Topic: USA Politics (redux)

[Brewski]

Dear forum members,

The moderators have decided to close the old thread and provide a fresh start with a new SINGLE thread on USA Politics. This thread will cover all discussions on political developments, movements, and personalities in the United States of America. Guidelines below are similar to the ones before.

GENERAL COMMENTS:

This forum is first and foremost a classical music forum and community. The Diner offers an opportunity for members to talk also about other topics than classical music, including politics. But what binds us and which is the purpose of this forum, is an interest in classical music.

Those who show no or little interest in participating in the classical music discussions on this forum, and whose sole or main focus is on discussing politics, are encouraged to consider pursuing that interest elsewhere.

We are renewing our efforts to provide opportunity for a genuine, civil and intelligent discussions on USA politics. But we want to make very clear that maintaining a positive and cordial atmosphere between our members takes absolute priority. The disingenuity and animosity that can mark some of these discussions are not in the general interest of the forum.

GUIDELINES:

1. All discussions on USA politics are to be conducted in this thread. Any other post on USA politics, inside or outside The Diner, will be deleted immediately.
2. All discussions are to be conducted in a civil manner. From the general forum guidelines: Please treat other members [...] with courtesy and respect. [...] do not make personal attacks, belittle, make fun of, or insult another member.
3. Trolling will not be tolerated, and this restriction in particular will be more rigorously enforced than before. From the general forum guidelines: A forum troll is someone who intentionally posts derogatory or inflammatory messages [...] with the deliberate intent to bait users into responding. This can range from very subtle jibes to outright personal attacks. [...] do not try to deliberately provoke another member into an ill-natured argument.
4. ALL posts should be aimed at contributing to a genuine and meaningful discussion and contain a personal explanation or position. Posts with only or mainly links or quotes are strongly discouraged. Posts need to be on topic and without comments on other members.
5. Any questionable posts will be deleted in their entirety, including any replies that quote them, and the moderating decisions to that effect are not open for discussion or correspondence.

Thank you,
The moderators

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

The scary data point this morning is that 70% of Republicans have swallowed Trump's completely unsubstantiated agitprop that he cannot have lost this fair and free election.

[Brewski]

The scary data point this morning is that 70% of Republicans have swallowed Trump's completely unsubstantiated agitprop that he cannot have lost this fair and free election.

Yes. Though I don't officially "follow" him on Twitter (most of his 88.9M followers are bots, anyway), I encourage anyone who hasn't seen his Twitter feed to take a look, especially since he has insisted on governing by Twitter, which is absurd. I think any public figure, including him, should be on Twitter. But not to discuss policy, or wail like a 5-year-old (no offense to 5-year-olds), or create fake drama where there is no need. And now, it's just getting embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

Meanwhile, I've ordered one of these t-shirts. This story is going to be comedic gold for years.

https://shopclass.threadless.com/designs/four-seasons-total-landscaping/?fbclid=IwAR101yPaOr2q9sDnxL6plqyRiKffMrPu6ziwZI2ZKhkC-QbdqUXvvfC6AWM#

--Bruce

[SimonNZ]

Bruce: how do you personally rate Trump's chances of ratfucking his way into a second term?

[Brewski]

Bruce: how do you personally rate Trump's chances of ratfucking his way into a second term?

I don't consider myself the best gauge, but so far, all of his legal efforts have been dismissed. That said, I'm concerned by today's departure of some top Department of Defense officials:

https://twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/1326263924027748352?s=20

--Bruce

[71 dB]

Trump's chances of ratfucking his way into a second term?

Zero.

[T. D.]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-10/barr-s-gambit-opens-path-to-tarring-biden-win-without-undoing-it

Seems like there's potential for things to get messy.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Yes. Though I don't officially "follow" him on Twitter (most of his 88.9M followers are bots, anyway), I encourage anyone who hasn't seen his Twitter feed to take a look, especially since he has insisted on governing by Twitter, which is absurd. I think any public figure, including him, should be on Twitter. But not to discuss policy, or wail like a 5-year-old (no offense to 5-year-olds), or create fake drama where there is no need. And now, it's just getting embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

Meanwhile, I've ordered one of these t-shirts. This story is going to be comedic gold for years.

https://shopclass.threadless.com/designs/four-seasons-total-landscaping/?fbclid=IwAR101yPaOr2q9sDnxL6plqyRiKffMrPu6ziwZI2ZKhkC-QbdqUXvvfC6AWM#

--Bruce

Come get your legal advice and your lawn & garden supplies between the crematorium and the adult appliance boutique.  Come for the mulch, stay for the French ticklers!

[Brewski]

Come get your legal advice and your lawn & garden supplies between the crematorium and the adult appliance boutique.  Come for the mulch, stay for the French ticklers!

It's going to provide comedians, writers, and filmmakers with comedy for years. Exhibit A: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAyh2xPrFvo&fbclid

--Bruce

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Zero.

Not zero. you're forgetting the disgrace of the GOP Senators roundly acquitting him.  They're still busily enabling his destructive tantrum.

[(: premont :)]

Opinion polls are what they are. All the same I had expected Biden to win the election with a somewhat larger margin. But Trump got rather many votes. Are we sure, that some of the orange swindlers votes weren't the result of fraud?

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Opinion polls are what they are. All the same I had expected Biden to win the election with a somewhat larger margin. But Trump got rather many votes. Are we sure, that some of the orange swindlers votes weren't the result of fraud?

Despite the tendentious amplification by the right-wing disinformation ecosystem, voter fraud is extremely rare.

[Zeus]

It's going to provide comedians, writers, and filmmakers with comedy for years. Exhibit A: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAyh2xPrFvo&fbclid

--Bruce

Exhibit B:
https://twitter.com/nanglish/status/1325242917519233024

[Zeus]

2. All discussions are to be conducted in a civil manner. From the general forum guidelines: Please treat other members [...] with courtesy and respect. [...] do not make personal attacks, belittle, make fun of, or insult another member.

I propose a simple check to determine if your post meets this criteria: would you say this, and in this way, at dinner with your boss?

[Brewski]

Exhibit B:
https://twitter.com/nanglish/status/1325242917519233024

Yes, very good -- I retweeted that myself. 

I propose a simple check to determine if your post meets this criteria: would you say this, and in this way, at dinner with your boss?

Good barometer. Or as one friend said, "Don't post anything you wouldn't want to see on the front page of The New York Times."

--Bruce

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

I propose a simple check to determine if your post meets this criteria: would you say this, and in this way, at dinner with your boss?

Good, plain sense.

[SimonNZ]

Except we're often in a power relationship with our bosses that means we can't speak our minds no matter how politely.

Re the bad polling: I heard someone criticizing them point out that while one can talk of the "shy" Trump voter skewing the figures they were also well out in some uncontroversial downticket races where shyness could barely have been a factor.

[Todd]

Joe pulled it off.  No surprise.  The surprising thing is just how poorly Dems did overall.  They were boosted by a pandemic and a depression, and yet they lost seats in the House, and Republicans look set to hold a Senate majority.  So much for packing the court, impeaching Trump's SCOTUS picks, a green new deal, etc.  From a long term perspective, Trump's gains with minorities point a way forward from Republicans later in the decade and in the 2030s.  Dems have to come up with a better game plan. 

And then there's the 2020 census and how it will shape the mid-terms.

But before that, I gotta see cabinet picks.  The big three plus the head of the NSC matter, while all else is fluff.  As long as Samantha Power doesn't get a seat at the table, it will be acceptable.  I'm thinking we could see a female DOD chief (Flournoy) and Treasury chief (Brainard).  Safe enough picks. 

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Trump advisers privately express pessimism about heading off Biden’s win = None of them has the backbone to tell the man-baby the truth.

[Mirror Image]

I honestly don’t see Trump conceding and he’ll probably end up being evicted from the White House. He’ll never admit defeat even though by large he simply doesn’t have the electoral college votes. He can contest Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania all he wants, there hasn’t been any hard evidence that voter fraud has occurred and even if this ends up at the Supreme Court, they’ll throw it out, because it’s not just one or two states he’s contesting, but many of them. Many believe this to be another 2000 election, but it’s not. It’s quite evident that Trump lost. Some news commentator mentioned that the mail-in ballot is a Republican’s worst enemy, I would say no, a Republican’s worst enemy is supporting this cretin we currently have in office. I can guarantee you that if the shoe was on the foot and Biden lost, this wouldn’t be happening, because we have to remember that Biden isn’t a stable genius like Trump.