The electoral college is another gatekeeper, and many advocating for Facebook's better political advertising controls advocated for abolishment of the electoral college.

To the extent that the EC's purpose is to prevent any demagogue from capturing the attention of voters by telling them lies they want to hear, it's not functioning as intended but would likely be welcomed if it was.

What has happened? I'm not USian so I didn't follow the calamity that has befallen America.

You're literally commenting on an article about it.

I have to be honest, I read the GP as a political statement. Maybe conflated with the GGP.

I did too, but I tried to take the most charitable interpretation. I've had enough conversations with dang about engaging with political trolls recently so I'm trying this new thing where I'm being nice to people. It's harder than you might think.

I don't know if HN has taken any steps to combat the right-wing/Russian propaganda campaign that's impacting most US social websites, but it'd be naive to think the site hasn't been targeted.