“I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices, and I think the system’s going to go very quickly,” ~D.J Trump
I often wonder whether the willfully ignorant population is a product of their environment or genetically predisposed to be incapable of critical thinking, to refuse sound reasoning. Trump’s support still hovers around 40%. Who are these people?
In a recent FOX News poll 46% percent of those questioned believe Trump, our Dictator in Chief, won the first presidential debate, while only 54% realize that there has yet to be a debate. I can only hope this was a poll of FOX News viewers and not of the general public.
We have 37 days left to vote. The election is essentially underway. Early voting has begun in several states, and the locations of those polling stations will be expanded next week. Some states have already sent out mail-in ballots. Already in this 2020 general election, 866,734 people have cast their votes. On this date in 2016, only 9,525 had voted. It is clear that this election will have a historically high early turnout. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had fewer “did not vote” numbers this time around? In 2016 over 100 million eligible voters stayed home.
The flood of early voters might also be a result of video footage taken throughout recent elections that shows countless attempts to disenfranchise voters. Election Day chaos, including long lines, closed polling stations, tossed out voter registrations, broken machines, a shortage of poll workers, etc. should motivate everyone to vote early. At least 40% of those eligible to vote are expected to do so before November 3rd, in person, or by mail.
Between Trump’s consistently low poll numbers and the surprising early voter turnout, he sees the writing on the wall. He is despised by more people than support him. He knows he can not win the election without cheating, so he is cheating, but a large turnout could negate his tactics.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5f6d71d5c5b64deddeeb9107
Trump is using strategies that have proven effective in authoritarian regimes.
Step one: Predict and encourage voter fraud.
Trump started this a while ago, conditioning the public to question the security of voting by mail. His installed Post Master General, Louis DeJoy, has effectively slowed down US postal services by destroying hundreds of sorting machines in key states and eliminating overtime for postal workers. Ballots must be mailed back at least two weeks prior to November 3rd.
Trump is encouraging his base to commit voter fraud. At a rally held early this month, he urged the people of North Carolina to vote twice.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/trump-people-vote-twice.amp.html
“Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very — we’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer frankly, there’ll be a continuation.” ~Donald J Trump
Trump doesn’t want a paper trail. Mail-in ballots can be audited. It’s hard to hack paper. Trump prefers touchscreen voting machines that are connected to the internet. In 2016 exit polls told us Hillary Clinton won the election. Exit polls did not match election results. I believe the exit polls were accurate, and that machines were tampered with. Now that there is a possibility that Trump will lose by a margin too big to change, he’s moving onto the next step in his plan.
Trump said, “there won’t be a transfer.” He is admitting his Fascist agenda, and he’s being coached in how to retain power by Putin.
Step two: He will “discover” the election fraud he encouraged. After telling his supporters to vote twice, despite its illegality, he will use any such behavior, whether or not it is on his behalf, as an excuse to claim the election was fraudulent. He’ll refuse to accept any result other than a win for himself. He’ll refuse a loss whether an excuse presents itself or not.
Step three: He will declare himself the winner on November 03, claiming mail-in ballots are fraudulent and he’ll try to block the counting of them, using the court system to do so.
Step four: He is attempting to coerce members of the electoral college, by bribery, threats, or blackmail, to elect him despite results.
https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article245970215.html
Step five: He denies election results and takes the matter all the way to the Supreme Court. This is Trump’s main motivation in pushing for a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, so close to the election before she has even been buried.
“I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it’s a scam, this scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation, just in case it would be more political than it should be, I think it’s very important to have a ninth judge.” ~DJ Trump
👆🏼Not True. Currently, the 5-3 conservative majority is how the SCOTUS is divided. If confirmed the court will have 6 conservative judges, (three appointed by Trump,) and only three liberal justices.
Every dictator needs sycophants:
“If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result.” Compromised Senator Lindsey Graham
Whatever the number in the Supreme Court, the normal process of electing a President does not include the court, and Lindsey Graham knows that. Elections are for the people. Eight or nine Supreme Court Justices do not determine the winner, ballots do. We the people elect our president, not eight or nine appointed justices.
Only once did the Supreme Court intervene in an election dispute. Bush vs Gore in 2000, came down to the state of Florida, where another Bush was Governor. The corruption in that recount process was astounding.
Despite Al Gore’s popular vote win, the high court, stacked with conservative justices, gave the presidency to George W. Bush. The electoral college should have been abolished long ago. In what other Democracy does the loser to win?
GOP Ted Cruz is among the voices echoing tRump’s claim that the seat must be filled before the election in case they are called upon to decide the election.
twitter.com/libsinamerica/status/1309141626477047810
Trump and McConnell are fighting to fill Ginsberg’s vacant seat despite the “Merrick Garland rule” written by McConnell himself in order to block President Obama from his constitutional right to fill a 2015 vacancy.
There is no limit to their hypocrisy. The GOP has no shame. They have rallied behind Mitch McConnell in favor of confirming what will be Trump’s third Supreme Court Justice. Trump’s nominee is conservative, of course, but she only has three years of experience as a judge, (guess who appointed her,) and her extreme religious proclivities are bandied about so much that it’s easy to foresee a blur in the line that separates church and state.
U.S. military leaders have made clear that they will support whoever the lawful president is. If Biden wins and is sworn in, Trump can handcuff himself to his desk, but the military will remove him. We have to survive that long and make sure the winner is sworn in.
He’s already seeded his plan with vile rhetoric, which is that mail-in balloting generally can’t be trusted. The details of any fraud don’t matter.
Some things to keep in mind:
- If you are voting by mail you will need to allow 14 days for the USPS to deliver it.
- Google your “supervisor of elections” to find the best location to drop off your mail-in ballot in person.
- If you don’t receive your mail-in ballot at least two weeks prior to November 3rd, vote early in person.
- Be aware that many blue mailboxes have been removed.
- Put stamps on your ballot so it isn’t relegated to bulk mail.
- If you do vote on November 3rd, start early, dress warm, bring a chair, and pack a lunch.
This is an election between fascism and democracy. If Trump remains in office, without re-election fears restraining him, we can expect his destructive behavior to escalate Our Democracy will not survive.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/trump-campaign-election-coup-bypass-biden-win/amp
A lot from Lydia 
I am sick to my stomach that the Dumpster fire in DC has used the death of one of our national heros as campaign fodder.
I am hoping that RBG’s passing will have one major benefit: young people love her and because of her more of them are court savvy than when I was young. My two nieces are college age and both are involved with get out the vote groups at their universities.
I have a very limited circle of influence so I make this suggestion in case others might want to take action: the best way to take down the T-party is The Economy. The trick is to make Wall Street align with Main Street. I wrote a post called A different kind of prepping. The gist is this:
1) The Dirtbag has signed an executive order to de-fund Social Security and Medicare-that was called payroll tax relief. What it does is to make it so that the reserves for paying Social Security and Medicare will be drawn down more quickly during this pandemic. His oath to make those cuts permanent is in fact an oath to end both programs. If you are dependent on either of those programs or are planning on them for the future you need to start cutting back on spending now.
2) The Affordable Care Act is gone…Merry Christmas all. If you rely on it or some of its benefits such as insuring your adult children through your employer or not paying a higher premium for pre-existing conditions* you need to start cutting expenses now to stay financially stable. If Joe Biden wins and they flip the Senate there is a decent chance that Affordable Care might be back, possibly even better, but both have to happen and that is still not odds on favorite. Again the young vote might pull us through.
3) With the pandemic more people are likely to get sick and lose employer benefits. The cost of COBRA is very high so you should be saving now against that eventuality.
4) The Economy, as measured by stock indexes is really only a handful of companies: The “mega-tech” make up about a quarter of the S&P and the rally since the pandemic started is not broad based, it mostly goes to those companies and ones like Walmart and Kroger who have sucked up most of the spending since the pandemic started.
Therefore: if we all spend the smallest amount possible for the next month bust starting ASAP(especially with those huge companies that have done well) and post about cost saving ideas and how we are afraid of a depression if the Republicans are in office it could start to turn the tide of public opinion in ways that are hard to combat since the economic drop is the direct results of Republican actions.
*The Executive order about covering pre-existing conditions isn’t worth the paper its written on, let alone the enormous court costs that will go into throwing it out. He just did that as a campaign stunt.
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These are great suggestions. There is a lesson here that hasn’t been argued in Congress, and that is that healthcare should not be tied to employment.
I also have to say that despite the blatant lie that is his latest executive order on pre-existing conditions, the media is doing a poor job of contradicting him. People who rely on network news for their information are getting a lot of propaganda.
The fact that his latest pandemic relief package includes another payout to the wealthy, and eliminates Social Security payroll withdrawal is lost on the average person. People don’t know the details because they haven’t been amplified. At least we have the House fighting for us.
This really is a nightmare.
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As said the real way to get him down is to hit his beloved The Economy…which has more right to life than we do. There isn’t a ton of time, but a bunch of how I’m saving money with the reason being how much it looks like Trump could stay in office and Republicans could still control the Senate pessimism could be effective. It’s almost out of their play book.
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Shared this with my progressive groups on Facebook.
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Thank you!
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Thank you for writing it!
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😉
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