Ah, the 'ol “You advocated for different rules, and so you must abide by them, but we don’t.” hypocrisy charge. (Of course, mixed with the, “If this highly unlikely hypothetical were to come to pass, I assume you would be hypocrites, therefore you are.” charge.)
As often as it is invoked, it never gets old.
Civil unrest is a good way to consolidate power.
If a president sent federal troops into our cities and declared Martial law when there was no unrest, even the staunchest conservative would blink twice.
But, if he incites riots and unrest, then that gives him an excuse, and gives freedom loving Republicans an excuse to welcome an authoritarian regime.
To add to this, almost since day one, the administration has been campaigning with the expectation that they would lose the popular vote. This is why Trump has threatened to send federal police to blue states, threatened to withhold disaster relief from California, threatened with withhold PPE funding from blue state governors. They assume he will lose those states, so he is delegitimizing them and instead claiming that the EC is what matters more - which it does, of course.
Regardless, his tactics are purely to drive partisanship and polarization, assuming that even if he gets crushed in states like New York and California, he can squeak through by a few thousand or even a few hundred votes in Florida, Wisconsin, or Pennsylvania - and if it looks like he can’t, then he can try to cast doubt on the entire process and disrupt the results in these states.
Do you think that if a Supreme Court seat becomes vacant in the next 4 months that the Republicans would respect the “long standing tradition” of not filling the seat in an election year because it’s not fair to voters?
I know that the Republican Party has dropped the pretense and is proudly lying cheating and stealing, but the taunting of decent people who play by the rules is beyond the pale.
McConnell has already said explicitly that. There is no point in shaming Republicans in their hypocrisy, they revel in it. They just make false accusations of hypocrisy of others as an attempt at bothsidesism.
If Ginsburg died on the last day of the lame duck Congress, Moscow Mitch would rush through a nomination in one hour flat.
Pretty much this, though I’m reasonably confident that Trump will lose. Perhaps that’s mainly wishful thinking, but he seems to have fucked up so much and by the numbers that I’m hard pressed to see how he could pull it out. To me, this is Biden’s race to lose, not Trump’s to win, so assuming that the Democrats don’t once again snatch defeat from the slavering jaws of victory Trump will be out.
The REALLY interesting thing is, will the Republicans hang on to the Senate? I thought for sure they would easily hold on, even though this round they are mainly on the defensive, but I’m less sure as things go on. It’s possible that the Dems will control the Presidency, House and Senate. It will be interesting to see what they do with that.
The very FIRST thing they will need to do, in the Senate, is get rid of the filibuster. Probably not a good idea in the bigger picture, but if they don’t, the Republicans will never allow anything to get done.
In the big picture, it is probably the first thing that Republicans do next time they hold all branches of govt anyway.
Not being gridlocked due to the filibuster as they were in 2008 on may allow democrats to push forward policies that the voters want, and increase their chances of holding or even increasing power in 2022.
Leaving the filibuster in place simply means that nothing is done, Covid and the economy are not addressed, much less all the other things that have been left to languish, and will give the Republicans more leverage to point to the ineffectiveness of the Democrats.
The fact that the Democrats are ineffective entirely due to Republican’s intentionally preventing necessary govt business from being done didn’t seem to affect the vote in 2010. I would not rely on that excuse again.
Yeah, the time to plan for 8 years of Trump was when we got 4 years of Trump. Because it’s one of those things that if it can happen once it can happen twice.
I was worried in 2016. Now I’m worried…and flabbergasted that it appears many of the population still gleefully lap up the orange fluids. I mistakenly thought more brain cells would spontaneously activate after the galatic amount of stupidity we’ve endured. I’ve been tolerating having to deal with aquaintences and even people closer to me, but I swear if the orangeanus wins, it may take weeks to invite everyone I know who voted for him to go fuck themselves.
Right now Trump is losing to Biden by 5 touchdowns, with less than a quarter of football left to play. Could he pull it off? Sure, but it’s never been done before and one shouldn’t bet on it happening.
This is a very poor sports analogy. I have always wondered why people who have almost no grasp of sport keep making these.
It’s more like the bottom of the 9th inning of a game that Biden is winning 8-5, but Trump is at bat with the bases loaded. He could lose very narrowly or win very narrowly, or he could blow it completely and lose more decisively. A number of wild cards could lead him to hit a grand slam, but that still wouldn’t be a decisive win.
That means this election will be more about Biden’s fielding (and pitching) than Trump’s batting, to continue this baseball analogy. He has the lead. But he cannot get lazy and let his guard down even for a second. His campaign needs to be in those key states getting people fired up, AND they need to do everything possible to stay one step ahead of any dirty tricks from Trump.
The bases are loaded, and shortstop too.
… and the winner is the World Series Champion for the next four seasons.
If only the prize were just a trophy, rings, a bonus and bragging rights.
The baseball analogy may hit close to home. Who here remembers how the Nats came from behind to win the series against the Astros in the later part of the seventh game last year?
Would have thought that was precisely what Trump wants from his stint in the White House.
I’m not sure what one does to actually “plan” for a Trump victory.
I think it’s certainly possible. People with conservative leanings don’t see our current situation as “Trump’s fault”. They see Democrats as complacent in allowing anarchists, Marxists and other left wing groups tear our cities apart and wage war against the police. And quite frankly, I don’t think Biden or the Democrats have done enough to distance themselves or condemn these more extreme elements.
Also don’t forget a lot of “Middle America” is fucking stupid. Like my inlaws for example. They go on about Pelosi going to the beauty salon or Biden being…who knows what. It doesn’t take a lot to convince them to vote Republican.