# 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:** 435
**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 16, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8700 "2021-01-16T19:43:44Z")
I’d love to see the traditional note left behind for the next president (on the off chance Trump leaves one). Biden will probably burn it out of graciousness that Trump doesn’t deserve but I’m sure it would be comedy gold. ---
**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 16, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8701 "2021-01-16T20:01:25Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > I’d love to see the traditional note left behind for the next president (on the off chance Trump leaves one). Nothing will be left. Silence and failure. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8702 "2021-01-16T20:03:23Z")
Written in sharpie with lots of random capitalizations, misspellings, and an _unusual_ system of punctuation. The full collection of dog whistles, fake claims, and whatever else he can muster from his developing dementia. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8703 "2021-01-16T20:12:07Z")
Or simply a turd left in the middle of the Resolute Desk. ---
**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 16, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8704 "2021-01-16T20:40:32Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Depending on whose opinion you believe, Ivanka’s future political prospects are trashed now. Some insightful comments have been made about Ivanka, including how she is perceived as part of the “elite” and in no way has Daddy’s redneck appeal. My guesstimation is that she might perhaps find some political success in Florida, either at the state level or even a seat in Congress, due to the number of imbeciles in Florida. But if so, she’ll be the equivalent of a Tommy Tuberville, the idiot from Alabama who recently described the three branches of government as “the executive, the House, and the Senate”, and whose first two votes in the Senate were both objections to the EC results in two states. He also figured that Inauguration Day should be postponed for a while, apparently unaware of the 20th Amendment. IOW, at best, even if elected to Congress, which I think is unlikely, Ivanka would just be one of the low-tier idiots there. She has no national appeal. But I think it’s more likely that she’ll ply her trade making bad cosmetics or tasteless clothing or something. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8705 "2021-01-16T21:42:17Z")
Tuberville is a moron, but I’m cutting everyone a little slack on the “three branches” of government thing. We need a word we don’t have. A word or phrase that means the three distinct political governmental entities that are either controlled by Democrats or Republicans, depending on the result of the most recent election, whose balance determines the balance of power in the country. - A word or phrase that means the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Executive branch. Am I missing something obvious? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8706 "2021-01-16T21:45:00Z")
The executive branch, Congress and the Judiciary? Or Executive, Judicial and Legislative. Judiciary is what is missing. ---
**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 16, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8707 "2021-01-16T21:49:24Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Am I missing something obvious? The obvious thing is what we all learned early in elementary school about the three co-equal branches of government, which are the foundation of government not only in the US by virtue of the Constitution, but in most Western democracies. Apparently Tommy “Potato City” never went to school. I’m not even sure that Alabama _ **has** _ schools. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8708 "2021-01-16T21:50:32Z")
They have a few colleges set up to fund football teams. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8709 "2021-01-16T21:57:32Z")
One particularly good one. Ask Ohio State. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8710 "2021-01-16T22:14:34Z")
No, I’m looking for a term to directly describe the three different bodies who win or lose elections _in national politics_. My last post may have been unclear, as I know that on the state and local level judges are elected. A term more succinct that “the Executive Branch and the two houses of the Legislative branch.” A term that would be very useful in an election year. A more formal than “the trifecta”, which is what I’ve been using. Tommy Tuberville is an idiot who maybe saw a filmstrip on civics when he was in the third grade, but remembers none of it. He thinks government works like some variation of football where the Republicans yell Constitution whenever the Democrats get the ball. Then they walk off the field and stand around insulting the Democrats and running out the clock until they take the field again. But AOC is actually pretty smart, and she’s made the same mistake.I’m pretty sure she knows that the three branches of the government are the Legislative,the Executive or the Judiciary. I’m not excusing Tuberville, I’m just saying we need a word, ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8711 "2021-01-16T22:19:55Z")
The Houses of Congress? I think 3 is irrevocably associated with those 3 branches of gov’t and may be best to give up on some other 3 that is not going to be easily confused. I mean, all of us are smart, we know you are smart and yet we got confused. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8712 "2021-01-16T22:22:25Z")
I think “the Presidency, the Senate and the House” is as close as we’re going to get. I will continue to refer to “the Trifecta”. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8713 "2021-01-16T22:29:07Z")
How about “Them”? Just a single syllable. Elegant! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8714 "2021-01-16T22:33:52Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > As I said, nobody is planning this, and the military have expressly said there will be nothing… He _is_ the President and CINC of the military until noon on Wednesday. If he says he wants a military sendoff before that time, then, much as he disgusts me, and as deeply unworthy as I think he personally is of such pomp and circumstance, the military ought to make all reasonable efforts to make it happen. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8715 "2021-01-16T22:47:07Z")
He’s also the guy who incited insurrection against another branch of government, was impeached for it, and trampled presidential norms every single chance he got. Give him the IgNoble Prize and let him slink off into the pages of History. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8716 "2021-01-16T22:47:32Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I think “the Presidency, the Senate and the House” is as close as we’re going to get. I will continue to refer to “the Trifecta”. Calling them ‘the Trifecta’ will continue to be confusing. ‘The President, the Senate and the House’ will not be. ---
**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 16, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8717 "2021-01-16T23:30:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > He _is_ the President and CINC of the military until noon on Wednesday. If he says he wants a military sendoff before that time, then, much as he disgusts me, and as deeply unworthy as I think he personally is of such pomp and circumstance, the military ought to make all reasonable efforts to make it happen. NO. Just no. He has trashed every norm in the last four years, so … just _no_. Absolutely not. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8718 "2021-01-16T23:44:04Z")
I would rather give him the Darwin award, circumstances permitting. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2021, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/8719 "2021-01-16T23:44:51Z")
Civilian control of the military is a bedrock principle of American democracy. If the military feels free to disregard his orders (short of starting WWIII) between now and Weds., we’re in even deeper trouble than I thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=434) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=436)