# Election Day \[Week\]\[Month\[s\]\] \[Year\] 2020 follow-along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618 "2020-11-03T05:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 427
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8539 "2021-01-08T13:40:56Z")
I’ve seen reports that he’s again been asking about self-pardoning latitude. No doubt he’s been reminded that the stance of the Justice Department is that he can’t pardon himself at all. He’s been reminded that he can ignore the OLC, but that a self pardon would go to the Supreme Court and the outcome there is not certain. He can step down and let Pence pardon him, but that would require a) stepping down and b) trusting Pence, who has shown himself (in Trump’s mind) to be a coward and a traitor. I’m sure he had this elaborate fantasy of pardoning himself on his final day in office and watching the liberal world explode in impotent rage, dashing themselves against his loyal courts. But SCOTUS has shown itself to be (in Trump’s mind) full of ungrateful cowards. The election lawsuits have shattered his confidence in what he surely viewed as a fully subordinate court system. McConnell has spent years praising him for nominating all of these great conservative justices and now, when the time came to reap the rewards, they turned on him. He has no assurances whatsoever that he’ll avoid federal prosecution after he leaves office. Trump is watching everything crumble around him, and finally beginning to realize that he’s been living in a sandcastle. Tide’s coming in. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Oh, yeah, it was obviously a “hostage” video. “Read the cards, sir. Every word. Nope, try again.” Not just that. You can hear the audio tracks changing along with the camera angles. They had to splice several takes together. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8540 "2021-01-08T14:15:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > He has no assurances whatsoever that he’ll avoid federal prosecution after he leaves office. AND his faithful legal attack dog (Barr) has broken his leash and run off. So, legally at least, Trump must feel unprotected… and all alone… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8541 "2021-01-08T14:21:54Z")
> [@digs](#): > > AND his faithful legal attack dog (Barr) has broken his leash and run off. So, legally at least, Trump must feel unprotected… and all alone I think everyone is thinking, “This is how it had to end.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8542 "2021-01-08T14:24:28Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > “This is how it had to end.” What I keep thinking is “HOW can anyone be surprised by what’s happening? By what Trump’s doing, or Republicans challenging the election, or the Capitol mob, or any of this? It’s the logical conclusion, given the players’ beliefs and personalities!” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8543 "2021-01-08T14:36:29Z")
> [@digs](#): > > What I keep thinking is “HOW can anyone be surprised by what’s happening? It’s like that tweet: **I can’t believe they behaved exactly like we thought they would!** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8544 "2021-01-08T14:40:29Z")
Stephen King said it best in 2016: “Conservatives who for 8 years sowed the dragon’s teeth of partisan politics are horrified to discover they have grown an actual dragon.” Except that they found that they could ride the dragon. It couldn’t be tamed, but it could be pointed at their enemies and prodded to breath fire. And all you had to do was feed it a loyal conservative every now and then to keep it happy. There’s no way for **that** to end badly, right? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8545 "2021-01-08T14:50:04Z")
@Johnny_Bravo, you had me right up until here: > [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Trump is watching everything crumble around him, and finally beginning to realize that he’s been living in a sandcastle. Tide’s coming in. …to which I say, “Sort of…” If by “realize,” you mean that he feels the grip on his balls of a bigger, ham-fisted bully than he, then yeah, that’s sort of a realization. As for “living in a sandcastle,” nah, I believe he sees this as the sort of temporary setback that happens in _dog eat dog_ trumpworld. The answer is just to come back with a bigger dog. Permit me to quote my own post above: > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > …But I’m sure he still doesn’t believe he did anything that he SHOULD be held accountable for. He probably sees this as just a bigger bully (the law enforcement mechanism) beating him down. Still wrong, still not fair, but he’s temporarily blocked. No wonder he sounded like a hostage in that video. In his mind he is a hostage. He can’t let the truth that he is a defeated loser ever sink in. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8546 "2021-01-08T14:57:30Z")
I definitely agree that Trump sees himself as faultless. The sandcastle refers to all the defenses he thought he had to protect him from the “haters and losers” more than his own sense of self-righteous purity. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8547 "2021-01-08T15:05:01Z")
Trump should feel extremely lucky that Biden is the exact opposite of the vindictive asshole that he is himself. OTOH, he should be very worried that Biden’s Justice Department will operate independently and with integrity, as it should, and not as the president’s personal toadying crooked law firm. It will be, IOW, a Justice Department actually concerned with justice. That should be quite concerning to a treasonous criminal. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8548 "2021-01-08T15:11:28Z")
He just tweeted and it is really him: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” [For what it is worth, sounds like he is still supporting those maniacs.](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1347555316863553542) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8549 "2021-01-08T15:15:28Z")
I think Twitter needs to ban him permanently. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8550 "2021-01-08T15:21:25Z")
I assume that being prosecuted on federal charges constitutes being “disrespected or treated unfairly” in the warped little mind of the orange shit-gibbon. As I predicted, he is quickly reverting to his old self again. I hope he keeps it up as he gets ever more desperate. First a permanent Twitter ban, then perhaps removal from office would be nice to see. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8551 "2021-01-08T15:39:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I definitely agree that Trump sees himself as faultless. The sandcastle refers to all the defenses he thought he had to protect him from the “haters and losers” more than his own sense of self-righteous purity. 👍🏽 > [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think Twitter needs to ban him permanently. I guess the sedation wore off. I thought they did ban him while he is still president. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8552 "2021-01-08T15:42:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Trump is watching everything crumble around him, and finally beginning to realize that he’s been living in a sandcastle. Tide’s coming in. I hope in his final day, Trump is escorted to his bunker and given a pistol with a single shot. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8553 "2021-01-08T15:42:49Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I thought they did ban him while he is still president. That was Facebook and Instagram. Twitter only gave him a 12-hour suspension. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8554 "2021-01-08T15:44:36Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I hope in his final day, Trump is escorted to his bunker and given a pistol with a single shot. - Bow and arrow. Imagine his frustration. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8555 "2021-01-08T15:46:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Twitter only gave him a 12-hour suspension. Yep, which now obviously needs to be at least until January 21 or perhaps 31. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8556 "2021-01-08T15:47:27Z")
He started that video with lies. The first few sentences were absolutely wrong, factually incorrect, lies. He started the riot, he encouraged sedition, he sent insurgents to the capital. He did not send anyone to help. He watched in glee. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8557 "2021-01-08T15:53:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, had warned Mr. Trump of just that danger on Wednesday as aides frantically tried to get the president to intervene and publicly call off rioters, which he did only belatedly, reluctantly and halfheartedly. I’d say it was tenth-heartedly. Maybe 100th-heartedly. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8558 "2021-01-08T15:54:20Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yep, which now obviously needs to be at least until January 21 or perhaps 31. … of 2050. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=426) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=428)