GET OUT: US politics November 2020

lol Pelosi would become President if Congress didn't finish counting electorals by 1/20

Congress – not voters, not county election officials, not governors and legislatures – ultimately chooses the president.

Legally speaking, correct. Realistically speaking, this can only come into play in an election which has failed spectacularly to produce a winner. Any failure on the part of Congress to ratify the election results that have been duly certified by county election officials, governors and legislatures, means the election produced such profound chaos that this is the failsafe to ensure some method of continuity. It is best to think of it as the equivalent of the third level of tie-breaker in determining the champion of a sports league.

This election is not even that close. It's not as close as 2016 or 2000. Not just in the popular vote, but in the swing state margins. It's probably not going to be as close as 2004. So it's the 4th-closest election out of five this century. Overturning this result by either state legislators or the courts would be a fairly breathtaking level of interference. And I know we've seen a lot of breathtaking disregard for law in the last four years, but most of that has been by Trump and his immediate team. To expect hundreds of Republican legislators and/or judges to go along seems highly unlikely.

But of course, I never thought Trump would get elected in the first place. So I recognize the weakness of my own prognostications and expectations.

75 million people voted for Biden. think of that - and think of how many people you know that were wearing Biden shirts or hats, or had enthusiasm for Biden like Obama did in 2008? It was a defiance vote, an anti-Trump vote. Look at the celebrations in the streets last week.

telling 75 million people their vote has been invalidated is not going to result in a shrug. there'll be people in the streets, probably in greater volume than this summer. Trumpers will be too I'm sure - it'll be a level of unrest that we probably haven't seen in our lifetime. It won't be the soccer moms who voted Biden, no, but there are a lot of left-wing groups ready to mobilize.

or so I"m told. anybody know of any? because I'd like to join jic this thing goes the 1% scenario in my head

It might be my imagination, but it feels like the US Politics thread has perhaps turned a corner after four years of Trump-induced shock-and-awe. The tension and anxiety are slowly subsiding. Not gone. That will require more time and Trump's unambiguous marginalization. But it feels like a tide a few minutes into its ebb.

Doesn't really matter if I'm right or wrong. Carry on.

xp Agreed, Neanderthal. But don't count out the soccer moms (see e.g., Women's March)

Slowly seeing a drip drip of GOP senators breaking rank. I'm hopeful for more as we approach certified votes by the end of the month.

NEW: Georgia State Senator Chuck Hufstetler becomes first Republican in GA legislature to publicly acknowledge President Elect Biden.

"It's my opinion that Joe Biden has won the election and will be declared the winner," he tells me. "I don't see anything that will change that."

— Charles.Bethea (@charlesbethea) November 11, 2020

but wait, would the runoff Senators even be seated yet? cos if not, we'd probably be at a 48-48 tie.

― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Wednesday, November 11, 2020 12:50 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

chances are that 3 GOP senators (collins, romney, murkowski, toomey) would peel off and certify the results, but who even knows anymore

xpost STATE Senators, but i'll take what I can get, and it's in Georgia so

here's a fun one: any predictions on legislation that could pass in the next legislative term?

let's say the Georgia run-offs are split, so the senate is 51-49 GOP, while of course democrats have the house and Biden is the president of the united states of america.

the mandatory things like budgets will be passed, possibly via a never-ending series of continuing resolutions to keep the government open. anything else that's not mandatory to consider?

i'd like to have some sort of low-level hope in romney and murkowski to occasionally do the right thing, but people like Manchin mean we may need more than them

LEGISLATION....lol...the graveyard will continue

I'm actually really not confident about the COVID relief bill that will eventually emerge

that wasn't me snarking at you KM btw, that was more my Jim Mora "PLAYOFFS?" impersonation

mcconnell would still be in charge of determining which bills see the floor

btw that is a very very dumb rule that should change immediately. bills that pass the house should get votes in the senate and vice versa.

"entitlement reform"

I'd like McConnell to "see the floor" if you *know what I mean*

Any trade deals on the horizon? Republicans secretly love those.

haha, yep

i mean, i'm with you. i can't imagine anything at all passing. it makes me feel anxious (already!) about 2022, because obviously 75 million trump voters CAN be wrong, and also a fair amount of the democratic voters this year will either a) completely forget about the mid-terms in 2022, b) non understand why the mid-terms are important, or c) will fall victim to american amnesia, completely forgetting about the trump era, widespread republican culpability and blame for supporting it, and everything else

sorry, that was an xp to "LEGISLATION....lol...the graveyard will continue"

hearing reports from the trump white house that the president and his staff are planning one more rager before they have to move out: the wildest infrastructure week ever

btw that is a very very dumb rule that should change immediately.

the US senate creates its own rules, which in practice means whoever is the majority party in the senate. they seem to think this is a good way to run themselves because it consolidates the power of the majority party in the senate.

Michael Cohen predicts that Trump won't return north from Mar-a-Lagoo after Xmas...

From there he'll run a shadow government in exile. Maybe he can convince some fellow exiles in boats to invade the DC Metropolitan area and return him to power.

it'll be like the A team tho the A stands for something

Is opening a gofundme to put out a hit on Mcconnell reeeally illegal?

judging by his hand, God's already trying

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-and-news-11-11-20/h_e4fbe82e25a20ab2769ba848c2127c4e

I'm sure leaking this was a good idea, but Department of Energy had an 'unofficial" internal transition meeting re: Biden's presidency

Wall Street will also see a massive dump stocks in the case of a potential 'coup' and crash the market, at least if the Jamie Dimons of the world are heeded re: the election

it'll be like the A team tho the A stands for something

America or Again iirc

White House political affairs director Brian Jack has tested positive for coronavirus, an official confirmed.

The White House declined to comment on Jack specifically, but said in a statement, "Any positive case is taken seriously. Contact tracing has been conducted by the White House Medical Unit consistent with CDC guidelines to stop further transmission. Appropriate notifications and recommendations have been made."

Jack attended the election night party held indoors over a week ago. The diagnosis was first reported by the New York Times.

Dersh don't even think he has a shot

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/525118-can-president-trump-win-his-election-challenges-in-court

yeah but Dersh was a guest at Epstein's pedo island so ... can't believe the Epstein angle isn't getting played up rn

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-lawyers-suffer-embarrassing-rebukes-judges-over-voter-fraud-claims/

Wasserman has started a thread on state certifications as they come in -- six so far:

The first state to certify its 2020 election results? Delaware:

Biden 296,268 (58.7%)
Trump 200,603 (39.8%)

That's a 7.6 point margin swing against Trump and a 14.2 percent increase in votes cast vs. 2016. https://t.co/9dMmSHHdVa?

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 11, 2020

Surprised Trump isn't crowing that he's 4-2 in certified states so far.

STOP THE CERTIFICATION

Ivanka is crowing on Twitter because AP just called Alaska for Daddy. But, oh wait, media doesn't call elections...

is she literally crowing, because that would be funny

"ALAS-CAAAAAAAAAAAW!"

lol Alaska's a red state, big whoop. on any pre 2020 election night, that'd have been called for Trump same day

is she literally crowing, because that would be funny

"ALAS-CAAAAAAAAAAAW!"

― DJP, Wednesday, November 11, 2020 9:02 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i lold

I love that Biden's the first president ever to win 10 million votes in a single state. That's the kind of thing guaranteed to torment Trump. 10 million is his kind of number.

Yes one of the remarkable things about 2016 was that Trump actually alleged voter fraud IN CALIFORNIA. Because, regardless of the fact that he never could have won that state, he just couldn't stand that someone else got so many more votes than him anywhere.

Have these people not paid attention to any prior elections (where media has called winners each time) or are their brains just that devoured?

Yes and yes seems likely.

more shocking claims

https://www.facebook.com/IAmAFirstWorldProblem/posts/10100595119988718
https://www.facebook.com/IAmAFirstWorldProblem/posts/10100595107858028

looooool

murdoch smelled the stench of loserdom on these creeps a mile away. the only thing he likes less than social justice is backing a loser

about that

"The anger out there in these red states is so deep and palpabale that GOP legislators may have a difficult time seating Biden electors,” Fox News’ John Roberts casually says on air

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 11, 2020

Good thing we only need Biden electors in blue states like Georgia and PA

GOP legislators may have a difficult time seating Biden electors

No. It is very easy for them to do it in spite of that anger. They just do what they are supposed to do. It is harder to seat electors who weren't elected by the people. What Roberts means is those GOP legislators are afraid to do their job.

jobs are hard