i would assume that the presumption of fraud would itself lead to greater degrees of fraud with the inherent justification among partisans being 'well the other

i would assume that the presumption of fraud would itself lead to greater degrees of fraud with the inherent justification among partisans being 'well the other guy is doing it so this is the only way we can keep up'. that in of itself might not be that bad but if the fraud or perception of fraud has potential to act as a force multiplier for existing instabilities and intra-party paranoias then it becomes very easy to imagine the process dismantling itself. it really seems like the experiment for this decade is figuring out just how much distrust institutions can take on while still remaining functional.