2020 Election Results

[jab]

I caught an interview on Youtube of Dershowitz on Newsmax, talking about how Trump is trying delay tactics to keep Biden from reaching 270 votes in the electoral college to send it to the states in Congress... as if it were a completely normal path to electoral victory in the United States.

In reversal, GOP officials in key Michigan county certify ballot count after striking a compromise with Democrats - The Washington Post
Mob rule? Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo.

But I congratulate the Michigan state legislators for refusing to appoint their own slate of electors. Like Pennsylvania's ones refusing to do so. Good that they are refusing to open up that can of worms.

This is very much a disturbing set of actions. They ultimately changed their mind, but there really is no basis for having done both things. You either think the result is wrong or you tried to steal the election. There is no middle ground here.

Based on news reports I just heard this evening, no, in a very TRumpian they now didn't ultimately change their minds00the mind change was, what? temporary?
I really do fear for your country.

 

[lpetrich]

Mike Shirkey, a Michigan Republican who will meet with Trump, said this week he would not override Biden’s victory. - The New York Times

On Thursday, Mr. Trump invited Mike Shirkey, who turns 66 next month, to the White House with other Republican lawmakers — at a moment when he seems to be pressuring officials to overturn President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decisive victory in the state by appointing new electors.

Mr. Trump may have a tough sell during the meeting, which is expected to take place on Friday, and also include the Republican speaker of the Michigan House, Lee Chatfield.

Trump urged to stop delaying transition to Biden: Chamber of Commerce

The chamber, which typically has favored Republican candidates who support lower taxes and fewer regulations, joins a chorus of business groups imploring Trump to stop delaying the transition to the next president while he challenges the vote counts in multiple states.

“President-elect Biden and the team around him have a wealth of executive branch experience that should allow them to hit the ground running,” chamber CEO Tom Donohue said in a statement provided to Axios. “While the Trump administration can continue litigating to confirm election outcomes, for the sake of American safety and well-being, it should not delay the transition a moment longer.”

Chamber of Commerce CEO Donohue urges Trump to begin Biden transition

 

[lpetrich]

Biden team belittles Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for vote fraud claims

Biden’s campaign spokesman blasted the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani for a bizarre press conference where he made far-fetched claims of a “communist” plot to rig voting machines, berated reporters and sweated so profusely that hair dye dripped down both his cheeks.

“What I’m describing to you is a massive fraud,” Giuliani said. “It isn’t a little teeny one.”

All without any evidence, I'm sure. That's what did in several of the Trump Admin's lawsuits so far.

Trump drops Michigan lawsuit challenging Biden win, Giuliani says

In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign lost its appeal in the Court of Common Pleas of a decision by the Bucks County Board of Elections to allow the count of certain mail-in ballots there.

In Arizona, the Maricopa County Court dismissed a lawsuit by the state Republican Party that had sought to expand an audit of Arizona’s election results, and also denied a bid to have Maricopa County barred from certifying its election results.

And in Georgia, the attorney L. Lin Wood saw a federal judge, who was appointed by Trump last year, reject his request to block the state from certifying its vote tally, which Biden is projected to win, as in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

At least those lawsuits are gone. For now, at least. I think that the Trump Admin's legal team might appeal some of these decisions.

 

[lpetrich]

Michigan: Trump courts state GOP leaders in bid to overturn election he lost - CNNPolitics

Asked about Trump's outreach to Michigan officials, Biden said Thursday it was "going to be another incident where he will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in America history."

"It's just outrageous what he's doing," he said.

Seems like Trump will go down in history as one of the worst Presidents ever, joining the likes of Warren Harding, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan.

Opinion | If the losing party won’t accept defeat, democracy is dead - The Washington Post

Trump is failing because institutions are holding strong against him - The Washington Post

The false claim that there were irregularities or fraud in some majority-Black cities with Democratic officeholders, and therefore all the ballots must be thrown out, is a common thread through many of Trump’s post-election lawsuits. ...

There is, of course, no evidence to support Trump’s allegations of fraud. And the remedies Trump’s lawyers have been seeking — to throw out the election entirely — are not appropriate. If there is fraud, the usual response is to isolate fraudulent ballets and not count them — not to annul the election and overturn the will of the people.

The total incompetence of Trump’s legal team is only part of the reason for Trump’s inability to pull off a coup by throwing out enough ballots, though.

Another part of it is that in most places, the counting process is good enough to reject most invalid ballots. Recounts typically make only small changes in total numbers.

 

[lpetrich]

Opinion | Trump Is Salting the Soil of American Democracy - The New York Times
"I WON THE ELECTION!" Trump shouted on Twitter. Even though Biden is ahead by 7 million votes in the popular vote, and ahead 306-232 in the electoral vote. The same EV margin that Trump had in 2016, a margin that he called a "landslide" back then.

“What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?” a senior Republican official asked The Washington Post last week, referring to Mr. Trump. “No one seriously thinks the results will change.”

The downsides?

Lies have a long half-life, and Mr. Trump’s misinformation campaign will undermine the democratic legitimacy of the Biden administration.

Like many Republicans believing that Trump is the rightful winner and that Biden won through fraud.

Mr. Trump is doing this with the help of nearly all of the national Republican leaders, who continue to show loyalty to the president at the expense of the nation. It is a pathetic display of cowardice to stand aside and watch as a sitting president salts American soil. Their actions stand in contrast to that of many Republicans at the state level, including the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who have shown their courage and patriotism in the conduct of their official election duties.

Trump's tactics deserve a firm rebuff. Something that will show him that he lost, and that his claims otherwise are totally unsupported. It should show his enablers that he is just plain wrong, and that enabling him is a losing venture.

 

[lpetrich]

President Trump will never concede that he lost the 2020 election to Biden | Social Views - pennlive.com

The official in President Trump’s Homeland Security agency responsible for federal elections declared the Nov. 2 balloting legitimate and free from fraud. President Trump fired him in a tweet.

“He fired the man for telling the truth,” India Elaine Holland-Garnett wrote. “He only wants yes people.”

Biden says Trump 'will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents' - CNNPolitics - yes indeed

Georgia recount confirms Biden victory and finds no widespread fraud after statewide audit - CNNPolitics

Georgia has finished its statewide audit of the razor-thin presidential race and President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, according to a news release from the Secretary of State's office.

Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the final results from the audit. This is a slight drop for Biden compared to the pre-audit results.

Officials have said repeatedly that the audit confirmed there was no widespread fraud or irregularities in the election.

2020 Presidential Election Results: Joe Biden Wins - The New York Times - the Georgia count was updated with the new count. Biden's lead over Trump has narrowed to 0.24%

The deadline for certification is tomorrow, Fri Nov 20. Trump's campaigners can request a second recount in the next two business days. That one would be done with high-speed scanners.

 

[lpetrich]

The Associated Press has called Georgia for Biden, the last state left uncalled by that news agency.

Biden victory margins: GA 0.24%, AZ 0.31%, WI 0.62%, PA 1.2%, NV 2.4%, MI 2.8%, MN 7.1%, NH 7.3%, others at least 10%

All the Senate races are now called, with two of them now in runoffs.

All but eight of the House races have been called, with D 222, R 205. The Republicans are ahead in all 8 uncalled ones:

CA-21 1.1, CA-25 0.13, IA-02 0.01, NY-01 23, NY-02 14, NY-11 16, NY-22 4, NY-24 18

In order of the R's lead:

IA-02 0.01, CA-25 0.13, CA-21 1.1, NY-22 4, NY-02 14, NY-11 16, NY-24 18, NY-01 23

The Iowa one is a squeaker that will likely get recounted if it is not already being recounted, while the others are in California and New York State, and the absentee ballots are still being counted. Those ballots turned defeat into victory for Tom Suozzi, though that does not seem possible for the other NY ones, with the possible exception of NY-22. The CA ones are still very close, however.

 

[Jayjay]

President Trump will never concede that he lost the 2020 election to Biden | Social Views - pennlive.com

The official in President Trump’s Homeland Security agency responsible for federal elections declared the Nov. 2 balloting legitimate and free from fraud. President Trump fired him in a tweet.

“He fired the man for telling the truth,” India Elaine Holland-Garnett wrote. “He only wants yes people.”

Biden says Trump 'will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents' - CNNPolitics - yes indeed

Georgia recount confirms Biden victory and finds no widespread fraud after statewide audit - CNNPolitics

Georgia has finished its statewide audit of the razor-thin presidential race and President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, according to a news release from the Secretary of State's office.

Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the final results from the audit. This is a slight drop for Biden compared to the pre-audit results.

Officials have said repeatedly that the audit confirmed there was no widespread fraud or irregularities in the election.

2020 Presidential Election Results: Joe Biden Wins - The New York Times - the Georgia count was updated with the new count. Biden's lead over Trump has narrowed to 0.24%

The deadline for certification is tomorrow, Fri Nov 20. Trump's campaigners can request a second recount in the next two business days. That one would be done with high-speed scanners.

Who certifies the results in Georgia? Any chance that a trumpist or two could block it, like Michigan?

 

[lpetrich]

Why Trump's Attempts to Overturn 2020 Election Are Unparalleled in US History - The New York Times - "The president’s push to prevent states from certifying electors and get legislators to override voters’ will eclipses even the bitter 1876 election as an audacious use of brute political force."

Mr. Trump’s chances of succeeding are somewhere between remote and impossible, and a sign of his desperation after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. won by nearly six million popular votes and counting, as well as a clear Electoral College margin. Yet the fact that Mr. Trump is even trying has set off widespread alarms, not least in Mr. Biden’s camp.

“I’m confident he knows he hasn’t won,” Mr. Biden said at a news conference in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday, before adding, “It’s just outrageous what he’s doing.” Although Mr. Biden dismissed Mr. Trump’s behavior as embarrassing, he acknowledged that “incredibly damaging messages are being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions.”

But even if MI's legislature decided to send in its own slate of electors, the state's governor could send in hers, pointing to the successful election process in her state.

Trump would need some other states, but the governors there aren't biting.

Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona has said he will accept the state election results, although only after all the campaign lawsuits are resolved. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, where a hand recount reaffirmed Mr. Biden’s victory on Thursday, has not publicly said one way or another who won his state.

Are they looking for an opportunity to say "We can't do this because our hands are tied"?

But that may not satisfy Trump.

In many ways it is even more of an attempted power grab than the one in 1876. At the time, Hayes was governor of Ohio, not president of the United States. Ulysses S. Grant was, and when Hayes won — also by wrenching the vote around in three states — he became known as “His Fraudulency.”

“But this is far worse,” said Michael Beschloss, the presidential historian and author of “Presidents of War.” “In the case of Hayes, both sides agreed that the outcome in at least three states was in dispute. In this case, no serious person thinks enough votes are in dispute that Donald Trump could have been elected on Election Day.”

“This is a manufactured crisis. It is a president abusing his huge powers in order to stay in office after the voters clearly rejected him for re-election.”

He added: “This is what many of the founders dreaded.”

 

[lpetrich]

Trump Shifts Strategy to Hold Power as Recount, Lawsuit Efforts Founder | Top News | US News

A senior Trump campaign official told Reuters the plan was to cast enough doubt on the results in crucial states to persuade Republican legislators to step in and appoint their own slates of electors.

...
Republican legislative leaders from Michigan are scheduled to visit the White House on Friday at Trump's request, a source in Michigan said, adding the lawmakers planned to hear what the president had to say.

...
At a news conference on Thursday, Giuliani said he planned to file more lawsuits and that Democrats had engaged in a "national conspiracy" to manipulate vote totals, although he admitted he did not have any evidence. He did not answer a question about trying to sway state lawmakers.

Other members of the legal team floated a theory involving Venezuela and George Soros, a bogeyman of conservatives, although they said they would probably not pursue it in court.

...
Part of the new Trump campaign effort involves trying to delay certification, the normally routine process by which election results are finalized, the senior campaign official said.

Are they trying to run out the clock on certifications?

 

[lpetrich]

Young conservatives won't back down from the climate conversation under Biden | TheHill

For young voters who want action now, Trump’s rhetoric just didn’t cut it, which is why they turned out in droves to vote for Biden. However, despite predictions of a nationwide “Blue Wave,” the GOP performed exceptionally well down the ballot, adding more than a dozen women to its congressional ranks. Interestingly enough, Republicans who did embrace climate change as a serious issue fared well across the board. After all, Republican challenger candidates like Peter Meijer (Mich.), Maria Salazar (Fla.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.) centered their campaigns around environmental issues and won their races handily. There is a lesson to be learned from this contrast.

Lara Trump mulling 2022 Senate run in North Carolina: report | TheHill
noting
Will Lara Trump Be the Next Trump on a Ballot? - The New York Times

Sasse condemns Giuliani's 'wild press conferences': They 'erode public trust' | TheHill - spouting unsupported conspiracy theories is not a route to seeming very convincing

 

[lpetrich]

Maxine Waters says Biden win is 'dawn of a new progressive America' | TheHill
That seems rather overconfident, though looking at long-term historical trends, we are due for such an era. If anything, overdue.

• Schlesinger cycles: Gilded Age II has lasted longer than the original Gilded Age, and it is accumulating lots of unsolved social problems and getting lots of efforts to solve them. That's typical of what ends a conservative period and starts a new liberal one.
• Samuel Huntington's creedal-passion periods: they happen roughly every 60 years during Schlesinger liberal periods (Revolution, Jackson, Progressive, Sixties), so we are due for another one.
• Skowronek's regimes and presidency types: the current Gilded Age II regime is falling apart, with Trump being typical of "disjunctive" end-of-regime presidents like JQ Adams, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, and Jimmy Carter of being detached from his party and trying to fix the current system without success.

Bickering Democrats return with divisions | TheHill

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Young conservatives won't back down from the climate conversation under Biden | TheHill

For young voters who want action now, Trump’s rhetoric just didn’t cut it, which is why they turned out in droves to vote for Biden. However, despite predictions of a nationwide “Blue Wave,” the GOP performed exceptionally well down the ballot, adding more than a dozen women to its congressional ranks. Interestingly enough, Republicans who did embrace climate change as a serious issue fared well across the board. After all, Republican challenger candidates like Peter Meijer (Mich.), Maria Salazar (Fla.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.) centered their campaigns around environmental issues and won their races handily. There is a lesson to be learned from this contrast.

Lara Trump mulling 2022 Senate run in North Carolina: report | TheHill
noting
Will Lara Trump Be the Next Trump on a Ballot? - The New York Times

Sasse condemns Giuliani's 'wild press conferences': They 'erode public trust' | TheHill - spouting unsupported conspiracy theories is not a route to seeming very convincing

Erode public trust? Like how the Niagara River eroded the whirlpool bend in a day or two?!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

President Trump will never concede that he lost the 2020 election to Biden | Social Views - pennlive.com


Biden says Trump 'will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents' - CNNPolitics - yes indeed

Georgia recount confirms Biden victory and finds no widespread fraud after statewide audit - CNNPolitics


2020 Presidential Election Results: Joe Biden Wins - The New York Times - the Georgia count was updated with the new count. Biden's lead over Trump has narrowed to 0.24%

The deadline for certification is tomorrow, Fri Nov 20. Trump's campaigners can request a second recount in the next two business days. That one would be done with high-speed scanners.

Who certifies the results in Georgia? Any chance that a trumpist or two could block it, like Michigan?

I think the Secretary of State in Georgia does and he is pissed at the Red Hat GOP.

 

[bilby]

After some of the totally nutty disinformation that Rudy has been spouting this week, I am convinced that the man is senile. I know I shouldn't be laughing, but when I read about some of these things yesterday in the NYTimes, I couldn't help myself. Oh well. Laughter is supposed to be good for our immune systems, so maybe Rudy's nonsense will keep me healthy while waiting for this insanity to end.

And then there was the Four Seasons thing. How could anyone not get giddy with laughter watching these idiots pretending that they planned to meet at a landscaping company next to a store that sold porn! OMG! I feel like I'm watching a highly satirical movie, when I see these nutty attempts to over turn an election. It's one of those times when you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

"The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy

 

[bilby]

Rudy and his team of top lawyers are making a case with straight face that the election was rigged by Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, and the Clinton Foundation together with Antifa.

I thought Jayjay's post was a joke.

[TWEET]https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1329486814558752769[/TWEET]

There are no jokes that can come close to the absurdity of the facts; Satire is dead, and reality is on a ventilator in an understaffed and overwhelmed ICU.

 

[lpetrich]

Josh Marshall on Twitter: ""It changes the results of the election in Michigan if you take out Wayne county." https://t.co/EcQSzOPpmc" / Twitter - said by Rudy Giuliani in a press conference

Then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Translation of the Republican Party stance: “We can undermine the election by stripping Black Americans of their civil rights.”" / Twitter
and
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "“Taking out Wayne County” includes “taking out” the entire city of Detroit, AKA the #1 city in the US when it comes to African American population by percentage." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Did Sen. Kelly Loeffler take advantage of a Trump tax loophole to write off campaign jet?

Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia Republican now seeking to hold her seat in a crucial runoff election, has been hopping between campaign stops in a multimillion-dollar private jet that she and her husband bought soon after Gov. Brian Kemp appointed her to the Senate last December.

Despite her campaign's claims that she uses the plane to "save taxpayer money," Loeffler, a former asset management executive, may well now have joined the "frenzy" of Wall Street money managers who leapt at a loophole in President Trump's 2017 tax bill that turns private jets into flying tax shelters.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing - her COVID-19 insider trading
and
Sen. Loeffler’s husband cuts $1 million check to pro-Trump super PAC - POLITICO - "The Georgia senator is facing a tough election battle amid questions about her stock trading."

But in response to AOC tweeting "To get the virus under control, we need to pay people to stay home."
Kelly Loeffler on Twitter: "AOC wants to lock down our economy, lock the American people in their homes, and put the government in charge of every single part of our lives.

No wonder she supports @ReverendWarnock.

It’s not going to happen on my watch." / Twitter

Then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: ".@KLoeffler disclosures show you seem to have gifted yourself private jet on public dime & exploited corrupt tax loopholes to do it.

If you’re happy helping yourself to public funds, maybe take a seat before arguing against stimulus checks to help everyday people in a pandemic." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

I like this:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I have time today because I am sick & tired of seeing powerful people with both hands deep in the cookie jar turn around and tell people there’s nothing in there for them or our country’s future.

It’s rank hypocrisy and corruption. Incompetence at best. We shouldn’t tolerate it." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Trump told ally he's trying to get back at Democrats for questioning legitimacy of his own election - CNNPolitics

President Donald Trump told an ally that he knows he lost, but that he is delaying the transition process and is aggressively trying to sow doubt about the election results in order to get back at Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his own election in 2016, especially with the Russia investigation, a source familiar with the President's thinking told CNN on Thursday.

Yet more big-baby action.

CNN on Twitter: "President Trump told an ally that he knows he lost, but that he is delaying the transition process and is trying to sow doubt about the election results in order to get back at Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his 2016 election, a source says. https://t.co/yGbF040HpB" / Twitter

Then
David Frum on Twitter: ""My latest crimes are payback for people trying to hold me accountable for my earlier crimes."" / Twitter

Georgia certifies Biden's win after statewide audit - CNNPolitics

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Friday certified President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state, formalizing the razor-thin presidential results after a statewide audit confirmed that Biden got more votes than President Donald Trump.

"Numbers don't lie," Raffensperger said during a news conference earlier Friday. "As Secretary of State, I believe that the numbers that we are presented today are correct."

...
Now that the results are certified, Trump is entitled to ask for a statewide machine recount because of the narrow margin. The deadline for his campaign to request that recount is Tuesday afternoon.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has until 5 p.m. ET Saturday to sign the paperwork that officially grants Georgia's 16 electors to Biden, according to state law. Kemp has been relatively quiet during the post-election audit, and CNN has asked his office if he plans to sign the paperwork without incident.

Kemp did release a statement before the audit urging Raffensberger to "take a serious look at any and all voting irregularity allegations that have been made." Trump and his campaign have raised baseless allegations of massive irregularities and fraud in Georgia.

The next step is for him to sign those papers. Let's see if he does so.