POTUS/General Election Thread 2020 + Aftermath

[Gilrandir]

Not only are the bolded statements not in opposition, one would naturally seem to heighten the importance of the other. Or are you saying we should lie down and bare our throats?

Are you saying that your opponents are predators ready to rend to pieces? That's what division within the society makes people say. It seems that you are ready to do the same to them. Biden's victory won't mend anything. You are in for years of Two Americas.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Biden's victory won't mend anything. You are in for years of Two Americas.

This comment shows that you know little about America. We have already been "Two Americas" for years. It's been decades of white anxiety keeping people of color suppressed as much as possible. The divide between the wealthy and the poor has been getting wider for many years. The political divide between Republicans and Democrats has gotten more radical and confrontational for the last 20 years.

America's problems won't be solved during the course of one presidential term. That will likely not happen during the course of the next four or five presidential terms, if it happens at all. While you are entitled to your opinion, I would appreciate that if you are going to bloviate about the state of affairs here in the States, you at least educate yourself about what is actually going on here.

If the man can correct the utter chaos and madness that's characterized America's pandemic response, and get our economy headed in the direction of a recovery, that alone would be a huge success. Whether he can get some of the other things on his agenda accomplished, isn't entirely within his control. Biden is no Golden Child that's going to instantly heal the very sick patient that is America, but to condemn the man before he's had a chance to do anything...well, keep that BS to yourself until you actually have something to comment on.

[Pannonian]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
1h
He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!

Does this count as conceding the election? Do the constitutional mechanisms have the go ahead to move?

Also, for your amusement.

[Gilrandir]

This comment shows that you know little about America. We have already been "Two Americas" for years. It's been decades of white anxiety keeping people of color suppressed as much as possible. The divide between the wealthy and the poor has been getting wider for many years. The political divide between Republicans and Democrats has gotten more radical and confrontational for the last 20 years.

America's problems won't be solved during the course of one presidential term. That will likely not happen during the course of the next four or five presidential terms, if it happens at all. While you are entitled to your opinion, I would appreciate that if you are going to bloviate about the state of affairs here in the States, you at least educate yourself about what is actually going on here.

You may not believe, but I'm somewhat aware of the divides you speak about. But in the last four years all of them deepened. And mending them isn't Biden's responsibility, but the one of all Americans.

If the man can correct the utter chaos and madness that's characterized America's pandemic response, and get our economy headed in the direction of a recovery, that alone would be a huge success. Whether he can get some of the other things on his agenda accomplished, isn't entirely within his control. Biden is no Golden Child that's going to instantly heal the very sick patient that is America, but to condemn the man before he's had a chance to do anything...well, keep that BS to yourself until you actually have something to comment on.

First of all, it is always a privilege to communicate to a polite person.

Second of all, I would like you to cite my post where I condemn Biden. I think that in the situation that you have he is the least evil (for Ukraine especially). So I advise you to read carefully what I write and keep YOUR BS to yourself until you do have something to bitch about.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I'm somewhat aware of the divides you speak about. But in the last four years all of them deepened. And mending them isn't Biden's responsibility, but the one of all Americans.

Somewhat being the key word....in the last four years places the deepening burden on the jack-wagon that just got fired....the office of the presidency does matter...and it goes without saying that the ultimate responsibility lies with the American people themselves.

First of all, it is always a privilege to communicate to a polite person.

Our discourses have never been polite....

Biden's victory won't mend anything.

That's declaring a fail before the man has had a chance to do anything. You have absolutely no idea what he's going be able to do, and stating that "Biden's victory won't mend anything" is BS 'fail' rhetoric which I will call out every time.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Maher beating the same drum, but I think it's time to concede this may well be the issue holding back the Dems now that we know voters are not choosing based on any sort of policy identification.



And to be clear, it's the progressives mainly pushing this angle. I remember hooahguy talking during the primaries about how Bernie's followers are just so toxic online and it's hurts his credibility and chances of winning. I think the same is happening to dems across the board and it makes the difference between the turn out for a known candidate like Biden and the rest of the party.

[spmetla]

The far left of the Democrats don't want to recognize that Biden's win was a win for centrist policies. Trumps biggest successes in the last few months have been associating Democrats (Biden) as socialist/communist, anti-law enforcement, and anti oil/industry. Just like rioters and trouble makers disrupted and destroyed the base message of the whole BLM protests, the expansion of that to the "cancel" culture makes a lot of center-right people vote Republican. I think Maher was spot on.

If the Democrats position themselves as the solid centrist party then they'll actually be able to get things done, both parties going to the extreme is what has led the government system swinging like a pendulum.

It's the same with what happens after Trump is out of office. I'm all for the GAO, DOJ and FBI investigating him for things he may have done, especially in the realm of emoluments and Hatch Act violations not to mention the potential political things. The danger of sitting politicians calling for the jailing of the predecessors becoming normal is something that must be tread carefully. Trump should be called to account but it needs to look legitimate and not like a hit job otherwise this will be the norm when Republicans take back the presidency and house as will happen again someday.

All this makes me really wish we had Ranked Choice voting at all levels of Government. That would allow people to vote for their extreme ideals without having to throw their votes away while at the same time not making it necessary for the two parties to be such "Big Tent" parties that have such strong internal debates about what makes a true R or D.

[rory_20_uk]

True, there is a danger of the new team looking into crimes the last team did... although I would have thought that the rule of law is more important and such behaviour would encourage, y'know, not breaking the law in the first place. I am sure there is a theoretical risk of such machinations looking like a "hit job" but here we have a President who quite cheerfully enriched himself to an extent that has never occurred before as assets were not put in a blind trust. The last time was Nixon and personally I think that pardoning him was the wrong thing to do as again... he Broke The Law. Standards should be higher in the highest offices, not some mumbling about loss of reputation is somehow itself enough.

The last thing most politicians want is what the voters want - a system of government where every politician has to do what the voters want else they get voted out. What politicians want is what voters do not want - a career that could last for decades with little if any competition. First Past The Post ensures that there are two big parties in charge and makes it almost impossible for any other parties to get in on the action.

[Montmorency]

Are you saying that your opponents are predators ready to rend to pieces? That's what division within the society makes people say. It seems that you are ready to do the same to them. Biden's victory won't mend anything. You are in for years of Two Americas.

I don't understand your position. Ukraine is similarly divided, yet there remains such a thing as (from your perspective) good and bad - no?

There is a clear difference between an autocratic far-right regime in power and one that will: attempt to repair America's international standing and regain lost ground in trade policy; reverse Trump's environmental and labor deregulation and add new regulations; halt some of the crimes against humanity at the southern border and restore refugee and immigrant inflows to pre-Trump levels (they have reached near-zero under Trump); stop fomenting division by actively encouraging sedition and paranoia among police, militias, and reactionary whites as a political tactic and cult of personality; rebuild the professional civil service; limit and prosecute past and future corruption in government; organize a more proficient pandemic response...

Among other things. Elections have consequences, among which is never utopia or nash posledny reshitelny boy.

The far left of the Democrats don't want to recognize that Biden's win was a win for centrist policies. Trumps biggest successes in the last few months have been associating Democrats (Biden) as socialist/communist, anti-law enforcement, and anti oil/industry. Just like rioters and trouble makers disrupted and destroyed the base message of the whole BLM protests, the expansion of that to the "cancel" culture makes a lot of center-right people vote Republican. I think Maher was spot on.

If the Democrats position themselves as the solid centrist party then they'll actually be able to get things done, both parties going to the extreme is what has led the government system swinging like a pendulum.

It's the same with what happens after Trump is out of office. I'm all for the GAO, DOJ and FBI investigating him for things he may have done, especially in the realm of emoluments and Hatch Act violations not to mention the potential political things. The danger of sitting politicians calling for the jailing of the predecessors becoming normal is something that must be tread carefully. Trump should be called to account but it needs to look legitimate and not like a hit job otherwise this will be the norm when Republicans take back the presidency and house as will happen again someday.

All this makes me really wish we had Ranked Choice voting at all levels of Government. That would allow people to vote for their extreme ideals without having to throw their votes away while at the same time not making it necessary for the two parties to be such "Big Tent" parties that have such strong internal debates about what makes a true R or D.

How do you figure that this Pyrrhic victory for Democrats indicates a preference for centrist policy? You might as well argue that Biden's adoption of left policies helped him rather than not, since he ran so far ahead of more conservative Democrats.

After all this time, it should be abundantly clear that centrist approaches are inadequate to either the scale of our problems or even securing mere electoral success.

Furthermore, the idea too that ranked choice voting would lead to either a multi-party system or to Republican moderation is not supported. In almost all of the country except NY we have election results that are close to certifiable, and they have a story to tell...


I think below may have been a factor in split-ticket voters deciding to punish Trump while rewarding Republicans.