'Not a repudiation': Joe Biden holds off red wave, gets unexpected boost from midterm election

[xylophone]

A couple of paragraphs of an op-ed piece which appeared in this morning's New Zealand Herald: –

 

I say this with neither glee nor sorrow, merely as an absolute political fact. The Donald’s goose is cooked. Republicans can take comfort that this means Ron DeSantis is much more likely to win the nomination and subsequent election in 2024 and Democrats can take comfort that the man who triggered their sensitive souls won’t be back in the White House in this lifetime and is unlikely to make it to the next.

So Rest in Peace, Donald J Trump, it’s been a wild ride but it looks like the world is ready to return to normality again. And as much as it’s been fun, sooner or later all parties have to come to an end.

And the sooner that clown and crook is locked away, or totally forgotten about, which would hurt him no end, the better.
 

[Jingthing]

12 hours ago, xylophone said:

A couple of paragraphs of an op-ed piece which appeared in this morning's New Zealand Herald: –

 

I say this with neither glee nor sorrow, merely as an absolute political fact. The Donald’s goose is cooked. Republicans can take comfort that this means Ron DeSantis is much more likely to win the nomination and subsequent election in 2024 and Democrats can take comfort that the man who triggered their sensitive souls won’t be back in the White House in this lifetime and is unlikely to make it to the next.

So Rest in Peace, Donald J Trump, it’s been a wild ride but it looks like the world is ready to return to normality again. And as much as it’s been fun, sooner or later all parties have to come to an end.

And the sooner that clown and crook is locked away, or totally forgotten about, which would hurt him no end, the better.
 

No.

It's not only about trump.

It's about Trumpism.

The party has been infected with it.

DeSantis is a Trumpist too in different clothing. 

If the republicans are to turn away from Trumpism which is largely anti democracy fascism, they will need to move in another direction. Not necessarily Liz Cheney, but definitely not DeSantis. They have a chance to do that. So far I see no sign of it.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

52 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

DeSantis is a Trumpist too in different clothing. 

The Dems and GOP Trump haters may have been able to destroy Trump, but they'll never destroy the message trump used to become POTUS.

DeSantis for 47.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

17 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Looks to me like the Senate will remain in the Dems hands.....one wonders if Trump was the deathblow to a few Republicans by forcing the Independents over to the Dems side.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-63600154

Agree, but not just Trump. Apparently abortion got the young voters to vote by mail in very large numbers.

[Jingthing]

Again, unfortunately, this is about much more than getting rid of Trump which of course must happen and will happen in some way or another.

It's about getting rid of Trumpism.

Trumpism dominates the republican party. 

They would be more honest renaming it the MAGA party or the Trumpist Party (or go historical with the know nothing party). 

 

Ron DeSantis: more Trumpist than Trump (and perhaps the next president of the United States) (thecanadian.news)

 

 

 

[Scott]

Troll posts removed.  

 

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Again, unfortunately, this is about much more than getting rid of Trump which of course must happen and will happen in some way or another.

It's about getting rid of Trumpism.

Trumpism dominates the republican party. 

They would be more honest renaming it the MAGA party or the Trumpist Party (or go historical with the know nothing party). 

 

Ron DeSantis: more Trumpist than Trump (and perhaps the next president of the United States) (thecanadian.news)

 

 

 

Given the activity I can not comment on, I am putting you on ignore. Bye.

[Phoenix Rising]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The Dems and GOP Trump haters may have been able to destroy Trump, but they'll never destroy the message trump used to become POTUS.

Message? You mean racism, misogyny, anti-science and general nastiness?

[Phoenix Rising]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given the activity I can not comment on, I am putting you on ignore. Bye.

But surely you can name the activity?

[ozimoron]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The Dems and GOP Trump haters may have been able to destroy Trump, but they'll never destroy the message trump used to become POTUS.

DeSantis for 47.

 

His "God sent me" shtick won't fly well further north. He just engages in the same divisive slash and burn politics as Trump did.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

His "God sent me" shtick won't fly well further north. He just engages in the same divisive slash and burn politics as Trump did.

Yep.

He's positioned as Trump 2.0.

One was more than enough!

 

 

[Phoenix Rising]

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yep.

He's positioned as Trump 2.0.

One was more than enough!

 

 

In some ways he's more dangerous than trump because unlike trump he's intelligent. However, it remains to be seen if he can talk the talk of the snake oil salesman, they type of moronic drivel that won over the "gone-down-the-rabbithole-and-ain't-ever-comin'-out" crowd that absolutely worship trump.

[Hanaguma]

Perhaps this isn't the right venue, but the Democrats would do well to remember that the GOP actually DID win the popular vote in the mid-terms by some 6 million votes.  They don't have any kind of mandate.  Just dodged a bullet really, due to a very rare and lucky combination of circumstances.  

[ThailandRyan]

6 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Perhaps this isn't the right venue, but the Democrats would do well to remember that the GOP actually DID win the popular vote in the mid-terms by some 6 million votes.  They don't have any kind of mandate.  Just dodged a bullet really, due to a very rare and lucky combination of circumstances.  

Yet this midterm it was popular vote that the Republicans lost ground on. People seem to forget about the Independent vote that swung this to the Dems side.  It's not just about Republicans or Democrats unfortunately.

[Berkshire]

33 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Perhaps this isn't the right venue, but the Democrats would do well to remember that the GOP actually DID win the popular vote in the mid-terms by some 6 million votes.  They don't have any kind of mandate.  Just dodged a bullet really, due to a very rare and lucky combination of circumstances.  

I don't know if your numbers are correct, but that's not even the point.  The point in this mid term is that everyone expected a complete blow-out, with the GOP taking both the House and Senate in dominate fashion.  Ditto the state legislatures and governor races.  That didn't happen.  I haven't seen or read any media that is talking about the popular vote.  Simple reason is it doesn't matter one iota.  

[placeholder]

45 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

Perhaps this isn't the right venue, but the Democrats would do well to remember that the GOP actually DID win the popular vote in the mid-terms by some 6 million votes.  They don't have any kind of mandate.  Just dodged a bullet really, due to a very rare and lucky combination of circumstances.  

Actually, it's down to 5 million and expected to go lower as the West coast votes come in. I'd be curious to know what those totals will look like if Florida, Texas, and California are subtracted from the total. Or better yet, what swing state totals would be.

[Hanaguma]

1 hour ago, placeholder said:

Actually, it's down to 5 million and expected to go lower as the West coast votes come in. I'd be curious to know what those totals will look like if Florida, Texas, and California are subtracted from the total. Or better yet, what swing state totals would be.

To be honest, I agree. I was just taking the...urine... on people who spent years following the 2016 election crowing about how Hillary "won the popular vote", several of them posters on this good forum.  What matters now are the final few congressional districts- what the hell is taking so long?  I don't remember elections being so agonizingly drawn out back in the days of my youth.  

[heybruce]

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

His "God sent me" shtick won't fly well further north. He just engages in the same divisive slash and burn politics as Trump did.

When you look at what DeSantis has actually accomplished in Florida, the answer is "very little".

 

There is also the blatant hypocrisy of the man who illegally used taxpayer money to fly asylum seekers from Texas to Massachusetts in an obvious election stunt, but who has gone silent on the topic of illegal immigrants now that so many are employed in hurricane clean-up after Ian.

 

However since DeSantis is a Fox News darling, and since the Fox viewers seem unable to recognize hypocrisy, he may be a contender in 2024.

[placeholder]

16 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

To be honest, I agree. I was just taking the...urine... on people who spent years following the 2016 election crowing about how Hillary "won the popular vote", several of them posters on this good forum.  What matters now are the final few congressional districts- what the hell is taking so long?  I don't remember elections being so agonizingly drawn out back in the days of my youth.  

Because states wanted to give more voters an opportunity to vote. So early voting was greatly expanded.

[Berkshire]

9 minutes ago, heybruce said:

When you look at what DeSantis has actually accomplished in Florida, the answer is "very little".

 

There is also the blatant hypocrisy of the man who illegally used taxpayer money to fly asylum seekers from Texas to Massachusetts in an obvious election stunt, but who has gone silent on the topic of illegal immigrants now that so many are employed in hurricane clean-up after Ian.

 

However since DeSantis is a Fox News darling, and since the Fox viewers seem unable to recognize hypocrisy, he may be a contender in 2024.

It seems DeSantis became the darling of the right by taking on these silly culture wars.  The right wingers love that stuff.  Being a winner also helps, especially winning as big as he did.  He seems bullet-proof for the moment, but Florida has its own set of problems.  And if he ever announces that he'll run in 2024.....he's going to get it bigly from a certain former President.  If he can survive the primary--what's left of him--we'll see if his schtick plays nationally.

[Hanaguma]

29 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Because states wanted to give more voters an opportunity to vote. So early voting was greatly expanded.

But how does early voting equate to slow counting afterwards? It has been 5 days and parts of California are barely over 55% counted.  Yet Florida somehow was able to get finished within 12 hours. 

 

Canda has advance polls from 10 to 7 days before the actual voting day, provided you have ID and proof of address. Mail in voting is also allowed if you apply for it.  And the votes are counted on election night.  Seems like more than enough opportunities to me.   

 

Seeing the voting process get drawn out longer and longer with each election does nothing but fuel the fire of people who claim election fraud.

[ozimoron]

13 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

But how does early voting equate to slow counting afterwards? It has been 5 days and parts of California are barely over 55% counted.  Yet Florida somehow was able to get finished within 12 hours. 

 

Canda has advance polls from 10 to 7 days before the actual voting day, provided you have ID and proof of address. Mail in voting is also allowed if you apply for it.  And the votes are counted on election night.  Seems like more than enough opportunities to me.   

 

Seeing the voting process get drawn out longer and longer with each election does nothing but fuel the fire of people who claim election fraud.

Not counting every legal ballot case IS fraud.

[Eric Loh]

9 minutes ago, Hanaguma said:

But how does early voting equate to slow counting afterwards? It has been 5 days and parts of California are barely over 55% counted.  Yet Florida somehow was able to get finished within 12 hours. 

 

Canda has advance polls from 10 to 7 days before the actual voting day, provided you have ID and proof of address. Mail in voting is also allowed if you apply for it.  And the votes are counted on election night.  Seems like more than enough opportunities to me.   

 

Seeing the voting process get drawn out longer and longer with each election does nothing but fuel the fire of people who claim election fraud.

What has longer voting count has to do with election fraud. Election deniers will always find a reason for conspiracies even though it has been debunked as rare.

 

[newnative]

24 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Because states wanted to give more voters an opportunity to vote. So early voting was greatly expanded.

     Which prompted Donald Trump to make his infamous statement regarding proposals to make voting easier:  'They had things, levels of voting that if you'd ever agree to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.'.   Republicans are still trying to suppress the vote with over 60 tactics that have been identified by the Voting Rights Alliance, an organization founded to protect voter rights.   

[heybruce]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

But how does early voting equate to slow counting afterwards? It has been 5 days and parts of California are barely over 55% counted.  Yet Florida somehow was able to get finished within 12 hours. 

 

Canda has advance polls from 10 to 7 days before the actual voting day, provided you have ID and proof of address. Mail in voting is also allowed if you apply for it.  And the votes are counted on election night.  Seems like more than enough opportunities to me.   

 

Seeing the voting process get drawn out longer and longer with each election does nothing but fuel the fire of people who claim election fraud.

In states that allow early counting of early votes, and those that allow prepping of the mail-in votes (verifying signatures and voter registrations on the envelopes, removing the ballots and getting them ready to be counted) the early voting has little impact on the time required to count the votes.

 

Some states refuse to do any counting or prepping before the close of voting on election day.  Since much of the prepping is done manually, and since the number of election workers has not been increased to reflect the increase of mail-in and early voting ballots, this delays the vote count.

 

The obvious solution is to do more of the work ahead of time.  However election deniers don't really want quick results unless they come by not counting mail-in and early votes.  A long vote count allows more time to invent conspiracy theories.

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, Hanaguma said:

But how does early voting equate to slow counting afterwards? It has been 5 days and parts of California are barely over 55% counted.  Yet Florida somehow was able to get finished within 12 hours. 

 

Canda has advance polls from 10 to 7 days before the actual voting day, provided you have ID and proof of address. Mail in voting is also allowed if you apply for it.  And the votes are counted on election night.  Seems like more than enough opportunities to me.   

 

Seeing the voting process get drawn out longer and longer with each election does nothing but fuel the fire of people who claim election fraud.

You can look this stuff up

For example:

https://www.kcra.com/article/counting-california-votes-from-the-election-sacramento-county-official-explains/41924837# 

(you'll need a vpn to access this particular site via a california server)

 

I do think it's funny, that so many of the same people who demanded recounts by hand for the 2020 election, are now complaining about the slowness in the counting of this one. I'm sure their complaints are innocent and in no way designed to raise doubts about the integrity of the elections. I mean these are not the kind of people who, say, would see some sinister plot in the attack on Paul Pelosi. Heaven forbid!

Anyway, why the need for instant gratification? Why does a week or more matter?

[ozimoron]

Undoubtedly, Obama's last minute tour exhorting people that democracy was at stake contributed to the large turnout among the younger voters.

[placeholder]

2 hours ago, newnative said:

     Which prompted Donald Trump to make his infamous statement regarding proposals to make voting easier:  'They had things, levels of voting that if you'd ever agree to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.'.   Republicans are still trying to suppress the vote with over 60 tactics that have been identified by the Voting Rights Alliance, an organization founded to protect voter rights.   

If the Supreme Court hadn't gutted the Voting Rights Act on grounds that actually ran contrary to what they claim their philosphy of limited jurisprudence is, they would never control Congress again. If they didn't allow states to blatantly gerrymander, the Republicans would never have a majority in the House again.  If Florida, Desantis took the gerrymandered congressional district map proposed by the Republican Legislature and made it even more biased.

[thaibeachlovers]

15 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Message? You mean racism, misogyny, anti-science and general nastiness?

 

 

The message I refer to is that Washington is "swampy" and needs to be reformed. That message had no problem gaining millions and millions of votes from voters that were looking for a champion against Washington.

Unfortunately the champion had enough defects of character that the establishment were able to deflect attention from the message to make it about Trump personally.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

What has longer voting count has to do with election fraud. Election deniers will always find a reason for conspiracies even though it has been debunked as rare.

 

LOL. The longer the delay the more people will suspect that fraud has occurred if there is an unexpected win.