Trump/Republicans 2020: Suppressing Votes & Weaponizing the Government.

[twocoach]

Everything Trump accuses others of doing is likely something he has either done already, is doing right now, or wants to do in the future.

[jfish26]

Everything Trump accuses others of doing is likely something he has either done already, is doing right now, or wants to do in the future.

Yes. It's important to remember at all times that he's further away from eight-dimensional chess than he is from eating the Candyland pieces.

[ousdahl]

lulz

[jhawks99]

It's like his statements aren't actual accusations but confessions.

[Sparko]

Everything Trump accuses others of doing is likely something he has either done already, is doing right now, or wants to do in the future.

Yes. It's important to remember at all times that he's further away from eight-dimensional chess than he is from eating the Candyland pieces.

I spit coffee on this one

[sdoyel]

[Walrus]

Biden and Harris are sort of in a trap right now. Harris' earlier comments encouraging the riots have backfired, yet if she tells people to not riot, she'll lose additional voters on the extreme left. They should have condemned them from the beginning -- it might cost them the election.

[sdoyel]

https://www.wired.com/story/trump-elect ... -doj-odni/

[Deleted User 310]

https://www.wired.com/story/trump-elect ... -doj-odni/

Crazy stuff.

...it has been said many fear trump/republicans will not accept the results if he doesn't win, and it is a reasonable fear....but i also wonder if dems will accept the results if Biden doesn't win???

[Deleted User 289]

[jfish26]

My assumption is it's a destabilizing effort.

Kind of what i thought...i still think it is true info being leaked, but it is probably being leaked for a reason.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=864&p=128025&hilit=caught#p128025

The playbook is telegraphed. The in-person vote will likely be a narrow Trump loss. Then the remote results will reveal a historic landslide.

At some point through all this, foreign actors will be "caught" manipulating the remote voting process, setting up an attempt to discredit all remote votes.

It's right here in front of you.

Oh hey.

Get Ready for the Foreign-Ballot Conspiracy

https://thebulwark.com/get-ready-for-th ... onspiracy/

[Conspiracy theories] thrive in part because they are unfalsifiable. No one can prove or disprove a hypothetical. That’s the beauty of them. Just because you’ve never seen the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, or a tactical Antifa force unit on a plane doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

All Trump and Barr need is a friend to produce some evidence for their conspiracy theory. Maybe, oh, in the form of a classified report that just so happens to leak to Sean Hannity. You don’t need a crystal ball to predict where this will go: No need to worry much about Russia interfering in the election; China is the real problem. You know—that country already flooding America with counterfeit goods. First, they came for electronic products and designer purses. Then, our ballots.

The good news is that Trump, Barr, and company are like cartoon villains who, in a slow-rolling monologue, reveal their evil plan to anyone watching the show. Election watchers already know to prepare for the possibility of a contested election. One that rests on Trump’s idea alleging the presence of counterfeit Chinese ballots has to be put into that mix.

[...]

He could demand a congressional investigation. Or demand that the new Biden administration face the scrutiny of a special prosecutor. He could call for the election results to be overturned, even when the process is long over and no mechanism for such an overturning exists. What would stop him? Remember, this kind of evidence-free demand for investigations of a sitting Democratic president is what Trump’s 2016 campaign was based upon. It’s what made him the most powerful man on Earth. It’s what he does. It’s who he is. And it would keep him relevant, especially to his Fox News-InfoWars base, through Biden’s presidency.

All of this only sounds crazy if you haven’t been paying attention.

[Deleted User 310]

What if China really does interfere in the election? It has already been reported by CNN that they are (to what extent wasn't specified, but my guess is some sort of targeted disinformation campaigns)....does it matter or is it okay as long as it helps Biden?

I don't ask that to be a total smart ass. I just see huge differences is how some people respond and/or how they seem to be more skeptical when it helps their candidate...and that is not just a subliminal shot at the left at all, i see the same people from the right who blindly professed "russia hoax" instantly jump on the "china is interfering" outrage bandwagon with no questions asked. It is just very transparent looking in from the outside. It seems like a lot of people don't care what their side does only what the other side does. And that's not saying both side do it or both sides do it the same, it is more about how some people are just unwaveringly loyal to their party at all costs right now, which i think is ridiculous.

[Mjl]

What if China really does interfere in the election? It has already been reported by CNN that they are (to what extent wasn't specified, but my guess is some sort of targeted disinformation campaigns)....does it matter or is it okay as long as it helps Biden?

I don't ask that to be a total smart ass. I just see huge differences is how some people respond and/or how they seem to be more skeptical when it helps their candidate...and that is not just a subliminal shot at the left at all, i see the same people from the right who blindly professed "russia hoax" instantly jump on the "china is interfering" outrage bandwagon with no questions asked. It is just very transparent looking in from the outside. It seems like a lot of people don't care what their side does only what the other side does. And that's not saying both side do it or both sides do it the same, it is more about how some people are just unwaveringly loyal to their party at all costs right now, which i think is ridiculous.

There's a bill to help address this to at least some extent. It's sitting on Mitch's desk. So yeah, it is fair to complain more when it's Russia helping Trump.

[twocoach]

What if China really does interfere in the election? It has already been reported by CNN that they are (to what extent wasn't specified, but my guess is some sort of targeted disinformation campaigns)....does it matter or is it okay as long as it helps Biden?

I don't ask that to be a total smart ass. I just see huge differences is how some people respond and/or how they seem to be more skeptical when it helps their candidate...and that is not just a subliminal shot at the left at all, i see the same people from the right who blindly professed "russia hoax" instantly jump on the "china is interfering" outrage bandwagon with no questions asked. It is just very transparent looking in from the outside. It seems like a lot of people don't care what their side does only what the other side does. And that's not saying both side do it or both sides do it the same, it is more about how some people are just unwaveringly loyal to their party at all costs right now, which i think is ridiculous.

No foreign interference in the election is acceptable. Period.

[jfish26]

Sure. But there are different degrees of unacceptability. Degrees of complicity. Degrees of solicitation. Degrees of obfuscation.

[ousdahl]

if Biden were to receive "help" from foreign interference in the election, I imagine he would express more concern about it than dismissing it over and over as "a Republican witch hunt"

[Deleted User 310]

if Biden were to receive "help" from foreign interference in the election, I imagine he would express more concern about it than dismissing it over and over as "a Republican witch hunt"

He hasn't so far and CNN reported he was getting "help" from China and Iran.

But i agree with JFish that there are different degrees of help, and Biden certainly hasn't done the ignorant public solicitation for "help" that Trump has historically.

[Deleted User 310]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/us/p ... -iran.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... telligence

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/07/politics ... index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/08/07/us- ... trump.html

[jfish26]

Biden also doesn't need help. Not in the way Trump does (and did, in 2016).

[Deleted User 310]

Biden also doesn't need help. Not in the way Trump does (and did, in 2016).

I totally agree that it definitely isn't the same, but Biden absolutely needs help. He needs people to be so afraid and outraged at the thought of Trump getting elected again that dems voter turnout is high in the swing states. So foreign disinformation campaigns that are targeted at dems can absolutely help achieve that, even though i agree he will probably win regardless...and trump says enough ridiculously offensive stuff on his own that they probably don't have to completely fabricate much.

I guess i just am hesitant to feel it is such a "lock" when everyone said he had no chance against Clinton in 2016.

We will see. I am not sure what dems will do if trump actually does win. Will they accept the results of the election?

Many of the questions we have about what trump and his followers will do can also be flipped to the dems in some instances.

Either way, unless the dems take back the senate i expect the next 4 years will be largely unproductive as far as both sides working together to actually get meaningful things accomplished that benefit all americans. Maybe i am just pessimistic after how the last 4-12 years have gone.