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It’s coming. And whatever happens, it’s going to be a holy mess.
Discuss.
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Election countdown: Open thread
So the end result of this is either going to be Trump immediately seizing the opportunity to declare himself emperor, or another centrist fence-sitter who will ignore the fact that the Obama-era status quo never fucking worked in the first place and definitely won’t work now.
Truly, we are doomed.
I don’t know how I’ll sleep Monday night, much less Tuesday. I keep remembering my mom crying when Reagan was elected, and how I felt during the whole Bush v. Gore mess, not to mention 2016.
A few things to keep in mind are that if Trump appears to be winning election night, it doesn’t mean he is. And the military is unlikely to side with Trump in the event of a civil war given how he has mistreated them. That said, I am still very nervous. FiveThirtyEight is giving Biden 89% odds right now, which is better than the 71% they gave Hillary in 2016, but they admit that that forecast doesn’t account for various means of voter suppression, vote discarding, or constitutional violations that Trump could pull.
As the first US president not to agree to a peaceful transfer of power, it is likely that Trump’s base will be violent no matter the outcome. If he wins, they’ll go out and do terrorist attacks because they’ll feel vindicated. If he loses, they’ll do it as revenge. If you are in a red state, a red area of a state, or a swing state, be very careful. Arm yourself if you can, whether it’s with a gun, pepper spray, or a contact weapon like a club. And if you can, stay in on election night.
I’m more scared right now than I’ve ever been in my life, and that’s saying something.
Edit: I’m just going to put in here that I’ve woken up so, so many times now to trucks backfiring, doors slamming, etc. and immediately thought: “Welp, guess Trump ordered a nuking and this is the return salvo. I wonder if that prickly heat I’m feeling is the first touch of radiation. This is it, better get myself ready for the end.”
Boomers can go ahead and laugh at this, y’all probably have been there, but just… I don’t even have words left to describe how scared I am.
I keep thinking back to 2016. I’d drifted off to sleep, then my spouse woke me to tell me the bad news. I was so shaken, I took a Xanax, and had a generous shot of vodka.
My sister in law says she’s moving to the Netherlands, where she was born, if Dump wins.
I’m no fan of Biden, but I believe he’s vastly preferable to Dump.
@Victorious Parasol: My mommy’s a fascist. She was pleased as punch, when Reagan won.
Nate Silver reassured me that Election 2020 is nothing like 2016, much less uncertainty & undecideds. I’m hoping 2020 will help us forget the PSTD from 2016.
@Naglfar
Seeing that I’m in DC, should I assume I’ll be at ground zero if and when attacks happen? I’ve already got messages warning me that I should stock up on food like a hurricane was about to hit, and a lot of shops have boarded up their windows in advance.
@Anonymous
I’m not in DC right now, so I can’t advise completely to your situation, but I would say to be very careful where you go and avoid non-essential errands. If you have anything really important to do/buy, try to do it before the election.
I’m in a very red area of a swing state. I plan to be at my polling place at 7 AM, when it opens. I hope I can make it back home by 8:30, when I start work. (I telework.) I considered voting by mail, but I didn’t trust the USPS to deliver my ballot.
I feel guilty about never taking an interest in politics when I was younger, like many in my generation. The first presidential election I was old enough to vote in was 1988’s – I was 21. I couldn’t be bothered to vote in it. I was 51 years old the first time I voted in a midterm election, in 2018.
@Dormousing_it
When you go to vote, be very careful. Here’s a list of tips for in safe person voting.
@Dormousing_it
I went to the polls in person because I also did not trust mail-in voting. I live in a deep blue state where my prez vote won’t matter, but my downballot votes will matter a lot because my district is red af. The worst thing that happened was an asshole of the first degree staying in the line without a mask (couldn’t wear one for “medical reasons”, which turned out to be purportedly asthma: I would believe this except I definitely recall a dude with asthma who was only able to run a marathon BECAUSE of his mask filtering out pollens and shit… but I digress) and then hassling the poll workers with every Republican conspiracy theory under the sun. She didn’t even want to vote, she just wanted to hassle the poll workers, and ask them about her supposed friend who was turned away and told she couldn’t vote, it had to be mail-in only, man is she confused! And what about her daughter, who received TWO ballots, and was now going to vote in person as well! THREE VOTES! AHHH! And what about tHe ImMiGrAnTs? Was anyone checking that the dirty immigrants aren’t voting in this election like the dirty heathen immigrants they are?
But as frustrating and a time-waster as that was, at least she didn’t have a gun and wave it at anyone, and there were no Trump people outside.
@Big Titty Demon
I’m surprised she thought that was an issue, seeing as her Dear Leader actively told an NC rally crowd to vote twice (which is illegal).
Welcome to heck.
@Naglfar
It seemed to be due to some problematic disagreements in who to vote for. She seemed mightily displeased that the reason there were two ballots received was one was at her house and one was at the daughter+boyfriend living in sin’s house. He was, from all accounts, a vile corrupter of All That Is Right And Proper, in all sense of right. The things that spiteful hags will spite about in public with nary a care.
Quoting the parting words of President Barack Obama to American people,
“Good luck”
If I was a religious man I’d be praying for all of you good people in the States. Hoping that 538’s 90% chance is right and Trump is beaten.
Will be keeping an eye on results through the day here on Wednesday
I fear the worse, basically. Trump is blatantly trying to rig it and have telgraphied a coup after the election.
@Big Titty Demon
Ah, that makes more sense. Conservatism is a philosophy built around “rules for thee and not for me” so that checks out.
Good luck America. I’m really hoping that it will be a landslide for Biden, too big for Trump to lie into oblivion.
I’m worried about violence too. I really hope all the Mammotheers stay safe.
Good luck USians. Keep safe.
I’m hoping for a big blue win, of course, but that’s just the start of a long and difficult process of fash-proofing the US, and I’m not convinced the Dems are up to the job.
@Moggie
The way I see it is, a Biden administration isn’t going to be able to do it, but it will be less openly hostile to those who can work towards that goal. It’s easier take direct action under an indifferent administration than an actively hostile one.
If Biden wins, one thing which will be key is to keep the pressure on him. With Obama, we relaxed too soon and let Bush off the hook, which showed the GOP that we wouldn’t hold them accountable so they could run Trump. If Biden wins, we need the pressure to simultaneously enact progressive legislation, investigate/press charges against the whole Trump admin, and to work on undoing the damage Trump has done. Some damage can be undone relatively quickly (i.e. rejoining Paris Agreement) while other damage will be a lot harder and requires work at the local, state, and federal levels.
Another thing to watch out for is terrorism. Trump supporters have brainwashed themselves into thinking Trump will win by a Reagan-style landslide, so if he doesn’t they’ll think the election was stolen and will likely start attacking anyone that they think might be a Biden voter, a minority, or an “antifa.” So far this has mainly consisted of blocking roads and chasing a bus, but it can easily get worse.
Edit: If Trump loses and is removed from office successfully, he has hinted that he would flee the country. I’m not sure where he’d go, since Russia probably wouldn’t want him anymore by that point, but if he flees it remains important to investigate the rest of his administration.
In retrospect, Obama was what the republicans try or tried to sell themselves as. An hawk mostly devoted to economy that still think about the little guy when he have time after helping the big corps.
His VP probably will be much of the same. And I don’t have the feeling he will even sue the ass of thoses thugs of the trump “administration”.
@ naglfar
I understand why that’s a nice thought. I think it very unlikely though.
The Dem leadership will not wish to create a precedent that the first thing a new administration does, is seek to imprison the previous administration.
You can imagine the reasons for that. The prospect of a new norm of tit-for-tat reprisals, the further polarisation of politics and the encouragement of satellite legal proceedings becoming more relevant than voting as a method of achieving office, and just the optics.
Trump may well face pressure from individual prosecutors; but I suspect the Dems as a party will very much distance themselves from those and say it’s not for politicians to comment on or try to influence legal proceedings.
@Naglfar: I can see Putin having some fun hosting a ‘legitimate US government in exile’, though only until there was a deal to be made with the Biden administration.
On an unrelated note, I have happened to be the the US for work for the last two elections and I’m not sorry that I’m skipping this one.
Hope everyone there stays safe.