# What's Trump's October Surprise? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 17, 2020, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544 "2020-07-17T03:13:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/384 "2020-10-29T19:27:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > They will also wonder why Putin has every bit of intel and military secrets that the US possesses. > > Well, they probably won’t wonder. That ship’s probably sailed. Putin undoubtedly had all that stuff back in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/385 "2020-10-30T17:14:04Z")
It says something that _The Economist_ – the magazine of free trade and free markets – has endorsed the Democrat in the last five U.S. presidential elections. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/386 "2020-10-30T19:00:01Z")
Trump’s October surprise is that he doesn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/387 "2020-10-30T21:44:48Z")
“I never had Covid. Biden tried to give it to me!” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/388 "2020-10-30T22:20:58Z")
Well, he’s running out of October, and so far all the surprises have been at his expense. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/389 "2020-10-30T22:59:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > Everything I’m seeing about this says they left themselves a large loophole, which will permit them to re-visit the case AFTER the election: > > Yeah, at a point when they’d know **definitively** which way it could tip the outcome. > > Not that they’d consider that, of course. They’re above all that. 🤣 John Roberts will turn green at the thought of such blatantly partisan SCOTUS rulings. But the five Pro-Stone-Age j’s will have no problem with them, of course. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/390 "2020-10-30T23:00:57Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > It says something that _The Economist_ – the magazine of free trade and free markets – has endorsed the Democrat in the last five U.S. presidential elections. That’s a pretty strong indicator that the parties’ self-descriptions are drastically overdue for revision. The idea that Republicans stand for fiscal conservatism is particularly risible. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2020, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/391 "2020-10-31T12:04:17Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The idea that Republicans stand for **fiscal conservatism** is particularly risible. I’ve made a concerted effort the last few years to replace that term with “fiscal responsibility”, for that very reason. Conservatives the world over haven’t been responsible in any meaningful way for a long time now. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/392 "2020-10-31T14:45:39Z")
It will be interesting reading his dissents if he is part of the minority. If the Republican nominated Chief justice starts accusing the rest of the court of ruling based on partisanship rather than on merit, that could create a compelling argument for “packing the courts”. I’m sure he would not do so in so many words, but rather in the passive aggressive way that experienced jurists have of expressing their disapproval. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/393 "2020-10-31T16:56:46Z")
I think he’ll just go along. 6-3 looks less partisan, more like solid majority, than 5-4. Wherever his personal views may take him on a case, he wants the court to look “good”. That especially means “no sniping”. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/394 "2020-10-31T17:07:16Z")
I do not pretend to read the mind of Roberts, just speculate as to his possible future actions. But, 6-3 along partisan lines looks pretty partisan, 5-4 with bipartisanship looks like less. I guess it is a question as to whether he wants the individual rulings to look “good” or if he wants to prevent the court from looking as though it were simply a partisan arm of the Republican party. Whether he wants his legacy to be of trying to prevent SCOTUS from being politicized, or whether he wants to be “go along”. Ultimately, he will do what he believes is in his own best interest. I just hope that his interests and the interests of the country of which he heads the court that presides over it align. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/395 "2020-10-31T17:17:49Z")
It was Hunter. Not a surprise and it only worked on the faithful. If you read larry Correia’s FB page he was all over that like flies on shit. Strangely, it has gotten rather quite there now, with cute dog pics instead… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/396 "2020-10-31T17:19:27Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The idea that Republicans stand for fiscal conservatism is particularly risible. Dems are Tax and spend. Pubs are borrow and spend. (then blame the deficit on the Dems) Oddly the Dems are more fiscally conservative then. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/397 "2020-10-31T17:41:30Z")
Low energy concession speech was NOT on my October Surprise bingo card: > ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/398 "2020-10-31T18:36:45Z")
“I coulda been a contender”, eh? Can’t quite see him as Brando, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/399 "2020-10-31T18:50:17Z")
It seems fitting that the thing he’s focused on, and depressed about, is that Joe has raised more money than him. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/400 "2020-10-31T23:22:51Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > The idea that Republicans stand for **fiscal conservatism** is particularly risible. > > I’ve made a concerted effort the last few years to replace that term with “fiscal responsibility”, for that very reason. Conservatives the world over haven’t been responsible in any meaningful way for a long time now. Makes sense to me. > [@DrDeth](#): > > Dems are Tax and spend. Pubs are borrow and spend. (then blame the deficit on the Dems) > Oddly the Dems are more fiscally conservative then. Agreed here, too. The statistics tell a story that Republican claims can’t really overcome: over the years of Dem Administrations then GOP Administrations, it’s easy to see when the nation has done better economically, and when it’s done worse. At this point Republicans are merely the party of white grievance, and nothing much else. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/401 "2020-10-31T23:25:34Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It seems fitting that the thing he’s focused on, and depressed about, is that Joe has raised more money than him. If only Vlad would part with a few million of his personal\* wealth and write Donald a big fat check, then Donald could feel good about himself again! That formula, varied according to which oligarch or bank was Vlad’s cover, has worked for years, after all… \*looted from his citizens, of course, the way any Big Boss Dictator does it!!! ---
**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 1, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/402 "2020-11-01T02:38:55Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If only Vlad would part with a few million of his personal\* wealth and write Donald a big fat check, What’s a few million rubles worth these days anyway? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544/403 "2020-11-01T03:42:27Z")
Indeed, **DrDeth** , the October surprise is how useless the attempt was, what a flop the Hunter gambit proved to be, and how none of Trump’s attack lines seems to be working worth a damn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-trumps-october-surprise/915544.md?page=21)