Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[PaulP]

Sooo, if Biden does win, he will spend the next four years pushing sh1t uphill and arguing / fighting instead of getting anything done. Sounds like time, money and effort well spent. Would you like a side serve of blue shyte or red shyte ?

[Mav]

Remember that Mitch McConnell’s control isn’t absolute. The most famous example is John McCain breaking ranks and voting against the GOP attempt to repeal Obamacare.

The GOP Senators aren’t a uniform voting block. In ruby red states, very conservative Senators can win easily. But in purple states, GOP candidates have to be more moderate in order to win. An example is Susan Collins in Maine who has pitched herself to voters as an independent voice who votes on principles rather than on party lines. That said, she has pretty much gone along with Trump for fear of his base turning on her. If Biden wins, she’ll be free of that threat and may vote with Democrats on at least some legislation. Another example is Mitt Romney who voted to impeach Trump.

It’s also possible that the 2 Senate spots in Georgia will end up in run-off elections later this year. As long as The GOP only has a small majority, Mitch McConnell will always have to worry about his Senators breaking ranks.

A President can buy off 1 or 2 opposing Senators to push through legislation. Does Senator X want the Army to buy another billion dollars of weaponry manufactured in his State? Does Senator Y want the FBI to move its headquarters to her State? Politics isn’t pretty, but there you go.

[PaulP]

Mav, I find it hard to get as enthused as you do about the details of all this. I see the Democrats as a Republican lite, and whilst I am normally grateful for mercies both big and small, feeling grateful (as I do) that Trump may be booted out does little to convince me that we are even close to where we should be. Biden winning should become the reference example of a pyrrhic victory IMO. 

It's good having you back. IMO, it's like having our own in-house, American Political correspondent / political analyst.

[cookie2]

Sooo, if Biden does win, he will spend the next four years pushing sh1t uphill and arguing / fighting instead of getting anything done. Sounds like time, money and effort well spent. Would you like a side serve of blue shyte or red shyte ?

Which flavour of oligarchy would sir like today? ?

[Mav]

Paul, I agree with you that this isn’t a great outcome. But we have to remember that the US is a foreign country. We tend to think of it as being like us, but it isn’t. It IS a lot more right wing and we just have to accept that. The problem is that it influences what happens to us. For instance, Trump’s anti-mask stance has no doubt inspired anti-maskers in Oz. And Trump’s transactional relationships with other countries have created problems for us. Just having someone moderate and mentally stable in the White House will improve things for us.

[LP]

I just finished listening to ABC journalist interviewing US Voters who are based in Sydney.

There was one US citizen who voted for Kanye West, seriously voted for him not just taking the piss with the journalist! This voter is a person of apparently considerable marketable technical skills and knowledge, that we have expensively imported to work here as a replacement for local talent!

God Bless America!

[DJC]

[member=324]DJC[/member]‍ , I don't think there will be significant political consequences of losing, the politicians are way too savvy to shoot themselves in the foot by making laws that could turn against them in the future.

But the lack of political action won't help Trump in avoiding commercial consequences, he's been hiding from debtors using the Presidency as cover for many years now, they'll be after him now!

It's not the political classes that the POTUS is apparently worried about, apart from several state prosecutors, etc.  It's more about the folk to whom he owes $1B, the regulators' responses to the exposure of his business dealings, and folk (mainly women) that he has wronged.

See: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/17/polit...index.html

[DJC]

Sooo, if Biden does win, he will spend the next four years pushing sh1t uphill and arguing / fighting instead of getting anything done. Sounds like time, money and effort well spent. Would you like a side serve of blue shyte or red shyte ?

That depends on whether the Democrats take the Senate.  I think the House of Reps will stay in Democrat hands but the Senate will be tight.

I think Biden won't get much opposition from fellow Democrats and not in the way that Republicans opposed some of the POTUS's  initiatives.  Voting on party lines isn't really a thing in the USA, it's more about what's popular with one's constituents. Of course, Biden still has to win.

The other side of the coin is that a re-elected POTUS may have to deal with a hostile Senate and House of Reps.

[LP]

For weeks and months Trump has been telling the world postal voting is corrupt and fraudulent, casting doubts about the postal voting process, firstly because postal votes favour democrats/conservatives, secondly because he wanted to lay the groundwork for challenging if things didn't go his way.

It seems mostly it was his own supporters that believed him and they didn't vote postal, which left Biden with a disproportionate amount of postal vote support!

Trump's overt negativity has come back to bite him on the ass!

[Mav]

One of the more appalling things about this election was Trump’s deliberate attempt to cripple the US Postal Service in order to ensure that all postal votes wouldn’t be counted. He appointed one of his donors to run it, Lewis DeJoy, who set about removing vote dropboxes and dismantling mail distribution machinery. A judge had ordered the USPS to conduct sweeps to locate 300,000 missing postal votes but the USPS failed to do so. It’s a scandal that Trump was able to do this out in the open.