Thread: 2020 US Presidential Race

Fucking hell, Jon Voight needs the help of a good mental health professional.

Of course baldy orange loser retwattered it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1326323889417322497

Originally Posted by Cujo

postal worker recants voter-fraud claims after Republicans call for inquiry

And in turn, he recants that he recanted...

^ then I guess he is trustworthy

Biden Chief of Staff Designate Ron Klain Said in 2014 That Elections Are Rigged

Ron Klain, chief of staff designate for Joe Biden, said in 2014 that elections are rigged. Klain made the comment on Twitter in reply to a Vox post on July 14, 2014 that said “68% of Americans think elections are rigged.” Klain replied. “That’s because they are.”

The Biden transition office announced Wednesday that Klain had been chosen by Biden to be his White House chief of staff.

^ Bet he’s referring to gerrymandering.

Democrats Blame Gerrymandering, Campaign Strategy for Failure to Flip State Legislatures | Top News | US News

My home. Gerrymandering is the only thing which keeps republicans in power. Gerrymandering — Fair Districts GA

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Biden Chief of Staff Designate Ron Klain Said in 2014 That Elections Are Rigged

Ron Klain, chief of staff designate for Joe Biden, said in 2014 that elections are rigged. Klain made the comment on Twitter in reply to a Vox post on July 14, 2014 that said “68% of Americans think elections are rigged.” Klain replied. “That’s because they are.”

The Biden transition office announced Wednesday that Klain had been chosen by Biden to be his White House chief of staff.

He said elections, NOT vote,

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

He said elections, NOT vote,

He missed the point didn't he....

Originally Posted by bsnub

He missed the point didn't he....

Not the first time.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, said Wednesday he believed President Donald Trump would likely lose the state and that there were no “facts” to back up claims of rampant voter fraud, the latest in a small group of GOP officials to undercut the White House line following Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden.

“Right now, there is less than 50,000 votes to count, and the president would have to get about 65% of them to win Arizona, so it does appear that Joe Biden will win Arizona,” Brnovich told Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto on Wednesday. “If indeed there was some great conspiracy, it apparently didn’t work.”


“That’s the reality,” he said. “There is no evidence, there are no facts that would lead anyone to believe that the election results will change.”

Arizona's GOP Attorney General: Trump Likely Lost State, No Evidence Of Fraud

It must be very disheartening being a Trumpanzee these days.

Twitter took more than an hour to flag a highly misleading video shared by Donald Trump, which baselessly pushed claims of ballot fraud and was retweeted more than 70,000 times before the platform took action.

The president, who lost the US election to Joe Biden last week, shared a video of election workers in Los Angeles collecting valid, mail-in ballots that were posted on or before election day from a ballot drop box. The video, which has been shared thousands of times in recent days, falsely suggested something unusual was under way and has been repeatedly debunked. The Los Angeles county registrar confirmed that the ballots were collected on 4 November from a box that was locked at 8pm on election day and were later processed and counted.




The narrator of the video is heard questioning why the election results were “called” before the ballots were collected. Media organizations project the winners of election races based on a number of factors including exit polling, early votes and, in California’s case, the fact that it has a longstanding record of electing Democratic presidential candidates. The state, however, still processes and counts all valid ballots.


The tweet from Trump – and Twitter’s failure to flag it – led to outrage and concern. It also prompted renewed calls to have the president’s Twitter account suspended or permanently banned. Twitter has said the president will no longer receive the same treatment under its policies for newsworthy individuals when he is out of office.


“It’s going to be really nice to have a President who isn’t an internet troll trafficking already debunked conspiracy theories,” the spokesman for California’s secretary of state tweeted in response to Trump’s sharing of the video.


An hour after it was posted, the tweet still had not been removed or flagged by Twitter, despite the company’s policies on misinformation. The platform has flagged more than 40 tweets and retweets on Trump’s profile for misinformation in the days since the election. When a tweet is flagged, it cannot be retweeted, limiting the ability of the misinformation to spread.


But as of Wednesday afternoon, Trump’s tweet containing misinformation had been retweeted 71,000 times and favorited more than 183,000 times before it was flagged by Twitter. When contacted for comment, Twitter said it had placed a label on the tweet “to add more context for anyone who might see the Tweet”. It has flagged one other tweet by Trump since flagging the ballot tweet.

Twitter flags ballot conspiracy theory shared by Trump – after it is shared widely | US elections 2020 | The Guardian

Maybe all is not as it seems. Have the dems bought a knife to a gunfight?
This is pretty much how I've pictured it all along. I posted a while back, don't count your chickens before they hatch.
It's the electoral college angle he's really working, though according to reacharound I don't know what I'm talking about.
Maybe not but this guy sounds like he does.

The Republicans’ bid to overturn the election is a full-scale emergency – and yet the Democratic strategy seems to be to pretend it isn’t happening




The recent HBO film 537 Votes, about the Florida 2000 election mess, offers one overarching message: Democrats’ refusal to sound a clear alarm about the slow-motion heist in process ultimately let the election be stolen.


In that debacle, Democrats seemed to think things would break their way with well-honed arguments inside the cloistered confines of the legal system – they never understood how public-facing politics can play a role in what ended up being a pivotal political brawl outside the courtroom.


Twenty years later, the lesson of the Bush-Gore debacle isn’t being heeded
Now, 20 years later, the lesson of that debacle isn’t being heeded. Donald Trump and his cronies are quite clearly waging a public-facing campaign designed to create the conditions to pull off a coup in the electoral college process.


This is a full-scale emergency – and yet the Democratic strategy seems to be to try to pretend it isn’t happening, in hopes that norms win out, even though nothing at all is normal.


In the week since the election, Donald Trump and his Republican allies have waged a public campaign to call the election results into question – not just in the courtroom, but in the public’s mind. Their lawsuits and Attorney General William Barr’s recent memo are designed as much to to generate headlines as they are to win rulings and initiate prosecutions. Their tweets asserting fraud, and their high-profile promises of financial reward for evidence of fraud, are all designed to do the same thing.


Most ominously of all, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona are already insinuating the results may be fraudulent, even though they haven’t produced any evidence of widespread fraud.


Why is public perception so important? Because as the Ohio State University law professor Edward Foley shows in a frighteningly prescient 2019 article, legislatures could use the public perception of fraud to try to invoke their constitutional power to ignore their states’ popular votes, reject certified election results and appoint slates of Trump electors.


In an article that predicted almost exactly what has already happened in Pennsylvania, Foley imagined Trump seeming to be ahead at first, then losing his lead as votes are counted, then making allegations of fraud, setting the stage for this:


At Trump’s urging, the state’s legislature – where Republicans have majorities in both houses – purports to exercise its authority under Article II of the Constitution to appoint the state’s presidential electors directly. Taking their cue from Trump, both legislative chambers claim that the certified popular vote cannot be trusted because of the blue shift that occurred in overtime. Therefore, the two chambers claim to have the constitutional right to supersede the popular vote and assert direct authority to appoint the state’s presidential electors, so that this appointment is in line with the popular vote tally as it existed on Election Night, which Trump continues to claim is the “true” outcome.


The state’s Democratic governor refuses to assent to this assertion of authority by the state’s legislature, but the legislature’s two chambers proclaim that the governor’s assent is unnecessary. They cite early historical practices in which state legislatures appointed presidential electors without any involvement of the state’s governor. They argue that like constitutional amendments, and unlike ordinary legislation, the appointment of presidential electors when undertaken directly by a state legislature is not subject to a gubernatorial veto.


Foley notes how public-facing politics – outside the cloistered legal arena – could then come into play.


“It might be too much of a power grab. One would hope that American politics have not become so tribal that a political party is willing to seize power without a plausible basis for doing so rooted in the actual votes of the citizenry,” he writes. “If during the canvass itself, Trump can gain traction with his allegation that the blue shift amounts to fraudulently fabricated ballots – along the lines of his 2018 tweet about Florida – then it becomes more politically tenable to claim that the legislature must step in and appoint the state’s electors directly to reflect the ‘true’ will of the state’s voters.”


To be sure, pulling this off would be complicated.


Republicans would have to get not one but many of the five Biden states with Republican legislatures to try to ignore the popular vote.


This isn’t merely infantile behavior or an immature temper tantrum – it is part of a cutthroat plan
Congress would also have a role to play in deciding which electors to recognize, which gives the House Democratic majority some leverage.


And it’s not clear that any of the maneuvers would hold up in court (though let’s remember: the supreme court now includes three Republican-appointed justices who worked directly on the Bush v Gore case that stole the 2000 election for the Republican party).


But this is quite obviously what the Republicans are aiming for – and they’ve basically said it out loud. Indeed, Trump’s son has promoted the idea of legislatures overturning the election, and so has Trump’s staunch ally Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor. Meanwhile, a Republican lawmaker involved in Wisconsin’s new election fraud investigation suggested his state’s popular vote could be ignored.




This is why we’ve seen Republican officials and policies continue pretending that Trump didn’t lose the election, and presuming that there will be a second Trump term. This isn’t merely infantile behavior or an immature temper tantrum – it is part of a cutthroat plan.


They are trying to normalize the idea that regardless of how Americans actually voted, a second Trump term is inevitable because state legislatures and Congress will ultimately hand him the electoral college.


Where is Democrats’ call to action?
One big takeaway here should be that in the long term, the electoral college has to go – it has now become an even bigger threat to democracy, beyond just routinely throwing elections to the losers of the national popular vote. The system is being weaponized by a Republican party determined to thwart the will of voters.




In this particular crisis, a strong and serious response is needed.


We need a vociferous public campaign focused on preventing state legislators from feeling empowered to ignore their own voters. And such a campaign could be successful because at least some of these states’ legislatures are only narrowly controlled by the Republican party – meaning they may be sensitive to a future voter backlash in 2022 that could come from their actions to steal a presidential election.


And yet … instead of sounding the alarm, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris seem to have settled on a “nothing to see here” approach.


The Biden-Harris campaign has been proceeding as if everything is fine, rolling out some transition team names and announcing that Biden has talked to some world leaders. Biden’s comments on Wednesday about the election were even more sedated and anodyne than those of Al Gore back during the 2000 Florida recount. The most he could muster was an assertion that the Republicans behavior is embarrassing and might hurt Trump’s legacy – as if this is a West Wing episode inanely presuming that any single Republican elected official in the country cares about such things.


And yet, we’ve been taught over and over and over again that real life most certainly is not a West Wing episode. The Republicans do not care about anything other than obtaining and holding power by any means necessary — they are T-1000 Terminators ruthlessly focused on winning at all costs.


So where is the call to action? Where is the activism? Where are requests for Democrats in the five Biden states with Republican legislatures to start pressuring their state lawmakers to commit to respecting the popular vote?


Biden may be calculating that any public pushback will only help Trump, and the best strategy is to try to starve the fraud allegations of attention. And sure, we may get lucky – things may eventually just sort themselves out with no big hullabaloo.


However, history suggests that it is pretty risky to bank on a passive strategy, leave it all up to fate and simply hope for the best through “normal” procedures during moments of obviously abnormal circumstances.


Indeed, refusing to wage a much more organized, public campaign to challenge Trump’s coup attempt is exactly the kind of strategy Democrats went with 20 years ago in Florida during the Brooks Brothers riot – and look how that turned out. We got an illegitimate Bush presidency that gave us the Iraq war and a financial crisis that ended or ruined millions of lives.


This time around it could be even worse – the end of whatever’s still left of American democracy.

Republicans aren't conceding – and Democrats are bringing a knife to a gun fight | David Sirota | Opinion | The Guardian

Originally Posted by Cujo

One would hope that American politics have not become so tribal that a political party is willing to seize power without a plausible basis for doing so rooted in the actual votes of the citizenry,”

Folks overthere seems so polarized that anything could be possible

BTW:

I have always been amazed, that they on top of that put their faith in 'voting machines'. With software !

It's a cookie jar waiting to be looted

^ Further ...

“And yeah, he could say ‘I’m not leaving, I’m not conceding’ — but at that time at noon on January 20, he’s no longer the president,” Yoo said, “and all of the allegiance of the government, of the military, of the civil service, switches to the winner of the November 3 election, who I think is going to be Joe Biden.

And then he will become the president and Donald Trump will become a private citizen, regardless of anything Donald Trump does.”

About this Jon Voight thing- which is of course publicised as much as it is because of his public profile as an ex-Hollywood actor.

Well, if you allow your political opinions or 'Conspiracy theorems' to be influenced by some ex Hollywood luvvie who, it would appear 'found God' , and who's most iconic role was as a rent boy, talk about clutching at straws.

But he was good in Midnight Cowboy.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

^ Further ...

“And yeah, he could say ‘I’m not leaving, I’m not conceding’ — but at that time at noon on January 20, he’s no longer the president,” Yoo said, “and all of the allegiance of the government, of the military, of the civil service, switches to the winner of the November 3 election, who I think is going to be Joe Biden.

And then he will become the president and Donald Trump will become a private citizen, regardless of anything Donald Trump does.”

The point is that regardless of what baldy orange loser does regarding dragging out the election, his term ends at noon on January 20th.

Then more fun will start. Fortunately not in Republican favour.

Who is the president if election results are unknown by January 20, 2021? (2020) - Ballotpedia

Originally Posted by sabang

About this Jon Voight thing- which is of course publicised as much as it is because of his public profile as an ex-Hollywood actor.

Well, if you allow your political opinions or 'Conspiracy theorems' to be influenced by some ex Hollywood luvvie who, it would appear 'found God' , and who's most iconic role was as a rent boy, talk about clutching at straws.

But he was good in Midnight Cowboy.

Trumpanzees will be hanging on every word.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The point is that regardless of what baldy orange loser does regarding dragging out the election, his term ends at noon on January 20th.

Unless he finds a way to corrupt the electoral voters.

Long shot, I know, but never put desperate actions past a desperate (soon to be) ex-President.

My gf loved Ronnie and I didn't mind. He let her stay afterall permanently and gave citizenship status. I have know and worked with many in the same boat.

Now Billy I can say I did not like mostly due to NAFTA as he hurt these folks by passing this "deal".

I will honestly say at that time, yes a young kid, I toured ReoRico Arizona. NgAz and the free trade zone. Huge, yes huge houses for 85k new, you specify plans. And though I was almost tempted to make the jump as it was a real sweet deal for me I asked about my gf.

We were both in the room and as I talked to this "head" I genuinely asked "great deal fo me but what are the chances for my gf getting employment? "

He looked at her and I may never forget him saying " she could allways get a job picking fruit."

Needless to say I passed on the offer to break America great again.

Oh and as for the guy ten pages ago asking about education level. ...
After my father retired from AMC he and his partner formed Solar Heating Inc. I recall him asking me as a young kid about 13, what do you think?

We were outside at the time and I recall pointing up saying "look pop the sun will allways shine." As a kid I knew it to be true in our lifetime anyway.

As for education......go figure.


The fish.

Donald Trump has been tweeting up a storm in the wash-up to the US election.
But it appears millions of his supporters have flocked to a rival social media site that has rocketed to the top of the downloads list in the days since Joe Biden was declared president-elect.

It's called Parler, and it has become a beacon for Mr Trump's fanbase to rail against the election result and spread claims of voter fraud without checks or balances.

One expert warns this could be a dire sign of things to come.


The tagline on its website is: "Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being 'deplatformed' for your views."

Parler had added a further 4.5 million users in the previous five days alone.


It has become a beacon for conservatives, particularly those who believe Twitter and Facebook are censoring right-wing opinions.

Here

Originally Posted by fishlocker

As for education......go figure.

No need for an education, eh . . . you have a gun. That'll take care of things . . . women, children, the aged, unarmed people, etc . . .

You are THE man.

What if Trump manages to manipulate the electors to the point he wins.