Repubicans condem trump

[YDB95]

Does anyone on the board seriously think Trump will be attending Biden's inauguration or riding down the street with him--or even still be in the White House to formally hand the place over--if Biden wins and there's no physical resistance turning the administration over?

I don't think any Trump supporters are even willing to entertain the possibility that Trump will lose in the first place.

 

[KeithD]

I think everyone alive understands that Trump won't win the popular vote--and thus not really have legitimately won in the American mind-set. That has nothing to do with whether or not he can stay in office. Everything Trump is doing and saying reflects that he fully understands this himself.

 

[YDB95]

I think everyone alive understands that Trump won't win the popular vote--and thus not really have legitimately won in the American mind-set. That has nothing to do with whether or not he can stay in office. Everything Trump is doing and saying reflects that he fully understands this himself.

True, but what I'm seeing here is the usual suspects think he is again going to lose the popular vote and win the electoral vote. They clearly don't get how scant the margin of error was for that to happen last time, nor that every bit of evidence points to it NOT happening again this time.

 

[KeithD]

Looks to me like the game plan is just to declare--he'll still be in office for a couple of months--that the ballot voting is void--knowing he can't get the popular vote--and to get this thrown into the courts--where he's gotten everything else thrown to bog down time, roll dice, and increasingly relying on the judge slots the Republicans have been stuffing for over three years to save him.

He and his cohorts are already working with Republican-controlled state legislatures to try to get them to override popular votes going to Biden and give their electors to Trump, for which there is some room in the Constitution to do if Republican-controlled state legislatures are willing to be traitors to the American system. Maybe they will; maybe they won't. We live in interesting times.

I do think that Trump thinks, as president, that various military forces have to do what he says. That's where I think he's going to get a big surprise. He continues to screw himself royally with those folks. If he wasn't such an idiot, we'd be in far worse trouble. Think a good schemer like Nixon without any of the limits that anyone but a total psycho like Trump would naturally accept.

 

[Ziggins]

I don't think any Trump supporters are even willing to entertain the possibility that Trump will lose in the first place.

I would be surprised by a legitimate Biden win, but I see plenty of possibilities for pushing changes from the bottom up instead of top down. 4 years or 8 years is a slight difference to the decades of work ahead.

 

[KeithD]

If you believe in the equality of citizens, a cornerstone of the American system, of course a Biden win is legitimate. It's right out there in the open. It's right there, happening. That's why the Republicans and Trump are doing/saying what they are. They recognize the American citizenry has already rejected them and accepted Biden. We don't really need an election to show that--and the Republicans and Trump understand that even if you want to pretend otherwise. Everything they are saying and doing is to steal continuing in control.

 

[YDB95]

Everything they are saying and doing is to steal continuing in control.

Yes, that is probably the idea behind the recent thing about states sending "loyal electors" to vote for Trump no matter what happens in November. He wasn't trying to make that happen so much as he wanted to make his supporters and detractors alike THINK it could happen. That way we waste time wringing our hands over this extremely farfetched scheme, and it diverts attention from the fact that he's still ten points down in the polls.

 

[KeithD]

Yes, that is probably the idea behind the recent thing about states sending "loyal electors" to vote for Trump no matter what happens in November. He wasn't trying to make that happen so much as he wanted to make his supporters and detractors alike THINK it could happen. That way we waste time wringing our hands over this extremely farfetched scheme, and it diverts attention from the fact that he's still ten points down in the polls.

The unsourced reporting I've heard over today is that legislators in Republican-controlled state legislatures in fact are being contacted by Trumpers about this possibility. That's more than bluster, if true.

 

[YDB95]

The unsourced reporting I've heard over today is that legislators in Republican-controlled state legislatures in fact are being contacted by Trumpers about this possibility. That's more than bluster, if true.

State legislatures have nothing to do with certifying elections. Trump would have to get his hooks in quite a bit deeper - in several states - for this to be plausible.

 

[KeithD]

State legislatures have nothing to do with certifying elections. Trump would have to get his hooks in quite a bit deeper - in several states - for this to be plausible.

States still have everything to do with elections at the national level. This is evident in the Electoral College system that highlights that states, not individuals, determine national-level elections--as shown in the 2016 election.

The Constitution allows for state legislatures to override popular vote in their state and reassign electors themselves. Check it out. I've seen reports Trump's people are already connecting with Republican-controlled state legislatures on this possibility.

The United States was set up to give the states a whole lot of power in the election process. We've evolved in concept from States being the voters to individual citizens being the voters on an equal basis--but we didn't clean up the aspects of the Constitution that made the states, not individuals, the electors at the national level (e.g., the Electoral College system). The Trump people reaped the benefit of this in 2016 and are trying to make full use of it in 2020.

 

[YDB95]

States still have everything to do with elections at the national level. This is evident in the Electoral College system that highlights that states, not individuals, determine national-level elections--as shown in the 2016 election.

The Constitution allows for state legislatures to override popular vote in their state and reassign electors themselves. Check it out. I've seen reports Trump's people are already connecting with Republican-controlled state legislatures on this possibility.

The United States was set up to give the states a whole lot of power in the election process. We've evolved in concept from States being the voters to individual citizens being the voters on an equal basis--but we didn't clean up the aspects of the Constitution that made the states, not individuals, the electors at the national level (e.g., the Electoral College system). The Trump people reaped the benefit of this in 2016 and are trying to make full use of it in 2020.

In Pennsylvania at least, changing the way the electors are appointed would require a change to state law, which the Democratic governor would surely veto. Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina also have Democratic governors. (In Florida of course, anything is possible...but we need our heads examined if we depend on Florida for anything.) No, the REAL goal is to sow doubt and convince left-leaning voters that it isn't even worth voting, because us not voting is the only chance Trump has to win. Let's not play into that, huh?

 

[KeithD]

Let's not play into that, huh?

I've already voted.

 

[YDB95]

I've already voted.

Me too, but that's not the point.

 

[KeithD]

Me too, but that's not the point.

For me it is to any suggestion on how I (or "we") should "play this." I've played my token.

 

[YDB95]

For me it is to any suggestion on how I (or "we") should "play this." I've played my token.

That is no excuse to spread around paranoia that only serves to discourage others from playing theirs. Especially not when that is exactly what Twitler wants us to do.

 

[KeithD]

That is no excuse to spread around paranoia that only serves to discourage others from playing theirs. Especially not when that is exactly what Twitler wants us to do.

You're not getting it. Why talk to me in "we" terms unless you can point to me "spreading around paranoia"? I'm not even on Twitter. Stop with the "we/let us not" talk already.