The GTP Unofficial 2020 US Elections Thread

[Scaff]

In Canada voting is done with a pencil & a paper ballot. The ballots are dropped into a box. Representatives from the major parties oversee the process & oversee the tabulation of the ballots at each poling station. It generally takes about half an hour from the end of voting for the votes to be counted. It's a very simple process. I believe the complication in the US comes from having multiple different things to vote for on the same ballot.

Exactly the same as the UK

 

[huskeR32]

Anyway, just in case you have been locked in your basement like, well, you know who, these boating things have been going on all summer.

I don't. Who?

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As to the silent majority, there is a reason Fox News creams CNN and MSNBC in the ratings every night. Hell, even dumb ass Sean Hannity beats Maddow, and she is their highest rated host. A full half of of the top ten radio programs feature conservative hosts. In fact there is only one progressive host in the top 20 and his show is ranked 16th.

Everything in this paragraph shows that there is nothing at all "silent" about the conservative "majority." What an idiotic phrase.

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Your state does it, but they are prepared for it. Other states aren't

They could get themselves prepared if Trump and his ilk weren't doing everything they could to hamstring any efforts at making it happen. It's appalling that the Republican base in this country is so happy to fall into line on something as egregious as sabotaging elections.

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Processing the ballots is the problem.

A problem solved by allocating some extra funding, which is exactly what the House did. Republicans, in their ongoing efforts to avoid a fair election, declined to go along.

 

[NotThePrez]

They could get themselves prepared if Trump and his ilk weren't doing everything they could to hamstring any efforts at making it happen. It's appalling that the Republican base in this country is so happy to fall into line on something as egregious as sabotaging elections.

Kinda random, but my mother was telling me about my grandmothers complaints "back in the day" in regards to our government willingly knee-capping the black community with voter suppression. My mother then said that she never though she'd see the day where the government would willingly knee-cap the entire country with voter suppression.

 

[Scaff]

As to the silent majority, there is a reason Fox News creams CNN and MSNBC in the ratings every night. Hell, even dumb ass Sean Hannity beats Maddow, and she is their highest rated host. A full half of of the top ten radio programs feature conservative hosts. In fact there is only one progressive host in the top 20 and his show is ranked 16th.

Hold on, isn't the media all a bunch of biased lefty, commies out to destroy America?

That aside, you seem to have fallen into the assumption that all conservatives support Trump, something that I don't believe is actually the case.

 

[mustafur]

So what you are saying is, that these people, on the Gulf coast of Florida, they are the same people that are doing them all over the country. They are doing them in New Jersey, then popping off to San Diego, doing them in the Carolinas, then off to Lake Charles, these are some really busy people, I gotta say.

As to the silent majority, there is a reason Fox News creams CNN and MSNBC in the ratings every night. Hell, even dumb ass Sean Hannity beats Maddow, and she is their highest rated host. A full half of of the top ten radio programs feature conservative hosts. In fact there is only one progressive host in the top 20 and his show is ranked 16th.

When over Half of Fox primetime viewership is over the age of 65(an age that a large percent of people are retired at) you wonder how busy they would be anyway?

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-old-is-the-average-fox-news-viewer-in-america.html/

 

[UKMikey]

whooooops... please delete this duplicate post.

 

[UKMikey]

As a follow-up to a question I asked on the Joe thread regarding the electoral college not reflecting the nationwide popular vote, it seems a number of states want to do something about this according to this video from last year I just watched.

The question is whether they can get enough of the other states on board with the idea. Somehow I suspect it's the less populous states holding out as a truly popular election would diminish their influence over who gets to be prez.

I'm sure EC fans will jump in and say this plan will never happen but surprisingly it seems to be on the brink of success according to the clip.

 

[Tornado]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/tasneemnashrulla/trump-boat-parade-sinks-boat

What a wonderful metaphor.

 

[UKMikey]

 

[Swagger897]

As a follow-up to a question I asked on the Joe thread regarding the electoral college not reflecting the nationwide popular vote, it seems a number of states want to do something about this according to this video from last year I just watched.

The question is whether they can get enough of the other states on board with the idea. Somehow I suspect it's the less populous states holding out as a truly popular election would diminish their influence over who gets to be prez.

I'm sure EC fans will jump in and say this plan will never happen but surprisingly it seems to be on the brink of success according to the clip.

I don’t see how this solves the problem at all because now you’ve introduced a situation where the popular vote of a state can go against the popular vote for the nation, no different than what the EC does now.

I also haven’t seen a situation where the EC has voted differently for the state than what it’s popular vote was.

 

[Joey D]

I don’t see how this solves the problem at all because now you’ve introduced a situation where the popular vote of a state can go against the popular vote for the nation, no different than what the EC does now.

I also haven’t seen a situation where the EC has voted differently for the state than what it’s popular vote was.

They're called faithless electors and it happens in most elections. There were 10 faithless electors in 2016 and I think for the most part it's legal to do, however, states might impose fines on those people.

 

[huskeR32]

I don’t see how this solves the problem at all because now you’ve introduced a situation where the popular vote of a state can go against the popular vote for the nation, no different than what the EC does now.

But that would now be ignored. Which does solve the problem; the president is a national office and should be elected by a national vote.

 

[Joey D]

Things I wouldn't have guessed in a million years:

Utahns now have the power to choose Kanye West on their presidential ballot

The weird thing is, Kanye actually has a reasonable chance of getting votes in Utah too, especially since the number one thing on his platform is this:

Restore faith and revive our Constitutional commitment to freedom of religion and the free exercise of one’s faith, demonstrated by restoring prayer in the classroom including spiritual foundations.

and then there's this:

Support faith-based groups to provide vital local services, giving communities a shared purpose in government.

That speaks to Mormons in so many ways. If he can get that message out, people will vote for him. Utahns, specifically Utah Mormons, hate Trump since he's like the anti-Mormon, but will vote for him because he's from a party that doesn't support abortion. But anything that panders to religious practices will pull in Mormons.

I know some are saying that Kanye is only on the ballot here to split the black vote between Biden and West, but Utah's population is less than 2% black.

 

[Imari]

It shows there is much more demand for conservative content than progressive content. If there wasn't, those shows would not be the highest rated shows.

See, but content in 2020 is more than just what's on TV. If the "progressive when you're young, conservative when you're old" thing holds up at all it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that the younger people would get their content from other sources than sitting down in front of a television. Hell, I don't think I've even hooked up my TV in like ten years.

There's probably a strong argument to be made that there's more demand for conservative content on "traditional" media, but that sort of conforms to the idea of a conservative, no? They believe in the strength of traditional institutions, and are generally going to be less likely to try new media when good old TV does for them just fine. That doesn't mean that there isn't a demand (or for that matter, a supply) of progressive media, just that it's potentially not being served through television.

 

[Dotini]

They're called faithless electors and it happens in most elections. There were 10 faithless electors in 2016 and I think for the most part it's legal to do, however, states might impose fines on those people.

IMHO, the clear intent of the recent 9-0 Supreme Court decision was to keep unfaithful electors out of the EC.

 

[Danoff]

IMHO, the clear intent of the recent 9-0 Supreme Court decision was to keep unfaithful electors out of the EC.

This does not argue against @Joey D's post. It's also not entirely correct. The Supreme Court decision was to hand states control over their electors (not to prevent "unfaithful" electors, but that depends on what one means by "unfaithful"), which bolsters the national popular vote compact.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixg...the-national-popular-vote-interstate-compact/

While we're on the subject:



TL;DW - Electoral college benefits states which are closely divided, not states which are large or small. You can ignore any state which is not closely divided under the EC.

 

[Biggles]

This does not argue against @Joey D's post. It's also not entirely correct. The Supreme Court decision was to hand states control over their electors (not to prevent "unfaithful" electors, but that depends on what one means by "unfaithful"), which bolsters the national popular vote compact.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixg...the-national-popular-vote-interstate-compact/

While we're on the subject:



TL;DW - Electoral college benefits states which are closely divided, not states which are large or small. You can ignore any state which is not closely divided under the EC.

I'd like to hear a reasoned defence of the current system ... if such a defence is possible.

 

[Danoff]

I'd like to hear a reasoned defence of the current system ... if such a defence is possible.

Best one I've heard (and I don't really agree) is that the US is not so much a nation of people but a nation of states. And that the states are governed by the federal government, and so the states should elect the president, who presides over them rather than the people. I think the civil war fundamentally altered that view of states.

 

[Dotini]

The current system is based on law. The highest law is the constitution.

If you want to do something different, then fine. But if you also want to avoid a problem, change the law along the way. It's not that hard.

 

[Chrunch Houston]

See, but content in 2020 is more than just what's on TV. If the "progressive when you're young, conservative when you're old" thing holds up at all it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that the younger people would get their content from other sources than sitting down in front of a television. Hell, I don't think I've even hooked up my TV in like ten years.

There's probably a strong argument to be made that there's more demand for conservative content on "traditional" media, but that sort of conforms to the idea of a conservative, no? They believe in the strength of traditional institutions, and are generally going to be less likely to try new media when good old TV does for them just fine. That doesn't mean that there isn't a demand (or for that matter, a supply) of progressive media, just that it's potentially not being served through television.

I think you have a valid point. The Young Turks has over twice as many subscribers on their Youtube channel as The Daily Wire.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I think you have a valid point. The Young Turks has over twice as many subscribers on their Youtube channel as The Daily Wire.

On the subject of "new" media, the labyrinth of progressive podcasts doesn't seem to have an end. From my experience, conservatives tend to watch a lot of network cable where many, many progressive types don't watch TV at all, much less cable. Regarding cable, a quick search yielded this:

According to Nielsen Live +7-day data, in 2017 CNN’s median age was 60, while the median age of the Fox News and MSNBC viewer was 65, reports TVNewser, which added that the good news for CNN and Fox News is “they each aged down one year, from 2016 when CNN’s median age was 61 and Fox News’s was 66.

“The not so good news for MSNBC, their median age jumped two years. It was 63 in 2016.

“In prime time, the median age ticks even lower: CNN’s median was 59 (flat vs. 2016); MSNBC’s median was 65 (up two years from 63 in 2016); and Fox News’ was 66 (flat vs. 2016).”

Your original post made the claim that Fox news has higher ratings/ more viewership than CNN/MSNBC (probably true) which implies that conservative networks have more support. When you factor in median viewer age, I think the more realistic claim would be "older people are more conservative" which I think sounds right. I despise 24hr news networks, right or left. Toxic consumption, no thanks.

 

[huskeR32]

The current system is based on law. The highest law is the constitution.

If you want to do something different, then fine. But if you also want to avoid a problem, change the law along the way. It's not that hard.

Oh how much difference twenty-four hours (and your personal view on a given topic) can make...

 

[FerrariF1GT]

I'd like to hear a reasoned defence of the current system ... if such a defence is possible.

There’s constitutional precedence for the electoral college.

Each State shall appoint... a Number of Electors equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled to in Congress...

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President... they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President...

A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled to if it were a State...

I know this is a lot of regurgitation of the Constitution, specifically parts of it that seem to be glossed over too often, but I’m playing by the rulebook here. This isn’t necessarily a defence for the electoral college, but getting rid of it would require an amendment that repeals all of those parts of the Constitution... unless the Supreme Court somehow rules in favor of a party questioning the electoral college in a case.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Trump retweets Russian propaganda about Biden? Say it ain't so...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/17/poli...ssian-disinformation-biden-derkach/index.html

 

[Swagger897]

Trump also thought 9 additional covid cases in NZ was huge.

Why is there always a need for sensationalists to repeat the obvious....

 

[Biggles]

There’s constitutional precedence for the electoral college.

I understand that. But that doesn't make it "right".

I know this is a lot of regurgitation of the Constitution, specifically parts of it that seem to be glossed over too often, but I’m playing by the rulebook here. This isn’t necessarily a defence for the electoral college, but getting rid of it would require an amendment that repeals all of those parts of the Constitution... unless the Supreme Court somehow rules in favor of a party questioning the electoral college in a case.

As I see it, the US has an antiquated electoral system that harkens back to a distant era in which matters of political expediency dictated the rulebook. Then you have an amending formula that makes it pretty much impossible to change the rulebook.

 

[Danoff]

I know this is a lot of regurgitation of the Constitution, specifically parts of it that seem to be glossed over too often, but I’m playing by the rulebook here. This isn’t necessarily a defence for the electoral college, but getting rid of it would require an amendment that repeals all of those parts of the Constitution... unless the Supreme Court somehow rules in favor of a party questioning the electoral college in a case.

Except the national popular vote interstate compact does it without any of that stuff. It uses the EC to get rid of the EC constitutionally.

 

[Chrunch Houston]

Ouch, AOC speaks at DNC...

And nominates Bernie.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Ouch, AOC speaks at DNC...

And nominates Bernie.

“If you were confused, no worries! Convention rules require roll call & nominations for every candidate that passes the delegate threshold. I was asked to 2nd the nom for Sen. Sanders for roll call,” she tweeted. “I extend my deepest congratulations to @JoeBiden - let’s go win in November.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/alexa...inates-bernie-sanders-congratulates-joe-biden

In other news, has anyone noticed that youtube is autoplaying Trump ads, with no apparent way to stop it, when you go to the youtube homepage? What kind of crap is that?

 

[Danoff]

“If you were confused, no worries! Convention rules require roll call & nominations for every candidate that passes the delegate threshold. I was asked to 2nd the nom for Sen. Sanders for roll call,” she tweeted. “I extend my deepest congratulations to @JoeBiden - let’s go win in November.”

That's hilarious. I took @Chrunch Houston's post at face value and assumed AOC went rogue. And I thought to myself... meh... this is not particularly interesting. Sanders was and is very popular. It's to be expected that people would cling to him even at this point.

I have got to stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. AOC is just doing her duty to the process of the convention here.

@Chrunch Houston, if you ever wanted to know what fake nooz looks like, it's that tweet you posted. This is just someone being taken out of context to drum up clicks.