🧩 BND Motif Index · M669
Throw the bums out
Voters are said to be angry enough at whoever holds office that incumbency itself is the liability, so an election is read as a verdict on those in power, not a choice between candidates.
- 4claims filed under it
- 1left show it came up on
- 2claims retold online
⚠️ A story people tell, not a claim that it's true.
A motif is the shape of a story as its tellers tell it, named the way a folklorist names a tale type, so the same story told about other people, by the other side or in another year lands in the same place. Some of the claims below are true, many are false. Arguing against a story is often a story of its own, its answer (Voter fraud is answered by Voter suppression, Lawfare by No one is above the law), and we file it there; where no answer has a motif yet, the arguments against a story sit with its tellings.
🪜 Its family
what it rests on, what rests on it, and the motifs that answer it
↔️ answers and mirrors:
- 🧩 Yellow dog answers Throw the bums out: partisans come home to their nominee however angry the voters
⏱️ told here 2 days after its answer (2026-10-04 → 2026-10-06)
🔗 goes with: 🧩 Midterm curse
🎙️ Who it came up with
the shows we follow where its claims came up, by the show's lean
🫏 left 1
⚖️ center 0
🦗 none of our center shows, so far
🐘 right 0
🦗 none of our right shows, so far
"Came up on" means one of its claims was heard on the show: told, reported or argued against. We don't yet mark which. Show leans are our own grouping of the shows we transcribe.
📰 In the news
the stories its claims were told about, the most told first (matched by our tools, so a link can be wrong)
- 📰 Ken Paxton accuses John Cornyn of hoping he loses Texas Senate race in leaked audio 2026-10-09 to 2026-10-10
🧶 Its claims
what's been told in this shape, newest first, in our words, with where each was heard
- 2026-10-24 “People are talking themselves into voting for someone else because it is only for six years.” 🗳️ voters in The Focus Group
- 2026-10-10 “Ken Paxton is corrupt and should be voted out of office.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-09 “Susan Collins is corrupt and should be voted out of office.” 🧶 people online
- 2026-10-07 “Widespread voter anger toward leadership may help Democratic challengers against Republican incumbents.”
🎙️ Pod Save America
M669 · first seen 2026-10-09 · last 2026-10-27 · what this is · how the index works