Like all things 2020, the Election, both the run-up and the actual counting of votes, is
intense
exhausting
high blood pressure
depression
small ray of hope
hopes dashed
reexamine what is important in life
find a fox hole
More hope and clinging to it with everything you've got
disgust
Now, a lot of people have been treating 2020 overall like it has this been massive freak show. But some one pointed out to me, and no I pass that along to you, that 2020 is the Chickens Coming Home to Roost. The consequences of our actions. The inevitable price that must be paid. And the election of 2020 is more of the same.
But lets back up a little and get into - how the hell does America vote for their next president? I don't know, and I grew up here. But this is what I have been able to figure out.
We have an Electoral College which is made up of Presidential Electors. People whose sole job is to vote for a president in place of voting eligible citizens. Each state has a certain number of electoral college votes based upon the number of representatives they have in the federal government, Senate and House. Each state gets 2 senators and two votes for each and then one vote for however many congresspersons are in the House of Representatives which in turn is based upon the number of people in that state as determined by a 10 yr census.
Here we see that the US is less democracy or more of a sometime democratically elected republic. We are represented in places of power. Sometimes we are represented by those we elect by popular vote, such as a Senator or Congressperson. Other time we are represented when a decision is made on our behalf but the popular vote did not have a say in who will be making the decision. Such as the President and Supreme Court. So who decides who gets to be a presidential elector? Like everything in US, it depends on the state.
Why the electoral college? Well if you go to Wikipedia you can read the following:
"No one faithful to our history can deny that the plan originally contemplated, what is implicit in its text, that electors would be free agents, to exercise an independent and nonpartisan judgment as to the men best qualified for the Nation's highest offices."
To me, that just sounds extremely naïve which the Founders were not. Concentrating authority in a small group of individuals has always made that group a target for pressure and influence. So who knows why we have such a fubared system.
And what is the electoral college today? A pain in the ass system that does NOT make high minded, clear sighted, unbiased, holier than thou decisions. To me, they are a road block in democratically electing a representative, the President, who is to then go on and work on our behalf.
A huge part of any election is the counting of the vote. But a person can win the popular vote and lose the election because a presidential elector will cast their electoral college vote against what the popular vote wants. And then other states will be true to what the popular vote was. It's all just a mess.
Oh, and guess what? There's a way to stay president and not win either the popular vote or the majority in the electoral college. What?? Let's dig into this.
Step one - the election and the popular vote.
Step two - if the vote is close, like Gore and Bush, the courts get a say on the vote count. In 2000, when the courts said the vote count was done, Gore accepted the results, and conceded the election. Done, end of story. But, instead of conceding, a candidate can do what Trump has already started - contest the votes.
Step three - What is supposed to happen here is the states certify their votes, the electoral college meets, etc. But what Trump has started doing with his baseless accusations of voter fraud is setting the stage for all of the votes being disregarded. Entirely.
Step five - If the results of the election get contested enough then the election goes to the House of Representative where they can decide the President without regard at all to the popular vote. Last time this happened was the 19th century. The representatives do not vote individually but as a state.
The 2020 Presidential election has just the tiniest of margins, when looking at the popular vote. So this shit of claiming fraud, contesting the vote, going to court, it is going to be going on for months. Here, to me, is the root problem - ignorance and hatred. The reason Trump can contest the vote is because the margins are so freaking narrow. No one is winning in a land slide. The country is so divided it's insane. And that is just more of the Chickens Coming Home to Roost.
In the States everyone is pissed off about something. And everywhere I go I'm just always surrounded by insular, small minded, xenophobic, entitled ass holes. And people are proud of those traits. They love that about themselves. And they love it in others. More and more caring for someone else is a dying trait. Oh sure, people like to think of themselves as good, kind, caring Christians. But all you have to say is 'Black Lives Matter' and you get an ugly, hateful, spew of how those people are what's wrong with the world and they deserved what they get. People in the US are kind up to a very clear line of those like me versus everyone else who must be destroyed.
Case in point - anytime you are in a group of mixed company (liberal and conservative) it is very important for everyone to very carefully avoid making any mention of politics, values, or positions. But there will always be those who will throw out baited comments to see who is willing to take the bait and a fight can ensue. Not a bloodless fight because hello, this is America, we go for blood. We go for the kill. We have no mercy. And the more hateful, xenophobic, insular you are the more proud you are of your killing instinct. A Trump-tard called Kamala Harris 'the camel back' and when she was called out "wow, that both mispronounces the name and xenophobic" she said, "ya, absolutely." Now, name calling isn't going for the kill. Obviously. I just thought that this was a great illustration of how the Trump-tards acknowledge and embrace their hatred.
The number of people who are the opposite; non-xenophobic, supports rights for everyone, willing to listen and learn, are on the other side of the deep divide. These folks cause less problems, but are not angels. And they are doing what they can to stand up against injustice. The main defining feature of someone from the blue side is to be able to listen to Trump and say "wow, that was really dumb."
Back to the election. It's now Nov 6, counting is still going on in areas where processing the mail in ballets before election day was not allowed. Who blocked the request to get a jump on counting? Only the hateful, insular, and xenophobic Republican party. And as predicted, by basically everyone who isn't a Trump-tard, Trump is having a hissy fit about any vote not going his way. And I'm talking straight up 5 year old freak out. Which is his style. Which half of America just loves and identifies with.
What does a Trump five year old tantrum look like? Baseless accusations that it's all rigged against him. Claims of being victimized by everyone, no evidence. Calling out the supporters to tear down and impede the elections by harassing, assaulting, and protesting having every vote counted. Half the country are disgusted by this behavior. The other half, his people, eat it up. They love it. They identify with it. The Trump-tards of the US are learning the party line word for word and then spewing the same nonsense. Otherwise intelligent people that I work with, that are my neighbors, my family, folks that I know have the capacity for critical thinking have turned off their brains and turned on their mouth pieces. It's all a fraud!!! The election has been stolen!!! Stop the count!!!!
That's right, that's what happened. Trump and then his fan club have tried to stop the counting of votes. First, before election day, it was impeding the ability to vote. Getting fake news out there about fraud and unsafe mail in ballots. Now, because his folks didn't use mail in ballots and those are the ones left to count, the count is starting to increase on the Blue side of the aisle. And like the five year old, whiney ass bitch that he is, Trump has called for a stop in the counting. And his people have followed suit. His people have turned off their brains, forgot about democracy, and have started protesting counting every vote. The hypocrisy - well I could say it is epic, but actually, after the past four years, just standard.
I am most amused in a tragic sort of way in the response of the news networks. A live press statement from the White House during the counting of the votes during a presidential election got cut short by all but two of the nation's news networks because of the disgust the news directors had over the amount of baseless accusations, lies, and just the tantrum that Trump was having.
Networks Cut Away, CNN Calls Trump ‘Pathetic’ After Speech Falsely Claiming He’s Been Cheated by: J. Clara Chan | November 5, 2020 @ 4:18 PMLast Updated: November 5, 2020 @ 7:26 PM
This election gave us an interesting side by side comparison of Trump and his base's reaction versus Biden and the rest of the countries reaction to the methodical counting and how mailed in ballots may change an early lead into a defeat. For Trump it is in Pennsylvania. For Biden it is in Arizona. Arizona? Didn't that get called the night of the election? It did, but not legally. By the Associated Press who are not the legal authority. They do their best to be factual, but are not the final word. Arizona got called for Biden before the count was finished and those mail in ballots that still need to be counted have been turning up for Trump. So same situation as Pennsylvania.
Trump has reacted in two ways, talking out of both sides of his mouth, about the Arizona and Pennsylvania changes in lead. Biden has stayed the course of calm assurance. Trump has been all about stirring up anger and getting people to do his dirty work for him, to stop the count (in Pennsylvania, not Arizona)! Biden has been Biden, stay the course of calm assurance and trust in the system. Trust in the people.
Exhausting, isn't it? Just reading this recap is enough to make you cuddle up with a bottle of bourbon and your childhood teddy bear hoping to survive one more night before facing another day of brutal hatred, stupidity, and anger. So. Much. Anger. If your outside of the US, I bet you didn't know just how angry Americans are. We have the wealthiest country - but that wealth is concentrated among less than 1 percent of the population. We have all of the infrastructure you could want - water, power, roads. Expect that for many of us our water is poisonous, our power is unaffordable, and the roads are being left to disintegrate. We have liberty and freedom! Unless your black, or brown, or female, or non-binary gender, or have to wear a mask and you don't wanna and you can't make me! Trust me, Americans are angry, entitled, ass holes looking for the someone to blame and kill.
And guess what, we still have months of court battles to suffer through. Trump will cry and cry that it was all rigged looking to steal the election away from the people putting it before the House of Representatives where he believes he can bully them into re-electing him. Like all things Trump, my prediction made today, November 6, 2020 is that Trump will continue to send his Proud Boys, his supporters, his little army of hateful, xenophobic, armed militia to threaten, intimidate, and whenever possible, kill those people who are in anyway connected to the court proceedings and on the blue side of the aisle. Trumps disregard for peoples lives and respecting the will of the people have been well demonstrated. We will have months of court battles with militia men on the steps of court houses threating to kill those who won't disperse, as they have successfully done in the past. Yes, armed militia men have successfully threated to kill legislatures unless they broke session and went home, multiple times in multiple states. The legislatures did as dictated. The militia men walked away free with no consequences. And they will do it again.
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