The Trump Presidency

[jfb]

Democratic primary voters chose Biden over everyone else, not the DNC.

Thank you--this is a thing that deeply irritates me.  The DNC can't make people run, and it can't keep people from running.  And it can't force votes.  In the end, Biden got more primary votes, and that's what mattered.

Yeah, that irritates me too. I tried to explain it to some Bernie Sanders supporters on Twitter the other day, but I'm a Canadian, so what do I know?

Oh God.  Not to paint with a broad brush, but the people who tend to be the most aggressively ignorant of how the process works are Berniebros.  It is a reliable barometer.  Even the most oxy-addled redneck redhat MAGAt understands that you win by actually showing up at the polls, not by tweeting polemics from your basement. 

[JayUtah]

Thank you--this is a thing that deeply irritates me.

And it's such an easy trap for me to fall into.  I do it every time.  I hear candidates candidly complaining about all the problems in the state and national committees and all the backroom crap.  I always have to be reminded that there's a bigger, more correct picture.

[gillianren]

Oh God.  Not to paint with a broad brush, but the people who tend to be the most aggressively ignorant of how the process works are Berniebros.  It is a reliable barometer.  Even the most oxy-addled redneck redhat MAGAt understands that you win by actually showing up at the polls, not by tweeting polemics from your basement. 

The friend I had who was most obsessed with Bernie Sanders four years ago, or perhaps second-most, told me she was going to write in "Yoshua bin Yusuf" on actual election day (she was going through a "Jews for Jesus" phase at the time, and her refusal to listen to me on that point is part of why we're not really friends anymore, as she was not herself Jewish).  She lived in a state where they literally did not count write-in votes, which is true of a lot of states in the general Presidential election.  I explained that to her, and she ranted conspiracist nonsense about Hillary in response.

Mind you, I'm not saying backroom crap is completely irrelevant, but we don't have a Warren G. Harding situation, here.  (For non-Americans, at the time of his nomination only sixteen US states--well under half at the time--even had primaries, and he was definitely nominated in the stereotypical smoke-filled room despite the wishes of pretty much anyone.)  Biden started running so late in the proceedings that several people had pretty well already run through their money and weren't getting support.  (Which is part of why I'm a fan of a mandatory no-campaigning-before-this-date day!)  There were several good establishment Democrat candidates, including my own state's governor--a much better Old White Guy candidate in my opinion--who could've gotten the nomination if the party wanted to force things, and given some of Biden's shady history, it arguable would've been better for them.  There are no allegations of any kind, credible or otherwise, against Jay Inslee.

And now, half my friends seem to have fallen into conspiracist thinking by insisting that the announced positive test is a hoax intended to make us feel sympathy for him before the election or some damn thing.  I've explained to a lot of people that this is not an internally consistent lie with what we know of his psychology, but it seems they don't have a lot of exposure to conspiracism and aren't going to get it.

[JayUtah]

She lived in a state where they literally did not count write-in votes, which is true of a lot of states in the general Presidential election.

Including mine.  Write-in candidates, according to our election law, are simply non-partisan candidates.  (Or candidates from parties not officially recognized by our state.). Filing requirements are the same for those, in terms of deadlines.  Presidential write-in candidates must identify their electors and alternates.  That's why states would have a hard time accepting true write-in votes for President.  Who would be the electors?  States typically publish the lists of electors for each candidate well prior to the election, presumably so that the public can form an opinion about whether they will carry out their public trust^* accurately.  Identifying them and certifying them after the election tends to invalidate the whole idea of an election.

^* The Supreme Court is still wrangling over what sort of federal functionary an Presidential Elector really is.  Defining those contours helps determine to what extent states can regulate the execution of the elector's duty.  This includes, in large measure, faithless elector laws, but it goes beyond that.

[Obviousman]

If anyone tries a "write-in" (assuming it means what I think it means) in Australia, it invalidates the ballot paper, and your vote becomes an 'informal' vote, going to no-one.

[JayUtah]

That's what confuses me about our state's mail ballots.  Ostensibly, traditionally, a "write-in" vote for a candidate is a vote for a person not listed on the ballot.  In my state, any candidate who has not registered as either a party's nominee or a non-partisan candidate for some office before 5pm on Aug. 31 is ineligible no matter how many votes he receives.  But all the names are listed on the ballot.  Yet there is a blank spot on the ballot, with a line specifically labeled "Write In."  In theory you can write in the name of anyone there.  But it has no effect.  It doesn't invalidate the ballot, but apparently it's simply a placebo vote.

[JayUtah]

I should probably add that, my cousin being a Secret Service agent, the President's latest publicity stunt makes me viscerally angry.  Donald J. Trump has absolutely no respect for any life but his own.

[Peter B]

I should probably add that, my cousin being a Secret Service agent, the President's latest publicity stunt makes me viscerally angry.  Donald J. Trump has absolutely no respect for any life but his own.

You mean the little drive around the grounds of the hospital?

[JayUtah]

Yes, hot-boxing his protective detail while the Trump supporters all say, "But you said masks work!"

[grmcdorman]

I should probably add that, my cousin being a Secret Service agent, the President's latest publicity stunt makes me viscerally angry.  Donald J. Trump has absolutely no respect for any life but his own.

Went looking for this, and I agree it's an unconscionable disregard for the safety and well-being of others. Thing is, I don't think Trump is even capable of considering others, not even intellectually. Everything has been all about him from the beginning.

[jfb]

I should probably add that, my cousin being a Secret Service agent, the President's latest publicity stunt makes me viscerally angry.  Donald J. Trump has absolutely no respect for any life but his own.

Maybe Ivanka. 

The thing that's made my wife the angriest about this whole mess is how we've done our best to stay safe by staying home, limiting outside contact, giving up on things like eating out, going to movies, hanging out with friends, etc., and it's all been for nothing because too many people (like her sister) are just living life like nothing's wrong, that there's no reason to wear a mask or not rub up against total strangers, and just basically making sure the goddamned plague never goes away.

Even now, even with the President of the United States having contracted the disease (with all the co-morbidities) and having the kitchen sink of meds thrown at him, you still have people going out of their way to act irresponsibly. 

From a national security standpoint this is frightening.  Senior government officials are either sick or have been exposed.  A number of them would be in bad shape if they developed serious symptoms.  We could very well have a good chunk of the Executive on its back in the hospital in a couple of weeks, and even if they survive they won't be anywhere near 100% for months. 

[gillianren]

This was the best chance to prove good leadership he was ever going to get.  Not least because good leadership in this time would've been so easy.  If he'd spoken up in March and said, "We're going to follow the science and do the best thing for the country, ourselves, and each other," we'd be on the other side of this by now.  But because of his arrogance and narcissism, here we are.  And I'm sorry, but I don't believe these people are being allowed to "preemptively" check into the hospital.  I believe they're lying about how bad off they are because they're still pretending the whole thing is no big deal.  Kellyanne Conway apparently lied to her daughter about having tested positive, and the daughter has now herself tested positive.  May that girl get the emancipation she's seeking; in my opinion, her mother just committed attempted murder.

[grmcdorman]

From CBC (Canada):

Trump has been eager to return home and hates the image of himself at the hospital, according to people familiar with his mood.

From the National Post (also Canada, a conservative news outlet that is the closest thing Canada has to news favourable to Trump):

However, The Washington Post reported Sunday that a growing number of Secret Service agents have been concerned about the president’s seeming indifference to the health risks they face when traveling with him in public, and a few reacted with outrage to the trip, asking how Trump’s desire to be seen outside of his hospital suite justified the jeopardy to agents protecting the president.
...
Trump had said he was bored in the hospital, advisers said. He wanted to show strength after his chief of staff Mark Meadows suggested that he was not doing well as he fought the virus, according to campaign and White House officials.

So it's because he's bored, and wants to show his strength. The guy is ... well, I don't have words.

[jfb]

From CBC (Canada):

Trump has been eager to return home and hates the image of himself at the hospital, according to people familiar with his mood.

From the National Post (also Canada, a conservative news outlet that is the closest thing Canada has to news favourable to Trump):

However, The Washington Post reported Sunday that a growing number of Secret Service agents have been concerned about the president’s seeming indifference to the health risks they face when traveling with him in public, and a few reacted with outrage to the trip, asking how Trump’s desire to be seen outside of his hospital suite justified the jeopardy to agents protecting the president.
...
Trump had said he was bored in the hospital, advisers said. He wanted to show strength after his chief of staff Mark Meadows suggested that he was not doing well as he fought the virus, according to campaign and White House officials.

So it's because he's bored, and wants to show his strength. The guy is ... well, I don't have words.

I have words.  I have all the best words.  And if I used them LO would ban me so quickly you'd hear the air pop. 

[JayUtah]

Secret Service agents famously do not give opinions of their protectees or comment upon what they see and hear while guarding in privacy.  I'm slightly skeptical of the Washington Post's sources.  But I'm also taking into account the sheer inhumanity of this President.