Now that the 2020 Election is over....

[jebutler]

It's not over yet.  It looks like the next few months will be interesting.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/statement-from-president-donald-j.-trump/

It's over. Trump will spend lots of money fighting the result, but its over.

[Voelker]

And I repeat, Peter. If anybody’s got the evidence, bring it. Otherwise, this is nothing.
That Russian thing? Yeah it was true, they interfered on behalf of Trump. but that was then, this is now.

That Russian thing? If anybody has evidence of collusion, bring it.  Otherwise it is nothing.  But you sure cling to it.

There's plenty of evidence that the Russians meddled in the 2016 elections. It is something. Much was done in 2020 to try and curtail meddling in our elections by foreign governments.

To repeat with emphasis:
That Russian thing? If anybody has evidence of collusion, bring it.  Otherwise it is nothing.  But you sure cling to it.

Nope. Don't cling to Trump colluding with the Russians. Can you admit that the Russians meddled in the 2016 elections?

So we've gone from meddling by the Russians to being owned by the Chinese. Sounds like a fair exchange.

"We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." — William Casey.

[peter_speckhard]

And I repeat, Peter. If anybody’s got the evidence, bring it. Otherwise, this is nothing.
That Russian thing? Yeah it was true, they interfered on behalf of Trump. but that was then, this is now.

That Russian thing? If anybody has evidence of collusion, bring it.  Otherwise it is nothing.  But you sure cling to it.

There's plenty of evidence that the Russians meddled in the 2016 elections. It is something. Much was done in 2020 to try and curtail meddling in our elections by foreign governments.

To repeat with emphasis:
That Russian thing? If anybody has evidence of collusion, bring it.  Otherwise it is nothing.  But you sure cling to it.

Nope. Don't cling to Trump colluding with the Russians. Can you admit that the Russians meddled in the 2016 elections?

Why was Trump impeached? What difference did Russia robots buying a small number of Facebook ads, many of them after the fact, make in the final tally. Probably Russia has tried to throw disinformation into all of our elections. It should have been a non-story from day one.

[Brian Stoffregen]

Nope. Don't cling to Trump colluding with the Russians. Can you admit that the Russians meddled in the 2016 elections?

Sure or well they tried. It is unproven at best that they succeeded in changing one electoral vote, or that the election outcome would have been any different if they had done nothing.

No way to check that out. We cannot go back and redo the election without the Russian interference.

[Richard Johnson]

It's not over yet.  It looks like the next few months will be interesting.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/statement-from-president-donald-j.-trump/

It's over. Trump will spend lots of money fighting the result, but its over.

I imagine the money will be spent by his campaign, not by Trump himself.

[Richard Johnson]

Why was Trump impeached? What difference did Russia robots buying a small number of Facebook ads, many of them after the fact, make in the final tally. Probably Russia has tried to throw disinformation into all of our elections. It should have been a non-story from day one.

If I remember correctly, the impeachment inquiry and vote was about Trump's questionable dealings with Ukraine, not about Russian interference in the 2016 election. There were some who wanted to include the Russia stuff, but the articles of impeachment themselves mention Russia in only two contexts: (1) reference to "a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential election"; and (2) his threat to withhold "funds that Congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and security assistance to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression."

[John_Hannah]

Why was Trump impeached? What difference did Russia robots buying a small number of Facebook ads, many of them after the fact, make in the final tally. Probably Russia has tried to throw disinformation into all of our elections. It should have been a non-story from day one.

If I remember correctly, the impeachment inquiry and vote was about Trump's questionable dealings with Ukraine, not about Russian interference in the 2016 election. There were some who wanted to include the Russia stuff, but the articles of impeachment themselves mention Russia in only two contexts: (1) reference to "a discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2016 United States Presidential election"; and (2) his threat to withhold "funds that Congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and security assistance to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression."

That's what I recall too. Nothing from the Mueller Report. All about Ukraine.

Peace, JOHN

[Richard Johnson]

Now speculation is ramping up about who might replace Kamala Harris in the Senate from California. The LA Times today suggested the following "short list":
Rep. Karen Bass of Los Angeles
Atty Gen Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles (though raised in Sacramento)
Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach
Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland
Secretary of State Alex Padilla of Los Angeles

There's a second tier, as well, but you likely wouldn't recognize any of those names (I didn't, and I live here). One thing that stands out is that there are no white males on the list. (My personal choice--just to drive you Republicans batty--would be Adam Schiff.  ) The second thing to notice is that it is extremely likely California will be represented by a Southern Californian for the first time since 1992--and, if one of the men is named, the first time there's been a man in the Senate from California since 1993.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Becerra--Latino, already has Washington experience (former Congressman), has already run a statewide campaign.

[Keith Falk]

Frankly, I think you'd have to be pretty willfully naïve to believe Russia hasn't attempted to interfere with our elections. I'm sure it's been happening for a long while.  Of course, we in the USA are above interfering in the elections and selections of who runs the government in other countries... right?   


And, as others have noted, there is a vast difference between conceding Russia meddled (or attempted to) and saying President Trump (or anyone else) colluded with Russians.

[Coach-Rev]

I suspect that Republicans are already planning for the midterm elections.  They may have lost the presidency, but historically they stand to gain in the House in two years, building on gains from this election.  Of course Biden has a chance to show that he is not strictly partisan and inspire folks from both sides.  The next few months will be telling....

considering he first said he was going to work even harder for those who did NOT vote for him (last wednesday's speech), and then on Thursday claimed to have a mandate to enact a radical left agenda, I'm not holding my breath on him not being partisan.  In fact, we've even got a betting pool on when pelosi has him declared incompetent and gets Kamala in as POTUS.

FWIW, close, contested elections in 7 states does not a mandate make, any more than George W had after the 2000 election.

[Richard Johnson]

I suspect that Republicans are already planning for the midterm elections.  They may have lost the presidency, but historically they stand to gain in the House in two years, building on gains from this election.  Of course Biden has a chance to show that he is not strictly partisan and inspire folks from both sides.  The next few months will be telling....

considering he first said he was going to work even harder for those who did NOT vote for him (last wednesday's speech), and then on Thursday claimed to have a mandate to enact a radical left agenda, I'm not holding my breath on him not being partisan.  In fact, we've even got a betting pool on when pelosi has him declared incompetent and gets Kamala in as POTUS.

FWIW, close, contested elections in 7 states does not a mandate make, any more than George W had after the 2000 election.

Could you please provide a link for his statement that his mandate is "to enact a radical left agenda"?

[wmattsfield]

I suspect that Republicans are already planning for the midterm elections.  They may have lost the presidency, but historically they stand to gain in the House in two years, building on gains from this election.  Of course Biden has a chance to show that he is not strictly partisan and inspire folks from both sides.  The next few months will be telling....

considering he first said he was going to work even harder for those who did NOT vote for him (last wednesday's speech), and then on Thursday claimed to have a mandate to enact a radical left agenda, I'm not holding my breath on him not being partisan.  In fact, we've even got a betting pool on when pelosi has him declared incompetent and gets Kamala in as POTUS.

FWIW, close, contested elections in 7 states does not a mandate make, any more than George W had after the 2000 election.

Could you please provide a link for his statement that his mandate is "to enact a radical left agenda"?

Some of that depends on what he means by action on COVID, the economy, climate change and systematic racism. Based on what he said in the debate, I doubt he's going to go middle-of-the-road on these things. Still, if things stand as they are, he won and elections have consequences. And there's a good chance he will even gave the Senate, so this of us who disagree with his policies will have no say for at least two years. 'Bringing the country together," almost certainly means "by agreeing to leftist policies." And there's little reason it shouldn't.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/campaign/524912-biden-claims-a-mandate-to-govern-calls-for-end-to-partisan-warfare%3famp

"They've given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, on climate change and systemic racism. They made it clear they want the country to come together not continue to pull apart."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also said this week that Democrats have been given a "strong mandate to lead," though many in her party were deeply disappointed by their performance in down-ballot races on Tuesday.

[Richard Johnson]

In fact, we've even got a betting pool on when pelosi has him declared incompetent and gets Kamala in as POTUS.

Jeff, I find a tasteless statement like that to be not only uncharitable in the extreme, but profoundly ignorant of how the 25th amendment works. I hope you are joking, but frankly, it isn't funny.

[Charles Austin]

Richard, I think you should delete that statement About getting Biden declared incompetent. We don’t want bounce-off-the-wall things like that turning up somewhere in the metadata, do we?

[Charles Austin]

Biden speech tonight closed with the line from the hymn “and he will raise you up on Eagles wings.”