# Is it time to start planning for 4 more years of Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 31, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468 "2020-08-31T18:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/41 "2020-08-31T23:11:55Z")
Ok… I don’t know when it happened. Forget the speech. Just worried and seeing the speech at the time didn’t make me less nervous. But maybe I went into it with a bias. Or maybe I hallucinated. I’m really just worried about 4 more years of Trump, and wondering what might happen if he wins. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/42 "2020-08-31T23:14:50Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I don’t know when it happened. Forget the speech. It’s posted. You could always look at it again. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/43 "2020-08-31T23:52:28Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > In general, you are correct. But the state legislatures have the ability to substitute their judgement for that of the voters, as Florida was poised to do in 2000. I posted saying that a few weeks ago. And I think it is a real risk. But now that a few other people may agree with me, I will throw out some reasons not to totally panic. One – Trump may peak too soon, and then be beaten too badly to cheat his way out of it post-election. I’m planning to vote the day I get my ballot, almost surely in September. But most people won’t do that, so it is still early. Polling trends will likely NOT be a straight line. Two - Related to the above, riots are more a summer thing than an autumn activity. Three - While the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the right to pick electors (and fails to give state governors a right to veto their choices), the U.S. Constitution ( Article I, Section 10, Clause 1) forbids state ex post facto laws. A law changing how electors are selected, passed after an election held pursuant to state law, seems to me an ex post facto law. The GOP would claim that the ex post facto clause only applies to criminal law, but, well, the Constitution doesn’t mention that. There also is a possibility that Roberts would rule that if a state constitution gave the governor the right to veto, and the legislature has voted, however long ago, in favor of said constitution, a veto by a democratic governor, like ours in Pennsylvania, should be upheld. As for Biden’s possibly less than superb speaking ability, I know of no evidence, that being a good speaker, helps you win the presidency. So – no cause for despair, just concern. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/44 "2020-08-31T23:53:09Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I’m really just worried about 4 more years of Trump, and wondering what might happen if he wins. Oh me too, no doubt. I think it’s probably 2-to-1 against him being re-elected, but that’s not nearly good enough. I spend way too much time refreshing polling sites, digging into cross-tabs (what? Trump getting 22% of the black vote?), and, yes, watching stupid stump speeches looking for slip-ups. But really I do believe much of this cake is baked. Unless we get a miracle COVID vaccine or all of America’s cities erupt in violence, or some unknown unknown like a terrorist attack or a war, then you’re looking at Biden pulling about 49%, Trump somewhere in the mid 40’s and a nerve-wracking evening as we try to figure out if PA/MI/WI/MN are going to hold (or, perhaps, if FL is going to save us). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/45 "2020-09-01T00:14:50Z")
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that too many of the voting public–and especially in places where they have outsized influence on the actual result (the Electoral College)–are unreachable and unteachable as to what a disaster trumpeters/magats are. What do you expect from people who have actually said to me: “The democrat party of today is the same democrat party of 1861…and still pissed a republican president took their slaves away.” We’re doomed. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/46 "2020-09-01T11:55:52Z")
I looked but couldn’t find the specific spot. I see it being posted on Twitter making fun of him today. He’s talking about covet and how many people were affected by it. I’ll look when I have more time. But you could look too. It’s not exactly hidden. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/47 "2020-09-01T12:42:09Z")
I am deeply pessimistic in the short run. At minimum, Joe Biden wins and he enters office after two months or so of intense legal fighting and a relentless right wing tidal wave of attacks on his legitimacy and anything he has on his agenda. Whatever obstruction and attacks on legitimacy that they threw at Obama will look like child’s play. That almost seemed like a meme and a joke, but the attacks on Biden’s legitimacy could have very real consequences. Biden could win - and I think the polling data show that he should. But he could win, and we could still lose what we have in terms of democracy. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/48 "2020-09-01T13:59:44Z")
It’s your claim, not mine. You’re the one who needs to be able to show what you’re talking about. And you still can’t cite either the exact phrasing or the time in the video, but you see it being posted on Twitter? By people being as vague about it as you are? (I’m going to presume that “covet” is your spellcheck.) ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/49 "2020-09-01T14:44:14Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And you still can’t cite either the exact phrasing or the time in the video, but you see it being posted on Twitter? It’s one of two lines: “stroking fear” rather than “stoking fear”… hur hur Biden stroking… hur hur Or the slight stammering he had around the line regarding more deaths this year than any of the past 100 years. I believe this is a direct link: [User Clip: Joe Biden Can't Speak : Pittsburgh | C-SPAN.org](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4903924/user-clip-joe-biden-speak-pittsburgh). Of course they clipped out that immediately after that he said it exactly right. But it’s probably a line they should remove from his speech since (a) he can’t seem to parse it quickly and correctly and (b) neither can voters, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/50 "2020-09-01T17:13:18Z")
Sometimes those things are faked or edited. More often they are taken out of context. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/51 "2020-09-01T17:40:54Z")
Nah, we will also take back the Senate, and ignore that crap and get on with a return to normalcy. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/52 "2020-09-01T17:46:07Z")
Okay, but I didn’t have the time to look through the whole video. But if you don’t want to believe me, don’t. I don’t even know why I brought up the video. I’ll be try to find it later though. Edit: 12:32 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/53 "2020-09-01T17:48:14Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > You could always just say, “Well, the people have spoken,” and accept it. Like the founders intended That’s not what you did when Obama was in office, was it? ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/54 "2020-09-01T17:50:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s not what you did when Obama was in office, was it? It’s not what he did when the people favored Clinton over Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/55 "2020-09-01T17:53:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s not what you did when Obama was in office, was it? Well yeah, but the founders never intended a black man become President of the United States. That’s where the difference lies. The same for a woman, the founders never intended either them or black people to even vote, never mind holding office. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/56 "2020-09-01T18:03:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > But it’s not “slightly skewed” – it’s overwhelmingly skewed, and not just to small states, but to swing states. Perhaps that is how they came to be swing states. ---
**Author:** ![urbanredneck2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/5f8ce5/32.png) [@urbanredneck2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urbanredneck2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/57 "2020-09-01T18:09:19Z")
If democrats keep letting their cities go to hell and Biden keeps opening his mouth, it just might happen. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/58 "2020-09-01T18:09:54Z")
Swing states is not a term. It is not something that is called for in the Constitution. It is a reality of the flaws of the Constitution that give people that live in some states more power than those that live in others. And it’s not even a smaller/larger thing, it’s just an accident of where you happen to live. If Ohio moves just a bit more to the left than current polling is showing, then my vote could be worth far far more than that of someone living in Kansas or Texas or Iowa. Right now, Michigan and Wisconsin voters seem to be the ones with the most powerful vote. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/59 "2020-09-01T18:11:12Z")
Oh, so did you want to point out the part in the speech that he “flubbed”? But you are right, it is in the best interests of the right to encourage and foment civil unrest, as that does seem to work in their favor. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468/60 "2020-09-01T19:00:22Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Edit: 12:32 12:32 in the video that was linked is before Biden even comes on. If you’re looking at a version in which Biden’s speaking at 12:32, please link to that version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-time-to-start-planning-for-4-more-years-of-trump/919468.md?page=4)