I hear distant echoes of a possible Biden/Harris victory, but I refuse to believe it until the hammer drops and the evil orange turd is declared a loser, and fired. Until then, I’ll just read The Rude Pundit’s take.
I gotta tell you: I watched Trump’s appearance today in the White House press room with enough burning schadenfreude to power a small city. As much as I wanted to be appalled and saddened and enraged, mostly what I thought was “Suffer, motherfucker.” If Biden ends up winning, as almost everyone seems to believe he will, this excruciating ballot count will have been worth it because Donald Fucking Trump was dragged down into the shit he created, watching it all fall apart. Sure, a swift ending would have been preferable, but this is so obviously tearing his tiny brain and his titanic ego to shreds that I’ll take it.
I’m almost tempted to tune into the preznit’s Twitter feed or to watch one of his press appearances just to see the meltdown in progress, but I shall resist. Get him out first, then let’s sweep out the rest of the slime.
But I’m not celebrating yet. I’ve witnessed too many years of Republican ratfucking.
According to a couple of the mainstream news sources the Airforce has announced flight restrictions over the airspace above the Biden home. Also his secret service detail has been increased. FWIW
Amen on that. Trump may get to suffer a bit, but don’t underestimate the great blobbyness of his massively deluded ego. For lo, his powers of rationalization know no bounds.
Hopefully his remaining years will be spent with him being eaten away by lawsuits and watching his followers dwindle away as they discover the the next shiny object. At least that. He can’t be reviled enough, not so much for what he is, as what all that he is says about America.
After we finish “celebrating” we can get on with our regularly scheduled freak-out over “faithless electors.”
Got to hand it to the Framers. A brilliant piece of work, the US Constitution. What genre is it again? Would it be more accurate to call it Kafkaesque surrealism or Lovecraftian horror?
At least with respect to the presidential winner, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Biden’s lead in PA will not require any mail in ballots that arrived after election day, and is clearly going to be too large to be impacted by a recount. Most news outlets will probably call PA, and the entire race, today.
I would have preferred watching him freak out in a bunker while the lights go momentarily out because of the artillery fire.
Then we would know that both the leader and the followers are fucked once and for all.
….”When will Steiner break through to Washington?”
He may not concede. According to CNN FoxNews is circulating a memo not to refer to Biden as President Elect.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/media/fox-news-election-projection-plan/index.html
Somehow the Orange Turd may delay or drag stuff into mid December causing problems (with certification etc?).
I love this: “In a statement, Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said: “As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election.” …”And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House,” added Mr Bates, in apparent reference to the Republican president.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/biden-trump-us-election-white-house-b1644175.html
The openly neofascist Sebastian Gorka is already talking about Dems winning because of ballot stuffing.
I very much doubt that the transnational crime cartel backed by Russia and Israel that got Trump elected in the first place will just give up now and let the USA go back to being a democracy. Never mind Trump’s hurt ego when he rage tweets seditionist garbage, there are bigger interests at stake here for Putin, the Kochs, Saudi etc. They will drag it out in the courts as long as they can, and they installed theocrat barbie ACB for that reason alone. A concession speech by Trump is not required for Biden to become POTUS, but I said 4 years ago to get this dude out of the White House, the military will have to take a side.
Re: PaulBC @ #3…
The system was set up when likely candidates had no way to be widely known and when the fastest land communication was a man on a horse. Given the desired constraints and communication realities of the time, it wasn’t a bad choice.
In general…
The leader of the Pennsylvania Senate has rejected outright the suggestions that the legislature stage a “coup” by declaring the election fraudulent and setting up their own panel of electors. The other fly in that ointment is that the EC votes are counted by the House, under Ms. Pelosi.
Re: stroppy @ #2…
New York. Criminal charges. That should keep him occupied for quite a while, and possibly on ice until he’s dead. (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the stress of the long count and loss cause a heart attack or stroke, though I’d rather it was–in order of preference–after he’s kicked out of the White House, after the House announces that the EC vote means Biden is President Elect, after the EC votes. But in practice…any time now will do.)
What? You don’t BURN schadenfreude you hack!
You sip it. You savior it. You appreciate the mouth-feel (Insert ContraPoints reference here). You let it slide down your throat then let the satisfaction that an evil shit is getting their just deserts in a universe that guarantees none warm you belly. Then you take another.
I’ll second the Rude Pundit with much the same feeling. Even if it doesn’t go to Biden in the end, it’s fun to watch Trumptilla squirm.
rorschach — I find it difficult to believe that the “transnational crime cartel” care about the out come of this particular election in this particular country. It is backed by transnational capitalists who don’t give a fuck about Russia, Israel, or any other nation…which is just playing that xenophobic tune they like to use to drum up resentment in the hoi polloi. Plus, they think long term and big picture. Trump is just an instrument and they’ve got plenty of levers to pull. Besides, the Trump term has given them an even more conservative, corporate Federal court system right up to SCOTUS. Some of them are already washing their hands of Trump…which is probably scarier for him than anything because he will disappear into oblivion.
The US Supreme Court was held back from going christofascist by an 87 year old woman, Ruth Ginsburg.
So now the US Executive branch and what is left of our democracy depends on..an 80 year old woman, Nancy Pelosi.
There is something happening here but what it is, isn’t clear*.
A system of democracy that depends on two old woman for survival doesn’t seem all that stable.
*Cultural reference song line
I think I’m not a schadenfreudian enough. At times like this, I think of the best Spongebob episode ever made:
Trump may be recoiling in terror over what’s next, and maybe he ought to be given his long list of crimes. And maybe I ought to take an interest.
But I just want the hat back.
Steven Colbert has some good comments, and there is a fun segment with Trump’s “spiritual advisor” 13 minutes in.
https://youtu.be/TeSiJmLoJd0
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
Recommended music: “Party Party Party” https://youtu.be/4A1SiQkPqYM
I’m almost tempted to tune into the preznit’s Twitter feed or to watch one of his press appearances just to see the meltdown in progress,
Just do what I do. Catch the highlights on your favorite late night show. Colbert was on fire last night.
Who cares. As long as he is packed and gone in January.
The margins are all very small.
The wicked witch isn’t dead until it is…dead.
robro @ 13,
“Trump is just an instrument and they’ve got plenty of levers to pull. Besides, the Trump term has given them an even more conservative, corporate Federal court system right up to SCOTUS.”
Couldn’t agree more. The lasting damage to the courts is done already.
@18
I can’t listen to that song without thinking of Hellsing Ultimate Abridged. (That, and “You Better Get Ready To Die.”)
rorschach@21 If the GOP is a little bit smart and not driven by vindictiveness (big ifs there) the most reasonable next step is to cash their chips in on Trump and move on. They did it with George W. Bush. Bush got them massive tax cuts and SCOTUS seats. I’m not sure on balance his wars have paid off politically for them, but who knows. Anyway, they got what they needed and now he does his oil painting and nobody wants to admit that he was a near unassailable autocrat for a time (or frontman for autocrat Cheney).
It’s a ratcheting effect and they know how to play it better than anyone.
One hitch is the base. It wasn’t hard to set bigots against Bush by pointing to his relatively reasonable (at compared to Trump) views on immigration policy. Trump on the other hand is the leader they have always wanted. It might be tough to let them down.
raven @14 Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth
There’s somethin’ happenin’ here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
A-tellin’ me I got to beware
Låter, it will be time for the loong task of repairing everything. Right now, I feel like these rescue foxes.
https://youtu.be/G2ImDqOOcGE
PaulBC @ 23,
“the most reasonable next step is to cash their chips in on Trump and move on”
I see no evidence of that yet with major GOP operatives like McConnell, Cruz, Rubio or McCarthy, but admittedly it’s early days in Trump’s election loss.
@26 Lindsey Graham came out on the side of Trump’s batshit crazy fraud allegations. So yes, they have thrown in their lot with Trump and won’t predictably drop him, but I don’t see a lot of gain in it for them. It just shows the cult has rotted a lot of minds in very high positions of power.
Just read somewhere Biden has received more popular votes than any other POTUS .
Still might be candidate ,not POTUS .
The military picked a side a long time ago – the Constitution.
Still, if necessary, I’ve been selecting firing points for PA Guard MLRS systems. Only need one battery and it’s only an hour’s ride to have the target in range. I’ll happily direct fire as a forward observer, as I have no clue on how to work that infernal contraption.
We referred to MLRS as “the grid square eraser”, as it literally can blanket a square kilometer in steel fragments.
I mention the PA Guard for a reason, as he already threatened the Commonwealth. I’m sure we have plenty of training rounds available.*
*We jokingly call practice mortar rounds lawn darts, due to their propensity for sticking into the dirt. Requiring a shovel to retrieve for reuse.
Civilian here. And very much a pacifist out of long family tradition. But I think the only thing I find shocking in your description is that the US military uses metric. I actually thought defense contractors had to work in English units. Am I completely wrong?
I work for a defense contractor. We can work in any units we want. We provide specifications in whatever units they ask for, but in my experience, it’s mixed. Distances and beam diameters in km and mm. Sizes in pounds and inches.
@30
The US Military has been using kilometers or “Klicks” at least as far back as the Vietnam war.
Ed Seedhouse : the only thing I see that vaguely matches is this NOTAM:
https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_0_4723.html
Note that it’s dated Wednesday and expired Thursday.
PaulBC: I’ve seen the weirdest mix of units from military contractors. Like kg-force per square inch level of “that’s now how any of this works”.
Yes, it was Buffalo Springfield 1966
About the Sunset Strip demonstrations at the dawn of the youth movement.
I’ve bee trolling the Orange Idiot’s twitter feed with f*** off songs. I found one which I hadn’t heard by Lily Allen – F*** You – which seems tailor made for the tyrant’s ousting.
I wonder how the Qanon loons are going to cope with this and spin it.
@36
May I recommend “Creep” by Radiohead.
But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here
The only Radiohead song I like and the only Radiohead song Thom York hates.
For some reason I am reminded of the final days of the Ceausescu regime in Rumania. Wasn’t there a moment where a huge crowd in front of the Presidential Palace booed him until he had to retreat, and that signalled the end was coming (he was hung). I guess that’s why the White House is now surrounded by big barriers. Or am I misremembering?
#38
The Ceausescus were unceremoniously shoved against a wall – and shot.
No rope was harmed.
Yeah, I have thought about Ceaușescu before with respect to Trump. But there are definitely still parts of the country where he is wildly popular.
@39, ah yes, I was confusing them with Mussolini…
Akira MacKenzie @22
It would be nice if Mitch McConnell, the Trump clan, Proud Boys, Rupert Murdoch and Koch would collect in a single location as during Alucard’s return (with religious militants, the Klan and the fucking nazis standing at the Thames).
-3 minutes in you have Alucard doing his surprise entrance and at 4.40 Integra Helsing says the words that releases restraint level zero:
“Alucard…..go for a walk”.
https://youtu.be/DQG2Ma4sedk
It’s turning out to be a weary, indifferent victory. Just in case anyone felt excited about president Biden, there’s no right moment for celebration. There’s not even a right moment for sudden relief, or schadenfreude. There’s just gradual easing of fear that perhaps never entirely goes away.
@43 – Speak for yourself. For me it’s the difference between utter, existential hopelessness, and not. I don’t expect miracles … or anything, really. Except the option to breathe a little without this pervasive sense of impending doom following me around all day, every day. Anyway, AFAIK a winner has yet to be declared and, like PZ, I expect plenty more republican bullshit to come.
@9
Actually, wouldn’t it be the Secret Service who would be called up do do that?
@44 yes, we are not asking much…
@TGAP Dad:
They’re staying pretty much on-brand: QAnoners Figure It Out: Biden’s Lead Just Sting Operation To Catch Dems Doing Vote Crimes.
Every time I read about these loons, it’s equal parts anger, pity, and contempt. I’m very grateful that I live in a part of the country where they are essentially non-existent. I can’t imagine having to deal with these freaks every day.
lumipuna@43 I got very happy when I saw Biden pull into the lead in Georgia last night, though that will lead to a recount. Definitely a rollercoaster. First, being disappointed by Florida (“Forget it, Jake. It’s Florida”) and then seeing Jaime Harrison lose to Lindsay Graham. I can’t say I ever “lost hope” mostly because a Trump re-election seems so unthinkable. I forget when Wisconsin and Michigan were called, but at that point I felt more comfortable thinking Arizona and Nevada would bring the total to 270. Then NYT changed their “needle” to make Georgia look likely for Biden (still election night) and that was just a mindfuck. I really had written them off. A robust win in which Trump would have to make legal multiple challenges is a lot better than hanging on one state. There was also never any good reason not to expect Pennsylvania to go to Biden, but it was tough waiting.
So… nerve-wracking, not indifferent at all to me. And I guess it’s not over. There could also be civil unrest and a lot of people convinced of fraud (which could have been avoided if the Trump admin had not intentionally sabotaged the election instead of working with state governments to carry out a safe election in pandemic conditions) (but of course they want their mobs convinced of fraud).
Well, I wouldn’t say I am happy, nor would I say that Biden has a shot to do much with a GOP Senate, but I am not even remotely indifferent. This was a life-or-death election.
I was reminded of Ceaușescu as well mostly him personally his childishness but politically he reminds me at least in execution of his office of Berlusconi of Italy just another corrupt after the money and prestige of office criminal politician. His hard core base on the other hand is what will give you traines to smoke stacks without any hesitation.
If I wanted to make an analogy of where we are now I would say we are still pined down of Omaha beach but kind of secure and we may get off the beach soon but even then there is a very long way to go find total victory. one f’n step at a time.
uncle frogy
A somewhat related issue.
Another rich powerful bastard – Bob Murray head of a big goal company, (who filed a SLAPP lawsuit against Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to inrimidate them and stop their embarassing coverage) not only lost the lawsuit, but died October 25th.
The religious might say the ultimate judge had had enough of his awful treatment of employees (which was revealed by John Oliver).
I agree with PZ’s take, I won’t call Trump gone until he is. Besides Trump you have one major party who’s structurally opposed to democracy and another that’s ambivalent about democracy with a long history of acquiescing to the former. Anyone hoping that the military or police will save them needs to take a long, hard look at how pro democratic those institutions are and have been historically. Trump will go if his push for power fails to garner enough support among those who have power, not because ‘the people’ demand it.
If Trump refuses to vacate the White House, all that really needs to happen is to cut off the wi-fi and cable, and engage a cell phone jammer. See how many minutes without Twitter and Fox & Friends Trump can actually handle.
it does not matter at all if Trump leaves the WH or not on inauguration day he will cease to be POTUS.
His power will be the same as any other former POTUS. All of the duties of the presidency can be done from any where on the planet and have been from time to time.
uncle frogy
Remembering how the Obama administration spent their last months desperately trying to hand over a functioning government to a bored and disinterested Trump team, and the chaos upon changeover was exactly as predicted.
This time Harris and Biden’s team will be expecting zero cooperation, and the last few remaining Trump team will not dare to be seen doing otherwise.