I disagree.
It would be the kind that we’re used to… seeing in places like Russia and North Korea.
You’re saying they will destroy the current political system and there won’t be a new system - but we’ll still have elections?
Huh?
It will be replaced by a new system. It will be beautiful. Terrific. Unbelievable. Believe me.
Trump is going to announce it in two weeks.
I knew I forgot something!
And there will be Walls.
All over the country.
They’ll be around polling sites.
To protect democracy.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
I think people assessing the current situation are thinking in binary terms: democracy or totalitarianism. There’s a lot in between, though.
Not all authoritarian countries create mass serfdom; in fact the smart move for an authoritarian regime is to give the average person who keeps his head down the perception that he and his family will be fine as long as they don’t make too much noise.
Some authoritarian regimes still have characteristics of democracy - even Russia and Iran have elections with opposition parties. It’s just very hard for these parties to make any serious dent in the grip that the authoritarian regime has on power - for reasons that are obvious.
So yes, Trump could, with the help of McConnell, state governors, and other GOP operatives, manage to tear down a functioning democratic system in which there are valid, free, and fair elections and replace it with a system that functions to give Republicans and the aristocracy advantages, despite representing a majority of the voting-age population. In fact, this has been happening for a while now, particularly since 2010 when the Republicans took control of congress and began gerrymandering the hell out of district after district. But it goes back even further than that, to the time when Republicans began embracing procedural and administrative warfare on the system.
Except that trump has totally pissed off the Military.
You mean despite representing a minority of the voting-age population?
Minority - oops! Yes, minority, not majority.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Sunday he believes Trump is “trying to put a cloud over the election” because he doesn’t plan to leave office if he loses.
The big picture: Clyburn told “CNN’s State of the Union” that “the American people had better wake up” to Trump, who he said has taken on strongman tactics. Clyburn compared Trump to Mussolini and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is akin to Hitler.
Driving the news: Clyburn’s comments come after Trump suggested delaying the election in a tweet on Thursday, claiming without evidence that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud. The power to select Election Day lies exclusively with Congress, per a Washington Post breakdown of the issue.
What he’s saying: "I don’t think he plans to leave the White House. He doesn’t plan to have fair and unfettered elections. I believe that he plans to install himself in some kind of emergency way to continue to hold onto office,” Clyburn said.
…
What starts out seeming outrageous becomes normalized after a while…
As you know, President Trump has telegraphed his plans to corrupt this fall’s election with unabashed candor. Based on his own words, it appears Trump is looking to declare victory on election night, whereupon he’ll claim the untold number of mail-in ballots that remain uncounted are illegitimate. If they tip the election against him, he’ll say the election is being stolen…
I can see him doing this.
He could intentionally try to let a pandemic spiral out of control, try to damage the postal service’s capacity as much as possible while casting suspicion towards the concept of mail-in voting, try to make a call to delay the election for safety reasons, and constantly claim other unproven varieties of fraud…
Speculation is growing that he could send federal “law enforcement” goons to certain communities to guard the polling places there.
Election Lawyers Worry Trump Could Send Federal Law Enforcement to Polls, Adrian Carrasquillo, Newsweek, Aug. 6, 2020.
That’s been one of the scenarios all along. He wouldn’t be the first to do this- I think some governors and other incumbents in smaller elections have tried the “I win, you can stop counting” trick.
He will need republican officials at the state level to help him pull it off, and then he’d need the House of Representatives to push him over the finish line, possibly with the help of the Supreme Court, but perhaps such help isn’t necessary.
There are two dangers if this happens. One is that the plan succeeds and Trump steals the election; the other is that Biden clearly wins by virtue of the vote but convinces enough Republicans to block Biden from getting the official 270 electoral votes needed to win, and then it turns into a protracted legal mess afterward. In that scenario, regardless of the outcome, the winner could be seen as illegitimate.
What nobody else is talking about right now, but damn well should be, is how a botched census threatens to undermine the legitimacy of congressional apportionment and power for the next decade. That will have consequences well beyond 2020.
American democracy is in grave condition.
I wonder if it would be against the rules/law to wear a MAGA hat to/at a polling place. I could imagine these guys showing off their right to open carry (in states that allow it) while wearing trump crap.
I’m assuming this is relativity universal, but I know that in Ohio, you may not wear campaign related clothing in the polling place.
Yeah, I think it’s within 150 feet of the doors of a polling place in Colorado. But the hat could be considered a grey area I suppose.
What about if regulations require a mask in the polling place and someone shows up in a MAGA mask, hmmm? Dilemma!
Okay, I’m sorry, I can’t stand this back and forth anymore, and when I look it up, it’s not helpful: does every single possible electoral vote need to be cast for it to count or not? Is 270 a magic, immutable number, or is it only that because it’s based on the current number of max electoral votes and less than max has never been cast?