American Election

[Autocon]

Do you think there will be civil unrest? Guns have had an increase in sales. Its a pretty sad state of affiars.

I think trump supporters might be thicked headed enough to do something.

[Paulbot]

Their War. Our World.

[Handsprime]

I mean, there currently is social unrest in America at the moment over shootings of black people, so depending on where the election goes, will depend on the type of social unrest we get.

Looking forward to Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Sinnertwin]

Exercise your 2nd amendment rights and burn that random guys store down to the ground!
''Murca!

[DELTAprime]

I don't like this. Trump is gaining ground incredibly fast.

[High_Q]

States whose votes are still being counted will likely be red states. It will be close, but I think there'll be four more years.

[jimoinj]

It seems America is in danger of regressing backwards into primitivism and fascism, with a cult of personality to boot. Even if Biden ekes out a win, it's extraordinary that so many people thought the mentally ill demagogue in the oval office who let 200,000 plus die of COVID deserves another term. Just extraordinary.

[griffin]

I guess the polls got it wrong again, like in 2016... as Florida, Texas and Ohio were supposed to be ahead for Biden, and yet, were easy wins for trump.
Maybe rallies are more effective than we think, and trump was more willing to sacrifice supporters to Covid to gain more voters, and it was estimated his rallies will cost about 700 lives to the virus. And I doubt any of his supporters would care, or even believe it, since their leader is telling them that the virus is already going away on its own, and the deaths in the news is all fake.

So far, the blue wave that polls were expecting, hasn't happened... and the only state so far confirmed to be flipped is Arizona, which isn't a big gain of just a couple of points, and Biden needs to flip 37 points.
I was expecting to see several states flip on election night, but now if any more than Arizona do flip, it won't be known for at least a couple days, as key states aren't counting the mail-in ballots that are mostly Democrat, until after the Election Day votes have been counted (which are mostly Republican).
And then we have the Senate, which was only expected to go Democrat if Biden had a big win and flip those states with Senate races.
This election had record spending on advertising, particularly by Democrats, and it was all wasted.

I just can't believe that there are that many Americans who support a politician who downplays a virus killing over a thousand Americans each day, and encourages or supports violence and vandalism by his followers, despite criticising violence and vandalism by others who don't support him. He has certainly played this out well from four years ago, by attacking the media before they start picking apart his fake news, and then his supporters believe his lies, while dismissing anyone else who fact-checks him.

Trump's speech was as people had expected, which was to claim victory at the end of the night if neither side was guaranteed to win.
It was so funny... he starts off the speech by saying that the evil democrats would be rushing to the courts with their lawyers to fight the outcome, and then ends the speech by saying that he would be sending his lawyers to the Supreme Court tomorrow to stop counting any more votes... and none of his followers would even notice the hypocrisy of what he just said.

This was noted ages ago as his plan if he didn't have outright victory on the end of the 3rd, by encouraging his supporters to vote on the day so that the results by the end of counting on the 3rd in some key swing states that don't start counting mail-in ballots until the 4th, is heavily favouring Republican... with the intention of using his Republican packed Supreme Court to stop states from counting all of those mail-in ballots, which is where he knows most of the Democratic votes are. And why are those states not able to count mail-in ballots until after election day votes??? ... they had state Republican politicians making that happen, just so that Trump can claim that those (mostly Democrat) votes dont count, or could be made invalid by the Supreme Court.
It was a chess game by State Republicans, who already gerrymander and limiting minorities access to voter registration, setting up a situation that Trump could then use on Election Night to claim an early victory, and discredit all other votes as fraudulent... and falsely claiming that all votes are supposed to be counted on Election Night, even though that has never happened in the past (counting always goes beyond the Election Day, and the Constitution allows counting until the first week of December).

[shockNwave]

Had to laugh. There are pro-Trump gun crazies marching in the streets of Arizona chanting "Down with Fox" because Fox News is saying that Biden could win this state. I bet Trump will be calling Murdoch and screaming, "Are you my propaganda minister or the media!?"

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Nah, Fox has long lost their place as the American Right's 'News' outlet of choice. It's all about One America News Network (OANN) now.

[Handsprime]

Well, it looks like Biden has one. Trump is the first one term president since George bush Sr.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I hope Trump barricades himself in the Oval Office and refuses to come out. Best episode of COPS ever!

Seriously though, don't think that the crazy is over - he's still got a lot of lawsuits to throw and see what sticks, and even if they all fail (they're apparently pretty flimsy so far) he's still got until January 20 before he's actually Not the President anymore. That's a LOT of time to do damage for a desperate, vengeful, spiteful man with nothing to lose.

[DELTAprime]

I heard prosecutors are getting ready to arrest Trump for things like tax evasion the second he leaves the White House.

[griffin]

I hope Trump barricades himself in the Oval Office and refuses to come out. Best episode of COPS ever!

Seriously though, don't think that the crazy is over - he's still got a lot of lawsuits to throw and see what sticks, and even if they all fail (they're apparently pretty flimsy so far) he's still got until January 20 before he's actually Not the President anymore. That's a LOT of time to do damage for a desperate, vengeful, spiteful man with nothing to lose.

This was something that I was saying to someone else on fb, in that he will still hold power for another 11 weeks, with the power of the Republican senate behind him, to burn down Rome if he wanted to... to make it even harder for the next administration to start working straight away, to deal with the virus and the economy. He still has executive order powers, that has access to a lot of money if he wanted to spend it on something stupid, or funnel it towards things he would benefit from.
I wouldn't put it past him to use his control over his followers, to rise up and protect "their" president from being evicted on January 20th, whom he has already convinced that the election was rigged, claiming that Republican observers were not present, even though Republican observers have said that they were.
The last civil war in America had two Presidents, that each side believed was the one true president, so it has happened before, and we've already seen trump tweet out a call to arms to his followers, leading to some state buildings being over-run by armed trump supporters (and more recently, attempts to over-run counting rooms to stop the count, just because he told them to do it by twitter).


I heard prosecutors are getting ready to arrest Trump for things like tax evasion the second he leaves the White House.

Something that was included in the Russia Collusion report was that if he wasn't currently a sitting president, he would have been charged with a number of offences... meaning, he wasn't being charged because he was innocent (as claimed by his puppet attorney general Barr), but because the constitution of America does not allow a sitting president to be charged with a crime... the charges have to wait until he has finished his term (4 or 8 years).
As such, it was noted after the impeachment trial that he has a lot potential charges and lawsuits waiting for him when he is no longer president (which is why he is so desperate to remain president, for life).

The example to bring up here is Nixon, who resigned before his impeachment trial, so that he didn't have the humiliation of being removed by force, when he left office, he was pardoned by his replacement Gerald Ford, which lost him all credibility as it tainted him as if he was colluding with Nixon, by preventing him from being held accountable for the Watergate scandal.
Even if Biden was somehow forced to pardon trump for his federal crimes (like the Russia collusion), it still leaves him with a lot of state charges waiting for him after January 20th... so either he calls for his supporters to rise up and defend him, or he sneaks off to a country without an extradition treaty.

[jimoinj]

It is extraordinary that Republicans seem to be going along with Trump's denial, with Bill Barr announcing an inquiry into voting irregularities, all but Romney refusing to acknowledge let alone congratulate Biden for his win, Graham and Cruz out there pushing Trump's conspiracy theories, and the Government refusing to cooperate with Biden's transition team including providing access to Federal funds, resources and briefing necessary to ensure he is ready to hit the ground running on 20 January. The other possibility is, they are humouring Trump, announcing sham inquiries etc and propagandasing to help him emotionally reach the point where he able to accept defeat (eg. after the legal challenges fail and the inquiry finds no evidence of widescale voter fraud etc). Additionally there is the fear of Trump's unhinged base who basically believe Trump is being robbed and any Republican who even acknowledges he has lost is a traitor who will face death threats.

More concerning was Mike Pompeo trying to say there would be a transition to a second term of Donald Trump. If he was humouring Trump he should have known better, this comes across as a grave threat of a fascist coup by a party addicted to power and led by a madman. We live in truly frightening times.

[griffin]

People think it is laughable or absurd to suggest situations that we see in smaller countries that have disputed elections or fake elections to re-elect a fascist dictator... but trump always had the personality traits of those other people who crave power and attention, and won't give it up (usually using the powers that they have obtained from their position to limit or silence opposition to them remaining in power).
Dismiss it if you want, believing that it could never happen in the USA, but the actions of a national leader to use a large part of the population to undermine or eradicate democracy (convincing obsessed followers that he won and continuing to govern with their support, after losing an election), is how revolutions and civil wars are started.

And in the last few days, trump has been removing people from positions of military power, and replacing them with people who are close supporters of his. The Secretary of Defence and three senior people at the Pentagon are likely to be the first of many, which makes it even harder for a new administration to get to work in January if they have all of trump's friends who have limited experience in those roles, all working against the new President, who will have to first replace them all again (which will be twice in just two months), before he can start getting things done with people who know what they are doing, and willing to work with him.
Plus, if the Senate remains in Republican hands, lead by one of trump's biggest fans, Biden won't be able to have anyone he wants in permanent positions (Senate needs to confirm all permanent positions)... so we could end up having another four years of Government departments being run by "Acting" Directors and Secretaries.

All the while, trump will be in the background, tweeting and getting his face on camera, encouraging his millions of fans to keep America divided by doing everything they can to disrupt Biden's plans and initiatives.

For the rest of us outside of America, it is a real popcorn moment, to sit back and watch how it all plays out.

[griffin]

So we are now a week after Biden was declared winner, almost 2 weeks since the election, and trump still hasn't conceded defeat (he never will), or even allowing any Government department or employee have any contact with Biden... to the extent of preventing the State Department from passing on congratulatory messages from other countries.
How low is that, to stop people from congratulating his opponent.
(they are the official point of contact with the US Government by other countries, particularly if they don't have direct contact with non-government people... or shouldn't if they don't want to be accused of colluding with foreign powers like trump's team did in 2016).

After all this time, with just about every one of their lawsuits against the election being thrown out by different courts, and still no documented evidence provided to back up all of the anonymous claims of voter fraud... trump is still determined to prevent a new administration that has earned it's win, from being able to get ready for the huge job of running the country - something that can't be done the day of inauguration. If the new administration is blocked from intelligence briefings and getting familiarised with the different departments and heads, America's national security will be at risk, and it's allies like Australia as we rely on a lot on its greater intelligence network... not to mention a deterrence against countries like China, who have been allowed to expand their influence in this region of the world, and target Australia with ongoing trade disputes. They were hit with trade restrictions and potential penalties by trump so can't take it out on America, so have to take it out on their alliance partner. Since trump only cares about America first by removing America from a lot of treaties and international agreements, so he has no interest in stepping in to defend an alliance partner as it doesn't benefit him or America.
This is why we (Australia) will benefit from Biden more than trump, as China does not appear to be slowing down on its targeting of Australian imports (affecting our jobs and economy at such a vulnerable time), so we need our alliance partner's help to get China off our back (to at least play fair with trade again).

Today when he popped his head up for announcements about the Pfizer vaccine, his spiteful nature had him state that New York will get the vaccine last, because of the negative things the Governor of that state has said about him. We already know how willing he is to sacrifice thousands of Americans to the virus just to get elected and to make money, but this is just completely evil, happy to let people die just to punish someone who dared speak out against his inaction to the virus.
Oh, and he's also claiming credit for the vaccine by Pfizer, even though they are one company who wasn't part of trump's "warp speed" project and received no government money to produce their vaccine. (I know someone who works for Pfizer, and he is really angry that trump is claiming credit for their work)

[griffin]

It really is turning into a popcorn show, and it would be laughable and entertaining as an outsider if there weren't thousands of people dying every day from covid, while it is still a political issue (until the Georgia Senate elections in January occur, the Republican party needs trump's supporters to get re-elected, so almost no one is saying anything against him to tackle the virus, or to even acknowledge the election result.
The election win has been one of the greatest margins

The day for us to really watch is December 14th. That's the day that each state sends its designated Electors to "vote", based on the Electoral Map (each state has a different number allocated to each, based on their population, which adds up to 538), and in most states, those Electors are NOT obligated to vote according to who won their state. If the Electors in a state that Biden won are fans of trump, they are actually entitled to cast their votes for him, if they aren't in a state that they are bound to vote according to who got the most votes. This is trump's last chance to legally retain the presidency, if he can convince enough people in states that Biden won, to vote for him.... and it is perfectly legal.
It was a system set up when the Constitution was drawn up, to make sure only "qualified" people end up taking up the prestigious position of the President. In a way it was meant to prevent people like trump from being president, as the founding fathers feared someone getting voted in on a sudden wave of popularity that was unprepared or unwilling to respect the position or lead for ALL Americans, and would more likely cause the downfall or destruction of the Nation from within like a tyrant or autocrat.
It does make you wonder what the point is of a Presidential election if the small number of Electors chosen by the State governments are the ones who decide who the President will be, and in most states can ignore the popular vote in their State if they didn't fear any repercussions (if they felt that their job would be protected by the person or party they were voting to make President).
(the system also makes it easier to make a replacement President if the President-Elect dies between the November election and the December Elector vote... it has never happened yet, but we've never had someone as old as Biden win, during the middle of a pandemic that kills most people his age)

Ordinarily, the citizens would be so outraged if their Democracy is ignored by the State Electors that it doesn't happen very often (people who do it are called faithless electors, and until trump came along, it rarely happened (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_electors_in_the_2016_United_States_presi dential_election)... the Electors usually honoured the will of the people, over any party loyalties. In 2016, there were 7 faithless electors, voting against trump or clinton, and I would expect that there will be a lot more this year, as trump and Republican party officials try to convince 37 of Electors to change their vote to trump (if they both get 270, Congress breaks the tie, based on how many states are represented by each party, and Republicans have the majority).
Until all states adopt legislation to force their Electors to vote according to the popular vote in their State, this is all perfectly legal, but will make a mockery of the concept of Democracy, especially while nations like China are trying to outlaw democratic concepts (giving the people a voice), they will take advantage of the chaos in America, by disputing any right to criticise their own efforts to prevent a democratic will of the people.

So after December 14th, if trump failed to convince 37 Electors to switch their vote, he still has the support of almost 80% of his followers, according to a recent poll on the PBS newshour today that has 77% of trump voters believing that the Biden didn't win the election fairly. Thanks to trump convincing his followers that everyone else lies (media, opposition politicians), he can say whatever crazy thing he wants, and they believe him.
All but one of his 38 lawsuits against the election results have failed, and his lawyers don't claim things in court that they are saying in public because there are penalties for knowingly lie in court, but he keeps claiming things that were already proven to be untrue, or his team have failed to prove occurred. However, since his followers read his tweets and not the news sites reporting on the facts, his followers are still keen to defend his claim of winning the election... and that could be interesting if all trump's options are exhausted after December 14th and he calls on his followers to take action against the people or party that have "stolen" his rightful place in the white house.
After all, trump was the one who convinced millions of his followers that Obama was not born in America, which would make him ineligible to be President... but since he targets white males who have limited education, those obsessed supporters aren't willing or able to learn the truth through reliable sources.

The United States was the great bastion or example to the rest of the world of the concept of Democracy in the modern era... and if any other country had an election that the sitting head of state was refusing to accept or tried to over-turn, every western country (led by the US) would be criticising them and even placing sanctions on them if they were persecuting any opposition to their unlawful hold of power.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

So, interesting times. Makes you wonder what they're going to do in 2 weeks when Biden officially becomes President.

https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/db13e3f18580fe2a8554e01b10f90235?impolicy=wcms_cro p_resize&cropH=743&cropW=1320&xPos=0&yPos=60&width=862&height=485

Also, it looks like the Republicans have lost the Senate.

[jimoinj]

Today is a salutary lesson to anyone who thought Trump was all talk and not a fascist attempting an undemocratic coup. Wouldn't it be fun if we could all just say it was fraud every time our preferred party loses.

[DELTAprime]

And it's over. Biden has been certified by the senate as the new president.

I couldn't believe it but I got a MAGA guy coming through my register at work today. He was spouting Trump propaganda. What made it even stranger is that he is an Asian guy that had a very thick Asian accent, exactly the type of guy Trump would want to be thrown in jail or worse for simply existing. I'm always amazed that there are MAGA people in Australia.

[griffin]

I just don't get how many millions of Americans were still voting for Republican candidates after everything that trump and his state & federal politician enablers have done to the country... I mean, how bad can they think Democrat politicians are for them to prefer someone as self-centred and attention-seeking as trump, to not just abstain from voting and risk having a Democrat win. Democrats are the ones promoting equality among races and genders, and advocates of social security (welfare support, better access to medical support, immigration support)... while Republicans have been caught rigging elections (limiting access by minorities & soliciting assistance from foreign adversarial powers), downplaying a virus that is estimated will kill half a million Americans by the time most people are vaccinated, and undermining efforts to bring racial equality to coloured people, who are targeted by police out in public for random stops, more than white people who make up a greater percentage of the population.
Even though 82 million people voted for Biden, 75 million voted for trump... even if they didn't like him, they preferred a liar who puts himself before the nation, over a Democrat who is well known from his 40 years of politics to be bipartisan enough to put people & country before party. It's just crazy, to have people willing to sacrifice their country, just to keep out people who would actually be better for them (like the covid payments that Republicans help up for 9 months, and then refused to give out more money when the amount they settled on was considered insignificant and insulting).


I'm always amazed that there are MAGA people in Australia.

I have one at my work. He's always making fun of Biden when he's on the TV in the lunchroom (midday news) because he does a lot of pausing... mostly due to his stuttering, but it also means he's thinking about what he is saying instead of rambling off endless monotone dibble.
The other day he was saying that the Democrats being in charge again will bring a lot more wars in the world, but the last two wars that the US declared on other nations were by Republican presidents, and Trump wanted to invade Iran just a couple months ago.
He is also one who believes that covid is not a serious virus, but that everyone is over-exaggerating the deaths just to make money (hospitals, insurance, medicine/vaccine producers). Last week he claimed that only people who are deficient of vitamin D will catch Covid, and if they take Vitamin C they will be cured.

Mind you, he is a "flat earther"... so he believes a lot of conspiracy theories.

[Autocon]

The republicans lost both senate run offs to the democrats. Now democrats control everything

[janda the red]

I have one at my work. He's always making fun of Biden when he's on the TV in the lunchroom (midday news) because he does a lot of pausing... mostly due to his stuttering, but it also means he's thinking about what he is saying instead of rambling off endless monotone dibble.
The other day he was saying that the Democrats being in charge again will bring a lot more wars in the world, but the last two wars that the US declared on other nations were by Republican presidents, and Trump wanted to invade Iran just a couple months ago.
He is also one who believes that covid is not a serious virus, but that everyone is over-exaggerating the deaths just to make money (hospitals, insurance, medicine/vaccine producers). Last week he claimed that only people who are deficient of vitamin D will catch Covid, and if they take Vitamin C they will be cured.

Mind you, he is a "flat earther"... so he believes a lot of conspiracy theories.

That guy sounds like he'd be a complete knob.... i'd struggle to not call him out on his bullshit.

[1AZRAEL1]

I'd call him out on it, even though I know I'd get in trouble because of our code of conduct

[griffin]

I can't stand him enough to be able to even look at him, let alone talk to him. I just have to tolerate his bs during the small overlap of our two shifts.

[Sinnertwin]

Excuse my ignorance (I dont follow World Politics) but what does Trump and/or his supporters hope to achieve with this course of action?
Isnt he going to be frog marched out of there in 2 weeks anyway?

[DELTAprime]

All the rioters are looking at 10 years in jail thanks to Trump himself. On the 27th of June, Trump signed an executive order making the penalty for vandalising government property a minimum of 10 years in jail.

They did what Trump wanted and now they are looking at losing 10 years of their life in a federal jail cell.

[High_Q]

I couldn't believe it but I got a MAGA guy coming through my register at work today. He was spouting Trump propaganda. What made it even stranger is that he is an Asian guy that had a very thick Asian accent, exactly the type of guy Trump would want to be thrown in jail or worse for simply existing.

Sometimes, these ethnic minority individuals living in Western democracies are strongly supportive of Trump because they adhere to a 'Jesus can save your soul, but only John Wayne can save your life' brand of Christianity. Sometimes, they believe that only the Trump administration is able to defeat the totalitarian regimes that these individuals escaped from.

You'll be surprised how high MAGA support is amongst older Vietnamese-Australians, or recent migrants from Hong Kong or Taiwan. A similar phenomenon in the US, where Trump is popular amongst some Latinos (e.g. Cuban-Americans). All these have an instinctive revulsion to anything that smacks of 'Communism'. They lean heavily to the right politically.

[griffin]

I was watching his speech at the white house to his crowd of supporters, telling them to walk to the capital building while it was in session (to validate biden's election win), and that he would walk with them to it... but then stayed at the white house so that he wouldn't be caught in the middle of it.

[shockNwave]

The reason why so many have a soft spot for Trump is because he seized upon the anger that exists in the Rust Belt voters better than other Republicans by being a demagogue instead of a reasonable man.

Q. So what's the difference between the Rust Belt and the Sea of Rust?
A. The latter contains zombies that refuse to be duped.

[griffin]

It's going to be a long 10 days...

The civilian-let coup that he orchestrated (an hour of firing up the crowd at the white house and then directing them to the Congress building) failed, and he has already floated the idea of calling in the military (since he is the Commander in Chief) to keep him in power, like military coups in other countries, leading to all 10 surviving former Secretaries of Defence to sign onto an open letter to the military, to NOT undertake such action if trump issues the order.

Despite the trump supporters chanting on camera for the vice president to be killed (for failing to do what trump wanted him to do in the senate that day), the VP still won't act against trump by attempting to invoke the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution (how to remove a President who is unable or unfit to fulfil his duties).

And without trump's usual social media accounts (the main ones were all suspended for using them to incite a riot that resulted in several deaths), his constant need for attention could have him doing something drastic just to have the regular media talking about him.

When it was first suggested to impeach trump again, I was thinking that it was a waste of resources and would probably eat into Democrat support if no Republicans supported it... because he was only president for 2 more weeks. And even if there was enough time, the Republicans hold the Senate until Biden and Harris are sworn in on January 20th (it may be 50-50 now, but while Pence is VP, he has the tie-breaking vote to block a senate trial). So the question is, is it worth impeaching him (charging him) if he will no longer be president to face trial in the Senate? Because, it isn't really known if a senate trial would be valid to someone who is no longer a sitting president... and even if it was valid, would enough Republican Senators be willing to support it and risk incurring the wrath or retribution of trump and his supporters. Most Republican members of congress needed his supporters to get elected, so they those people will do anything to get enough votes to stay in power.
One thing that might get some Republicans supporting another impeachment, is that if trump is convicted in the Senate trial, he would be unable to run for president again, which will give other Republicans a better chance at winning the candidacy.

[Seraphim Prime]

A similar phenomenon in the US, where Trump is popular amongst some Latinos (e.g. Cuban-Americans). All these have an instinctive revulsion to anything that smacks of 'Communism'. They lean heavily to the right politically.

A lot of the older Cuban-Americans have come directly from communist states and they know first hand the failings of their countries and the direct impact upon their own lives. Any potential talk of communism is very personal and emotional and wouldn't even countenance anything close to that. The second and third generation are much less inclined against "US communism"



When it was first suggested to impeach trump again, I was thinking that it was a waste of resources and would probably eat into Democrat support if no Republicans supported it... because he was only president for 2 more weeks. And even if there was enough time, the Republicans hold the Senate until Biden and Harris are sworn in on January 20th (it may be 50-50 now, but while Pence is VP, he has the tie-breaking vote to block a senate trial). So the question is, is it worth impeaching him (charging him) if he will no longer be president to face trial in the Senate? Because, it isn't really known if a senate trial would be valid to someone who is no longer a sitting president... and even if it was valid, would enough Republican Senators be willing to support it and risk incurring the wrath or retribution of trump and his supporters. Most Republican members of congress needed his supporters to get elected, so they those people will do anything to get enough votes to stay in power.
One thing that might get some Republicans supporting another impeachment, is that if trump is convicted in the Senate trial, he would be unable to run for president again, which will give other Republicans a better chance at winning the candidacy.

The only benefit of impeachment would be to ensure he couldn't run again in 4 years time. Even though the Democrat / Republican divide is 50-50, I'm sure you could get some on the record anti-Trump (and anti-recent actions) Republicans to vote for impeachment, if it could be argued about saving the soul of the party - eg Romney.


It's going to be very interesting to see where the Republican Party goes after this. It's no longer the party of McCain (and even Bush - both HW and W). Ted Cruz had always been at the head of an insurgency within the party with the Tea Party caucus and is appears to be angling to be the new heir apparent. He may not have personally liked Trump, but appreciates the new voters he's managed to activate.

[shockNwave]

It looks like Mike Pence doesn't want to invoke the 25th amendment because he doesn't want to be remembered as Jaime Lannister the kingslayer.😱

[griffin]

The next 24 hours will be interesting, as the House votes on Impeachment, and fearing for their lives has already persuaded some Republicans in the House to support the measure... so we'll see how many jump the trump wagon. (probably not a huge amount though, as about 150 of the 200 Republican House members were supporting trump's bid to block the Senate from officially recognising Biden as the next President... even after their lives were being threatened by rioters who were intent on capturing or killing both Democrat and Republican politicians if Biden was officially recognised)

I've been watching the US news programs on SBS, and the more they investigate the storming of the Capital Building, the worse it gets... with people who have been arrested being found to have posted up intentions of taking hostages and even killing politicians live in front of cameras, as well as organising this days before the event in the event it was considered "necessary to keep their president in power" (and trump spent an hour firing up these people to believe that they had to act now, before the Senate took their country away from them)... and with more footage from the day shows up, we see gear/equipment being brought in by the rioters that was police and military grade.
People were assaulting police while holding "blue lives matter" flags... showing that they had no interest in supporting police, but were just using it to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement.

And we keep hearing more about federal agencies that did know about the day turning violent (the FBI had internal memos of internet chatter about intentions of people in the crowd to be violent), but with so many federal agencies and oversight agencies gutted by trump of their leadership (removing anyone willing to investigate him), the resources were limited and slow to react.
Meanwhile, of the limited number of police on site (despite everyone knowing that something would happen that day), so many of them were willing to not stand in the way of the rioters, or even supported them... something that wouldn't have happened if it was a crowd of black people walking towards the Capital Building (and we saw how there was thousands of military and police deployed when it was a BLM march... something positive that wanted to bring about equality, not undermine it like this attempt to undermine democracy).

Putting it simply, it will be remembered in history as the day that one branch of the American government (the Executive) rallied its troops & supporters, to launch an assault on another branch of the government (the Legislature), with the intention of capturing the Capital Building to force the elected members to submit to the will of the President. The Capital Building hasn't been over-run by a hostile force for over 200 years, and an insurrection of people against their elected Congress last occurred during the American Civil War in the late 19th century.

And the people online behind the more militaristic elements of that insurrection last week, are also intending to target Legislative buildings in all US states, on or before inauguration day, if trump is not allowed to remain as president... so the next 7 days could see even worse things happen in America, and with trump supporters now openly abusing and threatening Republican politicians in public, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more irrational trump supporters willing to take a few pot-shots at Biden during the inauguration ceremony to earn praise from their beloved leader (it was probably a good thing that the post-ceremony parade was cancelled due to covid, as I doubt Biden would make it all the way to the end alive).

(one thing I heard today that was amusing - it was claimed that trump has now accepted that he can't pardon himself, so has refused to give out pardons to anyone else... if he can't have one, no one can. (we'll see if this is true, if he pardons anyone in the next week, other than family members)

[griffin]

Vote has now occured in the House, 10 Republicans crossed the floor to support it. It might not be many out of the 207 in the House, but it is the most ever from the same party as an impeached president. So he has that record, as well as being the first to be impeached twice.

Impeachment is like the laying of charges (done in the House), with the trial being held in the Senate... which won't happen until later in the year.
(Needs two thirds to vote guilty to have him convicted, which would prevent him from running again... but I doubt they will get 17 Republican senators to vote guilty)

[shockNwave]

Recently Ted Cruz (one of the enablers of the election fraud claims) has compared left wingers/environmentalists to Thanos. What a d#@? head.

[cuomo]

Recently Ted Cruz (one of the enablers of the election fraud claims) has compared left wingers/environmentalists to Thanos. What a d#@? head.

https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

[shockNwave]

https://time.com/5936036/secret-2020-election-campaign/

A very eye-opening article, Cuomo. I know the Republican Party is evil. I just didn't know they could be this evil.

[Autocon]

Cant read article :(