2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[River]

I feel like the SoS of Georgia has lost his temper and is ready to just burn the whole party down.

I also feel like Giuliani is getting exploited. Doesn't he have family who can intervene?

[N.E. Brigand]

Well this seems like flat-out voter suppression:

The board of elections in Wayne County, Michigan, which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, has deadlocked on certifying the county results.

The Wayne Co. board of elections chair is a Republican and says she would certify all of the county except for Detroit.

You know, where many of the black residents of the county live.

Apparently this attempt to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters can be blocked: the state board of elections takes over and presumably will certify the results.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It's not voter suppression if the results are going to be certified. At most it is a dismissible bit of pettiness.

[N.E. Brigand]

It's not voter suppression if the results are going to be certified. At most it is a dismissible bit of pettiness.

[N.E. Brigand]

Florida's certified presidential election results:

Donald Trump -- 5,668,731 (=51.2%)
Joe Biden -- 5,297,045 (=47.9%)

If you went back in time a year and told political analysts that Joe Biden would get almost 5.3 million votes in Florida, they'd assume that he'd win by 10%.

(In 2016, Hillary Clinton took 4.5 million votes in Florida, which worked out to 47.8% of the total there.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I feel like the SoS of Georgia has lost his temper and is ready to just burn the whole party down.

I also feel like Giuliani is getting exploited. Doesn't he have family who can intervene?

I listened to some of the hearing. The judge was very deferential towards Giuliani. The other lawyers all but called him batshit crazy. He had no idea of the proper procedures, or the relevant law. Any other attorney acting that way in a hearing in Federal Court would have gotten a stern talking to.

The judge gave Giuliani am opportunity to submit a brief on the motion to dismiss the case by tomorrow afternoon and the attorneys for the state a chance to reply to that by noon on Thursday. He didn't say so but I suspect he will rule on Friday, and I will be very surprised if he doesn't grant the motion to dismiss, despite his deference to Giuliani.

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[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently this attempt to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters can be blocked: the state board of elections takes over and presumably will certify the results

The state board is also split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, so it is possible, though not likely, that it will also deadlock and fail to certify the county's results. It is unclear what would happen.

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[Dave_LF]

The Republicans relented and certified the results. They just needed to make fools of themselves and the rest of us first, I guess.

[RoseMorninStar]

I feel like the SoS of Georgia has lost his temper and is ready to just burn the whole party down.

I also feel like Giuliani is getting exploited. Doesn't he have family who can intervene?

I listened to some of the hearing. The judge was very deferential towards Giuliani. The other lawyers all but called him batshit crazy. He had no idea of the proper procedures, or the relevant law. Any other attorney acting that way in a hearing in Federal Court would have gotten a stern talking to.

The judge gave Giuliani am opportunity to submit a brief on the motion to dismiss the case by tomorrow afternoon and the attorneys for the state a chance to reply to that by noon on Thursday. He didn't say so but I suspect he will rule on Friday, and I will be very surprised if he doesn't grant the motion to dismiss, despite his deference to Giuliani.

Is it possible in a situation such as this (a mentally unstable, incompetent lawyer) would be handled behind the scenes, especially for such a public case? Chastising an unbalanced person who is obviously in need of help doesn't seem to be the way it should be handled in court. Not that I would know how it should be handled.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Republicans relented and certified the results. They just needed to make fools of themselves and the rest of us first, I guess.

I was just coming to post that, but you beat me to it!

Have you seen anything in which the Republican chair of the board, Monica Palmer, or the other GOP member, explained why they switched their position (other than that they needed to make fools of themselves first)?

[River]

I'm curious as well. Betcha they got a signal from either highly ranked people in the Michigan Legislature or the state canvassing board that this wasn't going to fly. Or, given that they're going to request an audit, maybe someone from the SoS's office called and made some polite suggestions.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

In between, Mr. Trump tweeted about how courageous the two Republicans were. I would suspect he probably will change his tune, though I haven't seen anything yet.

[Túrin Turambar]

The decline of Rudy Giuliani has been one of the many strange episodes of 2020. It would have been hard to imagine eighteen years ago that America's mayor, Time Person of the Year, Rudy Giuliani KBE, would one day be a figure of ridicule, pushing conspiracy theories on behalf of a legal client.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Republicans relented and certified the results. They just needed to make fools of themselves and the rest of us first, I guess.

I was just coming to post that, but you beat me to it!

Have you seen anything in which the Republican chair of the board, Monica Palmer, or the other GOP member, explained why they switched their position (other than that they needed to make fools of themselves first)?

I believe that their initial decision was followed by a period of public commentary (via video) from hundreds of people who didn't hold back.

This seems to be an example.

Interesting point he makes about Palmer having said she would be willing to certify all of Wayne County except for Detroit (which is 80% black) despite the fact that Livonia (which is 95% white) apparently had worse discrepancies. "Your grandchildren are going to think of you like Bull Conner or George Wallace."

In between the two votes, reporters learned that the other Republican board member, William Hartmann, likes to post questionable memes and conspiracy theories.

[Dave_LF]

Have you seen anything in which the Republican chair of the board, Monica Palmer, or the other GOP member, explained why they switched their position (other than that they needed to make fools of themselves first)?

No. I suspect it's what you and NE suggested--the higher-ups made it clear the results were going to be certified anyway one way or another, they got flooded with anger and (probably) literal death threats from the public, and decided it wasn't a hill worth dying on.

[Dave_LF]

(apologies)

gollum_trump.jpg (37.53 KiB) Viewed 2898 times

[RoseMorninStar]

[elengil]

[Inanna]

Lol. But yes, apologies to Gollum, I agree.