Trump is Now Wanting to Delay the November Elections
Trump tweeted this morning that we should delay to November elections until people “can properly, securely and safely vote??” Here’s the offending tweet:
Let’s make sure we’ve got this right – it’s safe to open schools, safe to go back to work, but now it’s not safe enough to vote? Yeah, that will make you dizzy. The one thing that doesn’t make you dizzy, though? Trump and his goons have intentionally made the pandemic more severe and longer so he could have an excuse to shut down the election. If he had responded as a competent president or even a normal human being, we would have been on the other side of the pandemic like most other developed countries rather than being consumed by exploding cases and deaths.
Yes, I just said it…Trump has caused tens of thousands of deaths, cost Americans trillions of dollars in losses, and prolonged the suffering of millions of people just so he can try staying president. He doesn’t care if you live or die. Well, Fuck Him. If he thinks he’s seeing unrest in the streets now, he hasn’t seen anything yet.
Trump supporters are like abused spouses: They’ll take the beatings and the half truths and the outright lies, but in the end, they know, they just know, he really loves them.
1Y’all there’s only one thing on Trump’s mind now, that’s how to get himself installed as dictator for life. “Pushing back” the elections would become holding elections after he dies of old age in 30 years. Thom Hartman sees him angling to convince states not to certify the election results in their states, on the basis of some combination of COVID + violence + mail in ballot fraud, so the electoral college can’t meet. He’s already starving the Republican House elections folks for money, because he thinks Congress will be irrelevant in a few months anyway.
2All fraudulent and inaccurate activity in this election is coming from the mouth of Donald Trump, the biggest fraud and serial liar ever to disgrace the presidency, and possibly the biggest in all US political history.
3He doesn’t want to move the election. The purpose of this tweet is to keep all of us distracted from the horrific economic news today. So far it has worked brillantly.
4I was worried about this very scenario till recently but two things helped allay my fears.
First, I thought about the final episode of the TV show, The West Wing:
Precisely at noon on Inauguration Day, a very efficient moving company showed up at the front door of the White House. They packed up everything owned by the previous president and installed the new president’s goods into the residence all unpacked and ready for use.
You KNOW that’s exactly what will happen on January 20, 2021. The firm has been performing this service for the US government from time out of mind. They know what their job is: pack up the old guy’s stuff and ship it out — and unpack the new guy’s stuff and put it away. Period.
Their job does not include arguing with some random private citizen who’s railing at them like some senior citizen telling the kids to get off his lawn.
They’ll simply walk around him and do their job. Without an audience either shouting his praises or shaking their fists, Trump will have no clue what to do. So he’ll go sulk on his phone about how unfair everybody is being to him and get swept out with the rest of the trash.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The second point was brought up in another forum I visit:
Election day is, in fact, negotiable — by Congress. Both houses have to agree to move it or it doesn’t get moved. We might be in trouble if the House was in R hands, but it’s not. And the Democrats will have none of that nonsense.
BUT — Inauguration Day is enshrined in the Constitution. No matter what else is happening at the time, Trump will no longer be president at noon on January 20. Period. End of discussion.
McConnell is fully aware of that fact and he will not be responsible for the US having no sitting president on January 20. He’d look awfully silly with egg dripping off the chin he doesn’t have.
5Nancy says:
“He doesn’t want to move the election. The purpose… is to keep… us distracted from the horrific economic news today.”
I agree. It’s probably his one nod to personal organization, a secret list of moronic distraction Tweets for future reference and deployment.
6He promised to be the law and order president. If he doesn’t like the law he will change it to benefit him. He changed law and order around. He gives the order and it becomes the law we have to obey.
7Twocrows @5 I hope you’re right. But if he surrounds the WH with 1000 ICE troops on inauguration day nobody is moving him out without gunfire. Oddly, if there is a savior in this situation, I think it’s Republicans. If enough of them are sick of his crap, I think they’ll follow Constitutional processes and tell him the election results stand.
8Interesting thing is that while he has no power to change the date of the election (only Congress does, and Nancy Pelosi isn’t playing), if he did manage to delay either the lectionaries or the final vote count, it wouldn’t mean he stays put. His term is up in January whether there’s an election or not. If there were no election or no winner before Jan 20 the succession rules apply, meaning Nancy Pelosi becomes president until the election is held (it won’t be delayed) or vote count finalized.
9As of yesterday, his majesty with Governor Dithers help have allowed 6,376 Texans to die. Let’s remember in November!
10I can’t wait to hear Trumpf underlings try to explain postponing the election. I can almost hear Kayleigh Mcenany in her fingernails scratching a chalkboard voice spinning this one. Maybe his attorney, Billy Barrff, can give us the legal justification. I’m thinking there are a bunch of worried repugnantican members of Congress that would also do whatever they could to delay the election. Can’t wait to hear them, too.
11The president who’s only skill is distraction and chaos does it again today.
Brad @ 8 – I wonder how many of those ICE agents are aware that if they were to do what you mentioned, they would be in a state of insurrection against the lawful government of the US? And how many would stay surrounding the White House once they were informed? These clowns may be willing to beat up immigrants but I doubt many would be such martyrs that they would sacrifice their lives and freedom for the Mango Mussolini.
Apropos of the MM being evicted, I would suspect that Melania would be packed and ready to move out at 12:00:01 on January 20, 2021. That’s if she hadn’t already done that on November 4.
12JDM-
I very much disagree with you. If there is no election, there is no House. No House, no Speaker. Pelosi’s term expires January 3. Trump’s term expires January 20. At that point, Pelosi and Trump are both private citizens. Mike Pompeo becomes President.
13What if trump threw a rant and nobody bit?
This is akin to when trump trashed Mexicans, conspicuously ate a taco salad in solidarity with Mexico, then effectively winked at the camera.
14I was wrong. The new prez wouldn’t be Pompeo, he would be Chuck Grassley, President pro term of the Senate.
15Pompeo as president? G-d save us all.
16Henry,
17Aren’t there also 20+ Republican Senate seats up for election? Wouldn’t that leave the Senate in Democratic hands, as the only governing body?
The ***king moron* apparently spooked Moscow Mitch and a few Republicons with his* no election tweets. For them scarier even than losing reelection would be losing bigly if red states sit this one out at Donnie’s* ill informed behest. Works for me: an all Democratic and much smaller House with no morons, smaller Senate and 26 fewer Republicons. A Congress small enough to actually function. Ironic, too. Conservatives are always crying about the need to shrink government. That they did so by metaphorically shooting off not just their toes, but fingers+ would make that scenario all the sweeter.
lol Wrong again, Henry. (I’ve had more than my share of days like that, too, so you’re in good company) But Republicons lose control of the Senate when terms expire on their 26 seats up for election. That makes Pat Leahy da man in that particular scenario.
Anyway FWIW Would give 95/5 Nevada style house odds that Donnie* is a “table of one” for the level of shenanigans he’s proposing. When he scares Mitch, odds are that dog won’t hunt …
18Wyatt_Earl @1 I do believe you have called it correctly.
19Henry @13, I believe how it works is that the new congressional session begins on January 3, but Pelosi’s term of office is not expiring at this election. So she will in fact be the constitutionally designated acting President at 1pm on Jan 20 if there’s some shenanigans with the election.
20Pelosi’s term does expire 1/3/21, but will probably be re-elected. The new speaker of the house also is chosen on 1/3, so it’s almost certain a Democrat would be in a position on 1/20. The conversation about Trumpfs intentions is he will file lawsuits to dispute individual state election results. That would be like the Florida mess with Bush vs Gore x 35.
21Solution is make it a landslide.
What I want to know is what’s the difference between absentee ballots and mail-in ballots. Aren’t they the same? No one seems to be challenging this comment – that he has made several times. I suppose because he votes absentee.
22Trump has other options. I think that when he looses the election, and when whatever delays or challenges he comes up with, fail, he’ll have himself declared to have something that hospitalizes him (REALLY bad heel spurs), Pence will become president while Trump is incapacitated, and immediately pardon him for any crimes done in office. Trump will come back for a triumphant couple of weeks, and pardon all his cronies.
23@Richard J. Bennink #7 Trump is the very opposite of a “law and order” president. He breaks every law that gets in his way and creates confusion out of order because he thrives on chaos. And the results keep his boss, Vladimir Putin, very happy.
Jan K @ 22 There is no real difference, since both are done by mail. The major thing is that absentee ballots have to be requested; but some states do all of their voting by mail, and send out ballots to all registered voters. Much of Congress votes absentee, and so does Trump. Of course, last time he voted, he used Mar-a-Lago as his home address–which it isn’t, by his agreement with the state of Florida. That’s illegal–not that it seems to have bothered him, and nobody called him to account for it.
24JanK says:
July 30, 2020 at 7:18 pm
What I want to know is what’s the difference between absentee ballots and mail-in ballots.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In most places, people have to ask for absentee ballots. In some, there are some rules for what the person needs to do (like getting a “witness” to sign on). They are the “exception” to the rules for in-person voting.
Mail-in ballots are the same, except they go to all voters. In Colorado, registered voters get ballots sent out to them automatically. They then can mail the ballot back, drop them off at designated spots, or if there is some problem, they can go into a voting center and vote with whatever process the county provides.
Check out https://www.voteathome.org/ for lots more details and justifications for making the move to voting at home in ALL elections.
25I understand the concern. I agree that Congressfolk’s terms peter out before PotUS. But the bureaucracy will win this one, I think.
Come January 20 everyone in the WH getting paid by Uncle won’t anymore. Those monthly checks will include a pink slip reminding them that their employment is at the pleasure of the PotUS, who is now Biden 46. This will happen all over the executive branch, including HLS, Border, etc. Billie Barr will be a private citizen, but the day to day operations will continue to be managed by the first line supervisors, not unlike E-7s across the military services. (Difference between God and an E-7? God doesn’t think He’s an E-7.)
Unfortunately the lifetime appointments, hundreds of rabid mouth-breathing fifth-column sleeper ultra-conservative judges will go about their normal lives, waiting to be activated. Including two Supremes.
Of all the depressing events since January 20, 2016, these judges depress me the most. I hope Biden selects from the youngest members of the 9th circuit to replace the notorious RBG if she chooses to retire. Michelle Friedland? I hope Biden appoints Merrick Garland for a second appointment. This is a wrong that must be righted. I’d love it all the more if he could appoint Garland as Chief Justice.
26The Golden Gibbon is throwing in the towel. He knows he’s toast and can even be prosecuted for a whole slate of stuff the minute he leaves the WH. And by now, his crew of toadies in the Senate are jumping from his ship, one by one, over the mail in ballot fraud thing. Yes, I do recall the first episode of West Wing! If only! However, I believe that after GG loses, he will be roaming the WH at night talking to himself and during the last days his gibbering will really be beyond psychotic. Doctors will be called in and he will be medicated to the hilt so he can be led out with glazed eyes. Next possible bet: Melania takes the kid and files for divorce. Why not? She already has a revised pre-nup that fixes her up for life. As you may recall, she spent some time in New York at the start of the term allegedly keeping house for Barron so he could finsih his school year. Yeah, maybe so. I’m betting on those sessions with her lawyer!
27This is a random, and unrelated comment. Just watching the hearing on coronavirus, has anyone else, other than me ever thought about strangling Jim Jordan?
28And, should anyone come back to read all of the comments, you can take comfort.
* Sen. John Cornyn insisted that Trump was joking, offering bait those who would react to anything Trump says.
* no doubt to continue the joke,
“Speaking to reporters Friday, Trump said he would prefer to hold the election sooner if possible but predicted it would be “catastrophic for our nation” if there is widespread mail-in balloting.
“You won’t know the election result for weeks, months, maybe years after,” Trump said. “Maybe you’ll never know the election result, and that’s what I’m concerned with. It will be fixed. It will be rigged. People ought to get smart.”
29