American Politics Discussion

[Dr. Gonzo]

Good thing my wife voted early!

Yesterday our local polling place was blocked off by Trump supporters!

And judging by the national news... it looks like this was a coordinated attempt at voter suppression all along the country in areas that solidly vote democrat.

It looks like domestic terrorism to me, but what do I know I’m just a foreigner.

Never in a million years would I think American politics would be anything like what it currently is. I hope back home we manage to hold Tories accountable, because for a while looking at Republicans was a bit like looking at the future of British conservatives.

Hopefully enough people see this future and say “nope, this can’t happen here” because the state of American politics is shocking.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Good thing my wife voted early!

Yesterday our local polling place was blocked off by Trump supporters!

And judging by the national news... it looks like this was a coordinated attempt at voter suppression all along the country in areas that solidly vote democrat.

It looks like domestic terrorism to me, but what do I know I’m just a foreigner.

Never in a million years would I think American politics would be anything like what it currently is. I hope back home we manage to hold Tories accountable, because for a while looking at Republicans was a bit like looking at the future of British conservatives.

Hopefully enough people see this future and say “nope, this can’t happen here” because the state of American politics is shocking.

Voter suppression is illegal isn't it?

Disgusting.

[Dr. Gonzo]

49 minutes ago, Stan said:

Voter suppression is illegal isn't it?

Disgusting.

It is, but I doubt Trump's going to have Bill Barr enforce federal law properly before an election if the voter suppression is his supporters stopping voter turnout.

He's also indicated he's going to try to have the results from election night (which aren't likely to count all votes) null and voided. I suspect this means he thinks the early poll counts will indicate him having a lead. But in the US Constitution it says that the votes don't need to be all counted and certified until the Electoral College electors (which, imo shouldn't exist beacuse it's this weird anti-democratic body) meet in December... so what he wants to do is just not have all the votes count.

The political reality of the situation is you've got a democracy where one party seems to be saying "voting is bad" and the other side saying "we should count every vote" - it makes me worry about the future of the USA as a democracy tbh.

[Azeem]

Why she took her tongue out before taking a sip

[Stan]

Her Stone Cold Steve Austin impression could do with some work.

[Bluewolf]

How is the voting looking at the moment?? 

[Bluewolf]

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Good thing my wife voted early!

Yesterday our local polling place was blocked off by Trump supporters!

And judging by the national news... it looks like this was a coordinated attempt at voter suppression all along the country in areas that solidly vote democrat.

It looks like domestic terrorism to me, but what do I know I’m just a foreigner.

Never in a million years would I think American politics would be anything like what it currently is. I hope back home we manage to hold Tories accountable, because for a while looking at Republicans was a bit like looking at the future of British conservatives.

Hopefully enough people see this future and say “nope, this can’t happen here” because the state of American politics is shocking.

I also see they have started boarding up places in preparation... these are just such crazy times we are living in

[Dr. Gonzo]

18 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

How is the voting looking at the moment?? 

I don't think they count the ballots until tomorrow.

Texas has had record turnout though, because of all of the early voting opening.

[Azeem]

I would say people should stay inside in the evening after the results are announced

[Harry]

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Good thing my wife voted early!

Yesterday our local polling place was blocked off by Trump supporters!

And judging by the national news... it looks like this was a coordinated attempt at voter suppression all along the country in areas that solidly vote democrat.

It looks like domestic terrorism to me, but what do I know I’m just a foreigner.

Never in a million years would I think American politics would be anything like what it currently is. I hope back home we manage to hold Tories accountable, because for a while looking at Republicans was a bit like looking at the future of British conservatives.

Hopefully enough people see this future and say “nope, this can’t happen here” because the state of American politics is shocking.

Unfortunately there's a common denominator of Rupert Murdoch in both countries. 

I still mourn the America that could have been if Fox news hadn't called The state of Florida for Bush instead of Gore in 2000 when all other networks had called it the other way around. A conservative majority supreme Court decided the winner of the election. It could have been a huge turning point for America towards a more progressive future by breaking the pattern of rotation between parties every 8 years.

that's really the point things started to unravel on the GOP side. It turned the Republicans towards winning by devious methods rather than just embracing some majority positions on some issues to broaden their appeal... That has seen them move them further and further to the right rather than back towards the centre.

[Harry]

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

 

The political reality of the situation is you've got a democracy where one party seems to be saying "voting is bad" and the other side saying "we should count every vote" - it makes me worry about the future of the USA as a democracy tbh.

I agree. Pete Buttigieg was the only democratic candidate running on a to platform "our democracy is broken. We need to fix that before we try to do all the other stuff". 

It unfortunately hasn't been spoken about in the lead up to this election so they really have no mandate to fix any of that shit if they do win office.

[RandoEFC+]

Trump's first big defeat in his attempts to rig the election as the GOP fail to throw out 120,000 drive-through votes in Texas. The fully Republican court in Texas ruled that the votes will be counted as did a Federal judge.

What's more concerning is them fencing off the White House like they did when he had to hide in the basement from the Black Lives Matter protestors. A clear signal that Trump is expecting to incite violence as a result of his actions.

Biden is going to win this election with relative comfort, the gap is too wide for the Republicans to flip it back in their favour with carefully targeted voter suppression. Trump is going to refuse the result, it's going to be both horrifying and interesting to see how that conflict is resolved.

The bottom line is, there's simply no path to Trump holding onto the White House for 4 more years without tearing the country apart. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, and hopefully he, his party and the people with the power to enforce a peaceful transfer of power if he tries to refuse it, see that they can only prolong the inevitable.

[Harry]

Trump has undermined his re-election effort with the extent of his lies...

Honestly I think people are so sick of COVID that a more competent politician could exploit that to a broad coalition of people. But Trump's stance was overdone, and his lies were too extreme that they were always only going to speak to his narrow base

[Dr. Gonzo]

I can't see a situation in this election where America isn't divided as fuck and in turmoil. Trump wins, I predict 4 years of turmoil. Biden wins, I predict an absolutely insane 3 months until his inauguration. And then probably 4 years of turmoil.

Seeing these Vanilla ISIS types yesterday was pretty eye opening, and that was after we'd seen the news one of these "Trump trains" had actually tried to run members of the Biden campaign off the road.

I can't imagine what tomorrow actually holds in store for the US. I bet it's not good, though.

[RandoEFC+]

IS RIGHT LADS LETS GO 

[Harry]

12 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I can't see a situation in this election where America isn't divided as fuck and in turmoil. Trump wins, I predict 4 years of turmoil. Biden wins, I predict an absolutely insane 3 months until his inauguration. And then probably 4 years of turmoil.

Seeing these Vanilla ISIS types yesterday was pretty eye opening, and that was after we'd seen the news one of these "Trump trains" had actually tried to run members of the Biden campaign off the road.

I can't imagine what tomorrow actually holds in store for the US. I bet it's not good, though.

Yeah I'm pretty pessimistic.

If Biden wins I suspect trump fans will continue to recognise him as president and he'll rule in exile and disrupt Biden big time throughout and be talking of running again in 2024.

If trump wins it will be acrimonious because there's almost no chance that could occur without serious foul play.

He's more than 8 points ahead and there are only 4% undecideds, compared to 14% in 2016. No James Comey bombshell, there's no reason the polls should move materially...

Court interventions, voter intimidation and I'm tipping voter fraud from conservatives, will be unexpected surprises.

[Azeem]

Pompeo tweeted about reservations about rigging in Tanzanian elections. Only if US effected the world like Tanzania does

[Harry]

By biggest pessimism about this election is that I doubt Dems take the senate. Which means they're fucked even if they win.

[Azeem]

Cringe

[Inverted]

At least if the Americans get a 2nd Civil War, they'll have a chance to finish the job that the Union left undone in 1865. 

[Azeem]

I will go down as a President Oh the burn

[Azeem]

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, Azeem said:

Pompeo tweeted about reservations about rigging in Tanzanian elections. Only if US effected the world like Tanzania does

If Trump loses I hope Pompeo’s political career is killed dead. I absolutely fucking hate that guy

[Bluebird Hewitt]

There's a little part of me that wants Trump to win just to simply see the outrage that'd happen. 

As for that Lady Gaga clip, that's the sort of thing that'd put me off voting for Biden more than anything.

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

There's a little part of me that wants Trump to win just to simply see the outrage that'd happen. 

As for that Lady Gaga clip, that's the sort of thing that'd put me off voting for Biden more than anything.

Odd.