s victory is unlikely, but not implausible.

A path to victory? Possible. A path to the most votes ever in history again?

Well, like I said. I'd have questions.

Population keeps increasing. It would not be at all surprising if the election winner got the most votes in history.

With a TFR of 1.786, our population of citizens is not increasing. On the other hand...

Like I said... questions.

I encourage you to state your thesis more clearly.

The number of US citizens has been steadily increasing. I doubt I need to find a citation for that. US fertility is below replacement, but net positive (legal) immigration combined with long lifespans and a demographic bulge have led to the total citizen population increasing.

If turnout remains constant, then, we would expect every election to set a new record for votes cast for a presidential candidate.

(I'm aware that turnout does not remain constant, but 2020 was a high-turnout election and I expect 2024 to be as well.)

You linked a graph indicating that illegal immigration has spiked, which may well be true, but illegal immigrants by definition can't vote and don't factor into the figure we're discussing. You might argue large-scale illegal voting, but if so that seems like it would require its own evidence, not merely the existence of a significant illegal population.

In general what I'd like to ask you to do is to not bother darkly hinting at shadowy conspiracies, but rather state your questions clearly and unambiguously. The Motte isn't going to kick you out for having weird or unpopular takes. Nor do you have to be certain of something to say, "Here's what I suspect to be the case".

But repeating 'questions'? What's the point of that?

Say what they are. Be clear. Be right or be wrong, I don't care, but be clear.

Illegals can’t legally vote. That doesn’t mean they don’t vote. If you design a system that doesn’t validate legal status, then you will get illegals voting— especially if one party is adamantly for them and the other adamantly against them.

Non-citizen voting is a crime that would be easy to catch if it was happening on a large scale, that Republican governors and secretaries of state have the tools and an incentive to catch, and which nevertheless you don't see large numbers of people getting caught for.

There have been a few serious attempts to investigate non-citizen voting, and they generally catch a low-double figure number of illegal votes per state.

How is it easy to catch? Someone did a post recently on California and how easy it would be for illegals to vote.

California has little relevance here; the party that illegal immigrants will likely vote for has the state locked down anyway, and even 200% turnout wouldn't give California more HoR seats or Electoral College votes.

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