Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
“My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.”
― Anthony Hopkins
Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
I really really really want Biden to take Georgia. Just for the fact of how extra angry it will make Trump.
I would love if the stress and disinformation here would lead to some election reform.
Ideally the results would be determined by popular vote or, barring that, some combination of popular and electoral votes. And districting laws would eliminate gerrymandering. And we'd have a federal standard for voting and counting procedure for national elections. And it would be an opt-out deal instead of opt-in. And election day would be a federal holiday. And there'd be some sort of small tax credit to mitigate any personal costs that going to the polls might cause and encourage turnout.
But there's no way the Republicans let it happen. They need the wiggle room to fuck with results in their favor, and like always the Republicans will trot out "states rights" when it's convenient to them, since this is a republic after all.
Apparently Trump's play is to tie everything up in the courts until its too late. Trump first move is to make a case to state legislatures that the ballots are too corrupt to trust. The Constitution says the states determine the electors. 33 states have a law that the electors must be awarded by popular vote winner, unfortunately if the winner is DISPUTED due to possible fraud (and the state legislatures would have to decide they are disputed), then they can do something else. So Trump needs to wait for them to finish counting to TRAP them, then he would argue in the courts all the way to SCOTUS to make his case, and then turn to the state legislatures and say the ballots cannot be trusted but what CAN be trusted is that the people elected the state legislatures fairly to make a call here. 8 of 9 state legislatures in swing states are republican, so they would ignore the ballot count and just send the GOP electors to vote for Trump. Then the democrats would sue to stop it. While its tied up in the courts, Trump just has to run out the clock.
Once we reach the day the electors actually vote and no-one has 270 electors due to all the litigation, then we move to the next step in the Constitution where the House votes for President and the Senate votes for vice. Both will elect Trump and Pence and its over.
Interestingly, a BIG issue here could be how Biden openly said he had the biggest voter fraud organization ever. Even if Biden misspoke, that slip of the tongue could be enough for state legislators to throw out the ballot results.
Last edited by Die; 2020-11-05 at 05:43 PM.
Candidates literally never wait until it is official. It isn't official until December.
The trigger for one campaign to declare victory is usually the concession call from the opponent. Traditionally, the losing party initiates it, by conceding the race in a personal phone call to the winner. This is not an official process, it is simply tradition to ensure that the President Elect has an unquestioned right to begin the transition process. It is just a part of ensuring a level of civility in the process that allows it to smoothly function.
Nobody seriously expects Trump to show an ounce of grace or civility. As such, Biden faces the issue of dealing with a situation where Trump is noisily and actively attempting to discredit the entire election, while he sits quietly and waits for a phone call that never comes. If we have learned anything in the last four years, it should be that yielding the narrative to Trump is a fucking horrible idea.
Saying "victory is imminent" is the perfect message right now. He hasn't declared yet, nor should he, but he is saying that he fully expects that to happen very soon. He can't let this process get mucked up in conspiracy theories about voter fraud.
“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.” ~ Emily3, World of Tomorrow
Words to live by.
Getting thru the courts is actually ancillary to the goal. The goal is to argue to state legislators to ignore the ballot count and just send the GOP electors.
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There is no law preventing them from changing their minds.