I've always maintained the Blair and Bush governments were some form of pre-fascist governments. There were all the hallmarks of imperialism and nationalism, and shifts to illiberalism justified by the GWOT. Not to mention crony capitalism. At one stage Blair claimed the right to lock people up for 90 days without bringing them before a Court, so we used to joke at my flat, "if I am not back within a couple of days, please inform my barrister". Of course Bush did much worse. Hunter S Thompson was correct about Bush. He was a much worse nutter than Nixon.
The failure to prosecute (or even really investigate) the post-9/11 and Iraq War abuses (possible war crimes!) was another inflection point. Some of this trend could have been reversed then. But instead of addressing the abnormality of the problem (a major US party sliding toward fascism), we dealt with it like a normal political issue, and just resolved to win in 2008. And we did win in 2008. But the fascistic cancer only got worse. And now it's totally metastasized.
Man, I don't know if "that guy's kid got a cushy job because that guy was Vice-President" is a really great road for this particular president to be going down. I mean, do they really want people to start looking even more closely at Ivanka, Junior, and Eric?
As I said elsewhere (can't remember what thread)--the hypocrisy doesn't matter; it's even part of the point. WE get to be corrupt, but YOU must held to the strictest of standards (which we can unilaterally change at any time).
For sure, but it sort of blunts whatever message that they were hoping to send to any persuadable folks.
It's the inevitable result of believing there are better and worse kinds of people. Laws meant to control lower quality people don't apply to the higher quality because they can handle the vices. And then you have to do those vices to prove your point.
In the Argentine epic poem "El Gaucho Martin Fierro", the main character describes the law as a spider web, that's not feared by the rich or by those in charge, because the big bugs can break it and it only ensnares the small bugs.
Depends what the message is The message to POC on voter suppression has always been your votes won't count, and the whole point is that it is overt, because that causes POC to give up. That's the whole strategy in Georgia against Abrams efforts to register a shit tonne of people.
So if they do this - e.g. get states to ignore the vote and send stooge electors, that's US democracy broken IMO - even if it does not succeed.
A functioning press wouldn’t let him off the debate stage without him clearly stating that he would respect the results of the election. And they would eviscerate him if he didn’t give a straight answer. He’ll be in a position where he can’t run away. He’ll have to stand there for an hour. No straight answer that he will...no moving on. which won’t happen. sadly...the only way to win this election will be in overwhelming fashion. I fear it must come on election night as well.
That is it. It has to be a landslide, swift and overwhelming. If Fl goes to Biden on election night, we may be able to avoid this nightmare.
Which is one of the reasons I’ve been concerned about the Dem push for mail in ballots. I completely get the justification for it...I just fear it’s a route for chaos.
I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. Realistically though, I doubt it happens. Trump is steadily rising in the polls in Florida. Texas, Ohio, and Georgia may be close, but I can't see any of those states swinging Biden's way. Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Arizona may be Biden's only chances to eke out an electoral victory (assuming he wins Michigan and Wisconsin). Places like Illinois, California, and New York will probably net Biden blowout victories, but that will be offset by Trump landslides in the northern Rockies, Great Plains, plus Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Indiana. In short, I'd be very surprised to see a lot of states flipping to Biden. Latest poll from Florida says white voters there favor Trump 59-37%, and Joe isn't doing as well with Hispanics as Clinton did. Floridians also think Trump will handle the economy much better than a Biden Administration would. No matter how optimistic we seem about Biden winning the election (and trust me, he NEEDS to get elected), I'm not confident or convinced that the good people of the Sunshine State will collectively do the right thing.
I share your concerns about Florida. Having said that, I think Joe may win there. He is leading by a 2 to 3 pts average. Bloomberg massive injection of money in the state will help on multiple fronts (ads, voter education, ex felons registration etc), and may be Biden's X factor too. Ga is a tie and if Joe wins there as well, he will easily be north of 350 EVs.
Biden could win like Reagan in '84, and it won't make a lick of difference because Trump's not leaving no matter what. Do you actually think that he's going to look at Biden getting 400 electoral votes and say, "Well, we gave it a good run, but the people have spoken. Time to pack up and leave"? He will fight and kick and scream and say that there was multiple amounts of fraud, or he will declare victory anyway, and his state media will run with that, or he will tell his sycophants to go out and provide a "2nd amendment solution" because the election was stolen from them. So what's the plan? There are no laws for Donald Trump, nor his Justice Department. He has the Senate. He has the courts. Who is removing him from office? And for all of the crimes he's committed, and no one has done anything, why will this be the straw that breaks the camel's back? Why would this crime be any different? The secret service is going to remove him? What independent group do they report to? How much can Bill Barr prevent that? I want Biden to win. I firmly believe that he will, and that he will win handily. So what's the plan for when his opponent refuses to believe it, and refuses to go away? Because he's not going to quit. So what's the plan?
I think the plan is that people will stop listening to him on January 20, because he won't be president any more.
If you're saying that he literally will continue acting as President after January 20, I think that's fanciful. The danger isn't that Trump simply tears up the Constitution and tells the military to throw Biden in prison. The danger is that he riles up a minority of the population to the degree that the GOP continues to function as bomb-throwing disruptors while the situation on the streets gets more and more perilous.
Also that he deploys bogus legal arguments that the Supreme Court upholds It's why he needs to lose by a lot, so no one takes the idea seriously
Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris Names 2Pac as the Best Rapper Alive Biggie's better. This isn't a debate, it's a fact. Also, Tupac's dead.