Don’t go out tonight, you’re bound to lose your life. There’s a bad moon on the rise. Credence Clearwater Revival
Look, y’all know me. And if there’s one thing you know, it’s that I don’t bullshit. I may throw bullshit around, but it’s right out front, and easily identifiable, a part of a greater point. But in my writing, I never seek to shovel you a ration of bullshit to mislead you.
This is going to be a tough election. No matter how far ahead the polls show that Biden is, there’s nothing that is certain. And there are plenty of very serious risks that can’t be cast aside if you take the election seriously. GOP controlled states are up on their hind legs trying every trick in the book to suppress the vote. Fortunately, thanks to activists like Stacey Abrams, we’re in a better position to stall those until post election than we were in 2016. And the postal service assault is serious as a heart attack, but thanks to premature ejaculation Donnie once again shooting his wad too soon,states and congress have time to try to offset his potential damage.
But there is one thing that we as Democrats and voters don’t have to worry about, and frankly, I’m sick to death of hearing about it. And that thing is some giant, malevolent, phantom army of Trump supporters waiting in the wings to swoop in and save the day!
Let’s get this clear, there is no. massive. hidden. Trump Army waiting to swoop in to the rescue. and there never has been! The whole thong is nothing but a cheap frame up con job that does all the way back to the 2016 GOP primaries, and that the mainstream media bought into whole cloth.
Trump himself initiated the con back in the primaries, bragging about how his candidacy had brought out millions of disenfranchised or lethargic GOP voters to propel him to victory. This is pure, unadulterated bullshit. Trump may have brought out tens of thousands of previously uninterested, largely racist and sexist voters to back him, but statistically, there was no major variance between the 2016 GOP primaries, and previous GOP primaries.
Likewise, there is no statistical evidence of Trump’s claim in the general election. While it may be true that Trump managed to motivate hundreds of thousands of racist bucket heads to vote for him, the trade off was that he turned off hundreds of thousands of center-right and independent voters who either stayed home, or cast their votes for a third party candidate such as Jill Stein. Ask yourself this simple question. If Trump mobilized this mammoth army in conjunction with the already existing GOP base, how in the hell did he manage to lose the national vote by 2 million votes?!?
So please, let’s just be real. There are many hurdles to ensuring that we have a fair and equitable count for the 2020 election, and I will be writing about those. But in our discourse, let’s please stick with rational issues, and not phantom armies of slobbering Trombies. If you look at the greatest blowout presidential elections of the last century, you will see that the loser managed to hit the 40% mark. In a country with only two dominant political parties, 40% is pretty much assured. But it ain’t enough.
To know the future, look to the past.before the insanity of the 2020 election, relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, and the general election, to see how we got to where we are. Copies of President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange are available as e-books on Amazon, at the links above. Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy, President Evil III: All The Presidents Fen
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Right now, given what’s happened to the Post Office what’s worrying me is in person voter suppression by intimidation with that consent decree having expired in 2018. One of the few things I believe coming out of the Trump campaign is that they are spending tens of millions to have 50k “volunteers” (I suspect many of them will get paid under the table in cash) to patrol heavily Democratic areas and even intrude into polling places to challenge voters with their bogus lists of “eligible voters” in whatever location they are assigned to. Or harass them outside. Or patrol down streets with signs, while wearing fake badges and or some type of designation about being a “Federal Voter Fraud Prevention Agent” and stuff like that. Armed btw. We need to get out in front of this stuff starting right now, as people will be requesting absentee ballots soon. And remember, while I believe goons from Erik Prince’s company and similar ones will be part of the mix, the bulk of these assholes will be MAGA goobers who don’t believe Covid19 is real and are perfectly willing to go door to door in Democratic neighborhoods and, displaying their “credentials” start threatening people with lines like “I want to make sure you’re aware that voting illegally is a felony, and even requesting a ballot is too unless you have met (insert bogus requirements) the following criteria. They’ve got all kinds of pre-voting rights act stuff from the old south to use when the guys behind the counter came up with any number of trivia questions even they couldn’t actually answer to deny a black person being able to register.
This IS going to happen, and on a wide scale. We not only need to have our people educated about this, but our own people monitoring neighborhoods and with a number that people can call them to get video so that they can call LE and the FBI and file official reports of people impersonating federal agents. Or walking ahead with megaphones to tell people they aren’t required to open their doors to these vote suppressing goobers. Others can probably come up with more and better ideas. But we need to be organizing for this now! If I were physically up to it I’d be begging the Democratic Party over in Durham (city and county) to volunteer in the streets to counter this stuff since being a tall & big guy it would give the MAGAt’s pause if I was healthy.
This is something where us white folks need to be out there side by side with non-white folks to help discourage the MAGA goons from what they are being organized to do. The bulk of them believe we lack the courage to stand up to them, but like most bullies when challenged they will slink away. Maybe they will try a little bluster but with video being taken and if told it’s being live streamed to our own voter protection folks (and it actually SHOULD be) they will more often than not decide they’ve “made their point” and decide they’ve got “other priorities” for their time after that. But we can’t let up until after everyone in line has voted on election day.
One thing they’ve done before is publicize elections with incorrect dates or polling places – in minority areas, because of course.
If Trump gets 40% this time, it is too many. AS Glenn Kirshner says every day, Trump needs to lose so resoundingly that not only moots any challenge to the vote count, but also drives home the point that Americans reject once and for all his and his supporters’ vision of America.
After the last election, where ‘everyone’ ‘knew’ Hilary was going to win by miles, so people didn’t vote or wasted their vote in a ‘protest’ vote, it seems very clear now that the D vote has coalesced behind BidenHarris and no-one is going to risk losing their chance to vote.
And lets not forget, Hilary did win the popular vote, Trump was lucky to win the electoral college. It won’t happen again.
We continue to be aided also by Trump’s stupidity. The Post Office thing MIGHT have worked had he timed it better. But it’s doubtful that GOP pols would be backing as far away from this stunt as possible if that imaginary army you mentioned existed, Murf. What kills me–and I’m sorry but some of the reactions to the Post Office assault have brought some of the WORST examples of this–is that people on our side keep confusing paranoia with vigilance, unthinking outrage for decisive action and what would make them feel better over acknowledging the facts on the ground. We’re supposed to be better than that…isn’t it past time we started acting like it? A world where the first instance of decisive pushback on DeJoy comes from Montana (!) and Mitt Romney is the first GOP voice to speak out against such is one where we’re winning.