Arrested by whom? The Blue Lives Matter Punisher squad? They seem to be keeping the proud boys in check at the protests… or wait, are they?’
I doubt they’ll even go inside. Standing in the way of traffic outside in full Boogaloo vogue, brandishing assault weapons and chatting happily with the police will probably have the desired effect on minority voters, and pretty much everyone else, too, other than their own species.
If only the Culture hadn’t selected us as the control for whether intervention works or not.
Our elections don’t ordinarily have observers from international bodies, but they do routinely have observers from both political parties. My wife has served as one in the past.
I’m afraid that’s exactly what many of the posters are saying. They may be right.
Thank goodness that the MAGA base is well-known for observing rules and reducing tensions. It’s practically their brand at this point.
First, I think I have to state that I’m not an American and I’m quite happy to keep myself an ocean away. I am a bit overwhelmed with responses here, so I’ll just shortly repeat what I said on other similar comment.
What you are saying is that US is not capable of holding democratic elections anymore. That is the same punchline the orange liar is pushing, so this I see as a very serous problem for your country.
I want to apologize if I came off as snide towards you. I agree with the intent of everything you say, and I agree that it is certainly the way it should be.
However, your conditional statement is true. We aren’t talking about individual idiots. Proud boys are going to protests in large groups. They are assaulting people while the police stand by and do nothing. Boogaloos are walking into the state capital buildings all over the nation armed with assault rifles simply as a show of force.
Here, this was a protest INSIDE that capital building of my own state:
These walk-ins with assault rifles happen all over America now. They are showing up to protests specifically to create mayhem, at the behest of Trump. He says show up and “keep order”, they do. He says “Go watch the polls and stop people from voting who shouldn’t be voting,” they will.
Their presence outside the polls, visibly supported by the Blue Lives Matter police, will be hugely intimidating to voters.
Yes, he’s the tip of a very large iceberg.
If you want to watch the polls - sign up to be an election judge. They may still need people to help out in some areas. And given that the average poll worker is older, you may be helping keep an at risk person at home.
The Republicans have been actively undermining the vote for decades now. This is not a partisan observation, it’s fucking fact.
If you can look at Trump’s comment here and see “normal”, then you need to brush up on democratic norms a bit more. You also need to review the past 3 years of Trump regularly and with inpunity breaking the law.
so maybe before you come here high handedly telling us what our democratic norms are, you should go do some research about the GOP’s voter suppression campaigns for the past few decades.
YES. WE FUCKING KNOW!!! We live here! JFC.
ummm, yeah, that’s about it, yup. The thing is that Il Douche is pushing that line as a tool to effect his coup. And the result of his pushing it is that it truly is approaching the point that a functional democratic election is exceptionally difficult, largely because his base will only accept one outcome, and will take measures to ensure that outcome is the only one possible.
If they are right and US is not capable to hold democratic elections, that is the fundamental problem. And what I see as most bizzare detail in this is that same conclusion is the core of what he said in his call for observers.
And this is his turf. So it makes it scary, too.
Well, aren’t you the lucky one.
What happens here affects the world; everything is connected.
That remains to be seen. There are tens of millions of people who are resisting him actively, in their own way, right now. Anyone who says democracy is clean and easy is lying to you. It takes work, and we’re working our asses off, right now, thanks.
Don’t be silly. He’s got between Election Day and Inauguration Day to continue stacking judicial posts and siphoning a few last bucks from the Presidency. [I’m assuming Biden wins.]
The day before the inauguration he lets Mike Pence step in to pardon him (side-stepping the question about whether he can pardon himself) and has Bill Barr make some bullshit excuse to seize all the information the Southern District of New York has been gathering on the Trump Syndicate and file it in the same warehouse as the Ark of the Covenant. Then the morning of the inauguration he heads out after taking the last of the silverware.
As Biden is being inaugurated Trump is going to be in the air. Depending on what Biden’s tone is he may be heading to Mar-a-Lago or to Moscow.
Stop acting like he’s trying to get legitimate organizations to come in and monitor our elections. That is MOST CERTAINLY NOT what he’s doing here. He’s not asking for the Carter Center to step in, he’s rallying his base to show up with guns to point at Black people.
^ This. I said ‘they may be right that we can’t hold democratic elections.’ It remains to be seen.
We surely have a substantial minority who will refuse to accept the results. That means we’ll have to continue working our arses off, even after the election and inauguration, and even if the election goes our way. We may find that Palm Beach becomes the capital of a New Confederacy!
By the way, I’m content, after 2020 is over, to have Trump pardoned at the Federal level. I think that might be better than setting the dangerous precedent of having the Chief Executive oversee the prosecution of a political opponent. Let New York come after him. He’s committed enough state crimes to keep the prosecutors busy for years! Recall that all officers of the Confederacy were pardoned in 1868.
Maybe you have missed the part in my original comment where I’ve pointed out that trend Reagan->W->Trump, so thanks for asking, that is about four decades that I do follow US politics, not only on presidential level. Your decline of democratic norms is not result of just what Republicans are doing - they are just growing on voter base that accepts fear and lack of arguments so their presidents are those who are tipping points where we can use them as an example.
You (and a lot of other people) are focusing on who’s guilty and not what is wrong and how to fix in a meaningful way. With that you are telling me that you just see “us vs. them” problem and not fundamental issues of failing democratic process. I have seen that before, in many countries - and as a rule that viewpoint turns into a major problem on its own.
I do wish you good luck, you will probably need it.
Which is the greater danger: such a precedent or letting Turmp get away with war crimes against his own people? I say the latter. Even many Republicans want to make an example of him.
Mistake that we’re still paying for 150+ years later.
Just how do we restore Rule of Law in a system that mostly respects Law of the Ruler without deposing said Ruler somehow? Beyond that, it’s going to be a long hard slog shifting the Overton window back to a point where at least its left edge is sane.
Then stop blaming those of us who are calling out Trump’s behavior THE problem.
Dude, we might not have a chance to fix it if he gets away with this. Sometimes you ahve to deal with the gunshot before you can address the heart disease.
Your endless condescension here, talking to people who KNOW these problems well, because we’re living in the midst of them (and for some of us, have done so for YEARS) isn’t helpful in the least. You’re talking down to us with no skin in the game. YES, we’re fucking aware of the systemic problems. We’re not blind.
That is, frankly, a condescending and impractical take. Our house is on fire and we’re trying to put the fire out, while you’re tut-tutting that the electrical system isn’t to code.
We have to restore our government, first, before we can clean up the systemic problems that got to this point. The same people you’re wagging your finger at have made many proposals on just how to do that, if you were paying attention.
