# The American Coup: 11.9.2020 - **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182 "2020-11-09T23:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 37
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/722 "2020-11-22T23:38:12Z")
Did Giuliani also have her airbrushed out of photos of the news conference the other day, like Stalin did with photos of himself with various unpersons? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/723 "2020-11-22T23:39:53Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Though don’t the pubs have something of a reasonable component (eg Romney et al)? And I was also under the impression that there are issues between AOC, Sanders and their ilk and the rest of the Dems. The Romney wing of the Republican Party has shrunk a lot in the last four years. It’s probably down to about 5 to 10 percent of the party. The rest of the party has joined the cult of Trump. Ironically, the Mormon segment of the Republican Party seems to have been more resistant to joining the Trump cult. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/724 "2020-11-23T00:11:50Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Though don’t the pubs have something of a reasonable component (eg Romney et al)? No. Romney seems reasonable now that the yardstick is Don The Con. And yes, some Democrats don’t want to push too hard advancing (what in your country would draw yawns) a “radical” agenda, in their hopes to compromise with American psychopaths. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/725 "2020-11-23T00:46:40Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Sorry for a brief hijack but is there a chance that centrists from both parties could form a new party, thus leaving one wack-job RW party, one “scary socialist” LW party, and one “common-sense” party? The Democratic Party is MOSTLY centrists. You are proposing the creation of a Democratic Party. The extreme left is a small slice of the party, whereas the right win crazies have taken over the GOP. Perhaps more to the point, the GOP isn’t really “conservative.” There is room in American politics for a conservative party; it’s a shame they don’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/726 "2020-11-23T01:56:34Z")
Wow, I thought that there was a chance that my fears and concerns may have been exaggerated, but it sounds like they weren’t. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/727 "2020-11-23T02:16:46Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > They can lament the death of Reagan’s party, but they helped kill it - I don’t care what they say. Hell, it goes back further than that: to me, the rot began to set in when the party veered away from Eisenhower and Rockefeller (I grew up during the Eisenhower administration, and believe it or not in those days even the Soviet of Washington was solidly Republican where national politics were concerned). If I had to stick a pin in the calendar, I’d put it in 1964 and the Goldwater candidacy; but even he would shit Twinkies if he saw what has happened to his party. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/728 "2020-11-23T02:18:03Z")
If Nixon hadn’t embraced his Southern Strategy, he probably would have gone down as one of the great ones, and the GOP would be a cleaner party. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/729 "2020-11-23T02:20:26Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > If I had to stick a pin in the calendar, I’d put it in 1964 and the Goldwater candidacy; but even he would shit Twinkies if he saw what has happened to his party. Goldwater despised the religious right and was pro-civil rights. He wouldn’t fit in with today’s GOP at all; he’d have no party, or be a Libertarian, which is the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/730 "2020-11-23T02:26:17Z")
True enough as far as it goes, but many of his other positions were straight out of cloud-cuckoo-land. Or as the Chad Mitchell Trio put it: > _We’re the bright young men, who want to go back to 1910,_ > _We’re Barry’s Boys._ > _We’re the kids with a cause, that’s right, a government like Grandmama’s,_ > _We’re Barry’s Boys._ ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/731 "2020-11-23T02:58:35Z")
Being called stupid by these people is a badge of honor. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/732 "2020-11-23T03:11:35Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > If I had to stick a pin in the calendar, I’d put it in 1964 and the Goldwater candidacy; but even he would shit Twinkies if he saw what has happened to his party. As RickJay points out, Goldwater didn’t really fit the pattern. But for the demogoguery and hate-mongering, one can see a straight line back to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, even though he never ran for president. (One might wonder if he would have run for president, and maybe even won, if he hadn’t overplayed his hand vs. Army, or if he hadn’t subsequently drunk himself to death.) ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/733 "2020-11-23T03:59:07Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Did Giuliani also have her airbrushed out of photos of the news conference the other day, like Stalin did with photos of himself with various unpersons Nahhh…he just scribbled her out with a Sharpie. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/734 "2020-11-23T04:23:24Z")
This would totally not get someone sent to the gulag: [![](https://i.imgur.com/jC6ochq.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/jC6ochq.png) ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/735 "2020-11-23T04:23:45Z")
So, how long is this Michigan thing going to take to resolve? I guess we don’t know, but I’m desperately casting around for some end in sight. If neither GOP board member will agree to certify, then a long drawn-out legal process could ensue. The GOP legislature will probably try to hamstring and delay certification and fight inch by painful inch if Gov. Whitmer tries to do anything, then it will trudge inch by excruciating inch to the Michigan Supreme Court. I kind of want to die just thinking about what a shitshow this will be. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/736 "2020-11-23T14:12:09Z")
I actually think it will move pretty fast. They meet at 1pm. If they end up deadlocked (possible, but by no means guaranteed) then I think the SoS/Gov probably have a lawsuit ready to go to get an emergency order forcing them to certify today (today is the deadline). That ruling would happen very quickly. If they continue to refuse then I imagine she will use her powers to remove and replace board members until it gets certified. Again, that could happen today as well. No reason for her to mess around here, IMO - it’s a clearly executive function which the legislature has no say in. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/737 "2020-11-23T14:55:19Z")
I hope so. The GOP legislature is probably going to start screaming about how it’s _their_ job and trump is being robbed and Whitmer may get more death threats. I hope the other GOP board member just does the right thing, which is to certify. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/738 "2020-11-23T15:03:04Z")
> **[Key GOP Michigan canvassing board member expected to vote against certifying...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/22/politics/michigan-election-result-certification/index.html)** > > A key Republican on the Michigan canvassing board is expected to vote against certifying the state's election results on Monday, a potential boon for the Trump campaign's conspiracy theory-fueled effort to delay the finalization of results. Let’s just close our eyes and hope these monsters disappear, right? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/739 "2020-11-23T15:10:16Z")
Isn’t all that would happen if Michigan failed to certify is that the EC would be smaller? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/740 "2020-11-23T15:13:18Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Let’s just close our eyes and hope these monsters disappear, right? The plan appears to be to not certify and create a constitutional crisis. They are hoping to prevent certification today, and then say Michigan cannot certify the vote at all since the deadline for today will be missed. > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Isn’t all that would happen if Michigan failed to certify is that the EC would be smaller? They would then say the MI legislature could appoint its own electors, which of course would be an entirely Trumpist slate. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182/741 "2020-11-23T15:15:55Z")
But they would have to get that done before 14 December, right? And even then, it would have to be accepted at the actual EC vote? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-american-coup-11-9-2020/925182.md?page=38)