Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[Orange Joe]

I said they need to focus on winning the Senate and fixing the Judiciary, not "not doing nothing*". But prosecuting the Trump clan would likely hinder those efforts, massively.

The not doing nothing was in terms of not doing nothing to Trump.

[Stormspellz]

Yeah no.. not doing anything will embolden them even more.

I would let the state level stuff play out but not chase him federally, unless you can cement something major like him selling state secrets to russia for loan relief far beyond even Qanon's ability to spin it off as "deep state witch hunt"

let the states nail on all the financial fraud that alone would put in jail for the remainder of his life, and bankrupt whats left of his resources to boot

Edit: another way to hit is to expedite any foreign debt claims on his finances, imagine the sight of trump being evicted from his major properties.

[cordrann]

It's a crazy upside down world we live in where somehow "populism" has become the property of the right wing.

Imagine the peasants rising up in the middle ages due to a firebrand demagogue who convinces them that what they really need is more wealth and power for the kings and courtiers. "Yes, we will eat cake!".

Trump somehow has deluded millions of Americans into thinking he is actually in favor of helping working families and is against the elites. The level of cognitive dissonance required to be a blue collar republican (unless you only care about abortion and/or guns and nothing else) is absolutely mind boggling. These people don't even understand the very basics of how tax brackets work, you can't expect them to have any depth of analytical thought on basically anything.

[Mormolyce]

I fucking hate to have to be the one to say this...

Assuming Biden wins, attempting to prosecute Trump for whatever crimes committed prior Biden's inauguration will be perceived by his base a witch hunt. Considering his base's sheer fanaticism and numbers, combined with his cult of personality attempting to prosecute Trump will likely mobilize Republicans politically for the midterms and 2024, and possibly cause violent retaliation by the violent fringes.

It doesn't matter what you do. If you do something they hate, they'll use that to mobilise. If you don't, they'll lie and say you did. They are connected to life support machines that pump pure propaganda into their Covid-wracked lungs day in and day out. They are screaming, raging information bubble boys, the truth is immaterial to them.

The Left constantly quails at the prospect of truly confronting the Right. Whenever it does this, the Right takes ground. As far as I can tell this has been the case for all of American history. These people fought a war against you to protect slavery, you defeated them and basically let them off with a warning lol.

[Kallisto]

I fucking hate to have to be the one to say this...

Assuming Biden wins, attempting to prosecute Trump for whatever crimes committed prior Biden's inauguration will be perceived by his base a witch hunt. Considering his base's sheer fanaticism and numbers, combined with his cult of personality attempting to prosecute Trump will likely mobilize Republicans politically for the midterms and 2024, and possibly cause violent retaliation by the violent fringes.

Going after Trump would be a massive tactical and even greater strategic error. The best thing this administration can do for the next 4 years is to COMPLETELY IGNORE Trump. Assuming they can take the Senate in the Midterms and retain the House, they need to pick their fucking battles and focus on fixing the judiciary and winning in 2024, after that we can discuss going after Trump (if he's still alive) and his entire family.

Trying to do anything before that would be phenomenally counter productive.

Prosecuting the Trump's for anything they might do, if they do something shady (which they likely will) after January, that's a different conversation, but even then, the DoJ should steer clear as much as possible from any direct involvement, using state prosecutors.

Let them cry witch hunt. The US after Trump needs some kind of political purge just like Germany needed after WW2. Where the relics of the south (AKA revisionistic views on the confederacy.), far right groups, insane views on business and social needs are purged out of the system that is the US and the nation can join Europe, Canada, Aus, NZ and others into the western world once again.

[bmjclark]

Arizona has already been called for Biden.

NYT and CNN still haven't called it. AP and fox news have. It could still very well flip with 14% of the vote to be counted and biden only having a 3% lead but it's not very likely at this point considering how mail in ballots have treated biden so far.

[Mormolyce]

"If you work hard and make the kings and lords more money, there will be more money for them to give to you! And when, not if, but when, you become a noble, my dear peasant who has never left this 10-mile plot of land his entire life, you wouldn't want them to be taxing your newfound riches, would you?"

We can't pass the Magna Carta! That's socialism!

[beanman12345]

NYT and CNN still haven't called it. AP and fox news have. It could still very well flip with 14% of the vote to be counted and biden only having a 3% lead but it's not very likely at this point considering how mail in ballots have treated biden so far.

AP calling it, it's pretty safe. NYT and CNN won't call it to try to remain impartial towards the president's push against his fake news agenda.

[For_The_Horde]

Arizona has already been called for Biden.

By Yahoo and Fox News, but that was back when everyone thought 98% of the vote was in, instead of 86%, because someone was holding the tally upside down I'm guessing. That means there's 500-600k more votes to be counted, and if they skew to the right (which they can) Biden might be in trouble.

[infinitemeridian]

If Dems waste another 4 years on going after Trump's tax returns or screaming about Russia, then there is no hope for the party.

[PhaelixWW]

The President should have no role in the DoJ going after criminals. None.

Well... except for hiring an AG who will actually do what he's supposed to do.

That'd be a nice first step.

[Shadowferal]

Winners and losers from 2020's election

Winners
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
But the sweeter success for McConnell came in the broad resilience of Senate Republicans.

GOP senators who were widely considered in grave peril, most notably Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, prevailed. So too did Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who were among top Democratic targets.
-----
House Republicans
wasn't just Republicans in the upper chamber who had a good night. The same was true in the House, where several endangered GOP members, especially in suburban areas, held onto their seats.

Democrats look set to retain their House majority but Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) hopes of further cushioning her advantage appeared to be in vain.
----
The pollsters who stood out from the crowd

It was a bad night for pollsters as a whole - but some who were at odds with the consensus have been vindicated.
----
Lawyers

The Trump campaign's legal moves, if pursued, could prolong the election fight for days or weeks - and make the names of hitherto obscure election lawyers in the process.
-----
Losers

Most pollsters

For the second presidential cycle in a row, pollsters were left red-faced by a series of embarrassing misses.
After 2016, pollsters insisted that they had improved their methods. Now, they face a whole raft of new questions.
----
Democratic congressional leaders

Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had expected to strengthen their respective positions. Instead - to just about everyone's shock - they emerged weakened.

This will have been a particular blow to Schumer, who saw his chances of becoming majority leader slip away. The Democratic performance in the House will be a big disappointment to Pelosi too.
-----
Democratic donors

Democrats enjoyed big fundraising advantages, but their donors didn't seem to get much bang for their buck.
Yet even if Biden wins in the end, it will likely be with the narrowest Electoral College margin since at least 2004.

It was a similar story in Senate races. In South Carolina, Graham was outraised by Harrison by an eye-popping $30 million in the third quarter, yet the Republican appears to have won by double digits. Amy McGrath outraised McConnell by more than $32 million in the Kentucky Senate race on her way to a heavy defeat.
-----
National unity

The United States was deeply polarized before and during the presidential campaign. It would be fanciful to think those wounds would have been bound up if Biden had won a more clear-cut victory.

The actual result, however, seems like the worst possible outcome on that score.

[kaelleria]

AP calling it, it's pretty safe. NYT and CNN won't call it to try to remain impartial towards the president's push against his fake news agenda.

They're waiting for the dump in Maricopa at 9 to verify Trump isn't running +30. That's literally the only way he can win AZ.

It will be called almost immediately after the dump.

[Santti]

I think it’s Trump... :/

If Biden wins, I will take all the shit for being wrong with a smile. But...

You think so? Fuck. That's pretty damn depressing. It shouldn't even be close. 4 years of Trump has shown more than enough. But I guess politics is just sports over the pond. Or circus. Sigh...

Maybe we should all start intervening on US elections, so they don't fuck it up for themselves. And for the rest of us.

[arandomuser]

basically this race is down to nevada
if dems hold nevada biden wins

[beanman12345]

Trump campaign files lawsuits now in GA. wonder why?

[Xeones]

Trump campaign files lawsuits now in GA. wonder why?

Looks like the gap in GA just shrunk to 45K with more than that to go.

[Xyonai]

Trump campaign files lawsuits now in GA. wonder why?

It's looking to flip and most likely to play ball with the admin's fuckery? Idk, I think Trump's just throwing shit out there at this point.

[Kaleredar]

Trump campaign files lawsuits now in GA. wonder why?

once again, though... unless he gets some sort of cease and desist... they'll be finished counting the votes, no matter the result, far before any legal action can be taken.

[Stormspellz]

If Dems waste another 4 years on going after Trump's tax returns or screaming about Russia, then there is no hope for the party.

unlike republicans, dems can walk and chew gum at the same time. Besides with gop looking to hold the senate, not much to do after Biden revokes all of trump's executive orders, and the house just needs to resend whats already on mitches desk in the new session, while making very loud noise about the covid relief and such bills be REsent to mitch