padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
np boss

not to say the modern Democratic Party has never engaged in gerrymandering and is all sweetness and light

but research done on the topic invariably shows the GOP has engaged in and benefited from it significantly more

it's goes perfectly hand-in-hand with the bullshit voter fraud narrative they've been pushing since Obama
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Apparently
they have a strong track record of that kind of nonsense

a couple years ago Trump's "election integrity" czar Kris Kobach - who has been at the cutting edge of disenfranchising people with stringent, unconstitutional voter ID laws for a decade now - did such a bad job arguing in court for a voter ID law that a federal judge actually ordered him to go back to law school (or, take continuing education legal classes, same thing)

then consider that even hardened Republican election lawyers find Trump's actions here spurious, it's pretty wild
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Now the Rs are all tweeting this message... which I think is basically saying "ignore the votes, appoint electors to choose Trump"
REMINDER TO THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURES, YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY OVER THE CHOOSING OF ELECTORS, NOT ANY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, SECRETARY OF STATE, GOVERNOR, OR EVEN COURT. YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY -- ARTICLE II OF THE FED CONSTITUTION. SO, GET READY TO DO YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY
I guess it's total bollocks. Or at the very least would cause an enormous constitutional crisis if someone was to actually try this.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Now the Rs are all tweeting this message... which I think is basically saying "ignore the votes, appoint electors to choose Trump"

I guess it's total bollocks. Or at the very least would cause an enormous constitutional crisis if someone was to actually try this.

faithless electors. technically possible but rare. apparently it's happened about 160 times, with 60 of those in 1872 when winner Horace Greeley died right after Election Day. but there were 10 of them in 2016, Clinton and trump each got a few, didn't affect the outcome. it's considered an extremely bad faith move to go against the will of the people and disregard their vote, some states have laws against it (and in a few states, a faithless elector vote is immediately voided).

it really would cause outrage if it happened this time, especially if the race is close.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Biden and Trump had a bit of a bromance going on towards the end of their debates: it's time to unite.

can absolutely see them walking hand-in-hand off into the sunset.

trump just needs a plausible -- in his mind, anyway -- excuse: he didn't lose, he got robbed. he isn't a loser, he was a victim of cheating and fraud. then he'll go off to mar-a-lago and tweet nonsense about biden everyday, rag on any republicans he feels weren't sufficiently loyal, maybe reveal a highly confidential state secret or two.
 

Leo

Well-known member
so here's a predicament for Fox News and AP, both of whom already called Arizona for Biden a day or two ago, bringing him to 264: what happens if Nevada suddenly goes to Biden? Nevada's six electoral vote would put Biden at 270...would Fox and AP announce him as winner of the election when no other networks have?

Would be a moot point if Biden suddenly wins PA first.
 
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padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
trump just needs a plausible -- in his mind, anyway -- excuse: he didn't lose, he got robbed. he isn't a loser, he was a victim of cheating and fraud. then he'll go off to mar-a-lago and tweet nonsense about biden everyday, rag on any republicans he feels weren't sufficiently loyal, maybe reveal a highly confidential state secret or two.
yeah that sounds right

bc he has no real ideology (beyond self-enrichment) he only cares about winning/losing in a horse race sense, not in terms of issues or governance

so as long as he has that excuse, he won't hang on to a loss in the same way as people who do, yunno, care about issues

for him it will be as you say, all about personal betrayal + victimhood

the problem is what further damage he might do to the democratic process on his way out, and the flaming wreckage he'll leave in his wake
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
btw I really hate feeling the need to defend "democratic norms" and "the democratic process" when they mean, in this context, the status quo

I am as cynical about the status quo of America and the bullshit that status quo perpetuates as anyone is

but that's the meta of the last two elections - a referendum on to what degree the American democratic process itself is worth defending

in a way that elections haven't really been since, again, the Civil War

and the answer is yes, if the alternative is worse, it is, so what else can you do
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Trump down to a 90k ballot lead in PA and 9.5k in GA as elections officials continue to tabulate absentee votes. Biden is almost certain to pull ahead in the former, and is probably on track to flip the latter too. Looks like we might actually get a call by this evening
Come on...
 

Leo

Well-known member
news reports of biden winning on average 75+% of the mail in votes from each of the PA countries counted today.
 
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