GET OUT: US politics November 2020

Sue Collins congratulates Biden.

― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Monday, November 9, 2020 1:54 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

in the most mealymouthed, #bothsides bullshit way ever but i guess "sue collins" infers that to begin with

Trump outside adviser David Bossie tested positive for coronavirus

HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, MD just tested positive for coronavirus also.

Mary Trump on the end of Uncle Donald: all he has now is breaking things

This is how the most colossal and fragile ego on the planet deals with losing the US election: he does not deal with it at all.

My uncle’s speech late on election night wasn’t just entirely mendacious from beginning to end. It was also deeply dangerous. It’s one thing for random Republicans to call a legitimate election into question, but this was the head of the government. The consequences of that action should not be underestimated.

This is what Donald’s going to do: he’s not going to concede, although who cares. What’s worse is he’s not going to engage in the normal activities that guarantee a peaceful transition. All he’s got now is breaking stuff, and he’s going to do that with a vengeance. I’ve always known how cruel he can be. Shortly after the 2016 election, when I’d see him being particularly cruel, I would think about how he treated my father [Fred Trump Jr, Donald’s older brother, who died of alcoholism at 43]. He took away our family health insurance after his father, my grandfather, died – this was when my nephew needed round-the-clock nursing care, which we then couldn’t afford. That is the kind of man he is.

He’ll be having meltdowns upon meltdowns right now. He has never been in a situation like this before. What’s interesting is that Donald has never won anything legitimately in his entire life, but because he has been so enabled by people along the way, he has never lost anything either. He’s the kind of person who thinks that even if you steal and cheat to win, you deserve to win.

...

I worry about what Donald’s going to do in that time to lash out. He will go as far as he can to delegitimise the new administration, then he’ll pass pardons that will demoralise us, and sign a flurry of executive orders. Remember, he will also still be in charge of the US response to the pandemic. There could be a million Americans dead by then under his watch.

After January, things look bleak for Donald. He has more than $400m of debt coming in the next four years. Why at this point would his lenders cut him any slack? He has never paid anyone back. His businesses are in the tank. He has destroyed his brand.

He is going to be a factor in courtrooms in New York City more than he’s going to be a factor in politics, I think. His secretary of defence has already submitted his resignation, and I think there will be more of that. The Republicans might need him for the January run-offs in Georgia, but he could be considered a liability. If he’s acting like a crazy person, senators are going to keep their distance. People will move away from him if there’s nothing in it for them any more.

It’s not like he has any friends, anyway. It’s grim for him. Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric also know their relationship with their father is both conditional and transactional. I have been saying since 2016 that I was going to have to change my name. I think they’re going to have to change theirs.

As for saying he’ll run in 2024, that’s just a face-saving exercise. It’s a way of distracting him from the fact that he’s probably going to prison. But the worst thing Donald’s looking at isn’t financial difficulties or the prospect of jail. It’s becoming irrelevant. I don’t think he would ever recover from that.

Ben Carson has the vid

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, November 9, 2020 12:15 PM (two hours ago)

Ben Carson has the vid

― (•̪●) (carne asada)

― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Monday, November 9, 2020 12:27 PM (one hour ago)

NEWS: Sec. Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. His deputy chief of staff says he's "in good spirits & feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery." Carson attended the election night party at the White House

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 9, 2020

― mookieproof, Monday, November 9, 2020 10:35 AM (three hours ago)

NEWS: Sec. Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19 this morning. His deputy chief of staff says he's "in good spirits & feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery." Carson attended the election night party at the White House

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 9, 2020

― Ned Raggett, Monday, November 9, 2020 10:26 AM (three hours ago)

#onethread

i get the enthusiasm, but surgeons can't die from covid-19, it's a waste of energy

Donald has never won anything legitimately in his entire life, but because he has been so enabled by people along the way, he has never lost anything either.

Mary Trump otm. Too bad there are 70+ million Americans among said enablers.

I really do think that's down to not understanding how the mail in ballots work in AZ, it's different from the other swing states in that it would favor Trump rather than be 3:1 Biden

― frogbs, Monday, November 9, 2020 2:55 PM bookmarkflaglink

I really don't think so, the guy at Fox acknowledged he understood how the ballots would break for Trump. also they and AP have access to proprietary polling information that no other networks had, and they were both the only networks to call AZ.

may have still been early, but I have a hard time believing they just based their call on a layman's understanding on mail voting.

in the most mealymouthed, #bothsides bullshit way ever but i guess "sue collins" infers that to begin with

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, November 9, 2020 3:00 PM bookmarkflaglink

lol otm

I hadn't even thought about the rogue's gallery of pardons we can expect to see in the next few months...

oh yay, all the right wing spree shooters he will release

the dude that shot Gaby Giffords, to start...

He can only pardon federal crimes, aiui. Most crimes are prosecuted under state law.

pssst Donny, wanna trigger the libs? pardon Snowden. that'll teach em

When even this guy is ragging on you

NEW - Dan Quayle, surviving Republican member of last incumbent president to get voted out of the WH, says it's "time to move on" for Trump https://t.co/fd4CSDW6pB

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 9, 2020

"Donald, it's time for you to goe - the election is over, and if you think the results will change, the answer is 'Noe'"

Dank Whale

"There could be a million Americans dead by then under his watch" ok, yeah, probably not; maybe tamper down the hyperbole a bit Mary.

this motherfucker

BREAKING - US Senate Majority Leader McConnell does not acknowledge Biden as President-elect. President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into possible irregularities in last week's U.S. election. pic.twitter.com/I8TtH0cKnp

— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) November 9, 2020

It's fine w me to wait until the results are certified or whatever. It's a formality and I think McConnell will ultimately treat it as such.

he's doing the bet-hedgey thing all of the GOP are currently doing. not acknowledging Biden won, but also not suggesting that Trump won or that there was any 'fraud',, and basically saying "hey, he thinks there may be irregularities, within his rights to pursue things legally", and they're clearly waiting for these challenges to fail and more people to drift away before they say "ok ok Biden won".

it's really sickening.

it's annoying also because literally none of us are afraid of what will happen when the vote is certified or are trying to stop any votes from being counted or 'rushing' to do anything other than declare the obvious.

it's gross but not fascist, they know it's extremely, extremely unlikely that "irregularities" will overturn anything

it's a way for them to support Trump without actually supporting him

Neanderthal otm, of course, but it still doesn't make it any less sickening to see this anti-democracy shit being pushed by these tools.

Trump won 93% of Republicans. They can’t throw him under the bus now or they’ll get shot by Q freaks.

it's dumb as shit and just a awful prelude to the antics we'll be seeing for 4 years

Lol @ Neanderthal's Quayle post

Natch

Based on my convos with Rs over wknd, most everything McConnell does from here on isn't about January 20th (inauguration day & working with Biden) but January 5th (the Georgia run-off elections). To win the latter, Rs believe the base must be stoked, esp in a fast-changing state.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 9, 2020

Won't a bunch of idiots vote republican in Georgia in order to 'balance' government?

Sounds about right (x2).

The thing that pisses me off the most about this shit is that a) it continues to keep focus away from, y'know, actual work getting done to deal with the fucking pandemic that is spreading like wildfire, and b) it fires up more MAGA chuds to pull potentially violent shit.

milo otm (wow can't believe I typed that)

GOP is terrified of their own constituents, are acting like hostages atm

"There could be a million Americans dead by then under his watch" ok, yeah, probably not; maybe tamper down the hyperbole a bit Mary.

https://i.imgur.com/ba8bRwL.png

we are at around 1000 deaths a day again, on average, and it's only going to go up, unless half the country suddenly realizes that they're fucking morons. we are about 70 days away from inauguration day. that's 700,000 additional deaths, plus the ~230K deaths that have already occurred.

so yeah, there could be a million Americans dead by then.

i've had to convince myself to stop monitoring it so often today cos I'll be back in the morass I was before the election. but it's hard

xpost that would be 70,000 deaths

oh wait, i don't know math and i suck. 70* 1000 is 70 fucking thousand

sorry. and tone down that hyperbole mary!

this is where i pivot to video

make sure u don't change that pivot foot, SHAQ

Won't a bunch of idiots vote republican in Georgia in order to 'balance' government?

Possibly but there is also a counterargument that divided government has only increased Mitch's stubborn obstruction, which is his only weapon and which he has possibly overused since the D house majority.

Conveniently he underscored this with the hypocritical pivot from Garland to ACB, so that will be fresh in the minds of some voters.

Expect visual aids like the piles of legislation the house has sent that Mitch has ignored, and ask voters to consider maybe whether that's why persistent problems are not getting solved.

I dunno. May not work but what tf does anybody know anymore

Silver lining?

Joe Biden's belief that Republicans will have an epiphany is taking an absolutely savage beating and I have to say--I don't hate it, he needs to learn this now

— Jason Linkins (@dceiver) November 9, 2020

can somebody smart reassure me that shit isn't gonna work and that we're not gonna have four more years of the guy who lost because this shit is making me nervous.

Firing of Esper appears to have been to replace him with someone who thinks it's ok to use the military to quell protests, which is admittedly a little disconcerting.

This could be the late appointment that survives the transition - if the military are already shooting protestors, Biden can appease both sides: those who want protestors shot, and those who think his plan to increase police funding in order to train police to shoot protestors against police violence was extreme or ill-guided.

can somebody smart reassure me that shit isn't gonna work and that we're not gonna have four more years of the guy who lost because this shit is making me nervous

I'm not smart but I'm 100% certain this shit isn't going anywhere.

Nah, Joan. McConnell's thinking of Georgia Senate.

in terms of any legal challenges I'm pretty certain all of them fail. In terms of elector revolt or that sort of shit I'm also pretty sure that's not gonna happen - would require blatant rejection of democracy on too large a scale. IDK what else Trump's got. I don't think he has the firepower for a coup, I think too many people in power would want him removed etc. Is there a chance for some kind of extreme, reichstag fire-like event? Who the fuck knows. I highly doubt the team that brought you Four Seasons Total Landscaping is capable of it. They'd probably wind up blowing up a Capitol City Brewing Co. or something.

It's going absolutely nowhere aside from maybe getting Republicans a couple of Senate seats (which, to be clear, would be terrible but not as terrible as four more years of President Trump)

would require blatant rejection of democracy on too large a scale.

Not that I disagree with your overall point but, uh, have you not seen the last few years?

I'd say even just the Supreme Court bullshit was pretty much a blatant rejection of democracy on a pretty big scale.

Seems to me that these runoffs are a like a defacto mid-term election, i.e. no standard-bearer at the top of the ticket. Wondering how fired up the average 'pubkin will be to vote a second time.

thanks y'all. shit makes me nervous. the joy in the street on saturday here was so real.

xp: I don't think complacency is a good idea here