Trump's Coup d'état.

[Fast Eddie B]

Newly pardoned Flynn is now boosting calls for Trump to declare martial law and order a re-election that would crown him eternal god-king.

And Sidney Powell retweeted this:

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

 

[The Don]

And Sidney Powell retweeted this:

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

When President Trump re-tweets it, that's when it's time to get concerned - especially if senior Republicans don't criticise him if he does so.

 

[Dave Rogers]

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

Me neither. Spelling Kraken with a C? Despicable.

Dave

ETA: Also - "Constiutional"? Are these people trying to look stupid?

 

[cosmicaug]

I think Barr is trying desperately to salvage his reputation.

Everyone dies.

 

[ahhell]

Correct, and to join the party costs money and when I was active you had to turn up to a local party meeting to vote to select your candidate.

This is basically how it worked in the US until the mid 19th to early 20th centure.

In Arizona, you still register as Dem, Repub, or Independent. But when the primary rolls around you are asked which ballot you want.

I believe it used to be the method, smoky back rooms or something.

Basically, the primaries were intended as a "reform" to limit corruption, I think we can generally agree it didn't work. Its a weird notion, public election of the officers of a private club? There are lots of third parties but most don't have primaries.

One of the biggest problems with third parties in the US is no one wants to do the work, starting at the local level. Build the party up, put a couple Congressional candidates first.

Instead third parties, in the last half-century anyway, want to put a candidate up for POTUS without the groundwork of building the party up.

Sanders would have run as a third party candidate but he knew it would split the liberal vote, and that is another problem.

The Libertarian Party has something that is hard to fathom. It seemed like they were/are building up a real third party. But their convention in 2016 was bizarre. One candidate pranced around naked on the stage.

I've voted third party in almost every local election in the last 20 years. I vote green when I'm in a solid Dem district and Libertarian in solid Rep districts. I can't convince anyone else that that is a good idea.

The libertarians remind a bit of the defund the police crowd. Someone asks, "Do you mean get rid of the police" A reasonable person answers, "not really, we mean shift some funding to mental health and other social services" Then someone in the back of the room starts yelling, "No, no, we mean get rid of the police." That's pretty much every gathering of libertarians. No matter how moderate the crowd is, there's going to be a few to a lot of nuts in the room.

Not a US citizen, but if I were, and given that some form of proportional representation doesn't look realistic in our lifetime, a 100 time this: "we might as well do away with all Primaries and just have Ranked Choice for everyone".

Maine and now Alaska showed the way (more or less anyway), 48 states to go ...

I agree, I think I'd like to roll it out over a decade or so though. Start with all the local elections, move up to state elections and once folks are used to it, national elections. I do think it will be a bit confusing at first but, get folks used to it, it will be ok. As I understand it, elections are entirely within the authority of the States', it could be done at a State by State basis.


I think we should actually go back to electors being chosen by the state legislatures. I don't see any reason we need popular election of the President. There isn't a popular election of any PM in the world and don't much complaining about that. We'd also be much less likely to get a Trump in the future. We got him because we have too much democracy.

One of the bigger mistakes in the Constitution, maybe the biggest in terms of procedure, They didn't really account for parties(factions in the language of the day.) That gave the parties the in to rig the system in their favor. Parliamentary systems are much better at working with parties. If you have situation like ours where a parties split the legislature, they're pretty much forced to compromise to select a PM. The also provide room for marginal parties to have some moderate success.

A significant portion of Washington's farewell was dedicated to warning about factions.

 

[slyjoe]

We have ~500,000 elections in this country each cycle. The presidency is the only office that ISN'T by popular vote.

Having legislatures appoint electors is a terrible idea with the way the states have been gerrymandered. That puts the parties MORE in charge of who gets elected.

ETA: We got Trump because of the electoral college, not becasue "we have too much democracy".

 

[ponderingturtle]

We have ~500,000 elections in this country each cycle. The presidency is the only office that ISN'T by popular vote.

Having legislatures appoint electors is a terrible idea with the way the states have been gerrymandered. That puts the parties MORE in charge of who gets elected.

ETA: We got Trump because of the electoral college, not becasue "we have too much democracy".

As President sure, but in a primaryless situation where you had to be active in the party to have a voice of selecting the candidate would we have gotten Trump as the republican nominee? Maybe, he was many peoples second choice and had a broad consensus appeal

 

[trustbutverify]

And Sidney Powell retweeted this:

[qimg]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50671950426_ab5a48c4e4_z.jpg[/qimg]

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

Wait till Dump starts retweeting this stuff.

 

[slyjoe]

As President sure, but in a primaryless situation where you had to be active in the party to have a voice of selecting the candidate would we have gotten Trump as the republican nominee? Maybe, he was many peoples second choice and had a broad consensus appeal

I'm not understanding - what do you mean by had to be active, and what primaryless situation? All I had to do was fill out a form to vote in either the Republican or Democratic party. Note - this was 2016 - a lot of republican primaries didn't happen this year for president.

 

[slyjoe]

Wait till Dump starts retweeting this stuff.

Why is this not sedition?

 

[Dave Rogers]

Wait till Dump starts retweeting this stuff.

If he does, I'll be fascinated to see certain posters explain how this still isn't a coup.

Dave

 

[ponderingturtle]

I'm not understanding - what do you mean by had to be active, and what primaryless situation? All I had to do was fill out a form to vote in either the Republican or Democratic party. Note - this was 2016 - a lot of republican primaries didn't happen this year for president.

In other countries the standards are different for how leadership with in the party ie being candidate for president are selected. Paying dues for example and so forth to be an active member of a political party and only letting them have a say instead of anyone who wants to have a say do so.

I am not saying such systems are better, they gave the UK Boris Johnson after all, but I am not sure that Trump would have won in such a system.

I think primaries represent the most democratic solution to the issue given where america is without totally restructuring the government along heretical foreign lines. For example having to pay dues to have a voice in candidate clearly disenfranchises the poor.

 

[trustbutverify]

Why is this not sedition?

Because something.

If he does, I'll be fascinated to see certain posters explain how this still isn't a coup.

Dave

It's called plausible deniability. Greenwald/Tabbi have raised it into an art form for cowards.

 

[slyjoe]

In other countries the standards are different for how leadership with in the party ie being candidate for president are selected. Paying dues for example and so forth to be an active member of a political party and only letting them have a say instead of anyone who wants to have a say do so.

I am not saying such systems are better, they gave the UK Boris Johnson after all, but I am not sure that Trump would have won in such a system.

I think primaries represent the most democratic solution to the issue given where america is without totally restructuring the government along heretical foreign lines. For example having to pay dues to have a voice in candidate clearly disenfranchises the poor.

I understand better now. Thanks.

 

[turingtest]

And Sidney Powell retweeted this:

[qimg]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50671950426_ab5a48c4e4_z.jpg[/qimg]

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

Where in the hell is she getting the "eighty and more million"? Even to speak for the 74 million or so that voted for Trump and assume that they all want Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, etc., is breathtaking gall; but she appears to have decided that, since Biden got 80+ million, she needs to claim at least that many. No, Sidney- that's the part you need to prove, not just assume, before you can use it to demand such drastic action. (And even then, it's not called for- if it were, then surely she'd agree that Clinton in 2016 had a basis for asking Obama to do the same)

 

[cosmicaug]

If he does, I'll be fascinated to see certain posters explain how this still isn't a coup.

Dave

Given that the argument seems to be that if it it doesn't work, or if it's stupid or if it's unlikely to work, it shouldn't count as a coup attempt, I don't see how nay of this changes the argument.

 

[johnny karate]

Newly pardoned Flynn is now boosting calls for Trump to declare martial law and order a re-election that would crown him eternal god-king.

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

When President Trump re-tweets it, that's when it's time to get concerned - especially if senior Republicans don't criticise him if he does so.

Wait till Dump starts retweeting this stuff.

Why is this not sedition?

If he does, I'll be fascinated to see certain posters explain how this still isn't a coup.

Everyone just needs to calm down and stop being so dramatic.

 

[Chanakya]

And Sidney Powell retweeted this:

I never imagined I’d live to see such as this in my lifetime.

I find this extremely disturbing. The odd mis-spelling you can put down to a typo, no big deal; but what's with the apparently random capitals?

 

[Trebuchet]

Me neither. Spelling Kraken with a C? Despicable.

Dave

ETA: Also - "Constiutional"? Are these people trying to look stupid?

Hey Sidney! Kraken doesn't have a c in it, but "Contstitution" does contain a tit! Deal with it.

 

[gnome]

I find this extremely disturbing. The odd mis-spelling you can put down to a typo, no big deal; but what's with the apparently random capitals?

It gives a statement more Legal Force if you add Important Capitals to the Words. If they get really desperate they may start making statements in all caps, which cannot be disregarded at all!