My hot historical take is that the truly dangerous electoral "road map" is not Trump& #39;s from 2020.
It& #39;s Madison& #39;s from 1787.

The Electoral College is a more inevitable danger to democracy. It has invited partisan disenfranchising litigation long before 2020, and it will again. https://twitter.com/adamnagourney/status/1331322421190615040">https://twitter.com/adamnagou...

By "hot," I mean "old."
And ironic for Madison:
The electoral college will always turn a national election into a battle over a few swing states, localizing a heated factional democracy.

But Madison in Federalist No. 10 argued for a national republic to diffuse such heat.

3/ The irony of Federalist No. 10:

Yes, the republic would be huge, but none of its officers would be elected *nationally.*
The Electoral College was a localist twist.
The only truly national institution would be the Supreme Court, the unelected "least dangerous branch."

4/ Thus, the Electoral College by design avoided a national vote and thwarted the idea in Madison& #39;s Federalist No. 10.
Instead of diffusing factionalism, the Electoral College concentrates the worst factional/partisan fights into 3 or 4 states.
It has before.
It will again.