2020 Political Thread

[Evan]

President Trump's brother has reportedly been hospitalized and is "extremely ill."

I think we can all agree, regardless of politics or beliefs, that hopefully Robert Trump will make a full recovery very soon. Must be very tough to be in a position of power while watching a younger sibling struggle mightily with an illness.

Unfortunately, I think there will be a lot of low class comments made about the President's brother. I truly believe family should be off limits unless they participate in the political process itself. I don't recall Robert Trump being involved that much with politics or Trump's campaign, so I hope people just wish him well and move on.

 

[Evan]

This is a story worth reading, IMO.

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/magazine/2020/08/14/obama-biden-relationship-393570

 

[Evan]

Let's presume there's a rational basis and we'll-developed plan for doing this:



So why hasn't the USPS and this administration provided an explanation for why they are doing this? And why do it now? There's not even an excuse put forward -- it's essentially "We can do what we want. Who's going to stop us?"

Again, i'm willing to listen to a rational explanation and/or evidence that this plan is meant to accomplish something necessary and positive for the USPS. Someone help me out. Has anyone heard of an explanation or reasoning? In particular, as to why this is necessary in a pandemic right before a crucial election that will see heavier usage of mailed-in ballots than ever before?

 

[Kory]

Finally a common sense ruling by the courts. This will likely have big repercussions across the country considering SCOTUS has deferred to lower court rulings on 2nd amendment cases recently.

 

[ghost]

This election will be nothing but a dumpster fire... voter suppression, mail fraud, Russian bots, delays at the polls,.. what else?

 

[Evan]

This election will be nothing but a dumpster fire... voter suppression, mail fraud, Russian bots, delays at the polls,.. what else?

People having to drag their school-age children to the polls to vote if they don't trust voting by mail since so many schools are going the remote route for the first 9 weeks or first semester.

 

[Mike S]

I think we should be voting in person, while showing ID's. A pandemic should not change this. Accommodations can be made.

First thing that could be done is follow the lead of other states and allow early voting. Spread it out over several days. You could have fewer polling places but still not have long lines, implement social distancing and have people vote in person.

 

[gangstonc]

I think we should be voting in person, while showing ID's. A pandemic should not change this. Accommodations can be made.

First thing that could be done is follow the lead of other states and allow early voting. Spread it out over several days. You could have fewer polling places but still not have long lines, implement social distancing and have people vote in person.

Voting in person should be an option, but all others should be available as well. Sabotaging a govt service is unacceptable.

 

[Kory]

One major problem I have with mail in voting is the removal of anonymity. There’s no way to maintain any legitimate “secret ballot” when you have millions of them being mailed in over the course of a week or so. There has to be a tie to the voter and physical ballot mailed in and at some point, there will be leaks of John Doe voting for X candidate. That will create problems.

 

[Evan]

One major problem I have with mail in voting is the removal of anonymity. There’s no way to maintain any legitimate “secret ballot” when you have millions of them being mailed in over the course of a week or so. There has to be a tie to the voter and physical ballot mailed in and at some point, there will be leaks of John Doe voting for X candidate. That will create problems.

That's why most states use a sealed double envelope method for ballots.

Identifying info, copies of ID, and signature are in a seperate outer envelope and the inner envelope which contains the ballot is sealed. It isn't opened or counted by those who open the first envelope. There's a system setup to where the outer envelopes are checked to confirm voter validity and ID, then the sealed inner envelope is passed on to a seperate team or room and mixed in with other ballots. Then, all the ballots are counted together.

Not impossible for anonymity to be violated, but most states with extensive mail-in voting (and even for regular absentee ballots) have thought through these issues, and have systems in place to prevent the secret ballot from being spoiled.

 

[Kory]

That's why most states use a sealed double envelope method for ballots.

Identifying info, copies of ID, and signature are in a seperate outer envelope and the inner envelope which contains the ballot is sealed. It isn't opened or counted by those who open the first envelope. There's a system setup to where the outer envelopes are checked to confirm voter validity and ID, then the sealed inner envelope is passed on to a seperate team or room and mixed in with other ballots. Then, all the ballots are counted together.

Not impossible for anonymity to be violated, but most states with extensive mail-in voting (and even for regular absentee ballots) have thought through these issues, and have systems in place to prevent the secret ballot from being spoiled.

Thanks for that explanation, Evan. I honestly have never utilized absentee voting and the process is still a little nebulous to me.

 

[Evan]

Thanks for that explanation, Evan. I honestly have never utilized absentee voting and the process is still a little nebulous to me.

It's by no means perfect, but I think reasonable safeguards are in place in most places. Or at least they're supposed to be.

 

[Evan]

The President's younger brother, Robert Trump, has passed away after being in declining health for a number of weeks.

Brain bleeds due a previous fall appear to the be the cause. Condolences to the Trump family.

 

[Mike S]

The President's younger brother, Robert Trump, has passed away after being in declining health for a number of weeks.

Brain bleeds due a previous fall appear to the be the cause. Condolences to the Trump family.

and the leftists on Twitter are really showing out. Not that anyone should be surprised. Internet leftists have long done this kind of stuff.

 

[Evan]

and the leftists on Twitter are really showing out. Not that anyone should be surprised. Internet leftists have long done this kind of stuff.

Yep. Crappy people doing crappy people things.

People are rarely classy these days. It sharpens partisan divides, and just rips the uniting fabric of our nation a little more. The unyielding negativity and seeming requirement to think the worst possible thing about every single fellow citizen is something I am beyond tired of. It's one thing to target political actors -- it's another thing all together to target their families or wish someone poor health.

 

[Kory]

Wonder what has caused this seismic shift in polling?

I'm sure Trump will start touting polls now that it's more favorable to him.

 

[Evan]

Wonder what has caused this seismic shift in polling?

I'm sure Trump will start touting polls now that it's more favorable to him.

Would have to see it happen in other polls before I'd say it qualifies as a shift. You're always going to have polls that end up on the far end of the margin of error. If you don't, the pollster is "smoothing" the data too much to try to stay close to what other polls say instead of reporting the results as they are.

It's very possible that the CNN poll just happened to poll a group that was more open to Trump's re-election than previous group samples they've polled. Also, my understanding is that this is first time the VP names were included, and I believe undecided wasn't an option.

Based off the polling numbers I've seen around Harris' favorabilty and name recognition, I'd be shocked if she produced some kind of drag on Biden's run. But, never say never, right?

Think we need to see a few more polls over the next 7-10 days before we can deduce that a shift has occurred. Several quality polls released results in the past week showing Trump with his worst numbers in months. That's why I generally look at poll averages for my overall view of trends, and look at individual polls simply as a data point for the average (to determine whether that individual poll is an outlier or part of a trend).

Won't shock me if the race tightens some before the election, but I still expect a blowout. I think it will be an even larger landslide if Trump goes full Trump before the election.

 

[Evan]

Amash, as usual, shows exactly why he was never long for DC. On that note, pretty sad to see Q-Anon conspiracy theorists embraced by the GOP. Likewise for "the Resistance" taking legitimate questions about what is going on with USPS' operations and the potential impact on mail-voting, and turning it into a full-fledged conspiracy. I don't mind people asking questions and demanding answers (in a reasonable way about reasonable things), as I have questions myself. But conspiracy theory nonsense is a wholly different thing altogether.

It may sound alarmist, but look at history when two different oppositional groups start inventing conspiracies about the other and they infiltrate mainstream political discussion. Rarely ends well.

 

[Evan]

Marjorie Taylor Green slipping through the cracks...OK, crap happens in any party. Laura freaking Loomer winning a GOP primary with support from numerous sitting GOP members of Congress? I didn't leave the Republican Party. It left me.

I'm never a fan of straight party voting, but I'm considering it. Just as an act of protest. Anyone here want to defend Marjorie Taylor Greene, or, gulp, Laura Loomer? Anyone?

The GOP is Marjorie Taylor Greene, Laura Loomer, and Donald Trump. I want no part of that. I'm not pretending the Democratic Party doesn't have the Squad and its share of idiots, but I'm not a Democrat! I'm politically homeless. What's left other than protest votes?

 

[ghost]

Trump has personal conversations with God

Trump relates conversation with God about his 'great job' on the economy

With millions unemployed without additional relief from White House, president says economic fallout following coronavirus pandemic is 'God testing me'

www.independent.co.uk