Mega-Thread: 2020 United States General Election

[Flower Milk]

This is precisely what Beto O'Rourke said was the way to turn Texas blue. Not just purple but blue.

Yep, it's also what AOC and Doug Jones said now as well. Hopefully the Democratic Party actually listens.

- - - Updated - - -

As much as I've spent time arguing this point, I don't really see the point in screaming into the void about it. It's what Republicans want. For people to waste all their efforts tone policing each other while nothing that matters actually gets done.

You're falling into their trap. Talking about whether the slogan is bad or good rather than ending police brutality systemically across the USA means you're playing the Republican's game, by the Republican's rules.

Wasting time trying to find the right, pretty slogan to put on pins and make Twitter hashtags for is a waste of everyone's damned time, while people are out there being brutalized and killed. There are bigger damned fish to fry.

The fact alone that moderates think we need to get a better slogan/branding to market black people's lives just being able to exist and live peacefully without being murdered in this country should tell you all you need to know. Should we take it one step further for you and maybe you'd like black people to present their lives to you so you can bid on how much they're worth? Or maybe they'd like to be more subtle about their racism and only value black lives when they're entertaining them with music or sports. Does that sell their lives to them better? Is that better "branding"?

People's lives should not have to be "sold" or "advertised" to you just for the fucking right to exist. Is America a free country or not?

[Kathranis]

I hope he stays involved with DNC politics in TX and helps make that happen. Flipping TX in 2024 would be fucking insane.

I think 2024 is still a bit optimistic, especially if they run a more moderate Republican (assuming Trump doesn't/can't run again). Still we've seen it shift a few points every election and if they run on the right issues they could maybe do it.

2028 seems a lot more likely possibility.

[Slirith]

MODS!!! Can you tell them to knock off the posts about Defund the Police. There is like 30 pages of posts about whether or not it was a good slogan and this isn’t the Defund the Police thread, it’s the election thread.

Seriously, stfu about slogans ffs

[Breccia]

Our Ruling

Eric Trump claimed on Twitter that a glitch uncovered in Rock County removes Biden’s lead in Wisconsin.

But there was no glitch in the election system. And there’s no "gotcha" moment or evidence that will move votes over to President Trump’s column.

The presidential totals were transposed for several minutes due to a data entry error by the Associated Press, without any involvement by election officials. The votes were counted following standard procedures by the Rock County Clerk’s Office and show Biden winning the county by a margin of more than 9,000 votes.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

Our Ruling

Giuliani said over 600,000 votes were unlawful in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. There is no evidence to back that up.

Pennsylvania law allows representatives from both parties to observe the count, and Republicans in the state told a judge that they did have monitors in the room.

Pennsylvania’s Department of State denied that any votes were improperly counted.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

Our Ruling

A poster on TikTok claiming, "The cheating is unreal," shared a video widely circulated on social media that appeared to show California ballots being collected the day after the election, after the state was called for Biden.

In fact, it’s standard procedure in California to collect and process ballots from drop boxes after Election Day. A county official said the boxes were locked at 8 p.m. on election night. The video did not depict any cheating.

PolitiFact rated that claim False last week.

Trump shared the same debunked video this week, suggesting it was evidence of election fraud in California.

We rated that claim False.

Our Ruling

Trump claimed that "Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our poll watchers and/or vote observers to watch or observe."

That’s inaccurate. Republican election observers have been allowed to observe the canvassing of ballots in both Pennsylvania and Michigan, including in Philadelphia and Detroit, two of the cities heavily targeted by the Trump campaign’s litigation efforts. Even Trump campaign attorneys have acknowledged having observers present in court hearings and legal filings.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

Our Ruling

Trump said in a tweet that a voting technology company deleted millions of votes that were cast for him during the presidential election.

That claim is not based in fact.

The president’s tweet traces back to an unsubstantiated claim on a pro-Trump website that cited Edison Research. But Edison Research told us they have found no evidence of voter fraud. Dominion, state election officials and federal officials say there’s no evidence that millions of votes were miscounted.

Trump’s claim is inaccurate and ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire!

Our Ruling

Trump said, "If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us."

At the time of Trump’s comments the process of counting legal ballots continued in a handful of states with close races. Election experts say that local election officials are proceeding by following their state laws to count and verify ballots.

There is no evidence that proper counting of legal votes automatically means Trump wins. And there is no evidence of widespread counting of illegal votes or any scheme by Democrats to steal the election.

We rate this statement Pants on Fire!

[postman1782]

Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling

Just had someone that was posting bullshit from Trump, saying that some republican pollster didn't get to observe 700k ballots, so that means that Trump wins, I think he got that lawsuit thrown out of court didn't he?

[Waniou]

Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling



Our Ruling

I feel like Twitter kinda needs to be doing more about stopping this misinformation. Just having a wee tag saying "this claim about the election is disputed" doesn't really give the same message as "this claim about the election is a complete lie" or even just outright blocking the tweet.

[Breccia]

Just had someone that was posting bullshit from Trump, saying that some republican pollster didn't get to observe 700k ballots, so that means that Trump wins, I think he got that lawsuit thrown out of court didn't he?

This is a complete list of lawsuits Trump has filed this election, updated 5PM New York Time.

Trump has lost every single lawsuit, except for two.

One, poll watchers got to stand six feet from the ballots. This is also being appealed. And it has no effect on the vote count.

Two, a deadline for voters to show ID was retroactively moved from Nov 12 to Nov 9. It had nearly no effect on the vote count.

What you're talking about sounds like the ongoing case in Pennsylvania that would stop the votes from being certified in several counties that, what a coincidence, just happened to vote Biden. Near as I can tell, that's your 700k number. It's also one of the cases Trump's lawyers just bailed on.

Any expert who isn't Trump has basically said that lawsuit is destined to fail. Even if it doesn't, Biden won Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, and I'm fairly sure there are no lawsuits in any of those states (anymore). "XXX therefore Trump wins" sounds like fairy tale magic, which is why Trump tweeted it 7 hours ago. There is nothing in the law/Constitution that says votes are removed simply because they were not observed.

The tweet was flagged immediately. Almost all of Trump's tweets are flagged immediately. Trump is doing nothing but lying, and strangely enough, taking credit for the most secure election in US history at the same time.

- - - Updated - - -

I feel like Twitter kinda needs to be doing more about stopping this misinformation.

Jan 21st, perhaps.

In any event, if anyone sees a tweet or FB post or whatever that simply says "there is fraud therefore Trump wins" the correct response is...to ignore the troll. But failing that, ask why the evidence to prove this fraud is on Hannity instead of submitted under oath in a court of law.

There is currently no lawsuit at all that involves Trump's claims that Dominion rigged the election. Trump is just flat-out lying to the American people, but not stupid enough to do so under oath. He's free to provide evidence in court if the evidence exists. Until then, his tweets are not evidence.

As multiple trustworthy sources are quick to point out, Trump's claim of 2.7 million Dominion deleted votes came from
a) an anonymous poster
b) who cited an Edison research project that Edison says does not exist
c) was directly refuted by Trump's own DHS
d) has not been entered into evidence in any court of law
e) is not only not being followed up by Barr, but Barr's own DOJ is refusing to make such a move anyhow

Nobody wants to report that Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our Poll Watchers and/or Vote Observers to Watch or Observe. This is responsible for hundreds of thousands of votes that should not be allowed to count. Therefore, I easily win both states. Report the News!

This is where I usually offer one of my 24-hour challenges. I'm not even talking about the part where Trump's observers were in the room the whole time. I'm talking about the part where Trump just declares himself the victor. That's fairy tale magic. Ironic that we, here in a gaming site about swords and sorcery, have a firmer grasp of reality than the current squatter in the Oval Office.

[Draco-Onis]

Well, two of the reps are Democrat...in a lot of red. So there was some hope that maybe they'd vote in a dem senator.

In this environment unless you are a candidate like a Joe Manchin state knows you better than whoever is on top of the ticket or you are gerrymandered blue I don't see those continuing in presidential election years. The country is simply too polarized, gerrymandered and hostile if Trump has proven anything it's that we may all be Americans but we live in different worlds.

- - - Updated - - -

I thought people were smoking when people were saying GA was going to go blue and that happened.

That one didn't seem so far fetched given how little Stacy Abrahms lost by and how much shenanigans they had to do to pull it off.

[Egomaniac]

I feel like Twitter kinda needs to be doing more about stopping this misinformation. Just having a wee tag saying "this claim about the election is disputed" doesn't really give the same message as "this claim about the election is a complete lie" or even just outright blocking the tweet.

I kinda feel that having that tag there is enough. Anyone that hasn't drank the Trump Kool-aid is going to see that tag and at least be "Well, maybe I should wait for some actual evidence before jumping aboard this train" and anyone that's already in the Trump cult is only going to be even more convinced of the plot against their dear leader by social media "censoring" him.

[Ausr]

Don't know if anyone watched, but I saw this interview on Bill Maher last night (I moderately like his show and think he's been very right on the nose about Trump and both Dems)



Beginning interview starts at 4:22 with Jenna, one of Trump's campaign lawyers. Holy fucking shit, the delusions this woman is putting forward is mind boggling.

[s_bushido]

I kinda feel that having that tag there is enough. Anyone that hasn't drank the Trump Kool-aid is going to see that tag and at least be "Well, maybe I should wait for some actual evidence before jumping aboard this train" and anyone that's already in the Trump cult is only going to be even more convinced of the plot against their dear leader by social media "censoring" him.

I both agree and disagree. At this point, I seriously doubt there are many people who aren't members of Trump's cult who would believe him if he tweeted that the sky was blue, without checking to see if it wasn't the middle of the night in DC.

But at the same time, I don't think we should care whether or not they feel persecuted because Twitter flags his garbage. I say they just pull the plug now, and make the piece of shit hold a press conference if he wants to lie to the public, instead of letting him spread those lies with relative impunity on their website.

[Forogil]

How will the senator races in Georgia play out if with Trump's cult?

One idea is that they sort of humour Trump's idea of "voter fraud" so that he will help in Georgia, but it relies on Trump helping others which seems to be out of character - and he wasn't pulling ahead of the senators in the just completed election; and it's more than a month until that election.
However, if they try to distance themselves from Trump it would likely lead to infighting that could lead to a loss.

[ati87]

I think 2024 is still a bit optimistic, especially if they run a more moderate Republican (assuming Trump doesn't/can't run again). Still we've seen it shift a few points every election and if they run on the right issues they could maybe do it.

2028 seems a lot more likely possibility.

2024 will all be about who can become the next cult leader for the Republicans.
If Republicans stays a death cult then we know what there upper limits are and then it's a question about turnout.
If the Republicans are unable to find there next leader than the turnout will be normal, still high but within the regular margins.

[Felya]

How will the senator races in Georgia play out if with Trump's cult?

I have not seen his cult give a shit... it would mean risking admission that Trump isn’t winning.

- - - Updated - - -

2024 will all be about who can become the next cult leader for the Republicans.

I think it’s going to be a catastrophe driven fear mongering.

[Bodakane]

In any event, if anyone sees a tweet or FB post or whatever that simply says "there is fraud therefore Trump wins" the correct response is...to ignore the troll. But failing that, ask why the evidence to prove this fraud is on Hannity instead of submitted under oath in a court of law.

No, the correct response is "Fuck your feelings." then play the Kenneth Copeland clip of him laughing like an insane person.

[Inuyaki]

https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/s...83182661054465

Even Nunes seems a little bit stunned... and that says a lot, after all he was crazy enough to sue a cow

Depending how Trump, Hannity, Dobbs will act, that could really hurt the GOP. This will be interesting to see, let's hope for the best (well, worst... for the GOP )

[Antiganon]

I both agree and disagree. At this point, I seriously doubt there are many people who aren't members of Trump's cult who would believe him if he tweeted that the sky was blue, without checking to see if it wasn't the middle of the night in DC.

But at the same time, I don't think we should care whether or not they feel persecuted because Twitter flags his garbage. I say they just pull the plug now, and make the piece of shit hold a press conference if he wants to lie to the public, instead of letting him spread those lies with relative impunity on their website.

Strongly disagree.

Every time he lies from a podium with the seal of the president behind him, it gives him legitimacy he doesn't deserve and lower our standing on the world stage.

[Redwyrm]

https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/s...83182661054465

Even Nunes seems a little bit stunned... and that says a lot, after all he was crazy enough to sue a cow

Depending how Trump, Hannity, Dobbs will act, that could really hurt the GOP. This will be interesting to see, let's hope for the best (well, worst... for the GOP )

In all fairness, Nunes always has that "dear caught in the headlights" expression.

[Breccia]

I need your help on this one.

Earlier we discussed the case of "Mr. James Blalock of Covington, Georgia" who voted in the election, despite having died 14 years ago. And how some people, namely the rabid fanbase, took this single result as proof positive there was widespread voter fraud therefore Trump wins.

*ahem*

About that.

What we already knew is that his widow voted under her husband's name.

What we didn't know, is that she voted as "Mrs. James Blalock of Covington, Georgi|a". Mr. Blalock did not vote. That would be illegal.

"Wait wait wait, how do we know that this new revalation, the Mrs. part, is true? Maybe that's Fake News!"

Because Tucker Carlson apologized.

We've got some good news tonight, and an apolog. One of the people who voted in last week's election isn't dead. James Blalock is still dead, we told you about him, but it was his wife who voted. She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It's old-fashioned and we missed it.

It was Mrs. James Blalock. So apologies for that, and of course we're always going to correct when we're wrong. And we were.

*ahem*

Of course.

a) Anyone on FOX News who says "what, this is old-fashioned and I didn't understand it" is almost certainly lying. FOX News caters to old people.

b) For always admitting when they are wrong, Carlson sure hasn't been always admitting when he was wrong.

But most importantly!

c) Carlson immediately continued by saying a bunch of dead people voted, only this time, without any evidence at all.

So this is the part where I need your help, because there has to be a name for this:

A: "XXX is bad, look, they did <example>"
B: "But <example> never happeened."
A: "Okay but XXX is still bad, I just don't have any examples!"

That's got to be some kind of logical phallacy.

"That's not the right spelling."

For Carlson, I think it is.

- - - Updated - - -

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

When Donald Trump won, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning and I then called Donald Trump to congratulate him. His margin of victory over Hillary Clinton wasn't greater than Joe Biden's margin over him.

But if you are listening to some of the talk radio that Trump voters are listening to, if you're watching Fox News, if you're getting these tweets, those allegations are presented as facts. So you've got millions of people out there who think, 'Oh yeah, there must be cheating because the president said so,'

They obviously didn't think there was any fraud going on because they didn't say anything about it for the first two days. But there's damage to this because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's dogcatcher or president, are servants of the people. It's a temporary job.

"Whoa whow whoa...you just quoted Obama."

Yes I did.

"But he's not President."

Yeah I'm sticking with Emily Post on this one.

"So Obama says Trump has no legal grounding, huh? Well what is he, some kind of Constitu..."

You totally forgot Obama was a lawyer who specializes in exactly this sort of thing, didn't you?

"It's been a busy four years."

[Mormolyce]

She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It's old-fashioned and we missed it.

Not considering old-fashioned conservative values? Tut tut Tucker lol.