Trump vs. Biden

[Totenkindly]

Omfg...

20 Days of Fantasy and Failure: Inside Trump's Quest to Overturn the Election | Washington Post

(Fwiw, I get around the paywall by pasting into incognito browser, then clicking X to keep the page from fully loading.)

 

[Jaguar]

Omfg...

20 Days of Fantasy and Failure: Inside Trump's Quest to Overturn the Election | Washington Post

(Fwiw, I get around the paywall by pasting into incognito browser, the clicking X to keep the page from fully loading.)

These are sick and twisted times, my dear. Listen, I subscribe to both WAPO and NYT. Should I assume that if I post a link to an article the person won't be able to read even one?

 

[Z Buck McFate]

From WaPo piece^:

The 20 days between the election on Nov. 3 and the greenlighting of Biden’s transition exemplified some of the hallmarks of life in Trump’s White House: a government paralyzed by the president’s fragile emotional state; advisers nourishing his fables; expletive-laden feuds between factions of aides and advisers; and a pernicious blurring of truth and fantasy.

Though Trump ultimately failed in his quest to steal the election, his weeks-long jeremiad succeeded in undermining faith in elections and the legitimacy of Biden’s victory.

This account of one of the final chapters in Trump’s presidency is based on interviews with 32 senior administration officials, campaign aides and other advisers to the president, as well as other key figures in his legal fight, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details about private discussions and to candidly assess the situation.
​

I'm really hoping the majority of people who have spoken in anonymity like this for the past several years come forward to own their accounts, and that it puts a significant dent in his cult following.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm really hoping the majority of people who have spoken in anonymity like this for the past several years come forward to own their accounts, and that it puts a significant dent in his cult following.

Yup. I've read about half of it at this point. It's sickening, in terms of (1) his mentality/behavior and (2) the enabling that has been occurring, with the democratic process paying the price.

At this point he has lost the election definitely, and yet they are still remaining "anonymous." Are they ever going to come forward to own up to what they have witnessed? I doubt it, if they couldn't muster the courage even now.

The brave ones, like Vindman, we've already seen; the rest, this off-record chatter seems to be the best they are willing to do. Those with courage have already shown it.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

At this point he has lost the election definitely, and yet they are still remaining "anonymous." Are they ever going to come forward to own up to what they have witnessed? I doubt it, if they couldn't muster the courage even now.

The ones who did eventually put their name to public statements previously made anonymously seem to systematically get dismissed as "disgruntled employees". Like Miles Taylor. But maybe if there are enough, the scales will start tipping (like exactly how many disgruntled employees can a person have before the "no smoke without fire" rule kicks in?).

More from that piece:

More troubling to Raffensperger were the many threats he and his wife, Tricia, have received over the past few weeks — and a break-in at another family member’s home. All of it has prompted him to accept a state security detail.

“If Republicans don’t start condemning this stuff, then I think they’re really complicit in it,” he said. “It’s time to stand up and be counted. Are you going to stand for righteousness? Are you going to stand for integrity? Or are you going to stand for the wild mob? You wanted to condemn the wild mob when it’s on the left side. What are you going to do when it’s on our side?”
​

If only there were someone to say to Raffensperger "And what if the consensus of the intelligence agencies was correct, and the lack of integrity and truly dangerous mobs were all Trump and the extreme right all along?"

 

[Jonny]

 

[Jaguar]

I watched that earlier. He should be hired back after asshole is thrown out.

 

[Jonny]

You misunderstand. It isn't hate that voted against Donald Trump. It's love. Love of our country, love of our institutions, love of our ideals. Love of the truth. Love of the rule of law. Love of decency and honor. It's love, not hate.

If you think it's about hate, then you're accusing those of us who voted against him of putting our feelings about him above love of our country. This could not be further from the truth.

Donald Trump will continue to show us who he is over the next several months. He will continue to put his own interests over the interest of our nation. But I fear the great irony will be that the more frenetic and diabolical he becomes, the more (some of) his supporters will be convinced of his righteousness, of his love for them. Because he'll sell it as though he is fighting for them and for the country.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

Trump, "I'm fighting for you" and accepting payment via PayPal, Zelle, credit card, and e-checks.

Ka-ching!

 

[Stigmata]

Trump, "I'm fighting for you" and accepting payment via PayPal, Zelle, credit card, and e-checks.

Ka-ching!

Trump Jr. aides launch super PAC to persuade president's supporters to vote in Georgia
Don Jr saw how lucrative playing upon the fear of the radical leftist boogeyman could be and decided to get in on the action as well...

 

[Jonny]

A mistext from my mom last night. She routinely sends me texts meant for her sister...they are both Trump supporters. She also misquotes me as calling people "sniffling babies" which I never even remotely said. She truly is insane.

 

[Totenkindly]

I'm just here to see if Barr got fired yet for not propping up the Fake Fraud Travesty but... for what it's worth, I'm sorry.

 

[Jaguar]

“In many ways, I really wish I had a PhD in abnormal psychology rather than history,” Schmidt said, “because I don’t understand why so many people want to be lied to.”

How ‘GOP rebel’ Al Schmidt became the voice of the 2020 Philly election — and Trump’s nemesis
A month after polls closed, the city commissioner and his staff are still being targeted with death threats.

Al Schmidt on death threats, Trump’s Philly election attacks and past cases of fraud - On top of Philly news

 

[Tater]

“because I don’t understand why so many people want to be lied to.”

 

[Jaguar]

Georgia: Gabriel Sterling of Sec of State’s Office Blasts Those Threatening Election Workers

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

Someone I know made an interesting prediction. She thinks that perhaps after a while when Trump starts getting indicted, losing, and is no longer a 'fantastic winner', that many of his followers will be fickle and deny they ever supported him. I've been learning to never underestimate crazy and to never underestimate the power of fickleness. In this case, it might be helpful to the country when something else shiny comes along.

People like that Trump makes them feel powerful, emboldened, morally justified in their debasement, fantastic! What about when he stops making people feel that way? It might be all it takes to undo his broader support (minus the most fanatical followers).

 

[The Cat]

Someone I know made an interesting prediction. She thinks that perhaps after a while when Trump starts getting indicted, losing, and is no longer a 'fantastic winner', that many of his followers will be fickle and deny they ever supported him. I've been learning to never underestimate crazy and to never underestimate the power of fickleness. In this case, it might be helpful to the country when something else shiny comes along.

People like that Trump makes them feel powerful, emboldened, morally justified in their debasement, fantastic! What about when he stops making people feel that way? It might be all it takes to undo his broader support (minus the most fanatical followers).

 

[Stigmata]

Media claimed Dominion had no links to Smartomatic, and Venezuela, therefor claims of the software being pure shit and esily hackable is false. My link proves its the same company. Which means USA used easily hackable hardware in the 2020 election, which had been used prior to bring Chavez into power and possibly other people. I even heard that Sanders lost the Democratic primary for the same reason. This means our election integrity has been compromised since the mid 2000s. Shouldn't you be even slightly worried?

This isn't even about 2020. Its about why the fuck is USA using commie software to run their elections in certain states?

We need, election reform. No more machines.

William Barr says there is no evidence of widespread fraud in presidential election

"There's been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results," Barr said. "And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven't seen anything to substantiate that."

BiLl BaRr iS a DeEp StAtE PLanT!

 

[Stigmata]

Someone I know made an interesting prediction. She thinks that perhaps after a while when Trump starts getting indicted, losing, and is no longer a 'fantastic winner', that many of his followers will be fickle and deny they ever supported him. I've been learning to never underestimate crazy and to never underestimate the power of fickleness. In this case, it might be helpful to the country when something else shiny comes along.

People like that Trump makes them feel powerful, emboldened, morally justified in their debasement, fantastic! What about when he stops making people feel that way? It might be all it takes to undo his broader support (minus the most fanatical followers).

I think at this current stage that the cult has begun to separate the actuality of Donald Trump the person from the concept of a Donald Trump and what it represented to them. They might move on from the person, but I think they'll still cling to that idea of a populist, anti-establishment anti-status quo politician who speaks more "plainly" and defies traditional political decorum norms. When you actually analyze it, the rise of Trumpism stands as a rebuke of the previous regime of Warhawk Neo Conservatives who were more concerned with perpetuating the military industrial complex than actually trying to improve things domestically. They really don't even want what the Republican party will revert back to without the lightning rod of a brash personality that pushed the republican constituency just slightly more to the left, without making them aware that was the direction they were headed.

 

[ygolo]

Maybe I am being paranoid, but what are the chances of either a "slow moving coup" as Bill Maher puts it, or a secondary "alternative government" being established after inauguration day?

If people are so easily pulled into "alternative facts" (especially things as ridiculous as Q-Annon), it seems like accepting an "alternative government" falls well within their wheelhouse. They have their own wikipedia, their own news media, their own interpretation of history, even their own science (young Earth/flat earth, etc.). It seems like following the pattern of believing whatever is most desirable or what they wish to be true will just get worse and worse. There seems to be no way to break into the bubble, but there has to be for all our well-being.

I know people I care about who are in the bubble, and it feels scary for two reasons, 1) it feels like (as many have mentioned) like they've been pulled into a cult and there is no reasoning with them (they are operating out of truthiness and instinct) 2) Their cult has a lot of similarities to Nazis with their white supremacy(even among those who aren't white), authoritarian values (placing one-way loyalty to their "king" above global harm, concern for purity, nostalgia for a more privileged past...), and desire to thwart the will of a majority of people in their nation by any means possible.

So how do we pull people out of a cult like this? How can we bring them to working off a common belief of what really occurred and occurs in the world as we know it, and common understanding of truth and reality?