iNow

My feelings on this topic are volatile and made harder by the way covid is moving though my community, but my take after a few days goes something like this: Trump knows he’s lost. He’s dragging things out as an act of theater for those who love him... like he’s fighting for them until the very end. Those supporters will reward him and continue giving money to “stop the steal” and this rage which he so expertly stokes will help them drive turnout in the Georgia runoffs in January. Keeping the embers of that rage hot also allows these individuals who dismiss all facts as fake news to be controlled by Trump and his allies for whatever other purposes they may wind up deeming helpful or fruitful to them later. As a possible side benefit, this obvious erosion of trust in the Democratic process itself that Trump keeps amplifying may inspire Russian oligarchs to thank him later by helping payoff or forgive his existing debts to them... he’s likely to gain lots of new friends offering him money in exchange for state secrets and insider information about US methods and sources, too. Republicans mostly know he’s leaving as well, but see no political benefit to themselves for pushing him out of the chair or speaking out... so they are silent and spineless. They can’t risk being considered anti-Trump by the base so waffle on about the right of candidates to challenge issues in the voting process and keep prattling about this all being normal... which it’s really not. Unless they’re already retired or about to retire from politics, they can’t afford to anger the base they’ve been enraging for over a decade if they hope to have any chance at a political career in the future of what is now Trumps Republican Party. ... but Trump will leave and he will likely start a new “news” network farther to the right of even Fox... propaganda undiluted and constrained will be piped into the fertile minds of willing and thirsty audiences. After all, his supporters are already lumping in Fox News with the rest of mainstream media and calling them a bunch of traitorous turncoats for simple things like calling the state or Arizona for Biden. They’re heeding the call of extreme right personalities and fleeing platforms Twitter and Facebook instead for far right “hate and bullshit are a-okay here!!” platforms like Parlor, and the information bubble is just getting thicker and more immune from piercing. Trump wants a larger share of the control of that walled off information ecosystem and more influence on this hardening bubble, and by refusing to acknowledge his loss to Biden he helps to further enable that. It helps keep him in the headlines, keeps people questioning news that doesn’t agree with their preferences, keeps them angry and donating money and showing up to vote, but it’s all just for show... catnip for the media... much like his recent leadership changes around national defense and justice. He knew it would deflect news attention away from him being a loser. I need to tighten up these thoughts a bit, but believe the outline above is pretty close to accurate.

Reporting suggests it was just another publicity stunt to help launch his own television network farther to the right than Fox News. He never expected to win or even go ice farther than the primary. We all apparently underestimated the stupidity and gullibility of the American voters.

He also supports putting US troops on the streets to control US citizens, be damned posse comitatus Also in fear that his approx $1B in debt to unnamed sources is coming due and he can’t simply declare bankruptcy as a way out of it

From a friend: “Within the last 48 hours the president has fired Mark Esper (for refusing to use American active duty forces suppress protests in Washington D.C.) and replaced him with someone he thinks will be more compliant with his requests to use the military against American people. He has also installed the previously Senate rejected Tony Tata as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for policy. Tata has made terrible anti Islamic statements, retweeteed QAnon nonsense, and is an unabashed Trump syncophant. Yesterday, the head of the DOJ's elections crimes division resigned in response to a memo from William Bar giving US Attorneys carte blanche to investigate - on their own initiative- allegations of voter fraud ... essentially turning the DOJ into an investigative arm of the Trump campaign. This afternoon, the Secretary of State said that President Trump would not step down and the only transition we would see was into a second Trump term. He went on to insinuate that the president's baseless allegations of fraud are enough to justify state legislatures appointing a slate of electors that break with the popular vote. This is really bad.” I agree. I’m no longer able to give the benefit of the doubt or discard my well informed intuitions as hysterical.

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo further undermined trust in our democracy today when claiming that there’d be “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration. I’m SO tired of these corrupt Jack offs still being in power.

And yet those most deeply embedded and living 100% of the time in Trumpistan are going around social media all week calling Fox News a bunch of liberal turncoats because they're not mindlessly supporting or parroting the Trump narrative. It's a bit disgusting to watch, really. This is a good point, and they also have a vested monetary interest in what happens next. Their ratings will go up when Biden is in office and they have a foil / someone in the opposition to attack all of the time.

https://www.scienceforums.net/topic/100305-is-it-true-about-the-us-ballot-papers/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-1108258 Agreed It’s not over yet. Power hasn’t yet transitioned and they’re actively blocking intelligence briefings to Biden while firing anyone who can provide oversight (Sec Def Esper today, and head of CIA and FBI likely soon)

This argument was more appropriate in 2016 when he was running against Hillary Clinton, but doesn’t much hold water in this 2020 election against Biden (who is pretty widely liked by folks across the ideological spectrum).

Pfizer has announced early data shows their vaccine to be 90% effective... an incredibly high and helpful number if it works out https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/09/health/pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-effective/index.html

I question this conclusion. Progressive goals like universal healthcare lowers the private coverage costs employers must pay today. It’s one of the single largest line expenses especially for an SMB. Morr healthcare availability will also mean fewer sick workers and reduced lost hours due to illness and out of office / called in sick issues The progressive goal of better education and lower / shared college costs makes workers more capable and require less training / massively decreases time to productivity when they get hired... plus makes them more likely to achieve productivity gains moving forward Sind they’re beginning from a better educated baseline. The progressive goal of increasing wages and lowering inequality means more money will be in people’s pockets to spend at these businesses and use toward purchasing their products. The only real thing antithetical to corp America is higher taxes, which I understand, but this really needs to be framed as a total cost calculation where returns on investment are realized instead of solely as a tax expenditure calculation. Much like my total healthcare expenditure would go down under a universal healthcare system relative to my current private healthcare costs even if my total income taxes went up, the same is largely true for corporations. And it’s also just the right thing to do, but I understand it’s generally easier to convince people with economic arguments rather than moral ones

Any good leader doesn’t follow polls like a mindless lemming. Good leaders make the polls change by convincing people of the merits of their stance. That work has shifted the Overton window tremendously in these last years and that work will continue. The fear mongering over the word socialism and green new deal drowned out the discussion of more affordable healthcare for all and an improved environment through millions of new jobs... all of which are supported by large majorities

He might, and I bet Pelosi could pass it through the House, but McConnell would block it in the Senate and it’d never get to Biden’s desk for signature. I cannot emphasize this enough. The failure of democrats to take the senate is a really big effing deal.

I shudder to think

I don’t follow

Actually, at least 70 million Americans do. Trump will be a kingmaker. He will almost single handedly be able to appoint those he thinks should run and win primaries and broader elections for the GOP. As we speak, millions of republicans are deleting their Facebook accounts bc they block their lies and are replacing those accounts with new ones on the far right social platform Parlor, a cesspool of lies and algorithms amplifying groupthink and conspiracy acceptance.

That is what was reported, yes

The AP just called the race for Biden

Yes. They should be applauded for their bravery. Most simply remained (and remain still today) silent while those who actually did speak out waited until it was clear Trump had lost before choosing to do so. We should erect statues for their patriotism. /sarcasm Trump put forth a working template, and in local elections (at least where k live) it’s already being replicated and working. My state Senator, for example, is a conspiracy stoking nut job and his constituents talk openly about needing to hurt democrats or shoot them outright

Not officially, but it's over. Biden has taken the lead in Georgia. He has taken the lead in Nevada. He has taken the lead in Arizona. And, most importantly, he has taken the lead in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, more mail-in votes remain to be counted, but those have been skewing toward Biden by a 60-80% margin and those being counted next are coming in from mostly blue-leaning Philadelphia. Not the blowout we needed to rebuke Trumps brand of hatred, ignorance, and lies... nor did Democrats take the Senate so they could actually pass the legislation they want... everything will still be blocked by McConnell and the Republicans (*pending runoff election in January in Georgia)... but for Biden and all of us around the world this was a crucial win nonetheless.

Basically what they did to Obama which led to these last horrible 4 years

Probably the enslaved world, too

Michigan is likely, but still too close to call. 90% reporting, over 5 Million votes cast/counted, and Biden is only up by about 10 Thousand. Mail-in votes still being counted and are likely to skew left nationwide. That is promising, but may not be enough. Has been much closer than many people'd hoped, and the Senate is likely to remain red / prevent anything meaningful from passing no matter who wins prez. Nevada too close to call, too

Most people are atheist about over 99% of the gods humans have invented throughout history. Some just choose to randomly still believe in one over all of the countless others, usually based on little more than where they happened to be born and what their parents happened to believe and teach them.

Even after all these years, I still find myself surprised at just how ignorant and racist and proud of it the American electorate remains. Trump may not even need to steal this election. Millions upon millions upon millions of Americans are gladly handing it to him voluntarily.

Interesting hypothesis and evidence is certainly suggestive of him being positive for covid, but despite minimal coverage in the news, he did campaign in both Michigan and Pennsylvania today for a total of 4 event (which seems to refute the idea... but I also wouldn’t put it passed this administration to keep campaigning even after a positive test).