All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Revolutionary_Jack]

It'll be easier for him to name a heir apparent who can inherit the Trump base, continue his policy goals and who he can take credit for if they succeed or blame if they fail. Plus Trump like will be dealing with his creditors and legal indictments once he is out of office

A narcissist like Trump who sees everyone and everything an extension of himself will not be happy about nominating a "heir"...someone who is expected to not only continue his legacy but improve upon it.

And the Republican party will only back Trump's son if they have reason to believe he can do that.

The Republicans picked W. because he brought them TX after taking out its Dem governor Ann Richards. They didn't do it because they admired HW and wanted to rally to him. Don Jr. will only be a viable candidate if he can prove himself capable of winning. There was talk about Don Jr. running for Mayor of NYC against the unpopular Bill de Blasio but given (as yesterday proved) how much the city thoroughly despises the family unconditionally, it's unlikely. And Trump publicly told a major network that Don Jr. has no chance (https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/poli...mayor/2658590/). I mean aside from everything else, Trump is a s--ty parent. So if Don Jr. or Ivanka are ever to be forces in US Politics, realistically speaking it's not going to be in 2024 just as W. wasn't a realistic possibility in 1996 remember.

Likewise Trump in 2016 had the aura of a "billionaire", a successful TV show ("The Apprentice"). In 2024, everyone will know this family isn't remotely as rich as it pretends, it has debts coming in, lawsuits in the offing. Remember the majority of Republicans didn't vote for Trump in the primaries, he came through via Winner Take All and Vote-Splitting. The other thing is that Donald Trump has a certain quality that puts him above Don Jr. and Ivanka...he happens to be funny, in a crude insult-comic standup sort of way. He's a showman and entertainer and carnival man, and the Trumpspawn don't have those elements. So they won't have the advantages in 2024 that Trump did in 2016.

For the GOP, Marco Rubio is shaping up to be a prospective candidate, hoping to maximize their hitherto unknown Latino voter base. Rubio is a bit of a clown himself (and is rumored to be gay) but he might allow the GOP base for a "fresh start" and put the Dems in an awkward position of wanting to field against the prospective first Hispanic President, and the rumors of closet homosexuality will be hard for them to work with without coming of as hypocrites and jerks. Barney Frank might try and out Rubio if he says homophobic things which might work. Rubio seems to be well liked and more likable than for instance Ted Cruz. So he might work as a sort of Hispanic Romney.

[kidfresh512]

I really hope there are not large crowds again tonight. We are still fighting Covid. And if they do it again it will make a lot of people say why are you shutting down my business because you fear crowd size but let 100,000 people on the streets to party. Why did you bitch about Trump and his rallies when you are letting even larger crowds celebrate a Biden victory. If people do this multiple nights it could very well back fire on them on the long term.

But I will say I have avoided the news all day so I don't know if there are crowds gathering. I know there was a rally planed in Cincy but dont know what happened with that,

This will definitely be a thing anti maskers etc use. I agree one day of mask wearing cathartic release is enough.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

David Pakman drives home a very sad reality.

The 2020 Election as more data comes in, is in fact proving that 2016 very much was a fluke.

Sheesh. Guys it's not Day 2 of Election Week anymore. Our narratives need to advance a bit.

[Amadeus Arkham]

[Amadeus Arkham]

The 2020 Election as more data comes in, is in fact proving that 2016 very much was a fluke.

Sheesh. Guys it's not Day 2 of Election Week anymore. Our narratives need to advance a bit.

How do you explain Trump’s increase in voters despite his handling of the virus that surely should’ve made him less stronger than he ultimately ended up being for re-election?

[Tami]

Inside the Trump campaign as it grapples with defeat while plowing forward with legal fight

Since Election Day, many Trump campaign staffers have been huddled on a noisy floor in the campaign's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters fielding hundreds of calls a day on a hotline the campaign set up as they try to find instances of voter fraud, multiple sources told ABC News.

But the hotline has turned into a nightmare for some, as staffers, some of whom have contracts that expire in the coming days, have been bombarded with prank calls from people laughing or mocking them over Biden's win before hanging up, sources tell ABC News. Prank calling the Trump campaign's hotline has already become a trend on TikTok, the social media network that was used earlier in the year in an attempt to tank the president's rally in Tulsa by mass-requesting tickets.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

How do you explain Trump’s increase in voters despite his handling of the virus that surely should’ve made him less stronger than he ultimately ended up being for re-election?

1) Increase in turnout is because of the Pandemic keeping a good part of the electorate (of both parties) with more time to vote without having to miss work on Election Day. So it's more indicative of the true bench strength of the maximalized voter base of both parties in a year of lockdown, with not much to discuss other than politics since entertainment had dried up...rather than actual voter turnout increase in full.

2) Trump won largely in the Republican voter base in red states. And even his wins in red states are not much to write home about. Dems did far better in Red States than Trump and the GOP did in blue states. Biden won more than 5million votes, each, in Texas and Florida (the two mega-electorates for the GOP), far better than Trump did in 2016 when he carried it over Hillary. Trump boasts no such increase in NYS and CA (the two mega-electorates for the Dems). That's true across the board.

3) As for the Pandemic not discrediting him. There was never a real reason to think it would have swayed Republicans enough. How do you explain the anti-science and anti-mask and anti-lockdown movements in predominantly red states all through the Pandemic? After 8 months of these selfish individuals not taking the virus seriously even after their friends and families and themselves, and Trump came down with the virus, why do you expect them to come to Jesus on Election Day? If there was popular rebuke of Trump in these red states, and if people wore masks and took the science seriously all through, yeah bigger blowout would have happened.

It's only in Arizona where Republican moderates, already beholden to the memory of McCain who Trump hates and repeatedly insults, where the Republican base showed rebuke to Trump's coronavirus handling. So there you saw the repudiation from the Republicans. What can I say, AZ Republicans must be among the smartest and least cultish members of the party. They hated McSally's guts. Martha McSally one of the few candidates who lost both of her State's Senate seats to Dems. That has to be a Hall of Shame somewhere for that and for McConnell who lost a red state's 2 senate seats entirely to the Democrats. He could have avoided that had he not insisted the Governor choose McSally to take a seat in 2018 after she lost the midterms to Sinema, he could have insisted McSally step down and let the Arizona GOP choose someone else.

Trump would have been more than a fluke if he say, carried just one of the rust belt states. And yeah people will say it was close but again the full vote isn't out yet for both, the margins between both will rise higher. He would have been more than a fluke if he turned even one minor blue state. He didn't. He lost all gains in 2016, and lost two Red States. Dems did better in Red States than otherwise.

[worstblogever]

How do you explain Trump’s increase in voters despite his handling of the virus that surely should’ve made him less stronger than he ultimately ended up being for re-election?

Republicans vote based out of spite, and enjoying doing harm to people who are "not them".

Seriously, what policies are there that Trump was into that don't amount to that?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Republicans vote based out of spite, and enjoying doing harm to people who are "not them".

Seriously, what policies are there that Trump was into that don't amount to that?

Republican voters are motivated by power, a candidate who can rubber stamp a SCOTUS and local level officials and redistricting, so a candidate who is bad but who can give them that will get the Republican voter base behind him, up to a point. Trump's lack of shame and enabling of racism and white supremacy made him different than McCain and Romney who, for all their flaws, weren't out and out white supremacists and didn't promise to the GOP that they would overturn outright via federal orders, stuff like immigration and a Muslim ban.

The truth is the Republican Party and the voter base are now out and out white supremacists. They aren't American imperialists and neoconservatives (who don't get me wrong, still bad) as under W. and the candidacy of McCain and Romney. They are outright Neo-Confederates. Right down to instigating violence because they lost an election fair and square.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Still at the end of the day, the Red States are not quite as Red as the Blue States are Blue.

5 million Floridians and 5 million Texans voted for Biden. These states are very much in play for Dems in future. North Carolina if it goes Trump, will be a very close victory for him as well. Stacey Abrams has made a present of GA, and Mitch McConnell has done likewise with AZ.

Election 2020 is looking like a stay of execution for the GOP. McConnell and other ghouls will play this as some decisive victory but deep down there will be worries and concern about how well the Dems did in Red States this time.

To reiterate, only a fool would prefer to be in the position of the GOP in 2020 rather than the Dems in 2020.

[Farealmer]

I am not counting on anything until the electors have made their choices. Dec 14 to 15 is when the election will be over.

[Mister Mets]

Pelosi place a political bet based on the Congressional gain that she seemed to believe were going to happen.

About that simple.

I get that.

I wonder if the political bet backfired by making the party look like it wasn't taking a national emergency seriously.

It also seemed unnecessary. If they won the Senate, they could also pass more relief bills.

Well this most definitely is not a great analogy.



Do not compare the Republican party and nutjobs like Greene to the Democrats.

It doesn't meet the criteria.

The point is more that people think it's okay to taint members of a party by association with other members of the party.

The squad are less toxic as human beings than QAnon nutjobs, but they're also promoted more favorably by the media and the Democratic establishment.

That's not really the point. There is very little to no evidence that the reason for the result was the impeachment. The impeachment was not campaigned upon by Biden and the media hadn't been talking about it ost of the year once the coronavirus hit. Trump's numbers overall were just too strong in too many demographics to say he paid a price for impeachment. The loss is significant but it probably has more to do with simpler causes like Obama voters in WI/MI/PA coming back to Biden and increased outreach efforts in AZ and GA in areas like Maricopa County and Atlanta than it does on any specific political reason. If you were going to pick something that absolutely hurt Trump it would have been the coronavirus well before impeachment comes into play.

I was responding more to the point that Trump did relatively well, than about the effects of the impeachment.

I don't know if it had any impact on his election. It did keep Republicans busy and it could have set a long-term message on norms.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The squad are less toxic as human beings than QAnon nutjobs, but they're also promoted more favorably by the media and the Democratic establishment.

Show me the proof that Greene was treated badly by Fox News and Donald Trump.

AOC is treated so badly by the Democratic establishment that just 2 days into Election Week when the full data wasn't out yet, people are blaming her and her platform for Dem underperformance. This after she and Reps aligned to her and her platform, even in swing districts, all won re-election.

She's speaking on it at CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/...u-aoc-full.cnn

It's a good thing she's got ahead of it now, because that has a chance of tearing this narrative down before it becomes dogma.

[worstblogever]

The squad are less toxic as human beings than QAnon nutjobs, but they're also promoted more favorably by the media and the Democratic establishment.

That might be because the media tend to be able to pain politicians who tell the truth more family than ones that tout anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and truck in rhetoric that invites stochastic terror attacks.


BUT WAH, MEDIA BIAS!

Still sensing an 11 letter word that starts and ends with "g" with this sorts of talk.

[numberthirty]

I get that.

I wonder if the political bet backfired by making the party look like it wasn't taking a national emergency seriously.

It also seemed unnecessary. If they won the Senate, they could also pass more relief bills.

...

Well, yeah...

When people are being evicted and having to close "Mom And Pop..." restaurants right now?

The idea that "Well, We'll Help You Out When We Can Do It On Our Terms..." was going to be something that was not going to potentially cost you very dearly with those people?

It is a pretty mind-blowing level of just being completely out of touch with John/Jane Public.