Just want to take a second and point out for all those suject to Trump's revolving White House door, Betsy "I have the worst cabinet confirmation hearing in history" DeVos somehow managed to last the entire 4 years.
I seriously never expected that to happen, totally thought she'd be gone within months.
She is the most important piece. Completely destroying American education is the only way to continue this madness.
And conservatives aren’t on the cusp of a nazi regime.
The general hyperbole and inflammatory terms are thrown towards the right far more.
Conservatives are not. And I think it’s very important to point out that conservatism is not inherently or even naturally a fascist ideology.
But Trump isn’t really a true conservative either. He is a “Trumpist.” We have seen what “Trumpism” is for the past 4 years. It’s a vehicle for voicing aggrieved white male aggression, and giving voice and credence to the most bizarre conspiracy theories as well as the vilest racists in American society. And it is an ideology that rejects majority rule and the very concept of checks and balances on executive power and on whether an executive abuses that power. It also rejects the notion that the executive branch should be in any way separate from the judiciary or from the LAW enforcement branches of government—and if that last one doesn’t scare you, you weren’t paying attention in high school social studies class.
And to make all of that worse, Trump is undeniably dangerous to small d democratic values, and his all but open calling to violence and unrest if he loses is an incredibly toxic mix. And he does show signs of openly wanting to undermine the key democratic norms that underpin liberal democracy (one of which is peaceful transfer of power; another is securing access to the ballot for those legally entitled to vote).
Now what does all of that add up to? For me, that doesn’t look like “conservatism”. For one thing it’s way too radical. It reimagines the social order with Trump as a strongman at its Center who can act with total authority and absolute immunity. He has not yet succeeded in bringing that about, but we KNOW he wants to because he says so. He has been saying the quiet part out loud for FOUR YEARS!
That is why many conservatives are actually voting against Trump. It’s why the Lincoln Project opposes him. It’s why Michael Steele, former chairman of the GOP, opposes Trump. It’s why arch-conservative David Frum opposes Trump. It’s why Bill Kristol hates and rejects Trumpism.
The reason is pretty simple. True conservatives reject fascism, including this sort of nascent not-yet-fully-realized proto-fascism. I hope enough of them see who Trump is to make the right choice for the American democracy. Polls suggest they do but we will see, starting today.
This election, to me, is not about conservative vs liberal ideology. It is about restoring normal operations in one of the largest and most influential democratic societies (yes, I know it’s a “Republic..”) in the world, and stemming the tide of extremist politics that is happening throughout the west.
That’s why it’s not hyperbole to say that American democracy is on the ballot. It really and truly is.
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The polls are open on Election Day, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. (local time) Any voters waiting in line at 7:00 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.
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But I think in the US they can start counting and reporting the eastern time counties first? There aren't blackout rules like in Canada. Also I believe Florida has already counted the advanced ballots.
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But I think in the US they can start counting and reporting the eastern time counties first? There aren't blackout rules like in Canada. Also I believe Florida has already counted the advanced ballots.
We don't have blackout rules, we used to, but not anymore.
Now I live in the second most Easterly timezone (Newfoundland is a half hour head of us) so I could be wrong as I'd see the results as they came in pretty much right away regardless.
I thought they did away with that years ago. I seem to remember CP freaking out because Atlantic Canada was voting Liberal and it looked like they had this massive lead, when in reality Atlantic Canada always voted Liberal and the fine folks in Alberta just weren't used to seeing the numbers come in without Quebec and Ontario already up.
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But I think in the US they can start counting and reporting the eastern time counties first? There aren't blackout rules like in Canada. Also I believe Florida has already counted the advanced ballots.
I believe that rule was changed after the 2000 debacle. In that election, they started reporting the Florida results when polls in the Eastern Time Zone closed. The tv networks initially called Florida as a win for Al Gore based on early results, and many voters who were queuing to vote in the Central Time Zone areas of the state went home since it was already "over". Then more votes came in and the state moved back into the undecided column. Ultimately the Supreme Court intervened to stop the recount in a purely partisan 5-4 ruling, and George W. Bush was declared the winner.
AFAIK, since that disaster, Florida no longer announces any results until polls have closed across the entire state.
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This has been just a brutal election cycle. A brutal four years. There has not been a political or cultural norm in the country that Trump has not managed to at least take a piss on, and then others he has completely destroyed. I honestly don't think people know what is up for grabs in this election. If the United States slides any further toward authoritarianism the impact to the rest of the globe will be immense. The loss of freedoms will be felt around the globe.
I hope that as Americans take to the polls they remind themselves this is not just about defeating Trump. This is not just about tossing Cheeto Mussolini out in the street. This is about removing the likes of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State; Steve Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury; William Barr as Attorney General; Wilbur Ross as Secretary of Commerce; Alex Azar as Secretary of Health and Human Services; Ben Carson as Secretary of HUD; Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education; Mark Meadows as Chief of Staff; John Ratcliffe as DNI; Andrew Wheeler from the EPA; and so on and so on. This is a vote to cleanse the system of these people who work against the very departments they are supposed to oversee.
This, I think, is the single most important thing about this election and - to Slava's point posted above - is the reason this election is more important than others in recent American history.
No other administration has actively worked to undermine and dismantle the very institutions that make America the democracy that it is and has long been. Trump has attacked and undermined the democratic process, the courts, the civil service, the rule of law, the very union binding the states together. This is not an election that is primarily about decency, or policy, or personality: it is a referendum on American democracy as we know it.
In no prior US election in living memory have the stakes been this high. The only one that comes close is the last one (2016), but at that time the US had fairly robust institutions that - to varying degrees - have weathered the assault over the past 4 years. Those institutions are now incredibly weak and/or corrupted, and another 4 years will change them beyond recognition (and effectively finish many of them off).
One of the great bulwarks for any democratic government it its civil service, which carries out the day-to-day functions of running the country. The civil service is incredibly resistant to change, as it takes significant effort and time to change the personnel and practices of the people to make up the administrative state. Trump has already had an outsized impact on the civil service, and a further 4 years is enough time to corrupt and undermine its culture in a way that will require a similar effort (and similar time) to undo.
If Biden wins, his administration must immediately begin the task of weeding out the Trump culture from America's various institutions. That starts with the names that New Era mentions directly, but extends down to the roots: the people that have been hired/appointed in every agency under Trump's watch, from senior executives to file clerks. It's a monumental task, but really important if the US is to regain its strength before 2024 rolls around.
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The federal judge who's been overseeing the lawsuit against USPS is issuing an order for USPS office of the inspector general to do sweeps of low-scoring mail-sorting facilities today to search for undelivered ballots.
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