US General Elections 2020

I would like to think a brush with death would humble him a little but I could imagine it would embolden him and his supporters even more.

There's no such thing as humble with this guy. Visible long term effects would be very satisfying though. Might reduce the age advantage.

Trump will do a Johnson and get the best treatments known to man. He will be out of hospital very soon claiming that only 'losers' die from it. He will be more obnoxious than before. Also like Johnson.

Mrs Figg wrote:Trump will do a Johnson and get the best treatments known to man. He will be out of hospital very soon claiming that only 'losers' die from it. He will be more obnoxious than before. Also like Johnson.

Isn't covid known to leave lasting health effects regarding breathing, circulation etc? Trump is an obese 74 year with a terrible diet and awful sleeping patterns, suffering from obvious mental decline and in one of the most stressful jobs in the world (though admittedly I don't think he does much work in the oval office...all the tweeting and golfing may tire him out i guess), he wasn't exactly in ideal health before contracting covid and was rumoured to had several mini strokes/diagnosed with high blood pressure...

Trump is likely much more severely ill than we've been told...though I'm not sure if we can really expect the truth to come out at this point in time...

So...if Trump dies, how does this affect the election? Presumably Pence would become an interim acting President until January, and as Trump's running mate would he automatically be the candidate the Republican party put forward as candidate to run against Biden? Or would there be time/a desire to quickly choose another candidate instead? Would Pence then have to choose his own Vice-President?

Could the election legally be postponed? (thousands have already voted)

If Trump dies, or is forced to step down for health reasons I could see the Republicans using this an excuse to quickly parachute in a more moderate and popular candidate, they will only be loyal to Trump as long as it is in their interests and ditch him as soon as they can, frankly I don't see Pence proving an exciting or popular presidential candidate to even many of Trump's supporters...

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/trump-knew-exposed-maskless-campaign-trail-hope-hicks-showing-symptoms.html

Random thought, if it's proven that people Trump has been in contact with since contracting Covid,die from the virus and can trace it back to interacting with Trump at a rally or meeting etc, could Trump potentially be charged with indirect manslaughter or something?

It's been reported online that Trump and co may have been fully aware he had contracted the virus prior to the debate with Joe Biden...

If Trump was incapacitated I presume Pence will take over as president, they cant get rid of him just because he is unpopular, he would run against Biden.

The president isn't necessarily the party's candidate for the next election, though in practice that's always been the case just because it's simpler. None of the things the parties do are official, all that's official is the qualifications and deadlines each state erects for a candidate to be eligible in their elections. I think all the filing deadlines are past so if Trump dies or drops out there's no republican candidate.

"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground — not arbitrary timetables — will guide our strategy from now on. America’s enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out.” - Trump, 2017

“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!” - Trump today in a cheap ploy to boost his popularity prior to the election, despite the fact it could not be worse timed for America's national interest militarily in Afghanistan.

'The Taliban said in a statement on Thursday that they welcomed the president’s announcement.
However, the president appeared to have gotten ahead of his negotiators and his National Security team. Trump's tweet came hours after his national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said the U.S. would reduce its forces to 2,500 by early next year.
U.S. officials told Fox News that the sudden pronouncement, which appeared timed to help Trump in the presidential election, will make it harder for his negotiators and the Afghan government, who are currently in tough talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.
Several officials close to the negotiations said the declaration may have even jeopardized the delicate talks. Counterterrorism officials said this may lead to a victory for the Taliban, and the collapse of the Afghan government and a “major shot of adrenalin” to the global jihadist movement.'- Fox

and credit for once here to Fox News for calling this move out for what it blatantly is- 'which appeared timed to help Trump in the presidential election' }}

Since Fox lost the president's love they've gotten more and more truthful.

Nancy is trying to have Trump removed because he is acting weird, but how can she tell? he is always unhinged.

Welp, poking my head in here was a mistake. Ya'll need to blend up a smoothie and go read a good book.

Anyway, just wanted to say that I had filled out my ballot and am sending it off today. I was going to vote in the last presidential election, but never sent my ballot in, so this'll be my first time. Feels good!

I see the'cocktail' of drugs Trump was given has as its main component a drug made from stem cells from aborted fetuses- wonder how the Evangicals are taking him touting everyone should get it then? Or is that the smell of pure hypocrisy?

Also "Iran knows not to fuck with the United States'- Trump on a live radio show. The only President you can tlet your children hear speak incase he drops an f bomb, calls white supremecists to arms, insults women with degoratory language, or boast of his ability to sexually assualt. All whilst paying off porn stars and whores. What a President! I can see what these relgous types see him in,he's just like Jesus! }}

can you imagine the shitstorm of fake outrage tweets if Obama had taken that drug?

{{Been watching the hearings for Trumps pick of judge.
Couple things I still cant quite get my head round- the idea that judges are appointed by Presidents and picked to be aligned to a political view. Thats distrubing and seems to me to be opposed to the very idea of democracry in which State and Law are seperate and justice is blind.
I dont really get how you can have politically appointed judges and still claim its a democracy.

Secondly why is someone religious beliefs not allowed to be questioned?- some of the worst atrrocities in history have been committed by those acting on religous beliefs. But more than that surely it speaks to how someone evalutes information, evidence and facts?
If be asking her about her religous views- does she belief an invisible supernatural superbeing made the earth in 6 days? Does she believe humans were formed as we ar enow, modern humans out of dust and a spare rib and lived in a garden with a magic tree and a talking serpent? Does she believe the earth was flooded entirely higher than the tallest mountains and all animals that exist now are desceneded from pairs that rode the flood out in a big boat? Does she believe 2000 years ago a jewish man could cure blindness, leprosy and raise the dead, and that they died and 3 days later was brought back from the dead? For example.
A yes to these questions in my view raises some alarm bells about the ability to scrutinise evidence, facts and discern probable liklihood, surely things appropriate to being a judge! }}

It's only in the last few decades that politics became an integral part of selecting a judge.  We've already been through this a few pages back.

A thought: perhaps the reason the courts have become politicized in this country is the concept of Judicial Review.  The Supreme Court has the power to declare laws unconstitutional.  Since Britain doesn't have a real constitution, such an action is not possible.  In fact it was extremely controversial when first applied during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson - it was unclear if the constitution really meant the Supreme Court had this power.  Coincidentally, it concerned the last minute appointment of a whole set of judges (not to the supreme court) that Jefferson as incoming president wanted to challenge.

The details are intricate enough that even though many school children can point to Madison vs Marbury as the origin of judicial review, they can't say what was involved, in any detail whatsoever.  I had to look it up myself.

But because of judicial review the Supreme Court can leave a heavy imprint on the workings of government. To say justices can be impartial when given the power to review laws rather than just interpret them is a demonstration of innocence. Conservative judges want to claim that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intent of the founders; liberals would say the meaning of such ideas such of liberty has changed with time and so the interpretation should change accordingly. Both points of view can be strongly argued, and I had the pleasure of hearing Justice Antonin Scalia lay down his reasons for defending the original intent interpretation. He gave a masterful and highly entertaining masterclass of a performance. I'm not surprise that he and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could become good friends - intellect transcends politics.

But anyway, with a 6 to 3 dominance, laws in the US will begin to lean conservative. That's why there's such a fight.

{{ I know weve talked about the judge thing before but I still dont get why Amercians, seeing it happening righ tnow arent outraged and demanding change- I havent heard a single person, or seen a single report in any of the coverage saying why do we let the President pick judges at all? And that shocks me that its so accepted as being fine in a democracy, especially one that likes to consider itself as the worlds greatest democracy, that no one seems to even ask the question. }}

It would take a change in the constitution, and that's not lightly done.  But there's a way out: lifetime appointment is NOT in the constitution, only that they hold their appointments during "good behavior".  An act of congress can change the appointment time.   The lifetime appointment is meant to make them independent of politics, but it seems to have the opposite effect, at least in the confirmation.  This should be the fix that Biden fights for, though the present justices would be grandfathered in for life, no doubt.

{{ Itd be a start for sure.
Another thing thats puzzling, not just me but the rest of the world, is why do Americans have to queue for hours to vote- sometimes as long as 11 hours or more!!!
In other democracies its a five minute process at most. Even India which is the biggest democracry in the world and has more voters than anywhere doesnt have this.
Why are there not enough polling stations? Why do people have to queue at all let alone for half a day for the right to vote? Thats madness, especially this year. But any time.
Surely it discourages voting, Id think twice about it if I had to go stand in the rain for 11 hours. Its ridiculous. }}

Normally no queing for voting, or if so not for more than 10 minutes.

The people you see now are doing EARLY voting, which is normally not an issue but people are so fired up by this election they want to make sure they get counted.  One issue is that people are skipping mail-in voting so that Trump can not use it as an argument that the votes have been manipulated.

Another thing you're seeing stems from the Supreme Court striking down key parts of the voting rights act in 2013:  republican controlled states have a tendency to shut down polling places in minority neighborhoods.  That they were even doing this in the first place shows what scum they are, and the fact that the law prohibiting such action was allowed to lapse bewilders me.  But there you have it: you are seeing pictures of deliberate voter intimidation.  Note the minority make up: you'll never see such a line of whites waiting.

{{ Hold on- states control polling stations?! Why arent they independently set up and run free from political interference? Thats how it works here and pretty sure thats how it works most places, and the amount of places you can go to vote is determined by the population in an area, and yourloction in that area (often done by post code- zip code in US). I mean Im in a small town yet my friend across the street goes to a different polling station I do as there's loads when it comes to elections.
When we go to vote here Ill get a card through mail a few months before and it'll have where I am to go to cast my vote, its usually no more than 5-10 minutes away if your walking, and theres never a queue of any note. Even during the massive turnout for the independence vote  I walked straight in, voted and straight back out.
What you describe seems like blatant voter manipulation, far worse than any of Trumps claims about mail-in voter fraud. Its banana republic stuff.
US democracy seems rather questionable in many aspects it seems.}}

Yep, it's mind boggling.  I've never had to wait longer than about 5 minutes to vote and it's always been walking distance, but I've never been a minority in a republican controlled state.  The majority of the supreme court argued that times had changed, Obama was president, there was no longer need for federal oversight of state-run voting.  And the next thing you know the southern states were right back to their old tricks.  I don't know why they haven't been nailed for it.

I should add, most polling workers are over 60. Covid has caused many polling stations to close due to lack of manpower. Any guesses where most of those closures will occur?

{{ Lookng at the footage it does appear those queueing are about 80% minorities. Thats even worse!!!

The BBC have a piece on it but the best bit is what other folk have been saying about it from around the world. Among the many along thelines of "sort yourselves out" and explanations of how it works in other countries without queues these are my favourites comments-

A Canadian wrote: "I've waited longer for a bus than I have ever waited to vote."

An Irish woman wrote: "20 minutes but that was because I met a neighbour, then a friend, then knew the returning officer so said hello, then finally voted. Took another hour to leave the polling station, nothing like an election for Irish people to get a chance to chat."

In Australia, some people said the queue to pick up the customary "Democracy Sausage" after the vote is often longer than the queue to vote itself. Plus the chat with sausage vendor can add half an hour." }}

Here's the story you're looking for Petty, but I must stress that early voting has been nearly nonexistent in the past, but is happening now due to the pandemic.  Couple that with the fact that people are far, FAR more energized now than for any election in memory and you get glitches, which always happen but what's going on now is NOT normal by any stretch of the imagination. One of the lines referred to was in River Oaks, the ritziest neighborhood in Houston.

https://news.yahoo.com/eight-hour-waits-machine-glitches-120858516.html

{{ Why now they can see the queues and the problem dont they just open up more polling stations in those areas to accomodate everyone and prevent it? }}