Are political threads allowed?

  • Already obvious of course. But now it begins in earnest. Confirmation  that Trump will refuse to accept a defeat (though would no doubt be fine if it's a victory).

    Unfortunately Trump won in 2016 because his opponents underestimated him & couldn’t believe he had any skills. But one thing he’s very good at is sowing doubt & uncertainty. So here he’s priming voters either to accept delaying the election or to expect gerrymandering & vote-rigging beforehand, in case it’s a close result. He's behind in the polls, so it’s a tactic worth trying.


    If Biden wins a decisive victory, Trump will probably concede & leave, albeit with a bad grace. If not, surely he can be politely but firmly removed.

  • Unfortunately Trump won in 2016 because his opponents underestimated him & couldn’t believe he had any skills. But one thing he’s very good at is sowing doubt & uncertainty. So here he’s priming voters either to accept delaying the election or to expect gerrymandering & vote-rigging beforehand, in case it’s a close result. He's behind in the polls, so it’s a tactic worth trying.


    If Biden wins a decisive victory, Trump will probably concede & leave, albeit with a bad grace. If not, surely he can be politely but firmly removed.

    Or shot. It's a bit of a long shot (pun) but the 25th and 35th presidents were assassinated, Trump is 45th. Just sayin'! :)

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • He said it should be deferred because mail in voting will lead to fraud. This is garbage - he can't defer it and he knows he can't. There's also no evidence that voting by mail leads to fraud. In fact there's evidence it doesn't. He also knows this. So why is he saying it? A: To sow the seeds for his legions of supporters who believe Barack Obama wasn't American and that fauci created covid, the same people who think masks are muzzles and that studies showing HCQ doesn't work are part of an anti-Trump conspiracy, the same people who are likely to find themselves in a minority in November.


    And this is a big fucking problem. The divide between 'those people' and these people is already a chasm and will become a schism that cannot be undone or repaired if he continues this reckless messaging. Those people probably already think they know what's going to happen in the election. I can imagine some smaller subset preparing for violence if he gets voted out to squeals of "see, I told you! fraud!!". Like they said in the dark knight, some men just want to watch the world burn.

  • In our home, we are anticipating a Biden landslide win. Trump actually looks as though he's facing a difficult win today. He's got a hard path to victory. Winning the popular vote doesn't put you in the White House though. Our Constitution states that a majority Electoral Vote gets you elected. It's a convoluted process that allowed both Trump and George W. Bush to win their elections without receiving a majority of the popular vote. Trump lost by millions of popular votes in 2016, but won the Electoral Vote. It's a shame that we the people don't elect our President. A few electors are appointed in each state by the legislature every 4 years. The majority of popular votes, be they Republican or Democrat, are supposed to influence the electors to side with the majority vote from that state. The winning candidate is the first person to receive 270 electoral votes. Trump got 304 in 2016 and Hillary got 230 or something. Hillary beat Trump with the peoples' vote, but Trump won the election with his 304 electoral votes. Have you ever heard of such crap? The peoples' vote only means something in that it's supposed to influence the electors in each state to vote in accordance with their state's majority popular vote, but they don't always vote the way they're supposed to. They sometimes break ranks and vote for the minority candidate. It's pretty f**ked up. Wish us luck. The world depends on it.

  • Just watching the BBC's coverage.


    Yes I can never get my head around the electoral college system.


    Early I know, but the feeling in the air watching this coverage is that it's very close in key states.

    Abandon all reason

  • A couple of things I personally take away from these results and lack thereof:


    -If this was battle for the soul of the country, well that battle is lost, I cannot think of anyone more unamerican of Trump; nepotism, self-dealing, corruption, in cahoots with sworn enemies of the US, deriding the militaries and clearly autocratic.


    -Biden can still win but no landslide, make no mistake, Trumpism is a thing, it's very much alive and it's here to stay, be ready to deal with Jr and Ivanka in 4 years.


    -Amazing the things you can get away with in the US if you are a rich, white guy. It's not only Trump. his fans are ready to swallow anything he says with gusto. I followed the Senate debates in GA, KY and SC,; Purdue, McConnel and Graham are figures that would be rejected in most of European countries, they are pathetic caricatures, they underperformed in their first debates, literally taking a beating, as their positions are indefensible and untenable and they didn't even care to show up for the final debate, basically a giant FU to all voters and democracy. They won with ease.


    -The Senate will be still under GOP control, Biden, should he win, is pretty much screwed, McConnell is one of the mist toxic figures in Western politics.


    -The most perfect western democracy has work to do, Trump exposed all its fragility.

  • -Biden can still win but no landslide, make no mistake, Trumpism is a thing, it's very much alive and it's here to stay, be ready to deal with Jr and Ivanka in 4 years.

    Yes, the closeness of this election overnight made me think that even if Biden edges a win, then like the UK the US is a deeply divided country with absolutely no chance of the schism healing, for years at least if not a decade or more. And that indeed, Trumpism isn't going away. What I hadn't thought of was the Trumprogeny running in 4 years - a chilling thought.


    If Trump slithers back in, America will be wreckage.

    Abandon all reason

  • I would like to think that the premature calling of victory, and the stuff about how they should keep counting in the states he's winning but stop counting in the states he's losing, might finally open some eyes. But then I have thought that for four years.

  • I would like to think that the premature calling of victory, and the stuff about how they should keep counting in the states he's winning but stop counting in the states he's losing, might finally open some eyes. But then I have thought that for four years.

    Yes exactly. It's not as though the last 4 years have been short of stuff he's said and done that you'd think would open enough people's eyes.


    I read that thanks to his desperate shrieking rhetoric, a crowd of protestors tried forcing their way into the Detroit count to try stopping it. So he's put the security guards, who had to hold them back, at risk. He is utter scum.

    Abandon all reason