Clinton v Trump - The Stretch Run Thread

[UltraVires]

@leftfield6

I’m not sure there is a mechanism for them dropping him against his will. And, lets be realistic, they knew they were hitching their wagon to this horse’s ass, so if they will not admit that it was a huge mistake. They will ride this to the bitter end. Hopefully he takes a number of senate races with him.

Man, is tomorrow night’s debate going to be interesting, or what?

Here is a link to the GOP rules:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-static-ngop-pbl/docs/2016-Republican-Rules-FINAL.pdf

Read Rule 12 about Amendments.

So, the steps would be:

1. Call a meeting.
2. Amend Rule 9 to add to vacancies in the presidential nominee something to the effect of conduct unbecoming or whatever
3. Invoke new Rule 9 and replace Trump.

OR,

Do it informally. Get the pledged electors on board to sign statements saying that they will vote for Pence or Kasich or Cruz, or whomever. Pick a candidate, tell the voters to mark Trump on the ballot, but the votes go to Kasich. Come up with a catchy slogan.

Cancel the fucking debate tomorrow night.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@leftfield6

I’m not sure there is a mechanism for them dropping him against his will. And, lets be realistic, they knew they were hitching their wagon to this horse’s ass, so if they will not admit that it was a huge mistake. They will ride this to the bitter end. Hopefully he takes a number of senate races with him.

Man, is tomorrow night’s debate going to be interesting, or what?

There’s no mechanism for dropping him if he’s willing, either.
I mean, technically they can, if he’s willing, but

More than 34,000 Republican voters have already cast their ballots for the 2016 general election according to the U.S. Election Project, 8,000 of them in the battleground state of North Carolina and another 5,000 in Florida.
…
Ballotpedia maintains a list of the deadlines for getting candidates on the ballot. Florida’s has passed. Michigan’s and Nevada’s have passed. North Carolina and Ohio and Texas and Virginia – all passed. The rules aren’t always clear, but if you think a Republican nominee could be successful without any votes from the above listed states, you might want to revisit the electoral college map. Even if Donald Trump were to step down tonight – which seems unlikely, given what we know about Trump – he’s on the ballot in those states. The party could sue to replace him, but, even if they were successful, it’s still too late for those 34,000 votes already cast.

Short answer: Republicans made their bed.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@UltraVires

Read Rule 12 about Amendments.

So, the steps would be:

1. Call a meeting.
2. Amend Rule 9 to add to vacancies in the presidential nominee something to the effect of conduct unbecoming or whatever
3. Invoke new Rule 9 and replace Trump.

OR,

Do it informally. Get the pledged electors on board to sign statements saying that they will vote for Pence or Kasich or Cruz, or whomever. Pick a candidate, tell the voters to mark Trump on the ballot, but the votes go to Kasich. Come up with a catchy slogan.

Cancel the fucking debate tomorrow night.

Same article discusses this, and the problems with it:

Let’s say, then, that the voters in Georgia cast their ballots for Trump with the understanding that the electors would then cast a ballot for Republican X. It would be hard for X to hit the necessary 270 electoral votes in that way, since in some states the results would still be bound to Trump. Unless, ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser notes, the party challenged the constitutionality of rules binding electors. So that plan, then: the GOP convinces people to vote for Trump with the understanding that electors would vote for someone else – illegally in some places – and the Supreme Court would then approve the plan. Seems unlikely.

And we’d be dealing with an incredible constitutional crisis here anyway. Even if Trump is forced out, you’re still going to have a significant portion of the country who casts their votes for him intending to vote for him. To count those votes as really being votes for Pence or whoever would be about as anti-democratic as you could get. It seems tremendously unlikely such a plan would be approved.

Here’s a new plan: run someone less appalling in 2020.

[running_coach]

@The_Other_Waldo_Pepper

I’m not being sarcastic, here; I’m genuinely curious: what timing would’ve been to her liking? The morning of the first Trump-Clinton debate? The weekend prior to the election? The hour before Mike Pence sat down next to Tim Kaine?

When does she think the tape should’ve been released?

Never or so long ago that the damage can be contained. Seriously. (paraphrased but that was the gist of it.)
She seemed to think that the Clinton campaign has been holding this for a long time and it shouldn’t be released so close to the election.
Like the Trump campaign wouldn’t do the same thing.

[DSeid]

McCain’s comments.

… After audio and video were released by the Washington Post Friday of Trump making explicit and predatory comments about women, McCain said that Trump should “suffer the consequences” for his actions.

“There are no excuses for Donald Trump’s offensive and demeaning comments. No woman should ever be victimized by this kind of inappropriate behavior. He alone bears the burden of his conduct and alone should suffer the consequences,” McCain said in a statement from his campaign Friday night. …

… There was still no indication that any of the senators who had endorsed Trump were pulling their endorsements.

Yeah. Trump alone. Not you scums who still endorse him. No price you need to pay.

Self-serving in the extreme.

[GIGObuster]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Here’s a new plan: run someone less appalling in 2020.

Too late, Ted Cruz will be the next wild and crazy guy.

[Jonathan_Chance]

I am simply having trouble believing the numbers out of Arizona. Even without the current kerfluffle, Clinton is catching up to Trump there.

I mean, this is Arizona, the South Carolina of the southeast.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@GIGObuster

Too late, Ted Cruz will be the next wild and crazy guy.

Like I said, a NEW plan :).

For real, though, if Republicans wanna make the same bed in 2020, I’m not going to try too hard to stop them.

[leftfield6]

@UltraVires

Here is a link to the GOP rules:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-static-ngop-pbl/docs/2016-Republican-Rules-FINAL.pdf

Read Rule 12 about Amendments.

So, the steps would be:

1. Call a meeting.
2. Amend Rule 9 to add to vacancies in the presidential nominee something to the effect of conduct unbecoming or whatever
3. Invoke new Rule 9 and replace Trump.

OR,

Do it informally. Get the pledged electors on board to sign statements saying that they will vote for Pence or Kasich or Cruz, or whomever. Pick a candidate, tell the voters to mark Trump on the ballot, but the votes go to Kasich. Come up with a catchy slogan.

Cancel the fucking debate tomorrow night.

But then the state by state ballot issues get really sticky. It’s past every single states deadline to pull/change names on a ballot, so that’s a mess.

Also, if the Cheeto is booted out, it’s not like Pence automatically becomes the man. Remember, he was nominated at the RNC to fill the role of VICE President. His “automatic replacement” of the head of the ticket is only recognized IF the Republicans win, not before.

Some states (Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming) go by candidate. In the case of those states, unless Donald J Trump directly releases the electors from those states, they are required by law to vote for him. If Donald is booted against his will, I can’t see him being gracious,

It would be a mess. That’s why I think they will ride this ship right into the gigantic iceberg. I think they may even be accelerating.

[running_coach]

@leftfield6

It would be a mess. That’s why I think they will ride this ship right into the gigantic iceberg. I think they may even be accelerating.

This quote from a newspaper guy(don’t remember the name) was posted in one of the Election threads.
“The Trump campaign is like the Titanic running into the iceberg, backing up and running into it again. Just for fun.”

[Junior_Spaceman]

@GIGObuster

Too late, Ted Cruz will be the next wild and crazy guy.

Surely Cruz won’t survive the dual humiliations of 1) endorsing Trump in the first place, and 2) not immediately jumping ship after this?

[running_coach]

Congressman Jason Chaffetz said he is withdrawing his support for Donald Trump
That’s one with a backbone.

[running_coach]

@running_coach

This quote from a newspaper guy(don’t remember the name) was posted in one of the Election threads.
“The Trump campaign is like the Titanic running into the iceberg, backing up and running into it again. Just for fun.”

Just to give credit, Biffster posted the original graphic.

David French of The National Review was the source of the quote.

[ThelmaLou]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

There’s no mechanism for dropping him if he’s willing, either.
I mean, technically they can, if he’s willing, but

Short answer: Republicans made their bed.

They buttered their bread; now they have to lie in it.

[drad_dog]

Right now MSNBC and CNN are waiting for a video statement from donald. Fox news is running an hour of Hurricane coverage (preempting an O’reilly rerun). This is as rich as cheesecake.

[Smapti]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Short answer: Republicans made their bed.

Not only did they make the bed, they then shat under the covers, rolled around in it, and then told everyone it was better this way.

[Northern_Piper]

Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) withdraws his endorsement of Donald Trump:

“I’m out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine.”

**Rep. Chaffetz said he and his wife have a fifteen year old daughter, and he said if he can’t look her in the eye and tell her about what Trump said he can’t endorse the man. **

As reported by Fox News:

Congressman Jason Chaffetz withdraws his endorsement of Donald Trump

[AnalogSignal]

@drad_dog

Fox news is running an hour of Hurricane coverage (preempting an O’reilly rerun). This is as rich as cheesecake.

I tuned into Fox News. O’Reilly downplayed it as “Shirley Temple stuff” compared to Bill Clinton. Megyn Kelly looked like a deer in the headlights, not knowing what to say about it.

[Defensive_Indifference]

@Simplicio

CW seems to be that while dropping this stuff on a Friday used to be a way to get it ignored, now its the best time to do it, since people spend more time on social media during the weekends. So conceivably we have four more Fridays of escalating oppo-dumps.

That’s really interesting. I was also wondering earlier why this would hit on a Friday. But here I am on a Friday night surfing social media and reading about this insanity… That does make sense.

[Ravenman]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Same article discusses this, and the problems with it:

And we’d be dealing with an incredible constitutional crisis here anyway.

There is no constitutional crisis. Let’s say 270+ electors pledged to Trump are chosen by voters. They show up in their state capitals and vote for Mickey Mouse. They don’t need some kind of judicial permission to cast their vote, regardless of what may be the consequences of having cast a vote as a faithless elector.

And personally, I found find it shocking if the courts allowed any punishment to come to someone doing exactly what the electoral college is there to do.

Even if Trump is forced out, you’re still going to have a significant portion of the country who casts their votes for him intending to vote for him. To count those votes as really being votes for Pence or whoever would be about as anti-democratic as you could get.

The electoral college is undemocratic? Young sir, that comment almost made my monocle fall out!