What a buncha hooey! scared little pieces of shit exclaiming nonsense because their entire little Qtip party is unraveling faster than a knit shawl in a boat prop.
Blockquote
“[There] was a very well-known and reputable a military-type of Twitter account that put out a statement from an ex-veteran that was basically putting the warning out that you guys better get your stuff together because if we take matters into our own hands to take back this country, it ain’t going to be good.”
Huh?
Take the country back from whom? trumpie? LOL! that is some rich BS right there. I thought he was some “bigger than anyone” kingpin large and in charge, but if he doesn’t arrest Dem leaders, past or present on (?) charges, then they (reputable military-type Twitterers) will "take the country back from king donnie smallhands?
these idiots just can’t get a story straight for two tellings. they have no f*king idea what they even want or are angry at. they’re just pissed off and, well, stupid.
Well, leaving aside the issue that I don’t agree with this on a very basic level, it still leaves an open question about what constitutes a “result?” As I thought we would have learned in 2000, the authority to decide what votes count and when to stop counting is paramount.
I just don’t agree that’s how Trump operates, nor do I agree that ignoring the possibility makes it less likely.
Of course not. But our checks and balances aren’t exactly functioning well enough to count on for scenarios short of that. [edit because it came out more snarky then I intended]
But let’s look at something short of that declaration–what do you think would happen in if Trump is ahead in the polls on election night, declares the remaining votes invalid because of widespread voter fraud, and sets the gears of the Federal government and GOP loyalists in motion to prevent remaining votes from being counted?
I’m not playing hide the ball here: I think that ultimately Trump would be forced from power, but I don’t know how it would go down without bloodshed and/or severe, permanent damage to our system of government. Because my fear is not nearly as much what Trump COULD do with this kind of power grab, but the damage he could do in TRYING this kind of power grab, given he has no interest in preserving our institutions.
They (meaning Trump and his supporters) are saying that OUT LOUD to the rest of us. Every day. They are the ones saying that if he loses, the election is illegitimate.
If his attempts to stall or reject the results of the election fail he could hand over power to Pence on January 19th. He’ll be on Air Force One or a private jet that afternoon or evening to someplace without an extradition treaty with the US or someplace he thinks unlikely to extradite him (most likely Russia.) The states could charge him and try him in absentia, but who cares if he’s squirreled away enough in Swiss banks? Fox News and/or OANN could have him report remotely from his self-imposed exile.
He knows quite well that the other side rarely cheats. He is counting on that. That the sucker democrats [as he calls them] will obey the laws, play fair, and follow the rules, like sucker losers always do, while he is free to break laws with impunity because laws shouldn’t apply to him, send in people to disenfranchise people (post office, etc), because people who don’t support him should not be allowed a say in our government, and do all sorts of sordid disgusting acts that the democrats would never do because of the shame they would feel if they even contemplated anything remotely like what he does.
No, a thousand times no. You have Il Douche and his cronies openly and obviously seeking to rig the election in their favor. I will not give unconditional support to anything until I see how it is executed. As things are looking right now, I am not terribly optimistic about it. To say I am obligated to support it whatever happens is how we get the 98% margins for autocrats in failed states. Is that to be “unconditionally supported?” Not in my house.
Black Swan events are surprise events. They gave Trump a 29% chance of winning, unlike nearly everyone else. Him winning was a surprise, but it was still a significant possibility.
And that’s the thing with statistical predictions. They don’t say who will win. They predict the probability, based on model and data used, of outcomes. Coin flips on a hard surface are not 50/50. There is a extremely small probability of landing on edge. It would certainly be a surprise, but not unpredicted.
Funny thing about prediction odds: What was the probability of Trump being elected? 100%. Once an outcome is known, the prediction is trash. The probability of any outcome that has already happened is 100%.
Some of us who live here might care if our democracy goes away. The rest of the world might also care about the biggest nuclear power becoming a full on autocratic regime overnight.
No, America is not the only democracy, of course, nor is it even the most democratic democracy. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter if it fails. Any failure of democratic norms matter anywhere they happen, even in the heart of the empire.
Just a friendly reminder that it’s not really Trump who is enemy number one. He is just a convenient distraction from the real, hardcore, ideological fascists who have a well-defined agenda, and the money to promote it.
‘The CNP’s 2014 vision statement lays out its goal: “A united conservative movement to assure, by 2020, policy leadership and governance that restores religious and economic freedom, a strong national defense, and Judeo-Christian values under the Constitution.”’
Which institutions deserve to be preserved, though?
I’ve been trying to calm down and stow my cynicism over the last few weeks. Doing my best to duck and weave past my thoughts on how we should just burn it all (or like, 33-50% of it) down and start over.
It was going well, but the news about ICE popped into my social feed yesterday and like… we’re going to have to do a whole lot more than abolish ICE, toss those fuckers over to The Hague, and give every detained immigrant citizenship and reparations. We detained countless immigrants in concentration camps and gave women involuntary hysterectomies. Gross moral failings at multiple levels and institutions of government that allowed it to happen aren’t the kind of thing that you can simply fix or apologize for by passing bills and issuing executive orders.
How many institutions did Germany keep after WWII? How many of them got huge facelifts and overhauls? How many were thrown out and either replaced entirely or never replaced at all? Trump is working and will work to tear down any institution that would help us rebuild after him. But those institutions aren’t necessarily lost forever.
I think that post-9/11 U.S.'s slide into fascism, plutocracy, and authoritarianism over the last 19 years is something that’s been as devastating as the slide into fascism and ensuing chaos and destruction of WWII was to Germany. And just like other countries helped Germany rebuild after WWII, we can work with other democracies for help and assistance with the questions of what do we restore, what do we overhaul, and what do we dissolve, as well as potential aid while we recover. (Note: I know that Germany was split in half for decades after the war. I’m not sure the same thing will happen to the U.S.; my main point is that the America doesn’t have to go about fixing itself alone, nor should it.)
Various nations depend on a strong U.S. as a geopolitical ally, trading partner, and more. I hope this doesn’t come across as jingoistic, but countries such as Canada, Japan, France, Germany, South Korea, and the various Scandinavian nations are going to want to come to us with counsel and advice, whether we like it or not. It’s America’s job to swallow its pride and take that help with humility. A strong U.S. is important. But a strong, humble U.S. that’s willing to cooperate internationally and answer for its mistakes and crimes (not just over the last 19 years, but throughout most of the 20th Century) is important even moreso.
So my cynicism is essentially half-stowed. My view is that there’s gonna be violence and damage to our systems of government and institutions, but other countries who have a vested interest in a stable U.S. are going to show up and do their damnedest to make sure that the America doesn’t keel over and die, but gets back up on its feet and functioning again, with as much nastiness as possible removed.
The analyses point out how unlikely it is, posing it as the constitutional inevitability that will surely force a last-minute compromise of some kind, but I must point out that “this is not how it works” is basically the refrain of every pundit the last four years and yet it turned out that it was how it worked.
“What’s wrong with you? What did I tell you?”
“Don’t buy anything?”
“Yes. And…”
“Don’t talk about the plan?”
“Correct! And so what did you do?”
“Talked about the plan.”
