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

[Gray Lensman]

I'll leave it to others to explain how the coup would work, since I'm interested in other peoples' understandings.

On that topic, I'm curious as to your specific objections to how the November 2020 election and the results were handled. It can be a bit of a dodge to defend others (in your case the January 6 rioters) since you're not committing to their viewpoint.

I'll answer for him. Trump didn't win, that proves it was fraud.

I'm on my tablet or I would post the Foil song again. Election conspiracies are covered in the second verse.

[Mister Mets]

The next time the GOP loses in the Electoral College, they will likely succeed in sending the certified votes back to the States, because apparently no actual evidence of fraud is needed to do so. Just "suspicion", and "the votes can't be trusted", will be enough reason. Also from now on, the GOP-controlled legislatures will vote themselves the authority to override the Secretary of State's certification of the election results, so when the votes are returned to those States, the legislatures will simply appoint their own (Republican) slate of electors to replace the slate that actually won the election. What is most depressing about this scenario is that no one is even pretending that the elections has to be shown to be "fraudulent" or "stolen" for this plan to be implemented. Just having the Democratic candidate win will be sufficient for the GOP to throw out the results and send the election to the House, where they will control the results.

This is why it's important to overhaul the Electoral Count Act.

There seems to be bipartisan interest with McConnell recommending it.

Schumer considers it offensive and inadequate, which may represent a problem in modern politics.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...s-unacceptably

He's afraid that votes for something urgent will mean there are less votes for a more controversial reform.

[Tami]

Wish I could be there too, but I’m on baby watch. I am in spirit. - Adam Kinzinger

Seems like he recently got a new addition to his family, or is about to. The baby is due this month.

[seismic-2]

Since Trump canceled his scheduled press conference, it's not clear just what his remarks about Jan. 6 would have been. Probably it would have been yet another rehash of "the election was stolen" (with no evidence provided) and "the election was the insurrection, not Jan. 6". I just wonder how far he would have gone in praising the mob as "patriots". Probably pretty far - we should remember that on the day of the attack, when the police and other forces finally managed to clear the mob out of the Capitol, Trump told the rioters that he "loved" them. I'm sure he still does.

[Tami]

Biden condemns Trump and his allies as a danger to democracy on the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection

President Biden denounced his predecessor Thursday as a threat to the constitutional order at home and the democratic project abroad, using the first anniversary of the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters to rally support for the most basic precepts of the American system.

The remarkable condemnation of the former president was delivered in a building and a country that remains divided over the meaning of the mob attack intended to prevent Biden from taking office after his electoral victory. Biden spoke from Statuary Hall, where one year ago marauding protesters had broken in and set off battles with police for control of the seat of American democracy.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Since Trump canceled his scheduled press conference, it's not clear just what his remarks about Jan. 6 would have been. Probably it would have been yet another rehash of "the election was stolen" (with no evidence provided) and "the election was the insurrection, not Jan. 6". I just wonder how far he would have gone in praising the mob as "patriots". Probably pretty far - we should remember that on the day of the attack, when the police and other forces finally managed to clear the mob out of the Capitol, Trump told the rioters that he "loved" them. I'm sure he still does.

Yeah, just a rehash of Trump’s greatest hits. Since he’s incapable of accepting the reality of having lost the election, Trump will continue bleating that it was “stolen” from him. Meanwhile, the ONLY person Trump loves is himself, everyone else are either pawns or bootlickers in his mind.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Yeah, just a rehash of Trump’s greatest hits. Since he’s incapable of accepting the reality of having lost the election, Trump will continue bleating that it was “stolen” from him. Meanwhile, the ONLY person Trump loves is himself, everyone else are either pawns or bootlickers in his mind.

Pawns, boot lickers and we don't wanna say that Ivanka is...

[GindyPosts]

Scoop: Mike Pence’s team helping Jan. 6 committee



Mike Pence is the closest person to Trump at the time who might not be implicated directly in the Coup. He must have known at least some of it, or most of it, but from my understanding he was not part of the planning or anything like that. If so, then he has more incentive to help the 1/6 Committee instead of fighting against it like Bannon or Meadows.

Edit: Some on Twitter are also mentioning that Pence is still considering a run fro the Presidency. If Pence was smart (and we know that is highly questionable) he'd pull a Michael Cohan and give full cooperation in hopes of taking Trump out of the picture. If Trump can't run in 2024, then Pence stands a chance in the primaries. As long as Trump might run, Pence's chances are zero.

Find it funny that Mike Pence is helping the Committee while Greg Pence, his brother, remains an obstacle, which shows you that Greg is more than willing to sell his brother for a dollar... or 50 cents after negotiations.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Find it funny that Mike Pence is helping the Committee while Greg Pence, his brother, remains an obstacle, which shows you that Greg is more than willing to sell his brother for a dollar... or 50 cents after negotiations.

For Pence’s brother, like the majority of Qpublicans, it’s party before country, not to mention staying in the good graces of Trump who’s clearly the ruler of the party. I have no doubt he’ll stab Mike in the back the first chance he gets if it’ll earn him praise from The Former Guy.

[Kirby101]

This is why it's important to overhaul the Electoral Count Act.

There seems to be bipartisan interest with McConnell recommending it.

Schumer considers it offensive and inadequate, which may represent a problem in modern politics.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/...s-unacceptably

He's afraid that votes for something urgent will mean there are less votes for a more controversial reform.

It's the reforms that are urgent, the Electoral Act will only stop the GOP from trying to stop the House confirmation again. Schumer is right. It's a diversion from the anti-democratic laws the GOP is passing around the country.
Unless you think your Party will once again try to stop the House Electoral count, it isn't as urgent as voting rights.

[seismic-2]

Unless you think your Party will once again try to stop the House Electoral count, it isn't as urgent as voting rights.

The GOP will of course try to overturn the next election, if a Democrat wins it. That's why the Electoral Act may in fact be more important than voting rights. It won't really matter whether everyone gets to vote, if Congress can simply throw out the results of the voting and send the process back to the State legislatures. Without changing the Electoral vote-counting process that Hawley, Cruise, et al. tried to exploit on Jan. 6, voting rights become essentially a moot point.

[Kirby101]

Except the GOP State Legislatures are already passing laws that allow them to control the count in the first place.
Without the Voting Act, voting is already moot in this country.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022...-voting-rights

[seismic-2]

Bur even if voting is made as easy as possible and everyone is allowed to vote, it won't matter when the Congress is able to disregard the Electors chosen by the people and to let the (GOP-controlled) legislatures substitute their own Electors. It is imperative that this scheme, for which all the necessary components are currently being put into place by the Republican Party, not be allowed to function. The only way to keep it from happening is to change the law so that the counting of votes by Congress is henceforth explicitly made only a ceremonial task, unless a State genuinely is unable to certify a single slate of Electors as having won the November election. Congress should not be able to intervene in the States' certification of their election results, as the GOP tried to do in 2020 and will certainly try again to do in 2024.

[Tami]

When I think of the people who attacked the Capitol last year, it makes me think of a Pandemic of Emotional Immaturity .

Adults acting like spoiled children.

[mathew101281]