So far the second problem hasn't been a problem because liberals and progressives generally decline to play tit-for-tat versions of Prisoner's Dilemma and do not reciprocally punish their adversaries by doing exactly to them what they just did to others. Can you imagine a Democratic administration in even the most blue state imaginable targeting religious or conservative universities with rhetoric like Rufo's?
Which is arguably one reason that the GOP is willing to do these things. Once upon a time, bipartisan cooperation was actually based partly on fear of reciprocal ill-treatment because it generally seemed possible that the other party might get into power. In the present political map, the GOP no longer fears that in some of its strongholds, but they also don't fear reciprocal ill-treatment because progressives show so little appetite for it when they potentially hold the whip hand. In game theoretic terms, if you know the other player will never defect, you can go ahead and defect without a second thought.
This is very much like the desire of the GOP including both DeSantis and Trump (a rare alliance) to destroy Sullivan and "open up the libel laws". Be careful what you wish for. Fox News is in actual danger of losing a massive defamation suit with these protections still in place. Imagine if defamation was relaxed in the way that they want. They might put some hated left wing outlets out of business, but you can bet your ass that a large number right wing media outlets would be sued literally to death as well.
So far the second problem hasn't been a problem because liberals and progressives generally decline to play tit-for-tat versions of Prisoner's Dilemma and do not reciprocally punish their adversaries by doing exactly to them what they just did to others. Can you imagine a Democratic administration in even the most blue state imaginable targeting religious or conservative universities with rhetoric like Rufo's?
Which is arguably one reason that the GOP is willing to do these things. Once upon a time, bipartisan cooperation was actually based partly on fear of reciprocal ill-treatment because it generally seemed possible that the other party might get into power. In the present political map, the GOP no longer fears that in some of its strongholds, but they also don't fear reciprocal ill-treatment because progressives show so little appetite for it when they potentially hold the whip hand. In game theoretic terms, if you know the other player will never defect, you can go ahead and defect without a second thought.
This is very much like the desire of the GOP including both DeSantis and Trump (a rare alliance) to destroy Sullivan and "open up the libel laws". Be careful what you wish for. Fox News is in actual danger of losing a massive defamation suit with these protections still in place. Imagine if defamation was relaxed in the way that they want. They might put some hated left wing outlets out of business, but you can bet your ass that a large number right wing media outlets would be sued literally to death as well.