Trump

[gaggedLouise]

The problem is, like everything else, Trump feels no obligation to actually obey court findings. He habitually 'runs out the clock' by appealing court decisions repeatedly and thus delaying the implementation of the order, and even at the top level it's almost impossible to make him comply. The Attorney General is his stooge, and he has a majority on the Supreme Court.

Yes, he's wasting huge amounts of money on court battles like that - both for himself personally and for his campaign. Actually that's a big reason why his campaign "war chest" is bleeding money fast.

But aren't the decisions by federal judges often effective immediately, even after an attempt to appeal is set in motion?

[gaggedLouise]

Democrats broke records donating to those running against seated Republicans last night. One fund ("Get Mitch or Die Trying") that splits donations between 13 Senate races  is over $16million that (i think, to my understanding) did the majority of that fund raising last night.

I wish political parties and the media here (in Sweden) had that kind of funky, shameless, innovative sense of humour when coining slogans and stuff. If a party or an NGO here wanted to run that sort of slogan, or a newspaper running a caricature in that vein, it would either raise a big outcry in the media, or more likely it would have been vetoed already before it got to the launch-pad. "Are you seriously joking about getting a political bigwig killed? - and alluding to a man who actually was murdered?". Total no-no around here, these days. The public sphere here has become more and more wishy-washy and frumpy about slogans and memes like that one. 

[Oniya]

I wish political parties and the media here (in Sweden) had that kind of funky, shameless, innovative sense of humour when coining slogans and stuff. If a party or an NGO here wanted to run that sort of slogan, or a newspaper running a caricature in that vein, it would either raise a big outcry in the media, or more likely it would have been vetoed already before it got to the launch-pad. "Are you seriously joking about getting a political bigwig killed? - and alluding to a man who actually was murdered?".

Um - I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is a take-off on 'Get Rich or Die Tryin', which is a quasi-autobiographical album and film about 50 Cent, who seems to be alive and well.

[gaggedLouise]

Um - I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is a take-off on 'Get Rich or Die Tryin', which is a quasi-autobiographical album and film about 50 Cent, who seems to be alive and well.

My bad, I thought "Get Rich..." was a Tupac album. :) And of course "get" doesn't denote "shoot" there. But I still think this kind of funny slogan would have been seen as totally off limits in this country, it would have been slammed as dangerous and offensive - unless it had been used by someone with super-high standing against a person or movement with no standing at all in public discourse - equal to Bernie Sanders cracking a joke about the Westboro Church.

The media and public people here have become more and more up-tight about using that kind of "risky", allusive jokes over the last twenty years or so, as soon as it's aimed at the general public, not within a small, closed circle.

[TheHangedOne]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/20/trump-threatens-to-issue-executive-order-preventing-biden-from-being-elected-president/#77273e576f6e

Trump has said he "might" just pass an executive order that prevents Biden from being president.

That's where we're at today.

[TheGlyphstone]

Honestly? It's just another example of what we already know, the man doesn't even understand how the tools he's legally allowed to use work. He's threatened to do all sorts of weird, bizarre, illegal stuff, and half the time it does seem solely intended to rile people up. The news is slow right now, and he needs to draw media attention away from the serious issues plaguing him - "Trump Says Wacky and Ridiculous Thing" is a great deflector.

[Aiden]

El Pedejo Presidente must have heard that Biden has 180 million over his funding in the bank

[gaggedLouise]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/20/trump-threatens-to-issue-executive-order-preventing-biden-from-being-elected-president/#77273e576f6e

Trump has said he "might" just pass an executive order that prevents Biden from being president.

That's where we're at today.

Sounds like an obvious griff to me, something he's just saying to fire up his fans and rile up the media.

But it's striking that the FEC (the agency handling elections on a federal level - I only looked them up today) seems completely silent in the face of Trump's attacks on the elections. They're keeping a really low profile - seems like a weak government agency. In most stable democratic countries, that kind of bureau would have spoken up by now and tried to address these claims and counter-claims about vote fraud etc. I suppose the FEC is also a victim of political infighting.

[gaggedLouise]

Turns out the FEC is only regulatory . it's got no operative function in running US nationwide elections. Also...uh-oh.

The commission has not functioned since July 2020 due to lack of a quorum. In the absence of a quorum, the commission cannot vote on complaints or give guidance through advisory opinions. As at May 19, 2020, there were 350 outstanding matters on the agency’s enforcement docket and 227 items waiting for action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission

And of course, the board members of the FEC are old ex-politicians, nominated by the president and voted on by Congress - a recipe for political polarization (and sometimes stalemate) inside the bunch.

[Lilias]

Well, this is... depressing. And terrifying.

https://medium.com/@mikeselinker/a-wargame-designer-describes-our-four-possible-civil-wars-cf5b2e980099

[TheGlyphstone]

Well, this is... depressing. And terrifying.

https://medium.com/@mikeselinker/a-wargame-designer-describes-our-four-possible-civil-wars-cf5b2e980099

It's certainly alarmist. But the idea that it's being written and taken seriously by someone who's not a gibbering tinfoil hat wearer is itself very alarming for plausibility.

Personally, I think we'd see more something like a 1.5 or 2.5; I don't think Trump has the guts to openly call for civil war. He'll happily spin it to his benefit if its spontaneous, but he doesn't understand how to initiate it.

[stormwyrm]

And now it looks like Trump has no real intention to relinquish power, no matter what may happen:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/23/report-trump-campaign-actively-discussing-radical-measures-to-bypass-election-results/

Original report here (may be paywalled):

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

Seems that all this makes the previous analysis much more sobering...

[Aiden]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwxMQ7c9lwI

[Haibane]

Bloody hell. He looked extremely uncomfortable there. Was he supposed to leave the scene at that point or did he terminate his period of respects and go early?

And as for the previous links... I am shuddering and deeply disturbed, and this isn't even happening in my country.

[Missy]

Trumped charged the previous election as fraudulent when he thought he was going to lose. Trump doesn't care to make the time for facts or truth on any level, he doesn't care about truth or reason. He only cares about himself and whatever false and twisted narrative serves his purposes. If he thinks he's about to lose then the other guy is cheating, even if they're not, if he wins then it was most assuredly a fair fight, no matter how much Trump cheated.

[TheGlyphstone]

Heck, he claimed the previous election was fraudulent even after he won, because he didn't win by enough.

[Missy]

yeah basically trumped up claims and shit.

[TheGlyphstone]

yeah basically trumped up claims and shit.

*sad trombone*

[Beguile's Mistress]

I loved the look on his face when he was standing at the memorial for RBG and the crowd began shouting:  "Vote him out!  Vote him out!"

He looked like he wanted to shout back but didn't have the guts.

[Haibane]

When he visited the UK several years ago (the trip where he famously walked in front of the Queen) he was at some event and a crowd of protesters began shouting "Trump is a c*nt! Trump is a c*nt!" and he maybe didn't hear them because he made comments later that people were cheering him. His extreme narcissism just blanks out the hate and converts it into adoration. He's a sick person and mentally unfit to be where he is.

As I commented a few weeks back, the USA at this rate is heading to be a much bigger Belarus.

[TheGlyphstone]

When he visited the UK several years ago (the trip where he famously walked in front of the Queen) he was at some event and a crowd of protesters began shouting "Trump is a c*nt! Trump is a c*nt!" and he maybe didn't hear them because he made comments later that people were cheering him. His extreme narcissism just blanks out the hate and converts it into adoration. He's a sick person and mentally unfit to be where he is.

As I commented a few weeks back, the USA at this rate is heading to be a much bigger Belarus.

Belarus is, frankly, one of the better possible outcomes. We've still got at least a 1-in-4 chance that Trump wins re-election; combined with his Supreme Court dominance, that road leads to becoming a much bigger, Evangelical Protestant version of Iran.

[Oniya]

Well, I can tell you that the 'Republican Party of Pennsylvania' is getting desperate.  My whole family is registered Democrats and we're getting Trump mailers.

[Missy]

Belarus is, frankly, one of the better possible outcomes. We've still got at least a 1-in-4 chance that Trump wins re-election; combined with his Supreme Court dominance, that road leads to becoming a much bigger, Evangelical Protestant version of Iran.

That's when C19 becomes the best thing to happen to the world

[TheGlyphstone]

We have chosen the form of the Destructor.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-amy-coney-barrett-could-change-the-supreme-court/

[TheHangedOne]

We have chosen the form of the Destructor.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-amy-coney-barrett-could-change-the-supreme-court/

I want off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride.