I think it's because both are happening, they're just coming from different sources. The authoritarian goals are managed by the oligarchs and channeled through the (easily manipulated) narcissist in Chief, while the petty vindictiveness stems directly from him.
I didn't understand why we didn't set the expectation years ago of phones ignoring the top and bottom 20%. Change it so 80 is the new 100, 20 is the new 0, and then play up the longevity factor and some marketing bs around "we squeeze every last drop out of the last 5%" (ie letting the phone go to 18% or something).
I can't ever imagine going back to filling out a ballot at the polling location. It's so much easier to do at home, when you can take time to actually research all eleventy-billion candidates for federal and state and county and city, then props and measures and....
What jobs report?