# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 4) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678 "2025-02-22T21:08:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 102
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2021 "2025-11-18T03:09:42Z")
I mean the federal government does not have the power to cancel the election. There’s no conceivable mechanism by which they could do so. States run elections, not the feds. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2022 "2025-11-18T03:20:26Z")
Too bad I didn’t ask you a year ago whether Trump has the legal right to clean out the East Wing of the White House, tear it down, and erect a ballroom, all without seeking approval or getting the proper permits. You continuously confuse “legal right” with “ability”, and you get upset when others bring reality into your bouts of fantasy. _”He can’t do that” and “He is not supposed to do that”_ do not mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2023 "2025-11-18T03:23:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Too bad I didn’t ask you a year ago whether Trump has the legal right to clean out the East Wing of the White House, tear it down, and erect a ballroom, all without seeking approval or getting the proper permits. A better analogy would be if Trump did that to Buckingham Palace. That would be the equivalent of canceling the election. Physically impossible? No, but it would require declaring war. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2024 "2025-11-18T03:25:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You continuously confuse “legal right” with “ability”, and you get upset when others bring reality into your bouts of fantasy. > _”He can’t do that” and “He is not supposed to do that”_ do not mean the same thing. And this is a question of ability. He does not have the ability to cancel the election any more than he has the ability to blow up the Moon or or annex Narnia or prosecute Superman. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2025 "2025-11-18T03:30:28Z")
Enough state-run governing bodies declaring that certain hand picked electors are the “real” ones, polling areas becoming next to impossible to get to in Democratically run areas, harassment by those official and/or unofficial ad extremely nauseum, bingo bango bungle- no real election. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2026 "2025-11-18T03:32:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Enough state-run governing bodies declaring that certain hand picked electors are the “real” ones, polling areas becoming next to impossible to get to in Democratically run areas, harassment by those official and/or unofficial ad extremely nauseum So you’re acknowledging that it would be _states_ with the authority to sway elections, and not the federal government. Good. We’re making progress here. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2027 "2025-11-18T03:55:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There’s no conceivable mechanism by which they could do so. The mechanism is armed ICE agents shutting down polling places at gunpoint. Don’t need to do much of that and the election falls apart. Hell, with advanced ballot drop boxes, they could start weeks before Election Day, to make sure everyone is good and intimidated by then. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2028 "2025-11-18T03:57:37Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > The mechanism is armed ICE agents shutting down polling places at gunpoint. My state doesn’t have “polling places”. They gonna station someone at my mailbox to stop me from mailing in my ballot? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2029 "2025-11-18T04:01:42Z")
They’re going to seize all the ballots from the state with federalized National Guard. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2030 "2025-11-18T04:02:49Z")
If this subterfuge is what little it takes to make you think the states are in control, and not Trump and/ or the MAGAs, then I will leave you to your juvenile excuses. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2031 "2025-11-18T04:04:34Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > They’re going to seize all the ballots from the state with federalized National Guard. Considering that the courts have barely been willing to let Trump federalize the National Guard to babysit ICE protestors, I doubt that’s gonna fly. The scenario you’re describing is a civil war between states and the federal government. The party that’s rolling over to release the Epstein files is not going to start a civil war in order to make a senile 83-year-old child molestor into a dictator. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2032 "2025-11-18T04:07:09Z")
What does he have to lose? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2033 "2025-11-18T04:10:28Z")
What do they have to _gain_? The Republican establishment in Congress is clearly already preparing for life after Trump. The sooner they’re rid of him, the sooner they can get back to advancing their own agendas and careers without having to kowtow to whatever insane whim crosses his mind because of something he saw on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2034 "2025-11-18T04:12:54Z")
That’s been true since Jan 6. How’s that been working out for us? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2035 "2025-11-18T04:15:12Z")
I swear some of you people _want_ Trump to become a dictator because it’ll vindicate your paranoid fantasies. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2036 "2025-11-18T04:15:12Z")
Heard that crap after his last stint as Prez. Would you happen to have a new spin to sell us? ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2037 "2025-11-18T04:16:39Z")
Blame everyone but the souless assholes. Who didn’t see _that_ one coming? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2038 "2025-11-18T05:04:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > They gonna station someone at my mailbox to stop me from mailing in my ballot? And where does that ballot go after it leaves your mailbox? Any central location can be seized. Hell, that’s even easier than shutting down polling places, as there’s probably fewer of them. Stop and think like a terrorist, because it’s a safe bet someone on Trump’s payroll is thinking that way. Every system can be broken, if you’re willing to put in the work. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2025, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2039 "2025-11-18T05:13:59Z")
…and you know your boss will happily pardon you for acts of treason. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/2040 "2025-11-18T05:33:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Ted Cruz’s announcement is exactly what Donald Trump didn’t want and was trying to prevent The answer is so straightforward: deport the invader – he has a name that ends in “-z”, and he was born in another country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=101) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=103)