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The wait is killing me. And it’s probably killing you.
So here are some chill kitties to help you relax a little during this day of uncertainty. Open thread!
@Alan Robertshaw
I think this one is the best one to bring up, but there’s also this one, this one, and quite a few more.
FWIW the concept a landslide victory in the electoral college is rather loosely defined but usually means getting at least about 80% of the electoral votes. In the current configuration with 538 electors, that would mean winning at least 430.
On Twitter, David just called the election for Kanye. However, I think Väyrynen cannot be yet ruled out (see my comment on previous page).
BTW, did Kanye actually get his name on the ballot in some states? Any US voters witness this? Can we expect to see a report of his final vote tally? Also, is he still alive?
I’m in Idaho and Kanye was on the ballot here. I managed to miss that he was running and did a double take when I saw the name.
@Lumipuna
Gotta say I didn’t see this one coming, especially because Kanye wasn’t on my ballot here in California. But I know that David has his finger on the pulse of the news, so I trust his take on this election. President West: I don’t know much about him, but I’ve got a good feeling about him. I know he’ll be a better president than President Trump. So glad the wait is over.
@Lumipuna
Here in Massachusetts he wasn’t on the ballot, though I don’t know if he was accepted as a write in. It looks like he was on the ballot in 12 states and an accepted write-in in a few others. Since elections are run at the state level it’s possible for a candidate to be on the ballot in some states but not others, as they may have different deadlines for ballot access. He appears to have gotten around 60,000 votes total, receiving the most votes in Tennessee and the largest percentage of votes in Utah. He has since conceded but appears to desire to run again in 2024.
Oddly, he was listed as the running mate of far-right American Independent Party candidate Roque De La Fuente in California, despite seemingly having no connection to the party other than being anti-abortion, and openly stated that he did not want to be De La Fuente’s Vice President.
Meanwhile, the third party candidate that seems to have played the biggest role is Jo Jorgensen of the Libertarian Party. Receiving (so far counted) about 1.2% of the national popular vote, in a few close states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania her vote count was greater than the difference between Biden and Trump, meaning that she may be a contributing part of why these states voted for Biden by taking votes away from Trump.
@Kat
I will warn you that Kanye does have some fringe views. He thinks slavery was a choice, for instance. He also has some more far right views such as his opposition to abortion and his support for Trump’s “America First” platforming.
Naglfar – Thanks.
Re: Biden being on track to 306 EC votes, the same as Trump’s “great victory” in 2016
https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/1324715486253404161
(Trump only actually received 304 votes due to two faithless electors)
Seems like Trump has occasionally claimed his victory over Clinton was either 306-223 or 304-227 or whatever. I guess he gets his election results from some site called Five Thirty-Ish.
More examples:
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1324748924591181831
Trump has called a press conference in Philadelphia for 4:30pm (UK time). Curiously, the initial tweet said it would be a “Lawyers press conference”. That tweet has now been withdrawn and now it’s a “Big press conference.” I’m guessing this is just going to be an attempt to throw more dirt at the integrity of the counting process, and keep his base agitated. Wonder if the TV news will cut away again if he does.
Speaking of legal stuff; lots of chatter about whether Trump will attempt a self pardon before leaving office. All sorts of issues arise there. I’ll make a prediction though; at the last moment, Trump will use the 25th to step down, Pence will pardon him, and then Pence will also be the one who attends Biden’s inauguration in lieu of Trump. (I have no real basis for guessing that; but its just a gut feeling)
@Alan
“You can’t fire me, I quit!”
I hope you’re right, honestly. I’m very worried he’ll try to start a nuclear war – rather destroy the world than be a loser. The man’s psychology is basically a stalker’s “If I can’t have her, I’ll kill her” scaled up to encompass the entire world.
@ cyborgette
Mary Trump did say that he has an “If I’m going down, I’m taking you all with me.” mentality.
I doubt if that could now include anything military. As a lame duck there’s plenty of foot dragging the military can do to just ignore him until Inauguration Day. And we have seen the military do that with decisions they don’t accept all through the presidency.
He may try a scorched earth policy though in other areas. Let’s hope there’s an Albert Speer type who will put the brakes on that; if only for self interest.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he spills most of his ire on former supporters. He seems the sort of to be more bothered about disloyalty than opposition. Expect some interesting tweets about Fox News for example.
One thing that is likely to be especially wrankling to him is that, down ticket, the Republicans did very well. So this is a repudiation of him personally. The ‘stabbed in the back’ narrative is popular with right wing losers. So I think we might be in for a lot of internecine accusations aimed at people he didn’t think supported him enough.
@Alan Robertshaw
The weirder thing about his press conference is that it’s being held at a landscaping company.
Re: Trump leaving office
I don’t think he’d resign (the 25th is for the senate to remove him) but I see one of 2 scenarios becoming possible. One is, he has alluded that he wants to board himself up in the Oval Office until the Secret Service drag him out. The other possibility is that he flees the country to avoid being prosecuted (he said at one rally that if he lost he would have to leave). Not sure where he’d go, but it would save him from having to attend Biden’s inauguration if he leaves January 19 for somewhere without extradition treaties. Either way Trump will probably break with the traditions of presidents attending their successor’s inaugurations and leaving letters for them.
Re: attacks on disloyal people
Given that he is reported to be making lists already, I think it is quite likely that he will try to take down anyone he sees as “disloyal” with him. Abusers usually attack those closest to them.
The networks have called it for Biden
I’m not too optimistic on a Biden presidency myself. He’s always had a noticeable conservative streak, and his disregard for many progressive policies doesn’t bode well- even if the SC and the Senate magically became liberal dominated, he just lacks the inclination to do anything beyond preserving the pre-2016 status quo.
Biden victory. Best news of the year.
I understand people not believing that Biden is the savior – I think it will be at best a second Obama – but it’s still a lot better than the orange dictator.
I don’t hold my breath to him actively trying to fix the voting system, for example.
Agreed, but while it sucks, it sucks exponentially less than 4 more years of Cheeto Hitler, so I’ll take it as a step in the right direction, however small.
@Anonymous: I saw one comrade describe this as “not the end, but only a stay of execution.”
A stay of execution sure beats getting executed tomorrow, though.
I admit that I am very glad to have the race called for Biden. Biden is not going to fix everything and is far from perfect, but as others have mentioned, he buys us time and won’t go full dictator over the next 4 years.
The next challenge for Dems is winning the Georgia runoff senate elections in January. These determine who will control the senate. To any mammotheers in Georgia, please make sure your voter registration is up to date and that you are prepared to vote, by mail or in person, in January.
Today, at the very least we celebrate Trump’s defeat.
@ cyborgette
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end; but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
An important note is that, in the end, the election wasn’t all that close. 51.5% of the popular vote, ~300 great elector. And that’s after the dampening effect of voter suppression (who *certainly* was less potent this year since people were so motivated to vote, but still an existing factor).
One of the trap of the republican was making everything to have an early lead to make their results look better. I think medias as well as most people I know of ate it, hook, line and sinker.
Best news I’ve heard all rotten year.
I know Biden isn’t ideal but I’m glad Trump is out. Good riddance.
I got to vote for the first woman who will be Vice President of the United States. In the centennial year of the 19th amendment.
@Cyborgette
That’s a fair enough way of putting it, I guess. Of course, that stay can still be revoked.
I hope this embeds