International News US Election YF Vote/Prediction

[Marked Ox]

A very fair point and the concern longer term is that he is simply a pathfinder for future, more competent anti-democrats to prevail.

Biden/Harris ....HAVE to find a way to counter that, but as we have said previously, the two party system has become ever more polarised and the rhetoric has become ever more caustic to the point of violence against the perceived enemy. I would love to think that truth will eventually win out over "alternative facts" and that what unites is more attractive than what divides and that the US will embark on a journey of wising up after decades of dumbing down.

But I'm not that naive! and whatever happens there are probably bumpy (bumpier) times ahead in US politics, starting with Trumpist protests today and at the Biden inauguration in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see just how resolute those protesters are prepared to be when they don't have the President in their corner egging them on (from a safe distance of course)

The only hope is that Trump is prosecuted to the full extent of the law on the basis of incontrovertible fact and made an example of.

For me the worry is the extreme Trumpers getting the roles like Raffensperger currently has and controlling the count etc. Because they believe the conspiracy rubbish so I reckon they would do all they could to either suppress Dem votes or overturn a bad result. Raffensperger has shown integrity, honesty, professionalism and one hell of a backbone to stand up to Trump, I suspect a Trumper would be the opposite.

 

[chuckbert]

Can’t remember if anyone pointed this out, but YF did a very accurate prediction of the popular presidential vote (of the votes that went to Biden and Trump ~98%, the split was 52.3:47.7).

 

[RyanioBirdio]

I have enjoyed watching Trump telling people for months that their democracy is rigged, and that their votes don’t count because it’s all a con and the results are all a lie, and so now a bunch of people who believe him have stayed home rather than voting, which has subsequently lost Republican control of the senate. Big, massive, extremely slow clap for everybody involved.

That’s the fabulous thing about populist policy and populism in general. When all you do is try to simultaneously appease and provoke people by starting fires, you eventually end up setting fire to yourself.

Common sense, eh?

 

[Wallop]

He's already tweeting about election fraud and how 50,000 ballots were 'found' last night. Nice that Georgia has found some ballots given that's what he asked them to do earlier in the week!

 

[Marked Ox]

The Trump Rally is like a really, really crap Music Festival with lots of MAGA, Trump won because he had more people at his rallies and loads of repeated chants of the awful "USA! USA! USA!".

Donald Trump Jr's voice finally broke mid sentence when saying "loooooting" and Kimberley Guilfoyle sounds like a cat being strangled when shouting. The one thing, although already known, is that Trumpism (and its various speakers today) has officially announced Civil War within the GOP as they will target all moderates.

Edit: The Trumpers are trying to claim Abraham Lincoln as theirs but I suspect he'd be fighting against them.
Edit 2: Rudy Guiliani is throwing Pence under the bus by claiming he can decide who is President even though that is rubbish. And Rudy is claiming voter fraud again for the Senate runoffs.

 

[ttg17]

A very fair point and the concern longer term is that he is simply a pathfinder for future, more competent anti-democrats to prevail.

Biden/Harris ....HAVE to find a way to counter that, but as we have said previously, the two party system has become ever more polarised and the rhetoric has become ever more caustic to the point of violence against the perceived enemy. I would love to think that truth will eventually win out over "alternative facts" and that what unites is more attractive than what divides and that the US will embark on a journey of wising up after decades of dumbing down.

But I'm not that naive! and whatever happens there are probably bumpy (bumpier) times ahead in US politics, starting with Trumpist protests today and at the Biden inauguration in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see just how resolute those protesters are prepared to be when they don't have the President in their corner egging them on (from a safe distance of course)

The only hope is that Trump is prosecuted to the full extent of the law on the basis of incontrovertible fact and made an example of.

FWIW I don't think we'll get the cathartic schadenfreude of this, at least not at DoJ level. For one thing, there's Biden's whole 'reaching across the aisle' stance, but for another, I also don't think it's a precedent he wants set because of the nature of the job. I would be stunned if any president in their time in the role had not done things that, under the letter of the law, were probably criminally prosecutable. It comes with the territory of the role. Trump has obviously gone above and beyond what we previously thought possible for the conduct of a US President, but I think you'd have to be very naive to think that any President managed to keep their hands entirely clean over their tenure. I know the lid of Pandora's Box has been almost entirely ripped off these last five years, but I think if he goes after Trump, the GOP would take it as a green light to go after any other high-level D official whenever they have the power to do so - and you know they would.

State level is another matter, and I feel like something is brewing in NY, but really that isn't enough imo. Even bearing in mind the above concerns, an example needs to be made of him for future generations.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

"Let's have trial by combat" Giuliani has just said.

Is he trying to incite violence

Are there laws against that

 

[bazzer9461]

Can see a lot of civil disturbance and the army or their version of the home guard being brought in, rioting and looting in their cities, and all because of one big lunatic The Donald.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Can see a lot of civil disturbance and the army or their version of the home guard being brought in, rioting and looting in their cities, and all because of one big lunatic The Donald.

And here they come:

 

[bazzer9461]

And here they come:

View attachment 5249

That was quick

 

[Marked Ox]

Turnout has been greater for these runoffs compared to the Presidential election, possibly up to 100k extra for the Dems.

Likely to be 70k+ (including provisional votes) still to count/check but still some absentee ballots to come in/be confirmed from Counties so may be a little over that. This doesn't include up to 14k Army/overseas ballots (although it could be anywhere between 0 and 14k) which is on top.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

Looks like Ossoff is going to avoid the recount, according to one Georgia election official.....please make it so!

 

[Marked Ox]

Looks like Ossoff is going to avoid the recount, according to one Georgia election official.....please make it so!

17,567 ahead currently.

 

[tonyw]

Trump still has a sting in the tail but I hope Biden can stop this:

Trump administration opens up millions of acres of protected Arctic land for oil development

The Trump administration has finalized its plan to open a vast amount of protected land in Arctic Alaska to develop oil.

abcnews.go.com

Biden has already said that he's going to halt any 'midnight regulations' (i.e. acts that Trump takes in the waning days of his Presidency), and that he's going to rescind any and all executive orders that contradict his energy and environmental policies.

So yes - those lands are almost certainly going to be protected again on or soon after January 20th.

In fact, as I've often said over the past four years, there's very little that Trump has done in office that can't be reversed by Biden. Some things will take time - particularly reintroducing environmental and labour regulations - but that's going to be much, much easier if the Democrats do pick up control of the senate, because he'll then be able to appoint whoever he wants to lead those departments (cabinet nominees have to be approved by the US Senate).

The only changes that can't easily be reversed are the big tax cut (because this was legislation passed through Congress, so Congress would need to vote on a repeal - and there's a bunch of senators and representatives in purple states that might not want their names on a big tax hike) and all the judicial appointments.

And probably foreign policy.....but actually (and I'm going to whisper it here) Trump's foreign policy record is actually not that bad......certainly in comparison to his recent predecessors.

 

[Marked Ox]

Biden has already said that he's going to halt any 'midnight regulations' (i.e. acts that Trump takes in the waning days of his Presidency), and that he's going to rescind any and all executive orders that contradict his energy and environmental policies.

So yes - those lands are almost certainly going to be protected again on or soon after January 20th.

In fact, as I've often said over the past four years, there's very little that Trump has done in office that can't be reversed by Biden. Some things will take time - particularly reintroducing environmental and labour regulations - but that's going to be much, much easier if the Democrats do pick up control of the senate, because he'll then be able to appoint whoever he wants to lead those departments (cabinet nominees have to be approved by the US Senate).

The only changes that can't easily be reversed are the big tax cut (because this was legislation passed through Congress, so Congress would need to vote on a repeal - and there's a bunch of senators and representatives in purple states that might not want their names on a big tax hike) and all the judicial appointments.

And probably foreign policy.....but actually (and I'm going to whisper it here) Trump's foreign policy record is actually not that bad......certainly in comparison to his recent predecessors.

Good stuff.

 

[MC Yellow]

Can’t remember if anyone pointed this out, but YF did a very accurate prediction of the popular presidential vote (of the votes that went to Biden and Trump ~98%, the split was 52.3:47.7).

Don’t tell Donald ffs ... he‘ll have us shut down for voting fraud.

 

[38yearsofpain]

Turnout has been greater for these runoffs compared to the Presidential election, possibly up to 100k extra for the Dems.

Likely to be 70k+ (including provisional votes) still to count/check but still some absentee ballots to come in/be confirmed from Counties so may be a little over that. This doesn't include up to 14k Army/overseas ballots (although it could be anywhere between 0 and 14k) which is on top.

I think many Republicans will be apoplectic about Trump and Republican senators trying to corrupt the electoral system and many of those will live in Georgia and will either vote for Democrates or abstain in protest. Having spoken to many Republican supporting American's they strongly believe in their constitutional rights and their right to bear arms. But the reason they want to hold arms is to protect themselves from their elected officals, who they regard as corrupt. Quite an interesting viewpoint when Trump is looking to steal an election.

 

[OUFCGav]

Trump Jr has come out and said it is the Trump Republican Party now, and if those in the party don't do the "right thing" by Trump (ie deny democracy and the constitution) they will "come for them" and force them out to be replaced by Trump people.

 

[Wallop]

Trump Jr has come out and said it is the Trump Republican Party now, and if those in the party don't do the "right thing" by Trump (ie deny democracy and the constitution) they will "come for them" and force them out to be replaced by Trump people.

Now that really is stupid. ‘Proper’ Republicans respect their party rather than the individual, that statement could be very damaging indeed for Trump, this is a well-established political party rather than a company that can be subject to a takeover.

 

[Wallop]

Thousands of Trump loons in DC listening to him cheek by jowl with no face masks. Covid - if you have to take some of us, this is the place to do your job.