American Politics Thread: The Hunt for Blue November

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Doesn't make sense.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1313559949667192833

Someone replied: Dexamethasone is a helluva drug.

[direwolf]

Yea, this is an extremely bizarre and stupid move, even for Trump. Seems like every day it appears more and more like he's intentionally trying to lose the election.

[Senator Clay Davis]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1313556681826107392

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Yea, this is an extremely bizarre and stupid move, even for Trump. Seems like every day it appears more and more like he's intentionally trying to lose the election.

Him doing the seemingly worse possible thing he could muster worked last time around, didn't it?

[Maritime Q-Scout]

He's basically acting like a 5 year old that is losing a board game. If he can't win, he's gonna destroy the board.



Throw a tantrum and make such a mess that it will take a generation or two to recover.

"If I can't be President, then no one can!"

[octothorp]

Can you imagine what relief negotiations would be like between a defeated Trump and GOP senate, vs. Biden and the Democrats? Trump would hold everything hostage for personal gain (and assurances of non-prosecution even at the state level) at that point, and essentially make further stimulus impossible until Biden takes over. So it could realistically be four months before a good-faith stimulus package is even up for discussion.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Can you imagine what relief negotiations would be like between a defeated Trump and GOP senate, vs. Biden and the Democrats? Trump would hold everything hostage for personal gain (and assurances of non-prosecution even at the state level) at that point, and essentially make further stimulus impossible until Biden takes over. So it could realistically be four months before a good-faith stimulus package is even up for discussion.

Well transition would be non-existent and somewhat not needed (as Biden has been there for 8 of the previous 12 years).

Couldn't that time be used to negotiate and work with the states as President-Elect, then hit the ground running in January?

Edit: after posting this, I'm realizing you mean four months from today, and not the red tape and lag from taking office.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Is it possible Trump gets to -20 now with the stimulus rejection?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1313574918689259530

[direwolf]

Looks like the Pence/Harris debate will go ahead as planned, but with the two standing 13 feet apart and separated by a plexiglass barrier.



Of course Pence's team objected to the plexiglass.


https://www.politico.com/news/2020/1...-debate-426514

The Commission on Presidential Debates has approved plans for plexiglass to be used in Wednesday’s vice presidential debate amid mounting concerns about coronavirus transmission, according to two people familiar with the discussions.


Plexiglass is expected to be used as a barrier between Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris, as well as between the two candidates and moderator Susan Page. The plans have the support of the Cleveland Clinic, which is helping to set health protocols for the forums amid the pandemic.


The Pence and Harris teams have been negotiating the terms of the debate in recent days. Following Friday’s news that President Donald Trump had contracted Covid-19, the debate commission decided to move the two candidates seats from seven feet to 13 feet apart.






But the two camps were split over whether to erect a plexiglass barrier, according to people familiar with the talks. Harris' campaign supported it, Pence's opposed it.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Looks like the Pence/Harris debate will go ahead as planned, but with the two standing 13 feet apart and separated by a plexiglass barrier.

Of course Pence's team objected to the plexiglass.


https://www.politico.com/news/2020/1...-debate-426514

I'm surprised Pence is against anything that keeps him physically separated from a woman he isn't married to.

[Sluggo]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Is it possible Trump gets to -20 now with the stimulus rejection?

It's not going to get less crazy. He might threaten to start a war in the lame duck if the voters don't vote for him.

[troutman]

How Hatred Came To Dominate American Politics

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...ican-politics/

This is hardly a new trend; in fact, it’s increasingly common among American voters. However, this level of hatred — which political scientists call “negative partisanship” — has reached levels that are not just bad for democracy, but are potentially destructive. And extreme partisan animosity is a prelude to democratic collapse.

There are two possible ways this ends. The first is the one we all fear — the unwinding of our democracy, because one or both sides hate each other so much that they are willing to support anti-democratic and authoritarian leadership in order to maintain power. (This is the threat Democrats have explicitly raised in recent months.)

The other scenario is a major realignment and/or a collapse of one (or both) of the two major parties, which could reorient American political coalitions and resurrect some of the overlaps of an earlier era. The growing partisan hatreds and the forces driving them have been a long time in the making. It’s possible they are coming to an end. But more than any other time in the last century and a half, they are testing the very foundations of American democracy.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Sluggo

It's not going to get less crazy. He might threaten to start a war in the lame duck if the voters don't vote for him.

For which he will re-institute the draft only for states that voted against him no doubt.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

For which he will re-institute the draft only for states that voted against him no doubt.

No big deal, Pelosi will clap back at him with a *savage* tweet and side eye.

[ernie]

I know this is likely just another spur of the moment temper tantrum by Trump but let’s pretend there is a strategy in stopping the stimulus talks...I mean one that doesn’t just include a guy trying to take advantage of the temporary tanking of the stick market that is likely to occur.

Does he think people will vote for him based on “vote for me and I’ll pass a stimulus package right after!” It would be a pathetic attempt at buying votes when the better method would be to buy the votes before the election....

Nothing he or his campaign are doing right now makes a lick of sense.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I read somewhere that in Wisconsin, because of gerrymandering, Democrats need to get roughly 65% of the popular vote just to win the state.

That’s not how the presidential ballot works. That might be true for the State legislature but the Wisconsin electoral votes simply go to the statewide popular vote winner.

What it does mean is that it’s very possible for the State to vote democratic at the top of the ticket but also elect a republican legislature.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

For which he will re-institute the draft only for states that voted against him no doubt.

this would be a good thing, arming and training the blue states would be almost as stupid as refusing the stimulus bill

[Fuzz]

Has someone told him there is no #1 draft pick for tanking the presidential race?

[nik-]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

No big deal, Pelosi will clap back at him with a *savage* tweet and side eye.

Is this the 2020 Nero fiddling?

[MissTeeks]

Facebook bans QAnon across its platforms:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...forms-n1242339

Facebook said Tuesday that it is banning all QAnon accounts from its platforms, a significant escalation over its previous actions and one of the broadest rules the social media giant has put in place in its history.

Facebook said the change is an update on the policy it created in August that initially only removed accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory that discussed violence, which resulted in the termination of 1,500 pages, groups and profiles.

“Starting today, we will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon. We’re starting to enforce this updated policy today and are removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks,” Facebook wrote in a press release. “Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports.”