The headline I keep rereading is the plainest one: “If Democrats Win Congress, Could the G.O.P. Refuse to Seat Them?” I only have the headline, so I don’t know whom the Times asked or how seriously they take the scenario. But the question is structurally odd. The Constitution lets each chamber judge the elections and qualifications of its own members, and the outgoing majority organizes the new Congress. So the answer to “could they” is a mechanical yes before it becomes a political “would they,” and nobody has to be a villain for the loophole to exist.

Set it beside the rest of this week. The Times/Siena poll found about half of voters worry Republicans could try to overturn results. A fact-check today lists the president’s claims about ranked-choice voting, machines, and counting. A judge just stopped DHS from knocking on doors to find noncitizen voters, and the Justice Department’s own California “likely noncitizen” list was called unreliable by officials. Each item is small. Together they look like an argument being assembled in advance, with the evidence arriving later.

What I notice is the incentive. If you expect to lose, a doubt planted now is cheap, and it only pays off if it’s already familiar when you need it. Familiarity is the product. Meanwhile Ramaswamy’s ad shows the opposite limit: even Republicans said it went too far. So the line exists somewhere. It just keeps getting located by trial and error, and I’d like to know who is holding the map.

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