Something is broken in America
Both parties agreed on fraud* when both parties were American, wanted America to [be] exceptional, admired American ideals, and rejected brutal foreign ideologies. Not anymore.
* I shouldn’t have to say this, but “both parties agreed fraud was bad” because they worked for the American people, not to implement ideological conformity.
It’s not that there haven’t been signs of the coming split between the two halves of America for a long, long time. I won’t even go into the question of exactly when it began. But I think that this election is the true breaking point.
It was starting to peak in 2016, and that’s what led to the election of Donald Trump. Then the four years of his presidency – and in particular the reaction of the Democrats, the academy, social media, the press, the left, what for want of a better term I’ll call the Deep State – made the picture clearer. But only now with this election is the break complete.
It was some time during the summer, when I started reading about the widespread changes in election rules laid down ostensibly as a response to COVID, that I realized that if necessary there was going to be fraud. After four years of continual Resistance, lies, plots, and coverups, with nothing much done to redress the situation, I could not imagine that the Trump opposition was going to allow him to win again.
But for a while the polls, although very upsetting, were almost soothing, because if they were true then there would be no need for fraud. A landslide election either way would mean the people had spoken, and if I didn’t like what the people said at least I could say that what they were saying was unequivocal and loud. But despite the polls uniformly predicting an overwhelming Biden victory, at the same time I saw article after article that said that it was likely to appear on Election Night that Trump had won, and then when the mail-in votes were counted it would reverse itself.
This set off warning bells for me, because if Biden was really favored as heavily as they said, that shouldn’t be happening. The fact that it was predicted over and over (here’s just one of those articles) indicated to me that this was most likely a plan rather than a prediction (they even have a name for it: “red mirage“). And part of the plan was that of course Trump and the right would cry “election fraud!” when Biden pulled ahead, and then the Democrats could say that Trump was a sore loser and attempting to undermine democracy. That’s what all that talk about how he wouldn’t leave the White House and would have to be arrested was about, too.
So now it’s playing out just as described. If it were happening in an ordinary way – with mostly in-person votes coming in round the clock in orderly fashion – it would be believable. But reports of counting stoppage, GOP poll watchers thrown out, huge truckloads of votes coming in the wee hours of the morning, and turnouts so enormous they dwarf anything in the past sixty years, make profound suspicion inevitable although proof will be hard to find.
Nothing about this is ordinary – not for the US, anyway – and the magnitude and speed of the shift is part of it. Note also that early states that had more stable ways of counting all went more strongly for Trump than in 2016, and the same for House GOP candidates as well as state legislatures. But the states that stopped counting and have scads of “found” ballots all are going the other way. That seems suspicious, as well, and I haven’t seen a convincing explanation for a natural reason why that would happen.
This election is like watching a person bleed out very slowly, unable to do anything to stauch it. That person bleeding out isn’t just Trump or isn’t primarily Trump, that person is America – or the old “we’re in this thing together and we all want to make it fair” vision of America and America’s elections and transfers of power. If Election 2000 caused a deep rift in the common purpose that ErisGuy described, this election is ripping the fabric further and perhaps severing the two sides. The problem could have been prevented (or at least the risk reduced) by setting up better voting rules, but only if both sides had wanted to do so. And both sides didn’t and don’t.
I have felt for quite some time that whoever won this election, we were in deep trouble. But the way the election is actually being decided so far is probably the worst of all possible ways – short of an actual armed coup.
The below information is from research I did 4 1/2 ago, but the point is still relevant:
Current U.S. totals: B = 72,168,057, T = 68,677,310.
Current CA totals: B = 7,910,112, T = 3,986,276. That means if California were not in the Union Trump would be winning the popular vote. Without its 55 electors Biden would currently be down by 5 electors.
Quite a few smaller states (ID, WY, the Dakotas, AL) had similar, lopsided margins for Trump.
The most unfortunate thing about this election is I don’t see the unrest lessening. No matter who wins, half or nearly half the country will feel disenfranchised as well as entire states being mainly in lockstep for or against our leader.
Good take on this, Neo. The Deeper thought has a new post up that takes this a step further… Yaacov thinks its about lying and careerism – the ideology and damage to the country is just collateral damage.
thedeeperthought.com/blog
I agree, neo. Whether one wanted Trump or Biden, this is the worst possible outcome.
First, we’ve only had media “officially” calling states. States have not yet officially certified their ballots.
Second, under the current media projections if Biden wins any of the six remaining “unprojected” states he clinches the election. I’m already reading, hearing, seeing… many Trump supporters citing illegalities, corruption, vote fraud. The Trump campaign has already filed several lawsuits and it appears there are more to come.
Third, if the media projects Trump the winner of the remaining six, giving him the requisite electoral count we will see the same from the Biden camp; rumors, lawsuits, attacks…
This is not good. Not good at all.
But only one party wishes to destroy—make that, “Fundamentally Transform”—the country.
The other wants to preserve it.
Therefore, both are equally guilty?
Or, as many have it, the one that wishes to preserve is the guilty one? (According to the definitions and rules of the party that wishes to destroy.)
The ONLY “good news” here is that it is PRECISELY the party that wishes to destroy —sorry, Fundamentally Transform—the country that feels that the ONLY WAY it can implement its monstrous, perverse and sick ambition FORCED to cheat at the polls, lie in the media, suppress information and riot in the streets.
(And the bad news is that they might actually get away with it.)
Correction: “…ambition IS to cheat…”
What I have written below is, I think, legally significant, If you like, please share it on FB or wherever.
There are legal remedies here.
1. Per SCOTUS precedent in 1892, 2002 and July 2020, the state legislatures have *plenary* power to select the Electoral College electors. Given the massive voter fraud in WI, MI, PA and possibly NV, AZ and NC, the legislators could just select Trump electors.
I got this idea from SolonGT at Power Line. He states that the GOP controls both houses in all but NV.
2. My idea is to go to federal court and get new elections ordered. There is strong proof of election fraud in WI, MI and PA. What is happening here is that federal voting rights are being denied by corrupt state actors. The federal judges could then order new elections for president only and the DOJ would have to supervise the elections.
3. Trump has a top legal team. I certainly hope they are pursuing both remedies!
I called it, neo. A few things.
Now for 2021.
Trump should (and probably will) fight this all the way to January.
Motivate his followers to protest loudly through all possible venues.
“That’s what all that talk about how he wouldn’t leave the White House and would have to be arrested was about, too.”
All that talk appears to have started more than a year ago, not just over this past summer.
How do I know?
Last Thanksgiving, I heard my progressive friends seriously discussing what the remedy would be when (not if) Trump lost the 2020 election and refused to leave office.
At the time I simply thought that my friends were TDS-crazed (they are) and that they were spending too much time on the rage engine known as Facebook (they were and they are). What I did not understand is that this vile speculation was already being spoon-fed to them on social media, since they get the majority of their “news” from far-left Facebook/Twitter memes, and the remainder from Rachel Maddow et al.
One side’s willingness to use “any means necessary” to gain and keep power is the very reason why they must be prevented from gaining that power.
We are in for ugly times, I’m afraid.
I was watching Fox on election night. At about 9:20 EST Brit Hume remarked that the betting odds had suddenly switched in Donald Trump’s favor. It suddenly looked like Trump might cruise to election again.
“As per US Journalist Brit Hume, the betting odds have now flipped in Trump’s favour with a 64.8 per cent projection of him retaining the white house for four more years. Earlier betting companies were giving him a winning chance of around 39 per cent.”
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/betting-companies-now-mark-donald-trump-a-favourite-to-win-us-2020-presidential-election
Shortly after that, the vote counts in the remaining battleground states began to slow. States where Trump seemed to be doing well such as Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania slowed their vote count.
At 11:30 EST Fox called Arizona for Biden. Many Republicans and the Trump campaign have claimed this was premature and erroneous. Many votes yet to be counted and there have been charges of fraud there as well.
At 4:30 AM EST Wisconsin was called for Biden on the basis of 69,000 absentee ballots that went mostly to Biden. Interestingly, Wisconsin claimed an 89% voter participation rate – a new record. 🙂
Anyway ,it appears that the Biden campaign saw the momentum switching to Trump at 9:20EST and began their “enhanced” voter participation program in the remaining battle ground states. Trump’s team appears to be on it. Whether it will change the outcome in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan or stop the fraud in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina remains to be seen. It’s a fight worth waging and it’s completely within the legal process.
J.J.: IMO that’s an excellent reconstruction of election night.
I saw the betting market flip towards Trump and I relaxed. Than all of a sudden the votes slowed down and questionable stuff started happening, such as Fox calling Arizona for Trump prematurely.
Jon Gabriel, the Twitter-warrior who brought you, “My favorite part about the Obama era is all the racial healing,” started chiming in that votes from Arizona had abruptly stopped for four hours.
Where is Barr? And where is ace prosecutor John Durham?
LB100: Help us, Obi-Barr-Durham. You’re our only hope!
@LB100 probably wondering where their laptops have disappeared to 😛
@huxley:
Thanks for the Paul Galbraith links in the other thread. If he looked like Yuja Wang, he’d have his own Gulfstream.
Such clarity in the Mozart. Spikes FTW.
I love the Albeniz. It’s as if a harp has grown a pair.
Which reminds me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APQC6-vR7qs
Hang on to your Bow Ties, People… We’re not in Kansas anymore.
Zaphod: You’re welcome!
Interesting point about Yuja Wang. I would think Galbraith would be bigger than he is, though I’m hardly an authority on classical guitar.
Bell Nuntita caught me by surprise!
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Yes, so well written. Thanks, Neo.
The left has, by any means necessary as stated on their signs, decided that their ends justify whatever means. But instead of the relatively honest rolling out of tanks in the public square, they’re hijacking the formerly respected means of the ballot.
And then the left imagines that we’ll respect this demon because it wears the mask of a democratic election.
“I saw the betting market flip towards Trump and I relaxed. Than all of a sudden the votes slowed down and questionable stuff started happening, such as Fox calling Arizona for Trump prematurely.” – huxley
I don’t think it’s a good idea to diss the bookies.
When I renew (much less apply for) my passport, I have to produce my birth certificate.
Voting should be no less serious.
Voting in person, on election day, with either birth certificate or current passport in hand needs to make a comeback (with, perhaps, few exceptions).
Here’s an personal example of potential for election fraud. I have friends who moved to Canada over a year ago and they, with my blessing, use my US address for forwarding mail. I received their two college aged children’s voting packet. They didn’t want these forwarded so I kept them until 11/4 and then shredded and tossed them.
There was nothing stopping me from filling out both voting forms, forging a signature, and sending them in.
Do you think these would have be caught as fraudulent??
I haven’t thought hard about the various scenarios that are ripe for fraud, but I imagine there are many.
We need to go back – and particularly get as far away from the internet as possible – in the mechanics of our elections.
What I do not understand (among many other issues!) is how two out of every three voters in MA voted for Biden. These are generally educated people (correct me if I’m wrong, Neo) not living in the hollows of eastern Kentucky, making meth, but they will vote for an obviously demented man just because he is the D?
Cicero
Recall that Massachusetts repeatedly voted for Ted Kennedy. There is a reason for the existence of the term Yellow Dog Democrat. My sister-in-law from Massachusetts is an exemplary example of a Yellow Dog Democrat.