However they voted, Americans waking up Wednesday morning can probably sympathize with Rep. Haley Stevens (D–Mich.), who surprised campaign watchers by rescinding her support for her party's Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, and endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the race.
asserted
who → vote → race
After her past harsh words for the GOP hopeful, Stevens seems an unlikely Rogers fan.
asserted
Stevens → seem → hopeful
Instead, it appears she concluded that he sucks less than the Democrat and cast her lot accordingly.
asserted
he → appear → lot
Most voters can sympathize.
asserted
voters → sympathize → ?
You are reading The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason.
asserted
You → read → Tuccille
In the past, Stevens called out Rogers as a "MAGA grifter" and "an out-of-touch, out-of-state millionaire."
asserted
Stevens → call → state
That's pointed, but it's standard-issue political rhetoric for 2026.
asserted
it → point → 2026
Those taunts pale in comparison to the charge, leveled in her video announcing the about-face, of "hate… from our Democratic nominee."
asserted
taunts → pale → nominee
Stevens also criticized El-Sayed's association with Hasan Piker, the communist-curious influencer who frequently lashes out at Israel and Jews.
asserted
who → criticize → Israel
Stevens, whose pro-Israel stance is well-known, broke with El-Sayed after he refused to denounce an antisemitic ad targeted at Rogers that had been produced by a PAC associated with Piker's uncle, media personality Cenk Uygur.
asserted
that → know → uncle
Earlier this year, El-Sayed also infamously shrugged off a terrorist attack on a Michigan synagogue by saying "hurt people hurt people.
asserted
people → shrug → people
It's easy to see how Stevens could conclude that a grifter is less odious than El-Sayed's inclinations.
uncertain
grifter → see → inclinations
Americans seem to make similar calculations as their political choices swing wildly between America's two entrenched major parties, through the ideological mutations suffered by those organizations.
asserted
choices → seem → organizations
Americans Habitually Pick What They Hope is the Less Awful Option
In May, Pew Research reported that "58% of U.S. adults have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party" while "a nearly identical share (59%) have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party."
uncertain
share → pick → Party
Twenty-six percent can't stand either one.
asserted
percent → stand → one
That's not to say the Democratic and Republican parties no longer have enthusiastic partisans—they certainly do.
asserted
they → say → partisans
True believers loyally cast primary ballots to select party standard-bearers who seem increasingly capable of ginning up excitement among a small segment of the population while repelling normies.
asserted
who → cast → normies
In 1988, the earliest year surveyed by Gallup, voters roughly divided themselves in thirds among Democrats, independents, and Republicans.
asserted
voters → survey → Democrats
The two parties now each claim the support of just over a quarter of the electorate while independents represent 45 percent of voters.
uncertain
independents → claim → voters
Ultimately, those independents generally fall into line to vote for Republicans or Democrats, but they do so as less-bad alternatives to what they really dislike.
asserted
they → fall → what
"Majorities of Republican leaners (56%) and Democratic leaners (64%) say a major reason they lean toward their preferred party is that the other party's policies are harmful," Pew noted last month.
asserted
Pew → say → party
"Relatively few Republican leaners (34%) and Democratic leaners (27%) say a major reason they lean toward their preferred party is the perceived good of its policies.
asserted
they → say → policies
The Trick Is Selling the Other Guy as Worse
We've created a political system in which everybody gets to be Haley Stevens for a day—or much longer, really, given the now never-ending nature of campaigning.
asserted
everybody → sell → campaigning
We all pick the (we hope) less bad option.
asserted
we → pick → option
The trick, of course, is deciding which candidate or party is awful rather than evil, and therefore less undeserving of a vote and election to political office.
asserted
candidate → decide → office
That's why so little of our political discourse delves into the relative merits of competing policy proposals and so much involves warnings about the inevitable doom to befall us if those people win.
asserted
people → delve → us
We hear very little "candidate X is great" and a lot of "candidate X is a corrupt pedo who will raise prices and end the republic.
asserted
who → hear → republic
That's pretty much the tone of the political ads in the piece of Arizona where I live.
asserted
I → live → Arizona
What's remarkable is that there's little evidence that political advertising works.
asserted
advertising → be → ?
A 2020 Yale study found that "ads' effect on whom individuals intended to vote for was…a statistically insignificant 0.007 of a percentage point."
asserted
individuals → find → point
That said, 2021 research from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management found some impact from political advertising, but that "negative ones were more effective at swaying voters' decisions."
Advertising also boosts name recognition.
asserted
Advertising → say → recognition
So, if you're going to do it at all, it makes sense to go with the odds and the tone of the moment and embrace the dark side.
asserted
it → go → side
That doesn't mean voters all come to the same conclusion about which party or candidates are more repulsive.
asserted
party → mean → conclusion
Based on their values and priorities, and the degree to which they're angry about the state of the world around them, Americans make very different decisions about who sucks less.
asserted
who → base → decisions
They argue about those conclusions with friends, neighbors, and strangers who make contrary choices about who to vote against, with participants absolutely convinced that this time they've identified the real danger.
asserted
they → argue → danger
Often, these debates take place among people who came to different conclusions about who was the bigger threat in the last election cycle, and the one before that.
asserted
who → take → that
Voters then typically suffer buyer's remorse over the conduct of politicians who emerged victorious from the last round of balloting.
asserted
who → suffer → balloting
"Since 1946, there have been 20 midterm elections," Robert A. Strong, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, wrote in January.
asserted
Strong → write → January
"In 18 of them, the president's party lost seats in the House of Representatives.
asserted
party → lose → Representatives
In September, a survey by Navigator Research "found 18 percent of 2024 Trump voters regretted their vote."
asserted
percent → find → vote
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
