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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#332026: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:21:32 AM

Better the Devil You Know. Russia's actions would be nigh impossible to predict if Putin were removed from power, which isn't something you want in Realist International Politics

Edited by Xopher001 on Oct 6th 2020 at 9:22:14 PM

ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#332027: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:21:41 AM

[up][up] Send the ICE agents at the concentration camps to the Hague to be tried in international court for crimes against humanity. That alone would score a lot of international points.

Edited by ScubaWolf on Oct 6th 2020 at 2:22:03 PM

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#332028: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:26:26 AM

Yeah, it's important to remember that the world won't magically trust us again the moment Trump's out of office. Even if they trust Biden personally, it's still not advantageous to make deals with a country that might break them on a whim 4 years later.

Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#332029: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:26:53 AM

[up][up] That aint going to happen, if there is one thing both sides agree on its not sending Americans there.

Edited by Memers on Oct 6th 2020 at 11:27:05 AM

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#332030: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:29:02 AM

Isn't Texas mostly red with just like a couple of highly populated cities that are distinctly blue?

That's correct, four out of five of Texas' most populated counties go routinely go blue, the only exception being Tarrant County (Ft. Worth).

But let's extend the most populous counties out to the top 10 and you'll see that four of the top 10 most populous counties in the state still vote Republican. Hillary did better in 2016 because she managed to snag one of those, Fort Bend County (which is the 10th most populous county in the state).

Now, stretch that out to the top 20 counties by population. Only one of the 11th through 20th most populous counties in the state went blue.

Now you shouldn't wonder why Republicans have a stranglehold on the state.

Edited by tclittle on Oct 6th 2020 at 1:31:54 PM

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#332031: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:29:14 AM

Yeah trust isn’t going to come until the Republican Party either changes or becomes politically irrelevant.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#332032: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:29:57 AM

[up][up][up][up]Yeah, frankly. Some of us are still surprised Bush Jr. was elected twice in a row. Then came Trump. At this point if the Republicans presented Hitler's brain on a great white shark on the ticket and it was elected I wouldn't be surprised.

Edited by Aszur on Oct 7th 2020 at 12:33:12 AM

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#332033: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:30:41 AM

I don’t think Biden will win Texas (the most recent polls have him down by 4-5 points there), but he’s close enough to make it reasonable to advertise there.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#332034: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:32:10 AM

Trump or no Trump, Republicans aren't going to stop being awful until they are decisively defeated and stomped into the dirt, one way or another.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
ShadowWingLG Since: Dec, 2013
#332035: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:34:23 AM

Biden has money so he can afford to pour money there and make what should be a slam dunk in TX into an actual race, Trump needs to win both OH and TX to get re-elected so this could be a way to make sure that what funds Trump and the GOP has are spread very thin in critical states.

Galadriel Since: Feb, 2015
#332036: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:44:11 AM

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan are must-wins for Biden (or close to it - he can lose one if them if he picks up Arizona and wins NH), so he should also be heavily focusing on them.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#332037: Oct 6th 2020 at 11:59:09 AM

Biden has the cash to put resources into the Rust Belt, the Sun Belt and a smattering of red states. At once.

Forcing an overstretched opponent who is low on resources to fight on multiple fronts is just common sense.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#332038: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:01:26 PM

So in news that will surprise absolutely nobody, the Trump administration is overriding the FDA's guidance on vaccine testing protocols, because the FDA's guidance would put the vaccine after election day.

The FDA planned to instruct that vaccine developers follow patients in trials for at least two months, to rule out safety issues before seeking emergency approval.

The proposed guidelines were submitted to the White House on 21 September, meaning the two-month period would extend beyond 3 November, when Donald Trump will seek re-election to the backdrop of a pandemic that has infected more than 7.5 million and killed more than 210,000 in the US.

...

A senior administration official confirmed the move to block the guidelines to the Associated Press on Monday evening, saying the White House believed there was “no clinical or medical reason” for the additional requirement. The White House action was first reported by the New York Times.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#332039: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:05:04 PM

Even countering Russia in any way is going to be really hard.

Russia isn’t what it used to be. The fact that they’ve resorted at all to things like election tampering via social media shows what they’re working with.

Containing them at this point is simply a matter of political will, which obviously doesn’t exist within the Trump administration. A hypothetical Biden administration could very quickly put Russia in a bind by bumping up sanctions and moving to a more aggressive cyberwarfare posture. The central plank of any Russia strategy is inevitably going to be reaffirming US commitments in Europe, which are understandably shaken, but military connections bounce back quickly and those can be returned to at least a functional level by actually following through on some of the promises made over the last few decades.

They should have sent a poet.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#332040: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:15:32 PM

So, I believe someone mentioned this today, but a CNN poll as Biden up 16 points nationally. While this is an outlier for sure (unless more polls come along backing it up), this also polled something that might even be worse for Trump: that almost 9 in 10 voters have decided who to vote for and the majority of them aren't willing to consider switching over.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-cnn-poll/index.html

No matter if Trump is down 6/9/12/16/whatever, if the number of undecided voters is that low, he is in serious shit.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#332041: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:17:03 PM

Russia is a failed petrostate that has fallen (back) into authoritarianism. It has a big stick for two main reasons: all the holdover military infrastructure from its days as the USSR, and its international reputation. It doesn't have the economic influence to do anything, not like the United States anyway. This is why it resorts to all these nefarious tactics, like election manipulation, hacking, espionage, and murder.

Faced with a powerful U.S. in charge of its foreign policy and with a tight grip on its elections and public information, Russia is powerless and will fade even farther as the world moves off of oil.

Edited by Fighteer on Oct 6th 2020 at 3:17:45 PM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#332042: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:20:26 PM

Biden has the cash to put resources into the Rust Belt, the Sun Belt and a smattering of red states. At once.

Yeah, Biden has more money than I could have ever imagined. He raised $365 million in August, and his September haul is said to be bigger than that. He should be expanding the map and spending in slightly redder states like Texas and Georgia. I know I'm a broken record on this, but Biden spending some of the extra money in Texas and Georgia will help support downballot candidates (there are a lot of competitive races in both states!) and lay the groundwork for the Democratic Party in the future there.

Biden is down about 2-3 points in Texas and about tied with Trump in Georgia. They're definitely competitive.


Quite a few pages ago, because I fell asleep, but thanks Alycus and AlleyOop. The Salon article I read felt a bit speculative, so I guess I'll have to search for a better source.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#332043: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:23:48 PM

Trump: stimulus negotiations are dead until after the election.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#332044: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:26:05 PM

[up] So no stimulus bill before January? That's going to hurt a lot of people.


Second edit: From just the political standpoint, I don't see how this helps Trump at all. He's stabbing the economy a month out from the election.


Edit: RationalInsanity, hate to be a downer, but CNN polls have been very erratic this year. As in they'll go from +5 Biden one month to +14 the next and then back to +4 the month after that. The number of undecideds is definitely cheering, though.

Edited by nova92 on Oct 6th 2020 at 12:34:43 PM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#332045: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:37:00 PM

A hypothetical Biden administration could very quickly put Russia in a bind by bumping up sanctions and moving to a more aggressive cyberwarfare posture.

Cyberwarfare yes, hell even direct military action against Russian backed groups in other countries. But I suspect that sanctions will be tougher, because for sanctions to really bite they need to come from multiple countries.

How do you convince Germany to agree to buy less Russian gas over 10 years, when you can’t even guarantee that there won’t be a pro-Kremlin party in the White House in 4 years time? How do you convince the French to reduce arms sales to Russia when they’ve no guarantee that the US won’t itself be selling weapons to Russia in 8 years time? How do you get the British government to apply the screws to Russian money in The City when the U.K. is having the exact same issue with Russian influence on government?

Anything that the US can do alone can be a go from day 1, but things that require international cooperation are going to be much more difficult.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#332046: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:38:44 PM

What was that he was saying yesterday about learning a lot about Covid? He couldn't stay on message for one lousy day.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#332047: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:41:50 PM

My Wild Ass Guess about the Stimulus is that Trump has accepted that he isn't going to win by votes anyway, so fuck them.

I claim no rationality in this decision.

"You can reply to this Message!"
Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#332048: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:46:18 PM

Send the ICE agents at the concentration camps to the Hague to be tried in international court for crimes against humanity. That alone would score a lot of international points

Unfun Fact: America has a law saying doing so is grounds for war.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Oct 6th 2020 at 12:47:19 PM

ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#332049: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:46:57 PM

[up] Fuck that law. Like seriously, it was put in place by Bush in order to prevent him and his administration from being tried for war crimes.

Edited by ScubaWolf on Oct 6th 2020 at 3:47:49 PM

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#332050: Oct 6th 2020 at 12:49:30 PM

It's unlikely a Biden administration would attempt to repeal it, for the same reason Obama didn't repeal the Patriot Act, having an additional shield for one's actions is too desirable to just remove.


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