I know! I thought it was an Onion story at first.
There is no way The Onion can keep ahead of Trump.
Trump, like many people with pro-authoritarian tendencies, believes in the Just World Hypothesis (without being aware of it, of course).
Trump’s reaction as described here makes sense to a lot of his followers, because they, too, believe that lottery winners are by definition virtuous and deserving, and those who buy lottery tickets without winning are bad people (and similarly crazy things).
It won’t matter to him. They don’t matter to him. They are just a means to an end to benefit only him.
Trump and his followers qualify as having zero shame. But they don’t have money and they certainly don’t understand how things work.
I’ve said before that Trump couldn’t successfully carry off a liquor store hold up if you drove him to the store, handed him the pre-loaded gun, and pointed to where the door into the store was. He still manage to screw it up.
And Trump’s followers are dumber than Trump is.
So we don’t have to worry about Trump and his followers stealing the election. They have no idea how to even try to steal an election.
The issue is whether the Republican Party will decide to steal the election for Trump and his followers. They might. But I wouldn’t call it a sure thing. The Republicans may decide it’s time to cut loose from Trump and let him fall. They might feel that four more years of letting Trump be President will do more harm to the Republican party than just sitting back and letting Biden win.
He’ll probably change his stance on mail-in voting and tell his supporters to make sure they send in their votes for him before they die.
The logic is clear but it’s not saying what Trump thinks. He says he believes germs only affect “losers”. And he acknowledges that he’s afraid of germs.
Isn’t that Trump admitting he sees himself as a loser? If he saw himself as a winner, he wouldn’t worry about germs because he’d be immune to them.
I was referring to the Trump re-election campaign fund. They have TONS of money, and they have an extensive and well-developed social media outreach. We know that at least they are going to get almost all of the base out. They subvert an election with misinformation.
I can’t remember the senator who said that if the impeacement vote were held in secret, Trump would be gone. Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, I am sure, would be glad to get rid of this moron. Because in the long term, he is the destruction of the Republican Party. There are only so many MAGA-hatters out there.
I never said “steal.” I said undermine. They will exploit Trump’s incumbent advantage as well as the stupidity of the people with propaganda as much as they can, with tools like Facebook, etc., and who knows what else. That’s what I meant. His campaign has the money to hire the people who know how to do this, and they won’t pay any attention to election laws (as Trump didn’t in 2016) because those don’t even get investigated until after the candidate is already sworn into office. I don’t know if they will succeed, but they are desperate, and they DO have the resources.
That didn’t start when he was elected. He’s always been like that.
True, but I think becoming the most powerful person in the world was the straw the broke the camel’s back–that makes him really think he should be able to do whatever he wants with impunity.
When people talk about stealing an election, they don’t mean you’re literally going to steal it. An election’s not a car. When somebody says “steal an election” they mean alter the outcome of the election by illegal means. Or by enacting laws to predetermine the outcome of the election in favor of the organization that enacted the laws (which is technically not stealing only because they have the power to make it legal).
Stealing an election is not easy. It requires literally hundreds of people working all over the country, all of them working off of an overall plan. This is way beyond anything Trump and his base could pull off.
That’s why I said they need the Republicans to buy in if they’re planning on stealing the election. The Republicans are a professional political organization. They have the knowledge and the personnel to steal an election if they choose.
As for propaganda, yes, I’m sure that will be used. Trump’s been spouting propaganda since 2105. But I’m not worried about that. He maxed out on the amount of people who were dumb enough to believe him back in 2016 and that number’s been falling ever since. I’m not worried about the possibility that Trump will actually win the election. The only thing we need to worry about is the possibility that the Republicans will adjust the outcome of the actual votes so they can declare Trump won.
And this only works if the election is a close one. You could maybe pull it off in 2016, when the margins were small. They’d really struggle to pull it off with a Biden win of anything over about 6-7% in any state. That’s why this election must be decisive.
I hope no one takes the importance of their individual vote for granted in 2020.
Yes, if the Republicans try to steal this election, it will have to be the biggest stolen election in history.
I was just running the numbers. If the election were held today based on the most recent polls, Biden would win with 412 Electoral Votes to Trump’s 126.
I don’t feel low turnout will help Trump. I think after 2016 nobody is going to take his defeat for granted. And I feel that after his disastrous performance in office, people want to vote against him - even in states which are safely Biden’s. This is just my opinion but I feel we’re going to see more Republicans staying home than Democrats.
Well, obviously that is an all together different issue. And indeed, they only need to do it in certain places if all they want is the presidency. They certainly could easily try it where they have partisans holding Secretary of State positions. However, the more people it involves, the greater the risk that it may be exposed. And really, they’re putting up with Trump because they want Congress, so it would really have to be more widespread than just that. Most of the people who work in electoral systems seem to be principled, and it will be hard to keep it under wraps. It would definitely be an audacious undertaking.
I think this is right, though I won’t take it for granted. I know many people who were apathetic in 2016. No more.
Everyone I know would crawl nekkid through shattered glass in a cold, heavy thunderstorm to vote against this fucker in 2020. They’ve been waiting in excruciating agony for 4 years to have their chance to help get rid of him. The high energy has held since the “oops” 2016 election. Record turnout in every election since, all favoring Dems.
Again, no one should take this for granted. But I think with high turnout, nothing Republicans attempt will allow them to steal it. And honestly, I think quite a number of them are pretty sick of him, too – though they won’t say so out loud.
Still, it was mealy-mouthed Lindsey Graham who singlehandedly saved the SDNY from Barr’s machinations. (At least, for now.) Fascinating how he found his balls right after he won his primary.
There’s even some speculation that if Trump thinks he’s going to lose, he’ll maybe pull a flounce sometime along about August. “I gave you assholes the best economy!! The best military!! The best people!! You don’t deserve me!! I’m outta here!!”
That would be interesting.
Who was it that recently said that if you spout rheteric to fire up the base to vote for you, that you will also inspire an equal number to vote against you? It was in the news a week or two ago.
I’m thinking after the election. Orange-man doesn’t have the balls to fire anyone, he lets his drudges do it. I can see him resigning with Pence doing lame duck service and pardoning covidiot one. Then it’s NY attorney time with state charges.