The Political Thread

[IndigoPrime]

The depressingly dry explanation appears to be that it's near a freeway exit and so was primarily chosen because it was convenient and a large open space that could be dressed.

[Leigh S]

It's good that the Republicans are putting the focus on fair and open elections though.  Maybe we can get all that voter suppression and gerrymandering sorted....

Maybe even sort out the inequality in the Electoral College vote.  The Republicans want it fair, right?

[JayzusB.Christ]

The depressingly dry explanation appears to be that it's near a freeway exit and so was primarily chosen because it was convenient and a large open space that could be dressed.

Any chance of a link? Can't find any explanation on Google other than that it's a cock-up.  (And I do realise that most people want to believe it's a ridiculous mistake they had to follow through with, myself included.)

It's good that the Republicans are putting the focus on fair and open elections though.  Maybe we can get all that voter suppression and gerrymandering sorted....

Maybe even sort out the inequality in the Electoral College vote.  The Republicans want it fair, right?

Hmmm. Only one Republican popular vote winner since 1992, and even he didn't win it when he was first elected - in fact he may not even have won the electoral college.

It's amazing how well a minority party does in a country that sees itself as the pinnacle of democracy.

[Greg M.]

This is absolutely hilarious. Where does the Trump campaign end... in a garden centre parking lot sandwiched between a porn shop and a crematorium. You couldn't make this shit up if you tried

There was a point a few days ago where it seemed possible Trump might successfully engineer a 'victory' through Machiavellian master-planning and recourse to highly devious legal means.

It's not really going that way, is it?

[JayzusB.Christ]

Farage bet ten grand on a Trump win. The laughs just keep coming.

[TordelBack]

Farage bet ten grand on a Trump win.

Or so he says. I work on the assumption that everything that ambulatory tapeworm says is a lie.

If Biden's Heaney reading on RTE news last night didn't lump-up the old throat, check out this little beauty: https://twitter.com/PiaGuerra/status/1325405777402630144?s=20

[IndigoPrime]

Any chance of a link?

It was on Twitter, from a journalist who said he'd actually phoned up the place. That was the suggestion as to why someone might have chosen it, note, rather than a confirmation.

It's amazing how well a minority party does in a country that sees itself as the pinnacle of democracy.

Then again, the last time a single ticket won a majority in the UK with a majority of the votes was 1931 (National) and before that 1900 (Con & Lib Unionists). The last time a single party won a majority of the seats with a majority of the vote in the UK was 1880 (Liberal).

The UK always has a government backed by a minority, which is insane, and one of the reasons we desperately need electoral reform. (Ironically, given how angry people remain about it, at least the 2010 coalition did have the backing of a fairly sizeable majority of voters — 59.1% — even if, of course, they didn't specifically vote for that result. (This is something Brits — and especially Labour — need to get over. We need an electoral system that pushes for collaboration, consensus and cooperation, rather than US VS THEM.)

[The Legendary Shark]

Have there been any instances of Russia interfering with these selections? Or is it China this time?

[JayzusB.Christ]

Have there been any instances of Russia interfering with these selections? Or is it China this time?

In the hope that that's a genuine question and not sarcasm, I think the Russian interference is beyond doubt but has been monitored more closely by social media platforms. China - I don't have the facts to hand but it seems highly likely.

[The Legendary Shark]

It is a genuine question. I don't follow the msm so I really don't know what the narratives are beyond what's on this thread and what rl people are talking about. During the last selection, everyone was going on about Russian interference - this time, hardly a whisper.

[IndigoPrime]

Once a country has been destabilised, the level of required input is lower. They already won against the USA and UK. What happens now beyond that is just gravy.

[The Legendary Shark]

It is a genuine question. I don't follow the msm so I really don't know what the narratives are beyond what's on this thread and what rl people are talking about. During the last selection, everyone was going on about Russian interference - this time, hardly a whisper.

[JayzusB.Christ]

It is a genuine question. I don't follow the msm so I really don't know what the narratives are beyond what's on this thread and what rl people are talking about. During the last selection, everyone was going on about Russian interference - this time, hardly a whisper.

Fair enough. Yeah, as far as I can gather the Kremlin played at least a part in Trump's rise, and its main objective wasn't to get a Putin-friendly leader in charge - though that was, of course, a bonus - but to cheapen the concept of democracy and to disunite the people of the most powerful Western nation, as well as to loosen the ties between the US and Europe.

I'd imagine a Biden win wasn't what Putin wanted, but in terms of elections his job has largely been done since 2016.

None of which is to say that western nations don't do equally shitty or far worse things to Eastern ones of course.

[Professor Bear]

Basically, Putin did to America what America does to South America, albeit via different methods.
His methods are - allegedly - to cause tension in as many disparate groups as possible, from socialists to Brexiteers to video gamers to comic book fans, thus normalising aggression and preventing dialectic and the formation of cohesive or effective movements.
To his credit, if it's true this is some pretty intersectional thinking, and seems to be working out great for him.

[TordelBack]

Given that moar patriots voted for Trump than last time, despite the evidence of their own eyes, one might speculate that putinative interference continued. Certainly if you wanted to promote division and/or complacency in your enemies this election might have been a laudable goal.