Lots of iPhones cost way less than $1k, and there’s plenty of Android flagships that cost over $1k, and they’re all decent phones. Sure, go ahead and judge people for spending money on a device they use every day.
And what I said about the ‘default’ phone is true, and that’s for normal middle class families. Far from the elite. I’m just reporting the facts, it’s maybe people have a different frame of reference depending on where they live.
I won’t pretend to know how it would have gone either way. Had it actually not happened in the timeline that it did happen, it could have easily been different. The momentum, the media narratives, the quickness with which the Democrats united behind Harris, all of these things caught most everyone by surprise. I could see any of those things being wildly different had Biden chose to step down much earlier. We don’t like to admit it, but irrational, unknowable elements like “vibe” and “timing” have always played a huge role in elections.