Posted on November 7, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 90 Comments
Biden: His time.
Yes, I know. I’m sorry for that pun, too.
But not for what it means.
More later. But for now: Thank Christ this part is over.
And also:
— JS
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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Now you can change from CALL IT to WON IT!!!
Changed it!
The voters spoke and they declared Trump a fraud by a 4 million margin. He is in his own words a loser.
Wellllll, technically he won. The Election officials have to certify the counts and then IN DECEMBER the Electoral College casts their votes and THEN it is official but I agree, it is a done deal.
Thank you, Minnesota. Thank you, Michigan. Thank you, Wisconsin. Thank you, Georgia. Thank you, Arizona. And a big thank you to Pennsylvania.
And many thanks from this inhabitant of a red state to those of you draped in blue.
Apparently, Trump is no longer allowed in the White House. It’s For Biden.
Now we just have to get two Dem senators elected in Georgia so Mitch McConnell isn’t picking Joe’s cabinet and stacking bills up from the House again.
It was far closer than it should have been. I don’t understand how more people didn’t see just how horrible Trump was. I’m glad that it looks like it won’t hang on a single state because now the lawsuit phase starts. I won’t be fully comfortable until January.
Painful though they may be, puns are almost the only form of humor that’s not funny at the expense of someone or something else’s misfortune.
I won’t laugh at Trump’s…I’ll just laugh in relief…
I have the great feeling of relief that I won’t have to listen to all that gloat and blather any longer. Listening to Joe yesterday call for calm and patience was a balm on a ripped-up soul. Finally will be able to get some sleep after a few days tossing and turning. The problems before us are still massive, but competence coming to meet them puts us in a much better place.
Thank God, and voters, this shows an end is in sight to the confused, hostile politics in the White House.
I’m under no delusions that Trump’s enablers and supporters will simply melt away into thin air. They’ll still be among us, but I’m hopeful that the national tenor will change some under Biden, who is billing himself as a concilliatory figure.
I feel relieved for the first time in years about at least something in politics.
I won’t believe it until we hear back from Trump’s three SCOTUS stooges. This election can still be stolen.
As an African American woman with multiple disabilities, I feel a relief that I can’t begin to describe.
I have lived in constant fear over the last four years, for our nation, for my community and for our democracy.
Trump’s election in 2016 was a nation-wide middle finger, one I had to see every single day of his term.
Biden is going to inherit one hell of a mess and will have a hard time accomplishing what he wants with the congress he’ll have.
Still, just knowing that my president and his running mate give a damn is enough to help me sleep better.
That said, neither Trump nor his supporters are going to go quietly.
There may be blood in the streets, as various militia groups have promised.
I fear for Biden’s safety in ways that I didn’t for Obamas, as the hatred that informed the anti-Obama crowd seems to have become more palpable and socially acceptable of late.
I strongly urge everyone to be careful out there, as there have already been arrests over the last few days.
Ultimately, though:
Indivisible just sent a picture of the founders’ baby in a Biden: His Time onesie, so….
OMG… my first reaction was, Finally. Whew. Thank God.
Then a little bit later… I realized Kamala Harris was also elected. And there OMG. Wow. So many firsts all in one amazing person. There’s that excitement I was expecting four years ago. It really does mean something to see a woman, a person of color, etc. finally get elected to top office. And such a competent person too. That’s exciting! I am … excited. Which is a feeling I haven’t felt since early November 2016. It took me a while to recognize it.
Spouse and I were at our favorite little local restaurant for a socially-distanced brunch at one of the tables they’ve set up outside, and all of a sudden there was a huge commotion – horns honking, people yelling, just all sorts of noise. The restaurant owner (a good friend) came hurrying outside, a big grin making her eyes crinkle up over her mask, ran over to our table and said “they just called Pennsylvania – we have a new President.” It was lovely to get the news in that setting, to be able to celebrate with our friend.
That said, I won’t actually stop worrying until I see him sworn in. As others have noted, between the three orange stooges on SCOTUS plus general Republican fuckery, there are still many ways that this election could be stolen. I am certainly less worried than I was a week ago, but I won’t actually bake that Schadenfreude Pie until the afternoon of January 20, 2021.
It’ll be a long couple of months, but this is an important step in the right direction after far too long.
It’s scary to think that if Trump had not demonized mail-in voting, he might have been re-elected.
It was also weird to see a two-side turn-out election. Not sure if that has happened since the 19th century.
If you live in Georgia, VOTE in January: both to give us a chance at a progressive agenda, but also to give the country a chance at ANY agenda. If McConnell controls the Senate, absolutely nothing meaningful will get done for at least two years. And we do not have the fucking time for that delay.
I think the more of us assume this is over and that any shenanigans are beyond the pale and at best futile and at worst illegal and un-American, the more likely that will be the reality. Prepare a defense, yes, but don’t believe for one minute that they have an actual chance or they might take it. I 100% believe they will try, but I do not at all believe that SCOTUS is going to decide this one. This isn’t Gore v. Bush. There’s no wiggle room. If they do somehow manage to get it to that level, we need shock and righteous outrage, not resignation. Don’t let them Trunchbull us anymore. Just because they got away with it before doesn’t mean they’re going to get away with things now. They just lost.
(Also, if we want Biden to actually be able to fix things… donate to the Georgia senate races and Stacy Abrams! And keep writing post-cards for run-off elections!)
One thing I love about living now is that when I have a sudden urge to listen to “Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye” i can download it and listen to it on repeat until I get sick of it. Which should be sometime tomorrow!
Whew. Thank goodness–I’ve been scanning every news-oriented website I know and saying “Thank you, God,” all morning. Taking a minute now to thank everyone who stood in line to vote, everyone who carefully counted every vote (including those still counting), and all the election officials who steadfastly did their jobs with accuracy and honesty. Thank you all. Thank us all. Thank everyone.
I have been posting gifs of Calvin and Hobbes doing the Happy Dance, but this might just require a link to Half-Baked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGYGNo_Cuog
First deep breath in a long time.
As good as the news is, it’s time for America to face up to the reality that in spite of all the examples of what a horrible person Trump is and how destructive his Presidency has been, 48% still voted for him. I believe that this is the start of the real struggle. There are no more excuses left to explain how much of America is actually fine with Trumpism.
Not come the full force denials, and calls for violence, and lawsuits that have no standing, but will distract us. Also there will be pardons issued for himself, family, and perceived allies. Other actions he may take as an exiting president to sabotage the next 4 years are another worry. Sabotage of oversight agencies, destruction of records, etc. Some have even suggested he may start a war in the next 2 months. Then there’s the worry about what he leaves behind in the white house and doesn’t. Like listening devices, malware, missing antiques, or even burns the whole place down if he thinks he can get away with it.
ABCNNBCBS strikes again.
We partying here in Western Pennsylvania – okay, at least the places you can’t look out your window and see cows or fracking.
I apologize that we were so close, or that we took so long. BUT WE DID IT!!!!!!!
Whew.
Even Fox News agrees. (So it *must* be true.)
As good as the news is, it’s time for America to face up to the reality that in spite of all the examples of what a horrible person Trump is and how destructive his Presidency has been, 48% still voted for him.
What Pat said. How in heaven’s name did DJT get such a high percentage of the vote? >250k dead, and 48% of people who voted said “I’m OK with the moron who let that happen. In fact, he’s not a moron AT ALL, you libtard!”
I am so happy. I hope that whoever leads the next Senate (hopefully Georgia will tie it at 50-50), they will work to President Biden and Vice President Harris to start working on healing the bitter divide in this country.
The local paper in Queens, NY (the Queens Daily Eagle) is apparently running with the headline “Queens Man Evicted”.
Well played, Daily Eagle.
I’m happy Biden won. As expected, though, the overheated rhetoric about insurrections and violence and Proud Boy voter intimidation (or whatever) has basically amounted to jack shit; Trump’s supporters are not going to stage a coup, or even make much noise a week from today. Yes, Trump is out there claiming he won, but no one gives a fuck. He can calm down and leave on Jan. 20, or he can be escorted out by the Secret Service.
It would be nice if certain irresponsible left-wing ideologues would acknowledge that they were effectively fomenting fear, hatred, and partisan division over nothing, but probably not.
JReynolds, 48% of the people voted Republican in the presidential election. Yes, that meant voting for Trump, but I suspect a substantial portion of them would have preferred a different candidate. I boggle too that 48% went in that direction, but we have to remember some are voting for the party rather than for the man. Given the choice of voting with Trump or voting for any Democrat, I suspect they chose to go with their party despite its leader, not because of him.
The reason so many did vote for trump is a. those who voted for him the first time around couldn’t admit they were wrong. b. they believed him about the dems being far worse, all socialists who want to take all their money and give it to illegal immigrants and kill babies.
He’s cultivated a culture where the other side is the enemy, take everything you can from them, take a hard far right position so any compromise ends up where you want anyway, and assume the other side is doing the same. At this point mitch is probably going to refuse to confirm Biden’s appointments and things are going to be deadlocked
I actually did see it here first! I mean, as of yesterday it’d looked like Pennsylvania was going to get there, as well as probably Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, but this morning I checked my email before the web.
My wife’s comment – “Good. I’m so glad we’re through with him.”
My musical choice – “Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead”
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Eta is headed for South Florida, threatening to dump 4-6″ of rain on it – I hope everybody there is ok, but if the storm does want to flood Mar-A-Lago, I won’t feel too bad about it.
@Pat, I must mildly demur from the idea that the Toddler-in-Chief snagged 48%. U.S. Elections Project claims the voting-eligible US population is currently 239,247,182. Using fivethirtyeight.com’s vote counts still in progress (thus, a slight undercount in four states), the cast popular vote totals are:
Biden/Harris: 81,617,436
Трамп/Пенс,: 77,266,314
So, the Toddler got 32% of the vote, Biden/Harris got 34%, and 66% comprised (mostly) didn’t vote at all, and (a small amount of) third-party.
Comparison from 2016; Of 231,556,622 eligible voters, 27.2% voted Трамп/Пенс, 28.4% voted Clinton/Kaine, 3.4% voted third-party, and 41.0% didn’t vote at all.
Encouraged by this news for sure, but still keeping an eye on the Senate races. If the GOP keeps the majority there, McConnell will continue to be his usual obstructive self as Majority Leader.
Still, at least some progress might still be possible with Biden as President.
Trump got more repub votes in 2020 than he did in 2016.
The DNC’s appeasement strategy:::pick the center right milquetoast candidate to get some moderate republican votes::: was complete bullshit.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a34576561/never-trump-republicans-lincoln-project-2020/
One good thing is, Biden can do a lot of foreign policy without the Senate. Obama joined the Paris Agreement by executive order; Trump left it the same way; Biden can re-enter it that way again. It’s interesting to see what kind of a role a post-Trump US will have in the world. But looking from Europe, it’s really refreshing to see a good man in the White house once again.
Rick Moen: it’s not 66% that didn’t vote at all, it’s 34% — so about equal amounts voted for each candidate, and for nobody. It’s still not heartening, but it’s better than you painted it. I assume it was just a slip of the calculator (but still, how do you get 66% left after subtracting 32% and 34% from 100? Doesn’t pass simple estimation!).
Dear asunobob,
And why would you imagine, for a moment, that we give a poop about any of that???
Trump Derangement Syndrome– it doesn’t mean what you think it does.
pax / Ctein
Fortunately, The Donald is down to the D-list Jim’s Personal Injury lawyers. No one else will touch him. As evidence, take a look at that exhibition at Four Seasons Total Landscaping (next to the Adult Book store) put on this morning.
@thoshmore, you’re of course right; in my haste, I did the wrong subtraction. But I think the point remains clear, and thank you for the clarifying assist.
Ctein: he probably is pointing to the fact that House Democrats are already blaming progressives for the House losses, particularly the calls to “defund the police.” But David Gergen and some others in the mainstream media are now finally giving the “Squad” some credit for pulling Michigan and Minnesota into the Win column. It’s switched from the usual blame to “I know you worked really hard, kids, but this year has to be an Imagination Christmas.” Amazingly, this is an improvement.
It really had me going there, at the beginning. Watching my home state betray me(Floreduh). Hope was deserting me, but then, it made a comeback, than you.
I think Biden missed on quite a few things that could have boosted his stock, but those don’t mater anymore.
What matters is that the next 24-48 hours are critical for keeping the peace. After that, we have until Jan. 20 to learn if hell has no fury like Trump scorned. That still scares me.
A lot of de-stressing is a very good thing. I am relieved that the prospect of 4 more years has been swept away.
ctein: “And why would you imagine, for a moment, that we give a poop about any of that??” Trump Derangement Syndrome”
Out of curiosity, what do you call the “moderate peel” derangememt syndrome?
Rick: Also, election count is nowhere near finished. California has still only counted about 70% of the votes. It’s just that no one care about the exact margin in CA since the result is obvious.
asunobob:
Actually, the article you cited wasn’t particularly insightful; I could use the same article to argue that the moderate vote was actually needed because Trump draws new and seldom voters attracted to him.
I think we need more time and data to say more certainly.
I am more relieved than happy. A real rejection of the ugliness, incompetence, and corruption of trump and his Senate enablers would have been cause for happiness.
But I really look forward to Biden insisting on the smallest Inauguration crowd in American history. I just dread the deaths and misery that will be caused by trumpism till and even after Jan 20.
We were out house hunting today, driving around, when the news broke and my phone blew up as friends and family texted to either ask “is it true” or to cheer and send blue hearts. It wasn’t until I got home and saw the video of Kamala calling Joe and saying “we did it” that I burst into tears.
President Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris.
I can hardly believe the words as I write them. And now I can’t see them because my damn over-active tear ducts are overflowing again. :)
As a Georgian, I get to celebrate this weekend and then get my ass in gear working for Ossoff and Warnock so that we can take the Senate during the run-off in January.
One casualty of the election: my girlfriend just broke up with me. She just couldn’t be with anyone who didn’t support Trump. We’ve been dating for just over three months and we were both well aware of our polar opposite politics since the beginning. We just agreed to never discuss the subject and concentrate on other things we had in common. We had been successful at that until this week. I was upset about the election Tuesday and Wednesday but didn’t take my feelings out on her, even though she voted for Trump. But last night she brought the subject up detailing all the ways Biden will destroy the country. I countered, not belligerently but calmly, with many of the awful things Trump has done and said over the past four years. She earnestly believes Trump loves America and is fighting for the American people. The conversation never got heated, never turned into a shouting match or argument. From my point of view, I regarded it just as if we were disagreeing about a movie, or tastes in music. I thought we could agree to disagree.
Evidently she thought stronger about it than I did. She just told me this afternoon she couldn’t be with me any more because of our political differences and gave me the stereotypical “it’s not you, it’s me” and “Have a good life” speeches. I am pretty passionate about my politics. But I always kept those passions in check around my girlfriend. I didn’t want to mess up a good thing with something neither one of us really have any control over, other than voting every two years of course. I’m 58 years old and have never had a girlfriend before this, just a series of failed dates. I was willing to really try and make this work, even with a Trumper. And up until Biden’s victory, it was working. We had some great times, just as recently as last weekend.
I dunno. Maybe it is for the best. maybe our political differences were always destined to drive us apart. Maybe it’s better we ended now after a brief three months than more bitterly after a longer period of time. But man, it still hurts. I was really developing some serious feeling for her. I’m gonna miss her terribly. At my age, this was probably my last shot at a relationship. I don’t have any other friends in my life. I’m estranged from my brother and his family because of their pro Trump feelings. No amount of agreeing to disagree works with him. He considers me a traitor to the country and to the white race. I’m all alone again (except for my sweet cat). Goddamn, part of me wishes I could convert to being a Trump Republican.
I’m not heartened by the state of America when 1/3 of eligible voters support a sociopath and 1/3 don’t don’t care enough to vote, leaving the remainder to try to keep a democracy. Any way you want to slice it, the numbers are not encouraging. Trump is evil, and being silent by not voting is just as bad as voting for it.
John P.
Your story is very sad. I’m truly sorry for you. I’m sorry that your brother is a white supremecist. But that is wrong and frankly, evil, and your girlfriend was also wrong. You do NOT need to be like them to find friends, or to find your own “family”. It’s not easy for everyone, for sure, but the only way is to keep gathering with others who are in some way like you until you find the ones that you are comfortable with. Which will be a minority, that’s just the way life is. There are VERY few supersocial humans who like and are liked by everyone they meet! Anyway, I hope I’m not insulting you by being Captain Obvious here. I suppose you’ve heard this rather simplistic pep talk before. So, to put it another way, I hope you won’t give up. Good wishes to you.
I think no one would take a bet that Trump will concede. Ever. I think it’s very likely he will leave office in January without doing so, still claiming victory. What I’m wondering, and it’s something that I have heard no one speculate on – will he attempt to set up a government-in-exile? What an explosive pile of drama THAT would be! But I certainly can’t put it past him, it seems like exactly his kind of lunacy, and I’m surprised no one’s apparently mentioned the possibility yet.
John P., I’m very sorry to hear about that. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with maintaining a relationship across partisan lines, but I also think you are right not to change your politics for the sake of your girlfriend, or (possibly even worse) to try and pretend you are something you’re not.
I’ll refrain from offering any platitudes, because while I do believe there is someone (probably multiple someones) for everyone, as I’m sure you know there’s no guarantee we’ll actually meet those someones at the right time. Still, hope really does spring eternal – that’s not a platitude, it’s the truth. My uncle married when he was 50; my father remarried at 58. Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff met in their early fifties. Best of luck to you.
In the shorter term, Trumpistas will certainly be a pain. But once Biden and co. get the economy going again, it will help a lot. Really long view: ten years from now, I think it will turn out that most people never liked him at all and certainly never voted for him just as their parents (or perhaps they themselves) never voted for Nixon.
I’m still worried about the future because there’s alot of problems that we haven’t even started to address, but it feels good to know we have an actual functioning human being in charge of this stuff again!!
@Sten: Really good point, that: There is always, immediately after a USA General Election, an initial undercount of votes cast for the reason you cite. Everyone wants to know when each of the 51 jurisdictions can be “called”, as to which direction its Electoral College contingent (or contingents in the case of Maine and Nebraska) will go, and ascertaining the total turnout then takes a back seat.
I suspect we’ll not have an accurate turnout figure for a fortnight or so.
:)
It’s the most memorable moment of the century so far!
@Louann: Or, they’ll say Trump was great and did nothing wrong. That’s what I heard from my parents (at least, my father), when I was young, about Nixon. He did nothing wrong. Or if he did questionable things, it was nothing worse or even different from what all the Democratic presidents had been doing all along. That’s what his fans will continue to say about the Orange One. I expect to see that until I die, despite whatever may actually happen in the coming times.
As far as I’m concerned, “alternative facts”, and a lot of the narratives that I hear credited to the Reagan era, have been around since at least the ’60s, and I’d bet earlier. (I don’t think Dad spontaneously started spouting these ideas just because his little daughter was getting old enough to start to comprehend.) Oh, and you can’t believe what you read in the newspaper, because newspapers and journalists are liberal tools. Didn’t stop my parents from getting and reading the newspaper.
@Pat:
Agree with everything you’ve said here, especially when I remember that Trump’s election and attempted reelection are symptomatic of an especially virulent sociocultural cancer.
Trump attempted to coast back into the Oval Office on a wave of his supporters’ bone-deep abhorrence for most things brown, disabled, foreign, lgbtqia and female.
No amount of finger-shaking from well- meaning but starry-eyed peacemakers will change that.
I’d also attribute the closeness of the race to the stubborn wing of our party who decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater because they didn’t get their pony.
I am in whole-hearted agreement with their platform but am unimpressed with their foot-stompery and its consequences for those on the business end of Trump’s.
Still, here’s to a decent night’s sleep for the first time in four years!
I’m watching Kamala Harris give her first speech as the first female vice president of color and am flying!
Approx. 74, 000, 000 people made the conscious decision to elevate her from senator to vice president; though it remains in intensive care, my faith in humanity is off life support.
Yeah, yeh, yeah, they were more so voting for sanity and relative safety but, still, she made it!
Again, I’m with those concerned about the long-term national, social and political complications of Trumpism.
The closeness of this race speaks volumes about where our country stands, notwithstanding Biden’s win.
We’re on nextdoor and so have had plenty of time to get to know our “neighbors.”
Suffice it to say that there are good and solid reasons to worry about a violent Trumpist revolt.
Though I remain braced for the fallout, I am breathing much better than I was on Tuesday night, when Biden’s apparent loss brought on a crying jag like the one I had shortly after my mother’s death.
Now we’re bracing for Trump and Trumpist foot-stompery, legal challenges and attempted election theft.
Hopefully, the handful of republicans currently jumping ship will do what they can to help heave the big orange pustule into the streets where he belongs.
Not holding my breath, though.
Now we just have to hope that things in Georgia continue to work out for us; a democratic controlled congress is just what we need to yank our country and democracy out of the right’s crosshairs.
Na na na na! /
Na na na na! /
Hey Hey Hey! /
Good bye!
This is Grant’s victory of Fort Donalson in 1862. There were many long and ever more bloody and murderous years to go.
But Imma taking it! We have never heard “Science” invoked so often and passionately before in an address by a POTUS or POTUS Elect. I loved Kamala Harris’s speech tonight, even teared up at one point. Maybe I can began to think a little. The partying here in NY is off the hook. But it is so happy and full of joy and smiles. So unlike Their way of having a good time which is to deliberately make others feel as badly as possible.
So what is really tearing me up is the reports that, as as they can, those incarcerated in the ICE camps are trying to celebrate too. I really can’t stand it. I’m weeping.
Margaret: What I’m wondering, and it’s something that I have heard no one speculate on – will he attempt to set up a government-in-exile?
Actually, that’s kind of what I’ve been figuring he’d do, or more or less: hole up at Mar-A-Lago, stick his fingers in his years while singing “la-la-la, I can’t HEAR you,” and pretending he’s still president because the Person in the White House wasn’t REALLY elected. With any luck, the spectacle will quickly become boring even to most of his supporters–but I’m not betting on it.
We’ll just have to cope. It will be annoying, doubtless, but it can’t possible be as difficult as coping with a Trump who had actual power over the last four years has been.
The thing that has pulled at me for a while is the question of why Trump has been so desperate to win this election. It isn’t because he has any cares of where he is pushing this nation. Yes, I said pushing because he isn’t leading.
It has to be that a lot of bills are coming due. Not just normal dues, the IRS, by law, can only audit someone for three years, so that might also be coming due. If it is, then the Southern district of New York will use it as ammunition and his world will tumble down.
Without the protection of being President, Trump will become an outlaw beast, worse than we have seen so far. Be careful my friends,
@ Buzz79
If you haven’t heard it, I recommend the Nylons’ version of Kiss Him Goodbye (especially if you can find the completely acapella version). Lots of vocal harmony. Sounds like a celebration.
The absentee ballot requests sent to Georgia voters back in late March allowed most military and us over 65 types to request automatic absentee ballots through the 2020 election cycle. On the My Voter page it’s easy to check absentee ballot status. The odd thing to me is that the runoff is scheduled for Jan 5, but the posted date on the absentee status page is listed as Dec 1, 2020. Maybe it’s when absentee ballots will be mailed out. I plan on getting mine into the a box the day after I receive it, and I will of course vote for Ossoff and Warnock. Getting Mitch McConnell out of his position should now be a nationwide priority, and I hope people everywhere will donate to their campaigns.
@Formerly just Craig From what I’ve read, the 420+ million dollars he owes Deutsch Bank come due very quickly, and they don’t think he’ll be able to pay and are making plans to seize his assets.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
@Formerly just Craig: Speaking as someone who used to do tax preparation for a living, I can tell you there are significant exceptions to the usual rule of Internal Revenue Service having three year to initiate income tax audits. E.g., taxpayers accused of omitting more than $5,000 of foreign income or more than 25% of total income may be audited for six years.
Taxpayers who filed a fraudulent return, or fraudulently failed to file a return, may be audited at any time thereafter. Omitting certain vital and specialised forms from your return, such as Form 5471 for ownership interest in a foreign corporation, Form 3520 for gifts or inheritance from foreign nationals, and Form 8938 for overseas assets, also lets IRS audit at any time thereafter.
There are also other longer-than-three-year scenarios, established by court cases.
This was the first time my state has had early voting and thankfully I was able to vote early since I ended up this week at home sick with Covid. The announcement today that Biden is the President Elect has gone a long way in making me feel better.
@rochrist I also heard that Deutsch Bank was calling in his loans. Should get interesting.
Dear asunobob,
I would agree. You certainly are…
curious.
pax / Ctein
Ruth, sorry to hear that, hope you only get a mild case and recover soon.
Has anybody seen a vote count location that shows all the candidates’ popular vote totals (so far)? The numbers for Trump and Biden get widely reported, and I’ve seen that Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson got somewhere in the 1-1.5% range, but I haven’t seen any that also included the Greens or other minor candidates (or, y’know, Kanye.)
Bill, I think it was something like 60,000–which strikes me as insane. but well. So it goes.
@Ruth:
I am so very sorry to hear that; I wish you a full and quick recovery.
Please take care of yourself.
From article: Trump “got more of the Republican vote this time than he did in 2016.”
If the moderate peel theory was correct, it would be supported by the numbers.
ctein: (plugs ears and star spangled banner).
Laurie G.: As far as I’m concerned, “alternative facts”, and a lot of the narratives that I hear credited to the Reagan era, have been around since at least the ’60s, and I’d bet earlier.
Concur. I’ve been reading on the Net about the New Wave generation of SF writers,Thomas M Disch in particular, which led me to this saturnine little piece from the archives of The New York Times.
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/08/09/reviews/980809.09stara.html
The review, from 1998, could be summed up by “Science fiction, conspiracy culture, and the end of hope for public agreement on anything.” Bummer, dude. :)
I hesitate to lay blame at the feet of science fiction. People can & do come up with quite squirrelly explanations for events without recourse to tales about miraculous technologies & alternate realities. In the 60s, when I grew up, otherwise straitlaced, scientifically-minded adults gave serious attention to topics such as Edgar Cayce’s prophecies and Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? speculations. In classes at school, even! Hot damn! :D
All this to say that I’m pleased and much more optimistic now that Biden & Harris have won, but in a public sphere riddled with competing accounts, disinformation, and, as article writer Alexander Star noted, very little in the way of “shared criteria for the assessment of evidence,” it’s unlikely to be plain sailing ahead.
@Pat ” 1/3 don’t don’t care enough to vote”
There’s a big difference between not caring and not being able. Some people cannot get off work to stand in a line that is longer than 2 hours, or even one that is 2 hours even if state law says they can. Firms that pay minimum wage or less skirt a lot of state laws because they can because what low wage worker is going to have the ability to fight? Some people were kicked off the rolls incorrectly, or otherwise thought they were registered and weren’t. Some people didn’t get their absentee ballots in time. Some people aren’t allowed to vote because they have criminal records. Some people are just disorganized and made a mistake. Many people have lost their homes to covid/recession and didn’t have permanent addresses. If we all had same-day registration or all had mail-in ballots our numbers of not voters would plummet. Similarly if late night and weekend voting were more prevalent.
And, of course, some people just haven’t been counted yet.
Celebration! And well-earned.
It’s joyfully important to savor the wins. Both Kamala’s and Joe’s speeches set so much better tone than we’d seen the last four years. That has got to help in itself.
I’m not a big flagwaver, but I proudly put my flag out yesterday! Whew, exhale! https://www.instagram.com/p/CHTjo4oB5VN/
t’s interesting to see what groups shifted in Biden’s vote compared to Clinton’s vote. Using exit polls (which, take with all the caveats necessary). Random notes:
Biden saw increased support among all age groups, but particularly 18-29 year olds.
Biden saw increased support from men, but Trump matched his 2016 performance with women.
Biden lost support in Black, Latinx, and Asian-American voters compared to Clinton (he still won them by massive margins, but less than Clinton’s), and white female voters (Biden lost the vote among white college educated women & white women with no degree), but gained white male voters (Trump still won that group, but by substantially less, holding onto his strength in white men with no degree, but losing white men with a college degree to Biden).
Biden won moderate voters at a much higher rate than Clinton and won first time voters at a much higher rate.
In the swing states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada) Biden’s margin among voters of color was either the same or less than Clinton’s in 2016, but he got much higher support among white college graduates than Clinton.
Those are the breakdowns I can find comparators (or, well, okay, find news stories where the reporter has done the heavy lifting). I’m sure more will be coming out.
November 6 was my birthday — and as my birthday present I found out that Biden had moved ahead in Pennsylvania, clinching the election even though it wasn’t called until November 7. In my life, I’ve received many birthday presents, many excellent gifts. I have appreciated them all. But never have I received one like that moment when I read online that Biden had Pennsylvania. It may be the most dramatic present I have ever received or I suspect that I will ever receive.
Thank you America, for that birthday present.
@RickMoen
Thanks for the Daily Eagle bit. Couldn’t stop laughing.
The real question is: Did the Dumpster file Form 2555 regarding the not-so-secret-anymore Chinese bank account? Because I would expect ANY liquid assets like that to be snapped up first. Maybe the IRS couldn’t touch it (assuming he did actually file Form 2555 or even 1116[ha! lies!]) but that certainly isn’t going to stop Deutsch Bank from seizing assets for unpaid loans. Or other nongovernmental creditors. And given that we do in fact have trade and tax treaties with China, that puts the bank account in question into play for NYS & the IRS as well.
Also, civil penalties NEVER go away. Also, you have to START an audit in 3 years. Not finish one. There are plenty of instances that put that 3 year margin back–and KEEP pushing it back. Indefinitely.
My happy dance is somewhat tempered by the fact that slightly less than half the people who bothered to vote AT ALL think that this asshat is the second coming and are just fine with all of his nativist, isolationist, xenophobic and bigoted crap. For them, that’s not a bug, it’s a feature. For the most part, these are also the same idiots who “want to keep the government out of their Medicare'” (umm.. what?!) Those people aren’t going away anytime soon. (Well, maybe they are if they still continue to insist that mask-wearing is for sissies. But they’re going to take a lot of other people down with them.) Mind you, there are idiots on both sides of the isle–let’s not forget the idiots who “just want to cancel the rent”, as in rent forgiveness. (How, exactly are landlords supposed to pay taxes and mortgages?) There is a notable dearth of critical thinkers in the US, although at this point I would settle for plain old RATIONAL thinkers.
Yes, at long last our national nightmare is over. That said, there are a lot of pressing problems and frankly, I don’t think Joe is the guy to fix them. (I would really, really like to be wrong about this.) The entire planet is essentially circling the drain. Joe might cause us to circle it slower, but circling the drain is circling the drain. I hope Kamala has some good ideas.
@Joe P.
Look, if you two weren’t right for each other (and clearly you weren’t), this was never going to last. Yes, the loss of a relationship hurts, but there’s all kinds of loneliness and all kinds of relationships. The loneliest kind of lonely is where you are in a relationship and still lonely. My grandfather found a new girlfriend in his late 70s, after my grandmother passed. He stayed in a committed relationship with her until she passed (more than 10 years) and then when he was ill, the whole neighborhood was checking up on him & visiting. There’s all kinds of relationships and ways to NOT be lonely. Heck, I used to joke that his dating life was better than mine–after his girlfriend passed, he used to drive all the senior citizen ladies around to their appointments (doctor, salon, etc.). Age really is just a number. Your girlfriend didn’t bail b/c you aren’t a Trumpster, she bailed b/c she can’t tolerate dissent or differences in a relationship.
FWIW, I’m estranged from my (remaining) family too. And SUPER happy about it. I don’t have to put up with domestic violence, misogyny, gaslighting, backstabbing, theft, vandalism and all the crap that comes from being related to alcoholics, drug addicts and narcissists. I have a decent job, a great boyfriend, great friends and a great life without these assholes in my life. Kick the jerks to the curb, scrape that dogs*** off your shoes and MOVE ON. There are 7.4 billion people on the planet and the internet is a thing.
@Margaret
I suspect the Dumpster will aim for lowest-common-denominator TV. What government in exile could he possibly set up? The rats are, for the most part, fleeing the sinking ship and even the ones that aren’t couldn’t get it together to set up a functional government *when they had the mandate of the 2016 election.* They’re a bunch of D-listers at best with minimal skills and fewer prospects, which is why they signed on for their 15 minutes of fame in the first place. For crying out loud, they guy in charge of the Treasury is a (at best!) so-so movie producer. What’s he going to do, get a job at the World Bank or the UN? (Yes, he was at Goldman Sachs, but so were a lot of people. Most of whom have a better track record than he does. Suicide Squad indeed.) I mean, sure the remainder of the Trump regime can hole up at Mar-A-Lago until it’s foreclosed on or falls into a sinkhole but where are they going to go after that and what are they going to do while they’re there? Play dress up & let’s pretend? (While they’re at it, they can pretend they’re not broke.) I imagine the Twitter account is going to get yanked pretty quickly come 1/22/2021.
@Pat
With you 100% on this. Worth pointing out that Timothy McVeigh was a dissatisfied loner who hung out with the Michigan Militia (aka, more broke loners who were mad at the world) who blew up the Alfred P. Murrah building without the excuse of Trump. If this election has shown us anything, it’s that there are a lot of like-minded people just like him still among us. They aren’t going to vanish just because Trump lost.
My Friend’s Thoughts: A Reality Check If There Ever Was One
“I have to say seeing Kamala and her family made me feel proud and brought a tear to my eye but I remember when we elected Obama and all that seething racism came spewing up out of every sewer in the country. Also remember John Lewis getting a brick thrown at his head when he tried to walk to his seat in Congress and Fox news saying I didn’t see any racism after Obama was elected. Great because that qualifies you to be in my blind program and I can deal with you as I wish. Goddamn it, give me 15 minutes to be proud of my country. This is going to be a real struggle even if we get seats in the Senate – already sent money for that cause – because without making the chinless genetic defect a back bencher all is lost.”
I want to be as joyful and hopeful as I was yesterday, but this morning I am nearly as worried as I was on Tuesday night.
Trump is going to throw an epic tantrum; I expect his supporters to do the same.
Sorry, but I don’t see people who think democrats are child raping, human meat eating, Satan worshipping reptilian creatures to just accept this “stolen” election.
There are also the career bigots and tribalistic peacemakers (many of the latter on the left) who are going to shake fingers at people for not immediately kissing and making up with “fellow Americans” who elected and voted to reelect a white supremacist who codified atrocity into law
Perhaps Romney is correct when he argues that Trump’s ousting is a “referendum on a person” rather than a rejection of conservative principles. Who knows?
2020 is already gonna go down as a horrible meme about “hindsight”, so what’s one more pun?
Hey, the “biden” his time one isn’t so bad… unless people get impatient about the speed of government (like usual) and it will grace many a Breitbart headline. Ugh.
Relief, but no real joy. It makes me tired just to think of the work we all have to do to reverse the damage that Trump caused. Remember folks–citizenship does NOT end after the election is over!
I think this bears reposting:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/
Would it be petty for someone in Nashville to drive by the (publicly available) address of a right-wing television personality and honk their car horn in celebration? Asking for the people in Nashville who were honking their car horns in celebration in my neighborhood on Saturday.
Answering for a friend: Hell no!
I also recommend a nice rendition of the song linked upthread. :)