President Trump has abandoned his plan to win reelection by disqualifying enough ballots to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s wins in key battleground states, pivoting instead to a goal that appears equally unattainable: delaying a final count long enough to cast doubt on Biden’s decisive victory.
On Wednesday, Trump’s campaign wired $3 million to election officials in Wisconsin to start a recount in the state’s two largest counties. His personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has taken over the president’s legal team, asked a federal judge to consider ordering the Republican-controlled legislature in Pennsylvania to select the state’s electors. ✁
Giuliani has also told Trump and associates that his ambition is to pressure GOP lawmakers and officials across the political map to stall the vote certification in an effort to have Republican lawmakers pick electors and disrupt the electoral college when it convenes next month — and Trump is encouraging of that plan, according to two senior Republicans who have conferred with Giuliani and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly.
But that outcome appears impossible. It is against the law in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin law gives no role to the legislature in choosing presidential electors, and there is little public will in other states to pursue such a path.
Behind the thin legal gambit is what several Trump advisers say is his real goal: sowing doubt in Biden’s victory with the president’s most ardent supporters and keeping alive his prospects for another presidential run in 2024.
The shift in strategy comes after the president has suffered defeat after defeat in courtrooms around the country.
And it serves as a tacit acknowledgment that Trump has failed to muster evidence to support his unfounded claims about widespread fraud.
So, if you wanted a revolution, gerrymandering your way into overturning the presidential election would probably do it. Sheer math would tell you that your side has 5.6 million fewer troops. And many of yours only pressed the R button because Fox said to. For those not following along, Fox declined the Kool-Aid and is now among the Liberal media.
Silly, Stupid, & Doomed but still destructive to our social and democratic institutions. Putin is so proud.
5. Can Biden make up for lost time later in the transition, or upon taking office?
Yes. And on this point, regardless of what you might think of Biden personally or politically, it’s a good thing that he is the incoming commander in chief.
The president-elect’s learning curve may indeed be steep, especially if Trump delays his entry into the intelligence loop.
But few presidential transitions in American history have seen a president-elect as well prepared as Biden to race up such a curve quickly.
As vice president for eight years, he saw the President’s Daily Brief every working day. No accounts from the Obama administration suggest he was anything but a serious, solid consumer of the nation’s most exclusive intelligence. He’s not starting from scratch.
Compare his background as an eight-year vice president (and, before that, a decades-long consumer of intelligence while in the U.S. Senate) to the experiences of most other incoming presidents during the past 50 years.
Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump differed in many ways as they prepared to assume the powers and duties of the office, but not on one score: They all shared a lack of significant exposure to national-level intelligence until the transition.
On Thursday, the post-election narrative seemed to edge further down that path, as the Republican leaders of Michigan’s two legislative chambers—Senator Mike Shirkey and Representative Lee Chatfield—agreed to take a meeting with the President in Washington tomorrow.
Until that point Shirkey and Chatfield were signaling that they didn’t intend to second-guess Michigan’s voters, who chose Biden by more than 150,000 votes. But by taking the White House meeting, they indicated their possible openness to changing their minds.
Politically, it’s possible that they see taking the meeting as a smart move, showing unhappy Michigan Republicans that they’re on the president’s side.
But as a matter of statesmanship—and, legally, for their own sakes—they’d be smarter to cancel it.
The scheduled meeting threatens two kinds of danger. At the largest level, it threatens the system of democratic presidential elections: If state officials start claiming the right to overturn elections because of vague claims about “fraud,” our democratic system will be unworkable.
But in a more specific and immediate way, it threatens the two Michigan legislators, personally, with the risk of criminal investigation. (Hint – Bribery)
✁ The Constitution authorizes state legislatures to decide how states choose presidential electors. ✁
According to one school of thought, though, a state legislature could choose to set aside a popular vote if it doesn’t like the result and choose different electors instead.
This is a pretty undemocratic idea, as well as one that misreads the history of election law: the National Review recently described it as “completely insane.”
(State legislatures have the power to change the system for choosing electors in future elections,…
…but not to reject an already conducted election just because they don’t like the result.)
braindead Premium Member about 4 years ago
250,000+ covid deaths.
The peace and silence from them are gratifying to all Trump Disciples.
That much closer to herd mentality.
Silly Season about 4 years ago
President Trump has abandoned his plan to win reelection by disqualifying enough ballots to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s wins in key battleground states, pivoting instead to a goal that appears equally unattainable: delaying a final count long enough to cast doubt on Biden’s decisive victory.
On Wednesday, Trump’s campaign wired $3 million to election officials in Wisconsin to start a recount in the state’s two largest counties. His personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has taken over the president’s legal team, asked a federal judge to consider ordering the Republican-controlled legislature in Pennsylvania to select the state’s electors. ✁
Giuliani has also told Trump and associates that his ambition is to pressure GOP lawmakers and officials across the political map to stall the vote certification in an effort to have Republican lawmakers pick electors and disrupt the electoral college when it convenes next month — and Trump is encouraging of that plan, according to two senior Republicans who have conferred with Giuliani and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly.
But that outcome appears impossible. It is against the law in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin law gives no role to the legislature in choosing presidential electors, and there is little public will in other states to pursue such a path.
Behind the thin legal gambit is what several Trump advisers say is his real goal: sowing doubt in Biden’s victory with the president’s most ardent supporters and keeping alive his prospects for another presidential run in 2024.
The shift in strategy comes after the president has suffered defeat after defeat in courtrooms around the country.
And it serves as a tacit acknowledgment that Trump has failed to muster evidence to support his unfounded claims about widespread fraud.
~
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-strategy/2020/11/18/94fbe50e-29c9-11eb-92b7-6ef17b3fe3b4_story.html
William Robbins Premium Member about 4 years ago
So, if you wanted a revolution, gerrymandering your way into overturning the presidential election would probably do it. Sheer math would tell you that your side has 5.6 million fewer troops. And many of yours only pressed the R button because Fox said to. For those not following along, Fox declined the Kool-Aid and is now among the Liberal media.
Silly, Stupid, & Doomed but still destructive to our social and democratic institutions. Putin is so proud.
Silly Season about 4 years ago
5. Can Biden make up for lost time later in the transition, or upon taking office?
Yes. And on this point, regardless of what you might think of Biden personally or politically, it’s a good thing that he is the incoming commander in chief.
The president-elect’s learning curve may indeed be steep, especially if Trump delays his entry into the intelligence loop.
But few presidential transitions in American history have seen a president-elect as well prepared as Biden to race up such a curve quickly.
As vice president for eight years, he saw the President’s Daily Brief every working day. No accounts from the Obama administration suggest he was anything but a serious, solid consumer of the nation’s most exclusive intelligence. He’s not starting from scratch.
Compare his background as an eight-year vice president (and, before that, a decades-long consumer of intelligence while in the U.S. Senate) to the experiences of most other incoming presidents during the past 50 years.
Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump differed in many ways as they prepared to assume the powers and duties of the office, but not on one score: They all shared a lack of significant exposure to national-level intelligence until the transition.
~
https://www.lawfareblog.com/presidents-daily-brief-and-presidents-elect-primer
Silly Season about 4 years ago
On Thursday, the post-election narrative seemed to edge further down that path, as the Republican leaders of Michigan’s two legislative chambers—Senator Mike Shirkey and Representative Lee Chatfield—agreed to take a meeting with the President in Washington tomorrow.
Until that point Shirkey and Chatfield were signaling that they didn’t intend to second-guess Michigan’s voters, who chose Biden by more than 150,000 votes. But by taking the White House meeting, they indicated their possible openness to changing their minds.
Politically, it’s possible that they see taking the meeting as a smart move, showing unhappy Michigan Republicans that they’re on the president’s side.
But as a matter of statesmanship—and, legally, for their own sakes—they’d be smarter to cancel it.
The scheduled meeting threatens two kinds of danger. At the largest level, it threatens the system of democratic presidential elections: If state officials start claiming the right to overturn elections because of vague claims about “fraud,” our democratic system will be unworkable.
But in a more specific and immediate way, it threatens the two Michigan legislators, personally, with the risk of criminal investigation. (Hint – Bribery)
✁ The Constitution authorizes state legislatures to decide how states choose presidential electors. ✁
According to one school of thought, though, a state legislature could choose to set aside a popular vote if it doesn’t like the result and choose different electors instead.
This is a pretty undemocratic idea, as well as one that misreads the history of election law: the National Review recently described it as “completely insane.”
(State legislatures have the power to change the system for choosing electors in future elections,…
…but not to reject an already conducted election just because they don’t like the result.)
~
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/19/michigan-legislators-trump-meeting-438538
rossevrymn about 4 years ago
Once every 8 or 9 days Stantisernuthin’ gets it close to right.
Kip W about 4 years ago
So when did they draw this one? September?
Kip W about 4 years ago
“Meow, meow, meow, meow,
Meow, meow, meow, meow,
Meow, meow, meow, meow,
Meow, meow, meow, meow!"
—your deep song lyrics for today
david_42 about 4 years ago
Donnie will go to his deathbed whining about being robbed.
RobinHood about 4 years ago
Too little God, too little peace.
Psalms 46:10. Be still and know that I am God.
Wayne Simanovsky about 4 years ago
If mumbles (biden) gets in the white house you belittle him like you do our President.