West Virginia has gotten more and more conservative over time. It used to be more of a blue state. In 2020, Trump got double the votes that Biden did. Manchin is going to struggle to hold the seat if he runs again, let alone some left wing upstart without name recognition who is poorly matched to the state’s politics.
Nixon was the most important criminal prosecution that should have happened. I fully understand the Ford wanted Nixon out of the headlines so he could move on to governing. But at the same time, it established a glow of immunity (even impunity) around even former presidents. In so many ways, Nixon paved the way for Trump, with Reagan and Iran-Contra extending the principle.
I think most Americans would like to have a system that gives them real choice instead of the political duopoly. We just aren’t there in terms of having viable parties outside of a duopoly because of FPTP. There’s slow movement in the direction, but only very slow.
The “small government” “states’ rights” type have always been disingenuous about that. Remember the Fugitive Slave Act? Same thing. States’ rights to have slavery, no states’ rights to refuse to be complicit in slavery.
I would love to see this charted against approval numbers, though I suppose that is difficult to compare between countries. Also, note that the US is pretty middle of the road here, despite Trump’s bullshit about rigged elections. Venezuela also gets dead last.