"Abhors democracy" isn't necessarily the right phrase for the on-the-ground majority. The leadership, sure. But not the average folk.

"Has such a small imagination that they can't imagine they wouldn't be the majority" is more like it.

For all the old fears of "we need the senate so big cities don't run the country" they have a massive blind spot of there being less diversity of thought, and more of a monoculture, in suburban and rural areas. And they don't realize that because of this they shouldn't be surprised if not everyone agrees with them.

Even the house is unfairly tilted towards smaller states because of the 538 limit

Ever so slightly, definitely not as bad as the senate.

I'm all for doubling the size of the house, but that's more to combat gerrymandering. The larger the size of the house, the harder and less impactful it is to gerrymander. Though before that I'd definitely push for federal anti-gerrymandering legislation.

There's a sizable part of the group that truly believe that cities get more representation than they do, that there are more rural Americans than urban.

And that they are the “real Americans” who make all the money and all of their tax dollars go to pay for lazy city people. Never mind that counties which vote democratic account for over 70% of the GDP. Their entire existence is subsidized by the actual tax payers in cities and they resent us for it.

You'd be surprised what hate is capable of. Once you paint a side as the enemy and convince half of the population of that, it becomes easy to carryout acts even if they're detrimental to the your side too. Look at the US economy and inflation caused by the tariffs and wars for instance. It's the 'our side is winning' mentality shortsightedness that destroys nations and institutions. By the time people realize this, it's often too late.

> You'd be surprised what hate is capable of.

Up to and including causing illness and death to oneself and one's loved ones:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_of_Whiteness

After hanging out on Trumper forums to try and understand their point of view, I realized that they have a VERY narrow view of who they want in their "ideal democracy": Pure White Conservative Christians, No browns or blacks, No voting women (their place is in the home and the kitchen), No gays, Must love guns, must support everything that their GEOTUS says even if he contradicts himself.

It's strange though, because Trump's elderly voters are the ones who vote by mail. Some observers say he would have won the incredibly close 2020 race if he hadn't discouraged mail in voting.

I did hear a lot of people claim this, and it seemed mostly like unqualified schadenfreude and fantasy.

In the most recent analysis, about 37% of Democrats use mail in voting, versus 24% of Republicans. This is why Republicans often take the lead in vote counting, and then because of Republican-imposed rules mail in ballots are counted later in the process, suddenly turning the tide. Which then yields lots of "the fix is in!" undermining of democracy -- at least in every race they don't win (the ones they win are 100% fair, of course) -- because the GOP of 2026 absolutely hates democracy, and they'll do everything they can to destroy it.