Is FEC deadlock good or not? To partisans, it depends on when you ask

Hypocrisy is so commonplace in politics that it takes a truly brazen example to be noteworthy. Enter Trevor Potter and Adav Noti, two campaign finance crusaders who spent years demanding a more “decisive” Federal Election Commission — right up until the moment President Donald Trump won his second term. Now, these so-called “reformers” have suddenly discovered the virtues of bipartisan enforcement.

What makes this paralysis possible, and why have Potter and Noti suddenly embraced it after decades of criticism? To explain, let’s examine the origins of the FEC.