This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1336732
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1336732
Wildly hypothetical nonsense for the most part.
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If you want a Democracy then VOTE! VOTE VOTE
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And egregious attempts to somehow preemptively blame Pelosi for whatever does go wrong by supposing she’d capitulate in a way that hands Trump the election. I’m fairly certain that whatever legal issues arise from the election will be fought by the literal hundreds of attorneys Biden has on the case and not the Speaker of the House.
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I’m comfortable that Madam Speaker will do whatever is necessary when Trump, Barr and the others try their end run.
And after yesterdays odd reversal of a stimulus package it’s becoming clearer that tRump not only knows he’s going to lose…he’s willing to hold Americans livelihoods and well being hostage unless they vote for him.
Meanwhile, over at WAPO…
Trump blows up stimulus talks, and with them perhaps his chances of reelection
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I’m sure the Mayor of Washington DC would be thrilled to have Fat Nixon arrested for trespassing…
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What a bunch of BS. Trump is sliding down the hell bound escalator and they drag up this crap? Spare me.
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Preparing to deal with Trump is only required to the degree it steels your resolve to deal with absolutely anything he does knowing you will never be able to anticipate exactly what this is going to be because his cunning is fully equaled by his derangement and fear.
ETA: in brief he will double down, Republicans will double down with him, and we have all the evidence we need that institutional norms cannot withstand the assault unless there is human resistance to match.
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The author of this article might want to peruse this Politico article which offers a more fact based and level-headed response to what Trump “says” and what is actually possible:
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This is the best, most insightful, most lucid, timely and valuable article I have read on this very important topic in, well, forever. The fact that it is being panned by some of the commenters above reflects that those commenters have simply NOT been paying attention to who the modern day Republicans are, or what they are fully ready, willing, prepared and possibly able to do. The Democrats did not take these possibilities seriously in 1876 or again in 2000; it is my fervent hope that they don’t make this same mistake a third time.
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You need to get a grip.
95% of what this article claims the GOP can or will do cannot be done by any means available to them.
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Or, from the article:
Vigilance is a form of citizenship
Consider the source …
It’s not gonna be a close election. It’s not even gonna be a wave election. It’s gonna be a tsunami. There won’t be any question on election night as to who won.
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I hope you’re right.
We can also do more than hope.
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Quick take: There is plenty of reasons for Trump to try and steal this election. Trump should absolutely be frightened about jail time and another bankruptcy for he and his kids. As a malignant narcissist he will be driven to do anything to stay in office anyway by his ego. But the threat of jail time being a real possibility that he will pull out all the stops to stay in power. . One thought that circulates among lawyers is, if he loses by a HUGE margin where he cannot credibly steal the election, then he tries to pardon himself and his kids, or resigns and has pence pardon him on January 20, or cuts a plea deal with Bill Barr for immunity for information on other “crimes” that he actually never gives, or cuts a deal with Biden to peaceful transfer power in exchange for a pardon. THE PROBLEMS with this approach are two-fold: (1) A pardon usually (and I think lawfully) requires an admission of guilt or a conviction. (You can’t be pardoned for something you didn’t do.) and (2) he can only be pardoned for federal crimes, leaving New York and other states to pursue him both criminally and civil (for all the back taxes.) And a lot of those state crimes are intertwined with the federal crimes, so a pardon only means he as essentially plead guilty state crimes (assuming a pardon requires an admission.)
Also, Democrats and liberals must realize that the Republican party is totally onboard with a dictator. They can count their members, mostly older people, who are dying off. They do no outreach to people of color and actively try to hurt them and disenfranchise them. They also do not do much to attract younger voters. SO they know they are a dying party. They haven’t won an election since Bush in 1988 without voter suppression. They rely on the electoral college and will probably never win the popular vote again. Most of them (all having been literally raised in their adulthood on FoxNews at this point) think the Democratic party is evil, rather than two groups having a difference of opinion on policy and they disagree with the idea that Liberals should be able to pass laws that are supported by the majority of the population and that don’t violate the constitution, but happen to be inapposite to their ideals. (I pin this modern authoritarian approach to government on Newt Gingrich, demonize the liberals, never compromise, say no to anything the Dems suggest, even if it is what the Reps suggested the day before, delegitimize any president.) Also, because they are a faith based party, relying mostly on evangelical religious zealots for support, who oppose sharia law, but are fine with government being controlled by Christianity, they can’t accept that there is another valid political party, just as they can’t accept there is another valid religion. Knowing they are on a minority downward slide and “knowing” that Democrats are the root of all evil (a trump support actually said this to me), they fully accept that a dictatorship is the only way to retain power and ensure no more ‘evil’ laws are passed, l even if it means abandoning their ideals, because, to them any form of government is better than a Dem-controlled one. Shorter version of this: we are in deep fucking trouble. and you might want to reserve plane tix for DC for Nov. 4 now. We will have to take to the streets if this election is close, and if Republican swing states try to appoint electors that are different from who won the vote in their states.
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I’m fairly certain that if extreme measures by Repugs resulting in the supreme court attempting to usurp the people’s vote, that a radical mob would storm the court’s chamber and wreak havoc, that conservative justices involved in the attempt would flee the nation’s capital fearing for their lives.
So, all they can try would be to attempt a Brooks Brothers Riot, huh?
They can’t even try that.
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