United States Presidential election - 2020

[Barry]

I was speculating before on the crisis that would arise if Trump won the presidential election, in the light of his disgraceful behaviour during the count. Thankfully it now looks very unlikely he could win but even so there's a lot of damage he could do in the two and a bit months left of his term. It would be but a small step in his mindset to see him blaming the American people for his downfall, that could be very dangerous. So now I'm wondering if there will be attempts to remove him from office immediately, given that a lot of Republican politicians seem to have turned against him and now see him as a liability. A couple of months of President Pence would be a small price to pay for calming down the political climate in the USA, which has effects beyond its borders.

I'm sure they can wait till January Quackers.

He's only got about 10 weeks to start a war somewhere, but hang on, no - he pretty much made peace with North Korea.
He helped give the Arabian peninsula confidence to make treaties with Israel - even after moving their embassy.
They won't be giving him any peace prizes though. He kept to his non interventionist policies.
Two Bushes, Clinton and Obama all were responsible for wars.

Let's see how the Dems get on.

[HDQQ]

Is the UK electoral system(s) as easy to manipulate and disrupt by one person as the US system appears to be?
And although I understand the historical reasons for why there's so long between voting in a presidential election and the swearing in two months later (it used to be longer!!!), I've not seen a reasonable explanation for why a lame duck and mischevous president should be allowed so long to stir up trouble....

I was speculating before on the crisis that would arise if Trump won the presidential election, in the light of his disgraceful behaviour during the count. Thankfully it now looks very unlikely he could win but even so there's a lot of damage he could do in the two and a bit months left of his term. It would be but a small step in his mindset to see him blaming the American people for his downfall, that could be very dangerous. So now I'm wondering if there will be attempts to remove him from office immediately, given that a lot of Republican politicians seem to have turned against him and now see him as a liability. A couple of months of President Pence would be a small price to pay for calming down the political climate in the USA, which has effects beyond its borders.

[Javert]

I dont agree with your basic point , but theres not much point in going over it again and again.

What does interest me is the basic problem the democrats have in yank land seems to be mirroring what labour have over here...



https://youtu.be/QyG7WoAFiWw

One thing to add around that - the blue wave or whatever you want to call it is still not impossible although unlikely.

There are two US Senate seats in Georgia which will go to a run off in January.  If the democrats were to win both those seats, the Senate would be tiead, and as I understand it, Vice President Harris (Democrat) would then get the casting vote.

That said, I don't know enough about the details of US politics, but from what I've heard, even when all 3 branches of government are held by the same party, it's still a sh*t show trying to get anything passed.

[johnofgwent]

Well yes - as I understand it, the fellows who put that whole system together, felt that it was important that rural states with lots of farmland and villages, should not be overwhelmed by the voting power of states with huge populations and large cities.

As such, they rigged the system so that rural states like the Rust belt ones had more voting power per head of population than the highly populated ones, and I suspect that this difference has become even more pronounced over time.

This means that for good or ill, a farmer in Indiana's vote counts for more than an IT worker in California.

So much for democracy you might think, but I guess no system is perfect.

The truth is when that system was put together it took a week or two for a pony express rider to take news of a momentous event coast to coast

The system has been whinged about by both sides in my lifetime.

Funny how neither side could get their biased Congress to vote in something new job n the forty odd years I have known of the systems failings ...

[cromwell]

I must say that I have been pretty scathing of both Presidential candidates but their performances since poling ended have been staggeringly different. Biden, who obviously feels that the vote will go his way has shown an understanding of the position of President with his calm calls for patience. Trump on the other hand seems to lose stature each time he opens his mouth. I just wonder how many Trump voters are seeing a different side to their man.

Well when he was elected there was much said about how him being elected was wrong,there'd be nuclear war and basically the world would end,none of that happened or was correct but he is his own worst enemy,

Who the yanks elect is their business and in this case it's not him so he shouldn't be behaving like a spoilt kid,and jeopardising democracy.
https://youtu.be/7Z9YPawV1vs

[Javert]

Delaware has a population of just under 1 million, about 330 thousand people per electoral college vote.
California has a population of about 39.5 million, about 718 thousand people per electoral college vote.

Well yes - as I understand it, the fellows who put that whole system together, felt that it was important that rural states with lots of farmland and villages, should not be overwhelmed by the voting power of states with huge populations and large cities.

As such, they rigged the system so that rural states like the Rust belt ones had more voting power per head of population than the highly populated ones, and I suspect that this difference has become even more pronounced over time.

This means that for good or ill, a farmer in Indiana's vote counts for more than an IT worker in California.

So much for democracy you might think, but I guess no system is perfect.

[Nalaar]

However, in America Delaware will return the equivalent of 3 MPs while California manages 55, which could look a little lopsided.

Delaware has a population of just under 1 million, about 330 thousand people per electoral college vote.
California has a population of about 39.5 million, about 718 thousand people per electoral college vote.

[Borchester]

Trump has does his bit for the US economy and kept his country out of foreign wars and that should have been enough to secure him a second term. Unfortunately, he has the manners of a badly brought up hog, so that is him buggered.

Is the UK electoral system(s) as easy to manipulate and disrupt by one person as the US system appears to be?

No, it isn't. In the UK governments are formed by the number of seats they manage to obtain. There are certain problems with this, but since all the constituencies are roughly the same size, things work out more or less evenly. However, in America Delaware will return the equivalent of 3 MPs while California manages 55, which could look a little lopsided.

[Borchester]

Andrew Yang is an outstanding presidential candidate, and would of been my preferred option over Biden. I expect he will be a force going forward in future Democrat presidential races, if the Democrats are smart enough to stick with him.

Everyone is an outstanding presidential candidate until he actually gets the job.

[Nalaar]

What does interest me is the basic problem the democrats have in yank land seems to be mirroring what labour have over here...

Andrew Yang is an outstanding presidential candidate, and would of been my preferred option over Biden. I expect he will be a force going forward in future Democrat presidential races, if the Democrats are smart enough to stick with him.

[patman post]

Is the UK electoral system(s) as easy to manipulate and disrupt by one person as the US system appears to be?
And although I understand the historical reasons for why there's so long between voting in a presidential election and the swearing in two months later (it used to be longer!!!), I've not seen a reasonable explanation for why a lame duck and mischevous president should be allowed so long to stir up trouble....

[Borchester]

Trump's advisers should now tell him that when he has definitely lost, (possibly in just a few hours) he needs to make a graceful speech accepting that Biden won, fair and square.

Well he does Barry, but that is not exactly Trump's style is it?

Trump has does his bit for the US economy and kept his country out of foreign wars and that should have been enough to secure him a second term. Unfortunately, he has the manners of a badly brought up hog, so that is him buggered.

[Barry]

its over nalaar. They are merely tidying up loose ends .

Trump's advisers should now tell him that when he has definitely lost, (possibly in just a few hours) he needs to make a graceful speech accepting that Biden won, fair and square.

[Thomas]

Indeed.  Doesn't change the fact that this is what I was hearing from the people who seemed to me to be most plausible.

I do agree that some of the polls in the final days putting Biden 17% ahead in one state or suchlike were completely wrong, but nevertheless the situation is playing out exactly as those commentators I hears on detailed political podcasts were suggesting.  They were also not suggesting that Biden would win a landslide or a blue wave - they said there was a chance of that but by no means sure.

I dont agree with your basic point , but theres not much point in going over it again and again.

What does interest me is the basic problem the democrats have in yank land seems to be mirroring what labour have over here...

Andrew Yang former presidential candidate says Democrats need to improve their appeal to the working class: "In there minds the Democratic party unfortunately has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life.

https://youtu.be/QyG7WoAFiWw

[Javert]

sorry javert , but you must have been listening to different political commentary to me.

Indeed.  Doesn't change the fact that this is what I was hearing from the people who seemed to me to be most plausible.

I do agree that some of the polls in the final days putting Biden 17% ahead in one state or suchlike were completely wrong, but nevertheless the situation is playing out exactly as those commentators I hears on detailed political podcasts were suggesting.  They were also not suggesting that Biden would win a landslide or a blue wave - they said there was a chance of that but by no means sure.