Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[PhaelixWW]

Its being discussed that Chris Christie coached Trump to interrupt Biden that much because he thought it would cause him to stutter and they could push the whole Biden is senile lie.

This was my initial assessment while watching the debate, too. Trump was so wholly focused on Biden, that it was hard to imagine otherwise.

[Elegiac]

Its being discussed that Chris Christie coached Trump to interrupt Biden that much because he thought it would cause him to stutter and they could push the whole Biden is senile lie.

Yeah, this has been floated around a lot since the debate and it makes particular sense - especially given the whole dementia thing is one of those right wing talking points that has gained purchase due to bad faith cosplay leftists as well as the right wing propaganda machine, so playing to that might actually have had an impact.

If, you know, Biden weren't actually semi-competent and in possession of his faculties. It also looks doubly stupid to try and harp on an opponent's health when you're currently incubating plague in your lungs.

[JohnBrown1917]

This seriously is not true. There's a whole concept called a "minority government" that involves the lack of such a coalition. I'm not sure you're familiar with multi-party systems, in practice, if you don't even know what a minority government is and how it functions.



History shows us this is just obviously wrong. Because it literally happened. In Nazi Germany. Not understanding what a minority government is, and now you're forgetting how the Nazis rose to power.


This is just blatantly false, on its face. A straight-up lie.

A minority government needs to be approved by 51% of the seats. And nazi germany is a terrible example because Hitler took power by A) Jailing all communist politicions and most of those in the SPD and B) getting voted into absolute power by a super-majority of the remaining members of parliament.

[Endus]

Minority governments are only called in case of 'great emergencies' as far as I know.

Then you don't know what you're talking about. That's sort of the point.

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

And I would know as my own country has been without a government twice for nearly two years, because of the struggles of getting a majority government together.

Belgium's the odd duck.

Which you'd know, if you understood much about the concept of minority governments in general.

Either way... arguing that FPTP is better is still nonsense. In a FPTP system the 'nazi party' in this case would literally get the majority of the seats even if they only have a quarter of the votes.

The question is, better than what? Proportional representation? Because the Weimar Republic used proportional representation rather than FPTP and, well . . .

Also, unless every single parliamentary riding or the equivalent is split in exactly the same way as the national vote, it's highly unlikely that FPTP could work out the way you describe. More-often, ridings have strong variations between them, and strong preferences for certain parties or candidates. This tends to make the national parliament fairly similar to the prevalence of each party in the national vote. Plus, there's always the possibility of coalitions if you don't want the Nazis to form the government with 25% of the vote; two parties that can combine to garner 26% or more can form a coalition and petition to form the government instead. Standard practice in parliamentary systems. It's also kind of odd that you're now expressing an understanding of how minority governments work, when you feigned ignorance before.

[Milchshake]

Yeah, this has been floated around a lot since the debate and it makes particular sense - especially given the whole dementia thing is one of those right wing talking points that has gained purchase due to bad faith cosplay leftists as well as the right wing propaganda machine, so playing to that might actually have had an impact.

If, you know, Biden weren't actually semi-competent and in possession of his faculties. It also looks doubly stupid to try and harp on an opponent's health when you're currently incubating plague in your lungs.

I remember when a certain faction in the Dem Primary went-in on the "Dementia Joe", or "Sundowning Joe" memes.

It was also a precursor of their campaign's eventual demise.

That and a 30% strategy. Where a campaign alienates everyone but their base.

29 Days to see if these parallels hold up.

What exactly are you trying to show here? How parties in a relevant multiparty democracy need to compromise with other parties in order to form a government, as opposed to burning all bridges and going full partisan hack mode?

As A Belgian I can safely say our multi-party system is struggling due to fragmentation of votes and needing 5-7 parties to form a government but at least it forces politicians to always keep cooperation with other political parties in mind and continuously work on relationship management if they want to be part of the ruling majority.

Does Belgium really need 2 Green parties?

This feels like an exaggeration of the supidity of factionalism. I mean solving environmental issues will take broad national and and international cooperation. Splitting up into smaller regional parties seems like the opposite.

Just get married already! Combine resources to build a nice future.

[Endus]

A minority government needs to be approved by 51% of the seats.

If a minority government holds 51% of the seats, it isn't a minority government; it's a majority government.

If you're referring to whether there'll be a vote of non-confidence against the minority government, that absolutely can and does happen, but it's risky for the other parties, because electorates don't often support non-confidence votes unless there's a darn good reason beyond political gamesmanship. They'll often respond negatively, and that means the party triggering the vote loses out in the subsequent election, giving the minority government more power.

And nazi germany is a terrible example because Hitler took power by A) Jailing all communist politicions and most of those in the SPD and B) getting voted into absolute power by a super-majority of the remaining members of parliament.

And? They achieved what Arch-Angel was claiming was impossible. They did so through terrible means, but they did so. We're not talking hypothetical utopian cases that exist in a vacuum, we're talking practical realities.

[Felya]

Because he literally tweeted about it as incentive for Republicans to go vote.

But, you know that it’s a joke at best, based on your reply? Why the misinformation, if you know better?

[PhaelixWW]

Makes perfect sense to do to someone known to have a stutter, since being interrupted is the biggest pain in the arse for them in that regard. It just plays up that stutter much more, thus making it easier to go for the "senile" and "dementia" angle that they're trying to push so hard.

Its a massively dick move. One you should expect from this massive bag of dicks called an administration.

But it's funny; like usual, Trump was his own worse enemy, though. He interrupted so much that any pause Biden had was easily justifiable. Had Trump really wanted to use the interruptions to good effect, he should have alternated interruptions with silence, allowing the dead air while Biden potentially fumbled a response. Instead, Trump just kept on talking over Biden, which made Biden look better.

[Edge-]

But it's funny; like usual, Trump was his own worse enemy, though. He interrupted so much that any pause Biden had was easily justifiable. Had Trump really wanted to use the interruptions to good effect, he should have alternated interruptions with silence, allowing the dead air while Biden potentially fumbled a response. Instead, Trump just kept on talking over Biden, which made Biden look better.

You just lost the RADICAL LEFT.

Edit: Am I the only one that instantly think of a 90's kid with a skateboard and backwards hat whenever they say "RADICAL LEFT"?

[Calfredd]

You just lost the RADICAL LEFT.

Edit: Am I the only one that instantly think of a 90's kid with a skateboard and backwards hat whenever they say "RADICAL LEFT"?

No but now I have that image of Steve Buscemi dressed as a skateboarder and saying "How do you do, fellow kids?"

[Rasulis]

I don't think enthusiasm will be an issue this election. My sister went to vote at SF Civic Center this morning. She got there at 7:30 am and there was a long line already. Partly due to the 6 - 8 feet spacing. It went fast though. Poll opened at 8:00 am and she was out by 8:15.

[Edge-]

Cross posting this because it's relevant -

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/10/05/m...mpression=true

One of the White House reporters who has come down with coronavirus, Michael Shear of The New York Times, is pretty sure he was infected on the day President Trump announced his pick for the Supreme Court.

Nine days later, Shear has not heard one word from the White House about any contract tracing efforts.

"I have not been contacted by the White House," Shear said on CNN's "New Day" Monday morning. "Nobody from the White House has said 'boo' and asked anything about where I was or who I talked to or who else I might have infected."

Shear said the lack of followup "just shows you that they're not, you know, they're not taking it seriously, at least as it pertains to themselves."

"The president is, you know, following a completely different set of rules than everybody else in America," he added.

The administration can't even contact trace. How are they supposed to run a country?

[Thekri]

Cross posting this because it's relevant -

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/10/05/m...mpression=true



The administration can't even contact trace. How are they supposed to run a country?

Obviously they don't run a country. They have never attempted to run a country. They simply sabotage the government that already existed, troll the American people, and steal everything that isn't nailed down. When it comes time to be competent so they can save their own asses, they literally don't know how.

[Rasulis]

Cross posting this because it's relevant -

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/10/05/m...mpression=true



The administration can't even contact trace. How are they supposed to run a country?

How do anybody expect this administration to run the country when they can't even manage a simple contact tracing properly?

[Elegiac]

Obviously they don't run a country. They have never attempted to run a country. They simply sabotage the government that already existed, troll the American people, and steal everything that isn't nailed down. When it comes time to be competent so they can save their own asses, they literally don't know how.

You can just say the GOP, you know.

[Milchshake]

Pollster Nate Cohn has an update on AZ.

Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Arizona, 49 to 41 percent, in a new Times/Siena survey.
Democrat Mark Kelly leads Republican Martha McSally, 50 to 39 percent, in the US Senate race.

In our poll, voters without a record of voting in 2016 make up 32% of the electorate, and they break overwhelmingly for Biden--who leads by 2 pts among likely 2016 voters.


Again, I would like to thank the primary voters of SC. For picking the candidate with the better upside.

[bladeXcrasher]

Helmut Norpoth has Trump winning in a landslide and the Trumphadis are pissing all over themselves on social media right now.

[cubby]

Helmut Norpoth has Trump winning in a landslide and the Trumphadis are pissing all over themselves on social media right now.

I hope he's able to make some good money from that - seems that's the Grifter of Politics only goal.

- - - Updated - - -

Pollster Nate Cohn has an update on AZ.

Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Arizona, 49 to 41 percent, in a new Times/Siena survey.
Democrat Mark Kelly leads Republican Martha McSally, 50 to 39 percent, in the US Senate race.

In our poll, voters without a record of voting in 2016 make up 32% of the electorate, and they break overwhelmingly for Biden--who leads by 2 pts among likely 2016 voters.


Again, I would like to thank the primary voters of SC. For picking the candidate with the better upside.

Indeed. Bernie would have been horrific.

[D Luniz]

Helmut Norpoth has Trump winning in a landslide and the Trumphadis are pissing all over themselves on social media right now.

Wasn't that back in late August he said that?

[Eviscero]

Again, I would like to thank the primary voters of SC. For picking the candidate with the better upside.

Yes, thank you black voters (especially women) for securing Biden's SC victory. If the turnout for the general in swing states shows similar upticks (ehem, nearly double that of 2016 primary in SC), Biden will win handily.