# 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:** 192
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3821 "2026-03-24T03:48:21Z")
OK. Sure. Democracy is over forever. The thousand-year reich of God Emperor Trump is unstoppable and inevitable. Don’t even bother voting this year, because it won’t make a difference. In fact, don’t even speak out at all, because it’ll just land you in the death camps sooner. See where that kind of messaging gets you. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3822 "2026-03-24T07:06:01Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > This leads to the supposition that mail carries do not have to deliver mail ballots, based on their hatred of a particular zip code or… “democratyness” of a customer or customers. Sometimes, the residents detest the mail carrier. In my area, the only delivery is to mail boxes along county and state highways. Everyone else has a post office box. On our state highway that runs through town, I only know of one or two places with mail boxes. They have one contract employee to deliver this mail. They cover our half of the county for each mail delivery. A few years ago, ours retired and the post office advertised for someone to replace him. The job ended up being offered to one of the most useless and despicable people in my town – a woman who has never worked a day in her life. She thinks that her psychology degree should exempt her from work. She’s really nothing more than a woman who’s high point of her life was being a high school cheerleader. So she started her training for the job. Not once did she ever show up in time to be trained in things like sorting mail. And she tried to stir up problems for the postmaster because she wanted that job and thought that if she caused enough issues, the postmaster would be fired and she would be hired to take their place. One of her tactics was to read through the rule book and complain about every little rule violation. I was one of the people she complained about. My oldest brother and I lived out in separate houses on the farm and we shared a mail box. That was apparently not exactly legal and she raised a fit over there. I didn’t like her at all before and her whining about the mailbox didn’t help matters any. In the end, I had to go buy a new mailbox and have the highway department put it out along the highway. Fortunately, the she was deemed unable to be trained because she could never show up on time and so she was let go within a couple of weeks. I think that she finally moved out of town. I haven’t seen her in a while which has improved my spirits. I don’t know where she moved, but I wish her the worst of luck every time anything reminds me of her. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3823 "2026-03-24T15:01:17Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > OK. Sure. Democracy is over forever. The thousand-year reich of God Emperor Trump is unstoppable and inevitable. No, you are taking our words and constructing a giant straw man. We are pointing out the potential dangers that may lie ahead. Only by recognizing the dangers will we be able to take steps to prevent them. If I may engage in the same tactic you are: “What you’re saying is that we’re all safe, there will never be any problems with upcoming elections, and we should just trust in the goodness of Trump and his allies. Just lie back and enjoy.” ---
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3824 "2026-03-24T15:54:19Z")
There is a middle ground between paranoid fantasy and total complacency, and it does nobody any good to pretend that it doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3825 "2026-03-24T16:16:53Z")
Agree completely. The two extremes are useless if we want to get anywhere. That’s the point I was trying (poorly) to make. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3826 "2026-03-24T16:18:37Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > That’s the point I was trying (poorly) to make. I disagree; I think you did a pretty reasonable job of making the point. I just wanted to support you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3827 "2026-03-24T18:00:13Z")
I mentioned in another thread how swing states should invest in both 24-hr in-person security and surveillance (for documenting confrontational shenanigans) for the upcoming midterms, but the response I got was that there wouldn’t be enough money for it, and, if done, only blue states would do so. I should’ve responded (and will do so here) that, firstly, the odds are so incredibly low that anything would come of sabotaging voting booths in states that are so entrenched in blue to begin with, and secondly, as others have pointed out, it wouldn’t really take much to disrupt just a handful of swing state voting stations to affect the outcome of the midterms. This means that no - given Hillary’s flop ten years ago - no way am I buying that it’ll be a blue wave this November. Obviously I’m hoping it will, but the ole “fool me once” thing has me much more reticent to embrace the blue wave concept this time around. Thus, I’m thoroughly convinced it’ll be a tighter-than-fuck race again, sadly, (shittily!), and, with this neck-and-neck scenario, I think every swing state polling station should be guarded with the fervour of, well, democracy being on the line. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3828 "2026-03-24T20:04:19Z")
Chuck Schumer has a piece in the NYT about it. > Guest Essay > > # Chuck Schumer: This Is Trump’s Plan to ‘Guarantee the Midterms’ Gift link: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/opinion/chuck-schumer-save-act.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.VlA.a2BL.rl7U9FcNznF9&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/opinion/chuck-schumer-save-act.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VlA.a2BL.rl7U9FcNznF9&smid=url-share) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3829 "2026-03-24T21:42:55Z")
Thanks, that was a scary read - some of it I was already aware of, but just the overall comprehensiveness of this SAVE Act read like quite the straightarm. Very promising opinion piece about why this thrown-to-the-wall spaghetti will be DOA in the Senate. Paywalled with a free membership sign-up - I figured, meh, why not - could tolerate getting occasionally spammed with stuff like this. > **[Why the GOP’s newest plan to pass SAVE America Act is DOA](https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/why-the-gops-newest-plan-to-pass-save-america-act-is-doa/)** > > "No chance the SAVE America Act can survive reconciliation." Among several Republicans, this set the tone: > [@](#): > > “No chance the SAVE America Act can survive reconciliation. This is a classic rug pull operation designed to get support for a shoddy deal in exchange for a bogus future promise that will not pan out,” posted Sean Davis, founder of the right-wing outlet The Federalist. “Republican senators should reject this silliness.” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3830 "2026-03-24T22:34:03Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > As for Smapti’s ‘it can’t happen here’ fantasies—it’s all too likely that when it does happen, we won’t have an open Internet anymore, so we won’t be able to _I Told You So_ him. Nice for Smapti! > > Bookmarking this for November 4th. Your fantasies about people here (including me) rooting for Donald and his enablers to win, have as much merit as do your ‘_it can’t happen here_’ fantasies. I like @Tatterdemalion’s Y2K comparison, though it’s worth noting that no one involved with that was facing possible impeachment (or criminal indictment). Donald’s enablers know that there is a great deal on the line for them. They are highly motivated. All Donald really needs is the excuse of an Emergency. The way he and his goons are dealing with the world practically ensures that someone will _ **try** _ to commit an act of violence. We can certainly hope they don’t succeed. But hope gets you only so far. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > ETA I do still live in hope that the forces of good will overcome the forces of evil, as [Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tatterdemalion) wrote above. I just think we cannot forget that there ARE forces who will try to screw around with the election. Well said. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3831 "2026-03-24T23:03:40Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > All Donald really needs is the excuse of an Emergency. Yelling “I declare emergency” doesn’t give Trump any power over when and how elections are held, and the Supreme Court has already ruled that a state of emergency requires stronger grounds than “Donald Trump says so”. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2026, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3832 "2026-03-24T23:22:16Z")
Deploying ICEstapo to intimidate voters requires no such authority. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3833 "2026-03-24T23:32:31Z")
I’m imagining a scenario where there is a terrorist attack of some sort, which precipitates a “State of Emergency” then Trump nationalises the national guard, and imposes curfews or “anti assembly” rules. Sure it’s illegal, but it would need to be dismantled, and it only needs to work for days, or maybe even hours to have an impact. Ultimately only 2 or 3 states need to be impacted enough to flip from Blue to Red, and in those states it would only be the poopulous areas that need to discouraged from voting enough to flip the result. And once the election is over, so what? How Sad, Too Bad - Yeah it was illegal but there is no such thing as a do-over ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3834 "2026-03-25T00:06:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Deploying ICEstapo to intimidate voters requires no such authority. 1. It is explicitly illegal under federal law to deploy any type of federal forces into a polling station and any attempt to do so will be shut down by judges within **minutes**. 2. Eight states do not have in-person voting stations. 3. If ICE completely halted all other activities and dedicated their entire force to hanging around polls, they’d still only have enough manpower to send one agent to one out of six polling stations. These paranoid fantasies all assume Trump has far more power and access to far more resources than he has or has ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3835 "2026-03-25T00:06:37Z")
bad timing - comment removed ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3836 "2026-03-25T00:06:39Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I’m imagining a scenario where there is a terrorist attack of some sort, which precipitates a “State of Emergency” then Trump nationalises the national guard, and imposes curfews or “anti assembly” rules. Those are not powers the president has. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3837 "2026-03-25T00:08:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Yelling “I declare emergency” [![](https://www.therollinsfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Picture1.png) ](https://www.therollinsfirm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Picture1.png) But seriously, I think Trump is looking for that emergency that will help him. I think a terror attack would be his attempt. Of course, if it is Iran, it would simply be an act of war. Not that it would matter. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3838 "2026-03-25T00:12:14Z")
The president doesn’t have the power to accept bribes from foreign governments, yet here we are… ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3839 "2026-03-25T00:13:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It is explicitly illegal under federal law to deploy any type of federal forces into a polling station and any attempt to do so will be shut down by judges within **minutes**. I think only time will tell if Trump has managed to eventually (and obscenely) accrue enough power to maintain (and increase) ICE deployment for that purpose. > [@Smapti](#): > > If ICE completely halted all other activities and dedicated their entire force to hanging around polls, they’d still only have enough manpower to send one agent to one out of six polling stations. My money’s on Stephen Miller beefing up that number. Hope I’m wrong. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2026, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678/3840 "2026-03-25T00:17:58Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > The president doesn’t have the power to accept bribes from foreign governments, yet here we are… Right, because violating tne Emoulments Clause is exactly like nullifying the Constitution and state sovereignty and ruling the country by fiat with an army that doesn’t exist. 🙄 > [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > My money’s on Stephen Miller beefing up that number. They’ve already resorted to recruiting the equivalent of McNamara’s Morons just to get to 22k. There just aren’t 100,000+ potential recruits to be had. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=191) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-4/1014678.md?page=193)