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Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:46 pm
by Matticus13
peterlund wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:02 am
Matticus13 wrote:
Wed Nov 04, 2020 11:06 pm
Hopefully, the Democrats will learn how to pick better Presidential candidates.
And hopefully also the republicans learn how to pick a sane, mature and not obsessive lying candidate.

Is this not the core of the problem? How TF was it possible in the first place to put Trump on the republican ticket? Something is clearly rotten here how things work over there.
Whoever wins the primary gets the nomination. They have little control over who the voters within their party choose.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 2:02 pm
by Octavious
Quite so. Trump was a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. By his own measure he has probably done a good job, and served the country well. More objectively, he's not started any wars nor broken much that can't be fixed, so as Presidencies go it's no disaster. I dare say that the forces who helped put him in power are delighted with his performance and equally happy that Biden's now taking over. It's the next election that genuinely worries me.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 4:40 pm
by flash2015
AP has called the election for Biden now.

I probably wouldn't be worrying about the next election until this one is over. There is no indication yet that Trump is willing to accept defeat. If anything he continues to keep escalating "they are stealing the election" nonsense.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 4:42 pm
by flash2015
I am told NBC and CBS have called it too. Fox hasn't yet though.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 5:05 pm
by Jamiet99uk
The have now, plus the BBC and the Associated Press.

BIDEN WINS

FUCK YOU, TRUMP

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 5:12 pm
by Octavious
This one was over a couple of days ago when it became obvious both that the direction of the count was favoring Biden and that there was no appetite from the powers that be to support Trump's legal campaign. The only thing that can save Trump now is if one of the automatic recounts finds a few thousand Trump votes that had mysteriously been missed, and that seems highly unlikely.

What we have now are four years of a man several decades past his prime leading the US through an unprecedented health crisis and the inevitable financial crisis that follows, with the addition of a now openly hostile superpower rival in China overseas and a hostile Republican party at home with millions of very angry people believing the Trump line that he's illegitimate. God help him if the Republicans keep the senate.

This would be an extremely tough challenge for the greatest US presidents at their peak. Biden seems a decent man, but he's neither great nor at his peak. He will spend a lot of his political capital doing necessary but unpopular (in certain circles at least) things like rejoining WHO and rejoining the fight against climate change. I don't think he's up to it, and there will be an inevitable backlash when it starts to go wrong. That's when things have the potential to become dangerous.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 6:16 pm
by Randomizer
It depends upon how many Pence will promise to pardon. All those rats have to worry about crimes that will be investigated under the new administration.

Trump and the Republican party have given Biden a road map on how to avoid Congressional approval and oversight. Except for judicial appointments, Biden can use temporary appointments to offices, executive orders for laws, and stonewall Republicans in Congress and tie it up in the courts.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:06 pm
by peterlund
Do not be too worried of Biden's age. We have a young and very vital VP in Harris and she happens to be both agreeable and smart enough for the job. We are in safe hands.

She can easiy do the job far better than most male presidents so far.

Btw, remember my post from 29 Jun 2019 :)
peterlund wrote:
Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:25 pm
It feels like Kamala is the best shot the dems have to beat the shithead out of office.

Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders feels like old tired men that that both looks even more like dead ducks than the shithead does.

To me it seems like only Kamala has the fighting spirit that is required.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:26 pm
by Octavious
Randomizer wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 6:16 pm
It depends upon how many Pence will promise to pardon. All those rats have to worry about crimes that will be investigated under the new administration.

Trump and the Republican party have given Biden a road map on how to avoid Congressional approval and oversight. Except for judicial appointments, Biden can use temporary appointments to offices, executive orders for laws, and stonewall Republicans in Congress and tie it up in the courts.
Are you saying you want Biden to be a new Trump? If you think that the Democrats should start their period in power by adopting Trumpian methods then Trump has truly won.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:25 pm
by peterlund
By the way what are the results when it comes to the Senate
and the House of Representatives?

Will the Republicans keep their majority in the Senate?
Will the Democrats keep their majority in the House of Representatives?

News here in Sweden has only reported about the presidetial election. So I would be very grateful if someone could give an executive summary on this.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:31 pm
by Octavious
The Republicans have recovered some seats in the HoR, but the Democrats still have control. I believe the Senate stands at 48-48 with a few left to be counted.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:40 pm
by Octavious
Looking at the Beeb it seems it won't be settled until the 5th of January due to there being run off elections where neither candidate achieved 50% of the vote in their particular race.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:43 pm
by TrPrado
North Carolina and Alaska are going to go Republican, so the Senate comes down to Georgia, they had a special election and a regularly scheduled election this year, so both seats were up and both have gone to runoffs because no candidate recieved a simple majority. If the Democrats win both it's 50-50 with the Vice President breaking the tie, otherwise the Republicans keep their Senate majority.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:35 pm
by Octavious
In practice how strong would a 51-49 or 52-48 majority be? Has American politics reached the stage where people vote along party lines so reliably that even a razor thin majority is pretty solid, or is there scope for a fair few Democrat victories? In the UK Parliament, for example, the Conservative 80 seat majority is unusually hefty, but even so there will be times when it is in danger of being defeated due to rebellions and the like.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:27 pm
by Randomizer
Octavious wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:26 pm
Randomizer wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 6:16 pm
It depends upon how many Pence will promise to pardon. All those rats have to worry about crimes that will be investigated under the new administration.

Trump and the Republican party have given Biden a road map on how to avoid Congressional approval and oversight. Except for judicial appointments, Biden can use temporary appointments to offices, executive orders for laws, and stonewall Republicans in Congress and tie it up in the courts.
Are you saying you want Biden to be a new Trump? If you think that the Democrats should start their period in power by adopting Trumpian methods then Trump has truly won.
McConnell already announced he would block hearings for all Biden appointments that are not centrist in his opinion. It's very rare that an incoming president's choices are rejected automatically.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 11:39 pm
by TrPrado
Octavious wrote:
Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:35 pm
In practice how strong would a 51-49 or 52-48 majority be? Has American politics reached the stage where people vote along party lines so reliably that even a razor thin majority is pretty solid, or is there scope for a fair few Democrat victories? In the UK Parliament, for example, the Conservative 80 seat majority is unusually hefty, but even so there will be times when it is in danger of being defeated due to rebellions and the like.
The Republican majority is already razor thin, to the point that Mitch McConnell had to change the rules on confirming Supreme Court justices to only require a simple majority of the Senate (otherwise Kavanaugh and Barrett would not currently be members of the Court).

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 1:02 am
by orathaic
One republican out of 53 didn't vote for Amy Cohen Barret, right? And 2 didn't vote for impeachment. Otherwise it has been fairly solid party lines for everything.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 3:10 am
by Matticus13
orathaic wrote:
Sun Nov 08, 2020 1:02 am
One republican out of 53 didn't vote for Amy Cohen Barret, right? And 2 didn't vote for impeachment. Otherwise it has been fairly solid party lines for everything.
Not exactly. If they know they will have defections, they either modify the legislation until they have the votes, or they simply avoid bringing it to the floor for a vote.

If Dems were to gain both Georgia seats for a 50-50, there are some moderate Democrats from conservative states that could still cause problems, depending on what is being legislated.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 3:52 am
by Randomizer
There are always a few votes where they want to appease voters back home to get re-elected and know in advance that their votes aren't needed to change to outcome.

Re: Election Night Thread

Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 2:26 pm
by taylor4
RE: Appointments to be confirmed by US Senate (if GOP controlled):
"Centrist ... " WELL, Merrick Garland, the former chief judge of the D.C. circuit - the federal appellate court -, WELL, Garland was President Obama's (most) centrist nomination. How'd that go ?