Election 2020

[padraig (u.s.)]

out of all the cynical, self-serving things he's done it could well wind up being the worst

it's like the exact opposite of Robert E. Lee (for all his other faults) putting the kibosh on guerrilla war after Appomattox by saying no, that's it, we lost

 

[version]

Bernie called it on Fallon a week ago too.

 

[Leo]

so did the Russians drop the ball this year, or did they intentionally put out a lame October surprise (hunter biden laptop) because they're sick of trump and wanted him to lose? I was expecting much more chaos and effective disinformation. maybe even Putin is tired of trump's shit.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

so did the Russians drop the ball this year, or did they intentionally put out a lame October surprise (hunter biden laptop) because they're sick of trump and wanted him to lose? I was expecting much more chaos and effective disinformation. maybe even Putin is tired of trump's shit.

perhaps there are just diminishing returns to chaos once you unleash it, i.e. by its very nature it's difficult to control

 

[line b]

Btw Wisconsin is my home state these days, which is why I posted, that may not have been clear

did you go Milwaukee or are you out in the boonies?

 

[version]

I think Russian influence may have been overstated from the start. I also wouldn't be surprised if they'd decided America was enough of a mess they needn't bother. That, or they felt their involvement wouldn't be enough to swing it for Trump and it wasn't worth pissing off the next president. Social media companies are much more aware of how that stuff operates now too, so maybe it's just been dealt with more effectively this time around. They've also got climbing COVID cases over there, so perhaps they're prioritising that. Putin fired Surkov a while back too and he seems to be the one held up as the mastermind behind that approach.

 

[version]

Oh dear.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

armed protestors outside the Maricopa County Elections office chanting "count every vote"

feels like it'll be a miracle if we get through the week without any high-profile shootings

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I always try to curtail Trump as ahistorical figure, to frame him in the historical context of American populism, hucksterism, conspiracism, etc

but I think his knowingly false premature victory claim has to be the single most irresponsible act in the history of American presidential politics

which is an amazingly low bar to get under, but I can't think of anything that equals it

secession rhetoric in the leadup to 1860 I guess, but even that was based on real ideological difference, not just a totally cynical attempt to stay in power at any cost (to others)

 

[Mr. Tea]

I'm a bit late here, but the main one...

Really? What are the Big Bad Consequences of me sharing the post on the site? Please do tell

...is that people might laugh at you and call you a bit of a dick.

 

[IdleRich]

It seems crazy to me that anyone can change the definition of which votes are valid after the election. Obviously I'm thinking of Pennsylvania here where they said that any votes posted on the 3rd or before and received up to Friday will be counted. That was confirmed by the court in PA and so people who heard that have voted in good faith according to the rules - to then seek to change the rules after that and throw those votes outs is ludicrous. However, that is what Trump is seeking to do and of course with the Supreme Court stacked as it is, that is worrying...
But, I've been reading that, at the moment PA is still counting those votes receive by 3rd November - they only count the ones received after the election once this count is finished. At the moment if trends continue, those votes they are counting will win the state for Biden. They will then count the votes received after the third. This will be a small number and, even if Trump does get them (ridiculously) thrown out, it shouldn't really make much difference.

 

[Leo]

most lawyers -- even GOP ones -- have said Trump's "legal" arguments make no sense. It's telling that no respected, high-powered lawyers have stepped in to fight the case for Trump. Instead, there's...Rudy G.

 

[IdleRich]

I just Rudy talking about Pennsylvania, his argument was totally incoherent. If I were a Trump supporter hoping he was gonna save me then I wouldn't be expecting too much.

 

[Leo]

Why the Supreme Court probably won’t help Trump’s reelection fate

Legal experts from both parties said they were somewhat baffled by Trump’s remarks about asking the high court to stop voting. Even interpreting his statement to mean halting vote counting was confusing because under any scenario, vote counting in some states was sure to continue for several days after the election.

Asked to parse Trump’s comment, longtime GOP election lawyer Jan Baran said: “I have no idea—and I don’t think he does either.”

 

[IdleRich]

He - Rudy I mean - said "We were four hundred thousand votes ahead in Pennsylvania with eighty percent of votes in - how far does a Republican have to be ahead here to get the state declared for them?" to which it seemed that a fairly obvious response would be "Far enough that they can't be caught".

 

[sus]

 

[IdleRich]

Asked to parse Trump’s comment, longtime GOP election lawyer Jan Baran said: “I have no idea—and I don’t think he does either.”

This is it isn't it? Trump is thinking, I've stacked the court and now they will decide I've won the election, he hasn't thought of the nuts and bolts, he has to at least present something that they can pretend to consider right? Not just "Make me win".

 

[IdleRich]

Oh my god.

 

[Leo]

trump was calling to stop the vote count in Michigan, which is odd because Biden was ahead! Legal action to stop the count would have effectively given the state to Biden.

also, Rudy going on about the mysterious vote added at 3:00 am...the votes had been counted all day, then tabulated and uploaded to the system at that time. he was basically trying to make the recognized process that everyone knows about into some sort of shady conspiracy.

 

[Leo]

He - Rudy I mean - said "We were four hundred thousand votes ahead in Pennsylvania with eighty percent of votes in - how far does a Republican have to be ahead here to get the state declared for them?" to which it seemed that a fairly obvious response would be "Far enough that they can't be caught".

Joe Scarborough making a funny baseball analogy the other day to trump's election night rant: it's like saying we were winning the game through the 6th inning, then all in a sudden we're tied! yeah, well, a baseball game goes for 9 innings, and the winner is decided when it's over, not when you have a big lead.