2020 Presidential Election 4: How Much Longer?

[BlackberryGirl]

We are liberals in a very red area. We’ve already had one Biden Harris sign stolen from our yard. I do volunteer work, phone banks and mailings. Every single vote matters. Yeah I know drumpf will cary our county and village but I know Biden will carry New York.

[Smash!]

What the everloving fuck? here's today's Letters from an American (Sept. 22)    by Heather Cox Richardson. Bolding is mine, the most important paragraph in my opinion is in green (I couldn't do red).

Spoiler

Quote

Today Americans were roiled by an article in The Atlantic, detailing the method by which the Trump campaign is planning to steal the 2020 election. The article was slated for The Atlantic’s November issue, but the editor decided to release it early because of its importance.

The article’s author, Barton Gellman, explains that Trump will not accept losing the 2020 election. If he cannot win it, he plans to steal it. We already know he is trying to suppress voting and his hand-picked Postmaster General is working to hinder the delivery of mail-in ballots. Now Trump’s teams are recruiting 50,000 volunteers in 15 states to challenge voters at polling places; this will, of course, intimidate Democrats and likely keep them from showing up.

But if those plans don’t manage to depress the Democratic vote enough to let him declare victory, he intends to insist on calling a winner in the election on November 3. His legal teams will challenge later mail-in ballots, which tend to swing Democratic, on the grounds that they are fraudulent, and they will try to silence local election officials by attacking them as agents of antifa or George Soros. The president and his team will continue to insist that the Democrats are refusing to honor the results of the election.

Gellman warns that the Trump team is already exploring a way to work around the vote counts in battleground states. Rather than appointing Democratic electors chosen by voters, a state legislature could conclude that the vote was tainted and appoint a Republican slate instead. A Trump legal advisor who spoke to Trump explained they would insist they were protecting the will of the people from those who were trying to rig an election. “The state legislatures will say, ‘All right, we’ve been given this constitutional power. We don’t think the results of our own state are accurate, so here’s our slate of electors that we think properly reflect the results of our state,’ ” the adviser explained. The election would then go to Congress, where there would be two sets of electoral votes to fight over… and things would devolve from there.

They would likely end up at the Supreme Court, to which Trump this morning said he was in a hurry to confirm a new justice so there would be a solid majority to rule in his favor on the election results. “I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices, and I think the system’s going to go very quickly,” he said. "Having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation."

Amidst the flurry of concern over The Atlantic piece, a reporter this afternoon asked Trump if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election. "Well, we’re going to have to see what happens," Trump said. "You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster." He went on to say: "Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very — we’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer frankly, there’ll be a continuation."

In response to this shocking rejection of the basic principles of our government, Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted, “This is how democracy dies.” He said: “This is a moment that I would say to any republican of good conscience working in the administration, it is time for you to resign.” But only one Republican, Mitt Romney (R-UT), condemned Trump’s comments as “both unthinkable and unacceptable.”

On Facebook, veteran journalist Dan Rather wrote of living through the Depression, World War Two, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, Watergate, and 9-11, then said: “This is a moment of reckoning unlike any I have seen in my lifetime…. What Donald Trump said today are the words of a dictator. To telegraph that he would consider becoming the first president in American history not to accept the peaceful transfer of power is not a throw-away line. It's not a joke. He doesn't joke. And it is not prospective. The words are already seeding a threat of violence and illegitimacy into our electoral process.”

There is no doubt that Trump’s statement today was a watershed moment. Another watershed event is the fact that Republicans are not condemning it.

But there are two significant tells in Trump’s statement. First of all, his signature act is to grab headlines away from stories he does not want us to read. Two new polls today put Biden up by ten points nationally. Fifty-eight percent of Americans do not approve of the way Trump is doing his job. Only 38% approve of how he is handling the coronavirus. Voters see Biden as more honest, intelligent, caring, and level-headed than Trump. They think Biden is a better leader.

Trump’s headline grabs keep attention from Biden’s clear and detailed plans, first for combatting coronavirus and rebuilding the economy, and then for reordering the country. The Republicans didn’t bother to write a platform this year, simply saying they supported Trump, but Trump has not been able to articulate why he wants a second term.

In contrast, Biden took his cue from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and has released detailed and clear plans for a Biden presidency. Focusing on four areas, Biden has called for returning critical supply chains to America and rebuilding union jobs in manufacturing and technology; investing in infrastructure and clean energy; and supporting the long-ignored caregiving sector of the economy by increasing training and pay for those workers who care for children, elderly Americans, and people with disabilities. He has a detailed plan for leveling the playing field between Black and Brown people and whites, beginning by focusing on economic opportunity, but also addressing society’s systemic racial biases. Biden’s plans get little attention so long as the media is focused on Trump.

The president’s antics also overshadow the reality that many prominent Republicans are abandoning him. Yesterday, Arizona Senator John McCain’s widow Cindy endorsed Biden. “My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There's only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is [Biden].” She added “Joe… is a good and honest man. He will lead us with dignity. He will be a commander in chief that the finest fighting force in the history of the world can depend on, because he knows what it is like to send a child off to fight."

McCain is only the latest of many prominent Republicans to endorse Biden, and her endorsement stings. She could help Biden in the crucial state of Arizona, especially with women. "I'm hoping that I can encourage suburban women to take another look, women that are particularly on the fence and are unhappy with what’s going on right now but also are not sure they want to cross the line and vote for Joe. I hope they’ll take a look at what I believe and will move forward and come with me and join team Biden," McCain said.

That McCain’s endorsement stung showed in Trump’s tweeted response: “I hardly know Cindy McCain other than having put her on a Committee at her husband’s request. Joe Biden was John McCain’s lapdog…. Never a fan of John. Cindy can have Sleepy Joe!”

And, of course, Trump’s declaration has taken the focus off the Republican senators’ abrupt about-face on confirming a Supreme Court justice in an election year. The ploy laid bare their determination to cement their power at all costs, and it is not popular. Sixty-two percent of Americans, including 50% of Republicans, think the next president should name Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement.

The second tell in Trump’s statement is that Trump’s lawyers confirmed to Gellman that their strategy is to leverage their power in the system to steal the election. Surely, they would want to keep that plan quiet… unless they are hoping to convince voters that the game is so fully rigged there is no point in showing up to vote.

Trump’s statement is abhorrent, and we must certainly be prepared for chaos surrounding this election. But never forget that Trump’s campaign, which-- according to our intelligence agencies-- is being helped by Russian disinformation, is keen on convincing Americans that our system doesn’t work, our democracy is over, and there is no point in participating in it. If you believe them, their disinformation is a self-fulfilling prophecy, despite the fact that a strong majority of Americans prefers Biden to Trump.

Trump’s statement is abhorrent, indeed; but the future remains unwritten.

—-

Notes:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-peaceful-transition-if-he-loses-get-rid-ballots-there-n1240896

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Smash!

[GreyhoundFan]

"Early voting turnout hits record numbers in Virginia"

Spoiler

RICHMOND — Record numbers of Virginians are voting early and requesting absentee ballots this year, as the coronavirus pandemic and newly loosened election laws reshape Old Dominion voting habits in a presidential year.

Some 100,356 voters have cast ballots in person since early voting began Friday, while 884,032 have requested absentee ballots, state elections officials reported on Wednesday. In all of 2016, just under 353,000 Virginians opted for early in-person voting and about 185,000 voted absentee by mail, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project.

Voters in three solidly blue Northern Virginia congressional districts, where President Trump is deeply unpopular, have requested the most absentee ballots, led by 140,465 requests in the 8th District, which is represented by Rep. Don Beyer (D).

That’s nearly triple the 48,191 ballots requested in the bright red 9th District in the state’s rural southwest, which Rep. H. Morgan Griffith (R) represents and Trump carried by 19 points four years ago.

Democratic Party officials say the high numbers portend a continued blue wave in Virginia, which chose Hillary Clinton over Trump by five percentage points in 2016 and has trended more Democratic ever since.

“After the first few days of early voting, we’ve seen an unprecedented surge in enthusiasm with tens of thousands of Virginians going to the polls,” Susan Swecker, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said in a statement. “And the data we’ve seen shows that Democrats are the ones driving record early voting numbers, a clear sign that enthusiasm is on our side and that voters are tired of Trump’s broken promises and failures to keep Virginians safe during this pandemic.”

John March, spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia, said he was not convinced that Democrats were fueling the surge in early voting and absentee ballot requests.

“The great thing about Virginia is, you have no idea who’s requesting these ballots,” he said, noting that voters do not register by party in the state. “It could be every single Republican in those [Democratic] precincts requested those ballots.”

In any case, March said that Republicans are more inclined to wait to vote until Nov. 3. “Republicans are more likely to vote in person on Election Day,” he said. “That’s the sentiment I’ve gotten.”

Early voting is not something Virginia has traditionally encouraged. Until this year, voters needed to have a qualifying excuse — such as business or vacation travel — to obtain an absentee ballot or vote early in person.

Democrats, who took control of the state Senate and House of Delegates this year, passed legislation to allow “no-excuse” early voting, and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed that into law. The measure was one of several meant to ease restrictions on voting, but it has proved particularly popular amid the pandemic, which has some voters worried about being exposed to the virus if polls are crowded on Election Day.

Virginia has one of the nation’s longest early-voting periods — starting 45 days before Election Day and running through Oct. 31, the last Saturday before Nov. 3. Among the states that allow early voting, Maine, New Jersey, South Dakota and Vermont also offer it starting 45 days before the election, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. The average length is 19 days.

In Maryland, early voting will take place from Oct. 26 through Nov. 2. In D.C., early voting will run Oct. 27 through Nov. 2.

Virginia voters can cast an early vote in person at their local registrar’s office or at satellite voting locations. They can also request an absentee ballot, which they can return by mail or in person to the registrar’s office or other drop-box locations, which are listed on local government websites.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Oct. 23 at 5 p.m.

In Virginia, absentee ballots can be “pre-processed” before Election Day, meaning they are periodically fed into voting machines — with representatives of both parties present as witnesses. That is intended to avoid a large backlog in a year like this one, when absentee usage is unusually high.

Absentee ballots returned to the registrar by mail arrive inside two envelopes. The registrar opens the outer envelope to make sure the voter has signed it and filled in his or her address. There is also a spot for a witness’s signature, but the General Assembly did away with the witness requirement because of the pandemic.

Registrars will contact a voter if there are any errors and/or omissions. They will have until noon on Nov. 6, three days after the election, to make corrections.

Registrars may keep the ballots in the second envelope in a secure location until Election Day. But they also have the option to process them early, opening the second envelope and running the ballot through a voting machine. To do that, they must notify party representatives and elections officers so they can be present to observe. There is no tally of those votes before Election Day.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Scott Walker is the dullest of dull tools:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Why would anyone with active brain cells believe a word Lindsey says?

 

[Alisamer]

I actually just snuck the early voting dates for NC onto the calendar on our company newsletter we send out to our customers. Boss didn't seem to notice it! 

I'm planning to vote in person, and early. My middle sister and I are going to grab our youngest sister and physically take her to vote, because she probably won't, otherwise. She said something about absentee voting, but frankly this is the one thing I agree with Trump on - it's too risky. Trump and the republicans are being so open about their attempts to steal the election I'm not going to risk giving them the chance to invalidate or "lose" my (or her) vote because it came by mail. Her husband is likely to vote for Trump so we'll leave him at home. I have no idea why she married that idiot.

We'll be socially distancing as best we can, and wearing masks, and using hand sanitizer, but by God we are going to go vote. Frankly if I catch Covid from voting but Trump loses, it'll have been worth it.

[GreyhoundFan]

I used to work a job that had to coordinate presidential movement in the DC area. Every one of them were chronically late. It's sad that the media is whining about Biden. And 45's public schedule is pretty thin -- watching Faux News and consuming hamberders takes up the bulk of his time.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by GreyhoundFan
edited for riffles

[fraurosena]

This gave me a laugh.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

More Biden endorsements:

 

[fraurosena]

13 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

More Biden endorsements:

 

I find this an encouraging sign that the military will be on Biden's side. Fingers crossed.

[fraurosena]

7 hours ago, Smash! said:

What the everloving fuck? here's today's Letters from an American (Sept. 22)    by Heather Cox Richardson. Bolding is mine, the most important paragraph in my opinion is in green (I couldn't do red).

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

This very interesting thread disputes Trump's ability to do this and shows he's only bloviating.

The thread is long, but the last tweet explains how Trump's idea can't succeed:

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by fraurosena
riffle

[fraurosena]

Hmmm... wasn't voting by mail fraudulent? 

 

[smittykins]

23 hours ago, WarriorJane said:

If Jesus was running,  he'd be dismissed as a socialist.   (And they would actually mean Marxist,  but they're too uninformed to know the difference)

Also, a brown, non-English-speaking immigrant.

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Hmmm... wasn't voting by mail fraudulent? 

 

Silly @fraurosena, the only valid mail in ballots are the ones requested by Repugs. With 45's bitch, DeSantis, as governor, they probably printed the mail in ballots with only Twitler's name on them.

[AuntK]

We all know that this is going to be a very ugly election, with the Republicans doing everything they possibly can to suppress votes and intimidate voters. I believe that the only way that we can succeed in getting rid of this POS is to have a LANDSLIDE of BLUE; not just a BLUE Wave, a BLUE STORM! Everyone who supports BIDEN MUST VOTE! And vote EARLY if you can!

[GreyhoundFan]

[AuntK]

Today at Trump's press conference, a reporter FINALLY asked him, "Mr. President,  are you saying that if you do NOT win, the election is not valid?" 

Trump IGNORED him.

Enough!

[Vivi_music]

Trump Says He Won't Commit To A Peaceful Transfer Of Power If He Loses https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/trump-wont-commit-peaceful-transfer-power-election

Seriously, it was so predictable. Even back in 2016 when he was still candidate, he declined to say if he would accept the election outcome if he lost, instead complaining that the election would have had been "rigged" against him if he had lost. People actually elected a dictator who won't concede power. Those idiot Trumpers can't feign innocence and pretend they had no clue he'd act this way. Since the beginning, Trump has been trying to undermine the core values of democracy. I hope the Republican politicans (who pretend to love America oh-so much) are showered with shame right now.

I'm not even American and I'm mad. I'm Canadian and in my province, we have a mandatory class called ''History of Western Civilisation". One segment of the syllabus is the Atlantic Revolutions. When I gave that class, I focused on the American Revolution a lot. It was the very first modern western democracy, and one that embodied the values of the Enlightenment philosophers like Montesquieu, Rousseau, etc. Philosophical theories were put in practice for the first time with the creation of the United States of America. Ok granted, there was some big hypocrisy, because well.. slavery. But historically, it did create a new set of concepts and new possibilities, that then sparked a movement in the rest of the Atlantic world - Haïti, France, and then later the Latin American wars of Revolution.

The goal of that class is for students to understand the evolution of the western world, and how it became this big common culture (social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, etc.).

I can't believe that one of the first country to embody the values of democracy is now heading down a dangerous slope, all because of this one maniac. I truly hope the GOP is regretting this. By encouraging him, they perverted their own democracy.

[fraurosena]

21 minutes ago, Vivi_music said:

I can't believe that one of the first country to embody the values of democracy is now heading down a dangerous slope, all because of this one maniac. I truly hope the GOP is regretting this. By encouraging him, they perverted their own democracy.

Trump is not the reason though. He’s a symptom. He’s the last step in a long line of measures by the GOP that were specifically meant to kill democracy and keep them in power. That they were able to do this was caused by an inherently flawed system that was only democratic at face value.

No Republican candidate for the past couple of decades won the presidency by getting the majority of the popular vote; it was the electoral college that put them in power. 

The fact that big donors have been able to literally buy policy legally has led to them de facto running the legislative branch. 

Democracy in America has been an illusion all along. The veneer is wearing off, and the ugly truth should be faced.

[Vivi_music]

@fraurosena I'm probably talking about a subject I don't know enough about. I was just making a remark. You're probably right.

But I still see Trump has partly responsible for the fact that well... things are heading down a darn dictatorship. I think any other previous Republican candidate of the past 10 years would have at least had the ''respectability'' to admit to a peaceful transition of power. Bush Senior did after serving only one term.

I do agree though that the GOP pushed this megalomaniac's candidacy simply because they wanted to win, not because they wanted what was best for America.

[fraurosena]

38 minutes ago, Vivi_music said:

@fraurosena I'm probably talking about a subject I don't know enough about. I was just making a remark. You're probably right.

But I still see Trump has partly responsible for the fact that well... things are heading down a darn dictatorship. I think any other previous Republican candidate of the past 10 years would have at least had the ''respectability'' to admit to a peaceful transition of power. Bush Senior did after serving only one term.

I do agree though that the GOP pushed this megalomaniac's candidacy simply because they wanted to win, not because they wanted what was best for America.

@Vivi_music, I was aware you were simply making a remark, and I wasn't disagreeing with you per se; I was attempting to clarify ?

I agree that Trump has responsibility, and his actions are too egregious for words. Neither Bush would have acted that overtly 'anti- democratic'.  However, if there was nobody to enable his antics, he wouldn't be able to. If  he had been removed from office last year, as he should have been due to the overwhelming evidence of his corruption and treachery during his impeachment, America wouldn't be in the mess they are in now. Not only did the GOP comply with his candidacy, they are fully complicit up till this very moment in the attempts to turn America into a dictatorship. 

[Ozlsn]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

@Vivi_music, I was aware you were simply making a remark, and I wasn't disagreeing with you per se; I was attempting to clarify ?

I agree that Trump has responsibility, and his actions are too egregious for words. Neither Bush would have acted that overtly 'anti- democratic'.  However, if there was nobody to enable his antics, he wouldn't be able to. If  he had been removed from office last year, as he should have been due to the overwhelming evidence of his corruption and treachery during his impeachment, America wouldn't be in the mess they are in now. Not only did the GOP comply with his candidacy, they are fully complicit up till this very moment in the attempts to turn America into a dictatorship. 

It's also been a long process to this point - 20 years ago Trump would not even have gotten past round one of the primaries. There were a lot of small steps involved.

[GreyhoundFan]

Worried is an understatement.

 

[nausicaa]

I am sick to my stomach about Trump's comments two days ago. And even worse, the supporters defending the comments. 

If you can't even support the basics of a liberal democracy like the peaceful transfer of power, and the fundamentals of our Constitution, what the hell do you love so much about America and our freedoms? The flag is a piece of cloth; it has meaning (as they love to remind us whenever someone is using it to protest) because it represents our Constitution, our hard won freedoms, our luck to be born into a free country, and the people who have died defending those freedoms from authoritarians. 

My cousin posted a criticism of Trump's comment that he can't commit to a peaceful transfer of power, and supporters are literally trying to claim "Democrats are mean to him and so it's fair for him to just stay in an extra four years if he wants."

No, it's fucking not. That's not how any of this works. If we can't even agree that free and fair elections are good and that dictatorships are bad, I don't know how I'm supposed to find common ground with someone.

And by the way, I know several of the people making these claims, and they would have died of an apoplectic fit if Obama had said this. 

It's also revealing that they are so petty, they can't fathom believing in principles that go beyond parties. I don't have an issue with what Trump said just because I want Biden to win. I would have an issue if Biden or Obama or Gary Johnson said it. I have an issue with it because I actually believe in our Constitution. And somehow this makes me less of an American patriot in their eyes?

And these people will still be around even if Biden wins. And there's a lot of them. 

I don't know what to do. I will say statements like these allow my libertarian self to vote down ticket Dem and donate generously to Dem Senate candidates, without the slightest twinge of regret or hypocrisy. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by nausicaa

[Alisamer]

3 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

 If we can't even agree on free and fair elections and that dictatorships are bad, I don't know how I'm supposed to find common ground with someone. And by the way, I know several of the people making these claims, and they would have died of an apoplectic fit if Obama had said this. 

It's also revealing that they are so petty, they can't fathom believing in principles that go beyond parties. I don't have an issue with what Trump said just because I want Biden to win. I would have an issue if Biden or Obama or HRC said it. I have an issue with it because I actually believe in our Constitution. And somehow this makes me less of an American patriot in their eyes?

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that all the "patriotic" "pro-America" gung ho stuff is not about freedom or patriotism at all.

They only want freedoms for themselves. They are only "pro America" and "patriotic" if that means white, straight, "Christian" (quotes because they would rabidly oppose Jesus if He was here right now), middle class and up, America. They are anti-abortion (for other people, not necessarily themselves and definitely not for whoever Trump knocks up out of wedlock), anti-poor (despite many of them being poor themselves), anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-anyone who doesn't pay lip service to Christianity, and anti-people of color. They support social security (for themselves only) but not any sort of safety net for OTHER people. The majority of them despise and make fun of the wealthy (except Trump, for some reason), yet long to be wealthy themselves. They make fun of "elites" (read "intelligent, educated, successful people), yet believe that they themselves are super intelligent. 

These are people who make exceptions for EVERYTHING. Welfare is the worst thing ever, but if they need it suddenly it becomes just a temporary help. Black people are *insert horrible denigrating description here*, except the ones they actually know in person, they're "not like the others". Immigrants are lazy leeches on society, except the ones they know in person, they're hard workers just trying to do the best for their families. Christianity is the only religion, yet I'd bet half of them rarely if ever go to church, and couldn't quote a verse past John 3:16 if you put a gun to their heads. Speaking of, they are pro gun ownership "for protection", but refuse to wear a mask to protect other people in public. I'd be willing to bet a big percentage of them who claim to be "pro-life" would have their own teenage daughter at an abortion clinic in a hearbeat if she turned up pregnant.

I know I'm preaching to the crowd here, but damn. The hypocrisy is amazing, isn't it?