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Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is worrisome because “hardball” includes a bunch of the measures necessary to sustain democracy, eg Supreme Court reform and PR/DC statehood. (I dislike the word hardball and the definition, eg what norm exactly does PR statehood violate?)

Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social

Support for constitutional hardball — seeking advantage via actions that are allowed under formal rules but break with established norms — has declined sharply among both parties since 2019, especially for previously popular tactics among Democrats

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Vman29397 @vman29397.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

their is 0 reason for Puerto Rico to become a state. its just white savior complex and liberal racism

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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Relevant!: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Democracy-Reinforcing Hardball: Can Breaking Democratic Norms Preserve Democratic Values?
David A. Bateman https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2469-3556 dab465@cornell.eduView all authors and affiliations
Volume 59, Issue 6
https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140241312107
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Abstract
The threat of democratic backsliding has prompted growing interest in “hardball,” the pursuit of legal and constitutional changes with the intended purpose of biasing outcomes in favor of one party over others. Such actions can be allowed under existing constitutional and legal rules, but are in tension with norms that these rules ought to be insulated from the contest for power. This paper provides a new definition of what I call democracy-reinforcing hardball, and a framework for thinking about when it might be successful. I show how the averting-backsliding literature’s injunction against hardball limits the feasibility of its suggested reforms. I categorize various hardball scenarios, highlighting conditions under which it might be democracy-reinforcing, and describe three cases in terms of this concept. I conclude by arguing that future research should study the conditions under which hardball might help stabilize a democratic political order over the long-term.

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