US Election - 2024

[mdgv2]

Feels oddly surreal that next Tuesday is the big day.

I hope to fuck Trump loses. Not only is he a maniac with a shitty grasp of reality, but Project 2025 is fucking terrifying.

[Disciple of Fate]

Given that Project 2025 is not from Trump, but a very influential conservative group, it will just keep going to Project 2029, 2033, 2037... The GoP and Project 2029 just need a candidate that isn't an idiotic narcissist and they might win next time.

As for Trump's MSG rally, he still hasn't rejected the 'jokes' at his rally. I wonder how many days it will take for him to even give a non-apology.

[herzlos]

I'll be relieved it's finally over, especially if Trump has to slink off back under his rock.

But yeah, it's only a matter of time before the Republicans get back in and try to enact this stuff, though hopefully the worst of them will have aged out by then.

I've seen a few folk on social media starting to plan for what happens if Trump wins*, so I guess there are a lot of MAGAs planning what happens if Trump is robbed.

*Mostly standard avoiding arrest in a fascist state stuff: deleting social media, refusing to engage on politics, looking at immigration requirements for Canada.

[redchimera]

So Kamala has booked a rally on polling day in the same spot as Trump's back in 2021. Getting in first so the Maga-ites can't accumulate? Or getting ready to defend the institutions of the United States? Will there simply be a earnest but cordial exchange of views on a preferred vison for the short term future of the country before hands are shaken and they go their separate ways?

[easye]

I took the 6-10th off work. I expect to have to go counter-protest MAGA "Stop-the-Steal" protests in my local area, state capital. or even in DC. Therefore, I cleared my calendar. Last time, my work schedule got int he way because I was not prepared for what we saw. This year I am ready.

[easye]

Also: Ballot Box Burning spreads to three states now.....

www.npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-s1-5168404/oregon-washington-arizona-ballots-drop-boxes-fires

Ballots set on fire in three states as Election Day approaches

In the final stretch before Election Day, ballots have been set on fire and damaged in two ballot drop boxes and a Postal Service mailbox in three states. Federal officials have warned that in recent months, some social media users have encouraged sabotage of ballot drop boxes.

Early on Monday morning in Oregon, Portland police responded to a fire they say was started by "an incendiary device" inside a ballot drop box. Oregon's Multnomah County Elections Division said in a statement that three ballots were damaged. "Fire suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all ballots," the statement read.

Hours later, another drop box was set on fire in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where officials say "hundreds" of ballots were badly damaged when that box's fire suppression system failed to work.

"The majority of the ballots are completely destroyed and the remaining ballots are severely damaged and very very wet," Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told NPR. He said his office is increasing the number of drop box retrievals so ballots don't sit in the boxes as long.

At a press conference, Portland police officials said they believed the two incidents are connected.

"It's heartbreaking. It's a direct attack on democracy," said Kimsey, who has held his position for 26 years.

Law enforcement including the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still investigating in both Washington and Oregon, where election officials are asking voters who dropped their ballots off at these drop boxes over the weekend to get in contact so they can be sure to vote.

Is this the year we get an attack on a polling place? It seems to be in the air.....

[redchimera]

Good luck with the counter protest easye! Attacking ballot drop boxes seems insane. The arsonists must feel that the boxes predominantly contain ballots for who they perceive to be the 'wrong' party and that the small number of ballots caught in the fire will make a difference. Hopefully they'll be caught.

[herzlos]

I wonder if it's just an attempt to cast doubt on votes in swing states? The timing implies it's at least organized by someone or it's a huge coincidence.


Also, I saw mention in one of Trumps speeches about a "little secret" he has with House Speaker Mike Johnsons, which he'll tell us all about after the election. I doubt it's related to the ballot sabotage thing though, and presumably another attempt for Johnson to refuse to certify the election and force the (Republican controlled) Senate to choose the President. What's interesting there is that the Senate is only sworn in on Jan 4th, and the Dems would only need to gain 4 Senate seats to change the speaker to a Democrat. So even that approach is a bit risky.

So is it an admission about election interference, or is he just talking garbage? Or both?

[easye]

The Senate map for Democrats is really challenging, so the likelihood of winning those 4 Senate seats is small.

If those 4 seats did change hands, it would mean a Blue Wave so sweeping that the outcome of the Presidential race would not even be in doubt. Harris would have won in a near landslide with Texas, Florida, and Ohio all flipping to Harris. That is unlikely in the extreme.

Edit: The Electoral College all comes down to who win Pennsylvania.  The winner there is most likely to win it all. 

[Disciple of Fate]

Doesn't the new House get seated before they certify the President? Feels like the House is not the way to go for shenanigans for Trump. If Harris lost the House, it seems unlikely she won the election.

[easye]

Correct on both counts Disciple.

[adurot]

[Peregrine]

Oct 29, 2024 11:38:36 GMT -5 easye said:

The Senate map for Democrats is really challenging, so the likelihood of winning those 4 Senate seats is small. 

House seats, not senate seats, herzlos had a typo there. If the democrats pick up +4 house seats, a much more achievable feat than +4 senate seats, the speaker of the house is a democrat and the fringe lunatic suggestions about refusing to complete the election process are no longer relevant.

Oct 29, 2024 1:47:51 GMT -5 Disciple of Fate said:

Given that Project 2025 is not from Trump, but a very influential conservative group, it will just keep going to Project 2029, 2033, 2037... The GoP and Project 2029 just need a candidate that isn't an idiotic narcissist and they might win next time.

It will continue indefinitely if the party system remains the same post-Trump. I think it's more likely that once Trump finally dies we see a major realignment of the party system. The republican party is already facing major demographic problems in the long run and without the MAGA fanatics propping up their numbers they aren't really a viable party anymore. And the MAGA fanatics aren't going to have the same level of enthusiasm about a conventional republican. Then on the other side the democrats have been absorbing a significant share of what used to be the mainstream right, creating somewhat of an alliance of convenience between liberals and centrists united primarily by opposition to the MAGA cult. The post-Trump system doesn't look very stable so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something like the democrats splitting, the centrist wing absorbing what remains of the non-MAGA republicans, and establishing a new two party system between a moderate/sane conservative party and a liberal party with the far-right fringe joining the libertarians and green party in irrelevancy. And in that situation Project 2025 joins Atlas Shrugged and the Communist Manifesto in the piles of fringe literature that nobody takes seriously.

[herzlos]

Yeah my bad, I've conflated the 2. Somehow your system is even more confusing than ours.

[easye]

Big Lie II: The Return is all ready ramping up.....

www.cnn.com/2024/10/31/politics/maga-activists-preparing-undermine-election-if-trump-loses/index.html

‘January 6th is going to be pretty fun’: How MAGA activists are preparing to undermine the election if Trump loses

Before Election Day has even arrived, the “Stop the Steal” movement has reemerged in force, with some of the same activists who tried to overturn former President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss outlining a step-by-step guide to undermine the results if he falls short again.

For months, those activists – who have been priming Trump supporters to believe the only way the former president can lose in 2024 is through fraud – have laid out proposals to thwart a potential Kamala Harris victory. Their plans include challenging results in court, pressuring lawmakers to block election certification, and encouraging protests – culminating on January 6, 2025, the day Congress will once again certify the results.

“I have a plan and strategy,” Ivan Raiklin, a former Green Beret and political operative who has close ties to associates of Trump, told a group of Pennsylvania activists earlier this month. “And then January 6th is going to be pretty fun.”

I took some time off after the election to counter-protest this stuff, but it looks like I might need to take time-off around January 6th too.