Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
‘Traitors to the president’: Conservatives fear public preparation for Biden term – Because Trump won't concede, many conservatives have found they can't be open about their plans to counter Biden's agenda. Some have already faced blowback.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/18/conservatives-biden-presidential-transition-437945
Organizations can’t sound the alarm about President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda. Conservative reporters won’t take pitches about Biden’s rumored Cabinet contenders, insistent on covering evidence-deficient claims of voter fraud instead. One conservative group involved in policy advocacy backed off from hiring two soon-to-depart Trump administration officials after growing concerned about the consequences.
And it’s all because of an unspoken rule set by President Donald Trump: Do not acknowledge Biden’s imminent White House takeover.
Those who have run afoul of the dictate have faced swift repercussions. Some have received angry emails from donors accusing them of siding with the “liberal media.” Those who have tried to start revving up the grassroots engine — warning of what could unfold in January, particularly if Democrats win control of the Senate via two runoff races in Georgia — have been likened to turncoats by colleagues.
“I sent out a weekly email and mentioned something about a potential Biden administration and the fallout was ridiculous,” said an employee at one prominent conservative nonprofit.
As Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration inches closer, this lack of preparation within the conservative movement has some of its top members worried they are unwittingly damaging their joint legacy with the president and creating an opening for the next administration to swiftly pursue a radical agenda. Meanwhile, Trump shows no signs of relenting in his quest to baselessly claim he won the recent election.
“Republicans can’t afford to get stuck in the denial stage of grief,” said Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, one of only a handful of GOP lawmakers who have congratulated Biden on his victory. Sasse even broke Trump’s unspoken rule by saying he would “crawl over broken glass before allowing the Senate to confirm” some of the names being floated for Cabinet positions in Biden’s administration.
“We’ve got some big fights ahead, and it’d be prudent for Republicans to be focused on the governance challenges facing our center-right nation,” Sasse said.
Several prominent conservatives, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation, said they should be readying a legal response to Biden’s promise to sign a series of executive orders on his first day in office that would undo some of Trump’s key policies on immigration, foreign policy and deregulation. And they are frustrated by the lack of pressure Biden has faced to fill his Cabinet with moderate voices who might balance out progressive influences elsewhere in his administration.
As Trump declines to travel to Georgia — instead criticizing the state’s recount efforts in a series of tweets — conservatives have also become increasingly concerned that the Democratic candidates competing in a pair of Senate runoff races there will glide to victory if Republicans fail to communicate, due to fears of upsetting Trump, what Biden and a Democratic Senate could accomplish.
“The winning narrative in Georgia would be that Republicans need the Senate to counter Joe Biden and [Vice President-elect] Kamala Harris when they’re in office,” said one prominent elected Republican. “The problem is you can’t make that case effectively when you’ve got the president telling some of his voters, ‘Don’t worry, Joe Biden is not going to be president.’”
Some conservative activists have found ways to toe the line amid threats of ostracization if they legitimize Biden as the next Oval Office occupant. In statements and internal communications, they nod to the president’s ability to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election, even as they encourage their own donors and activist networks to begin thinking about a Democratic administration.
“We’re preparing for all outcomes, because you have to,” said Rachel Bovard, senior director of policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute. “We support President Trump pursuing all his legal avenues because that’s his right, but to be prudent we also need to talk about what a Biden presidency, even a Democratic-controlled Senate, means for the country.”
“We don’t want to be caught flat-footed in a situation where we are confronted with a Biden administration,” she added.
One thing I hate about American politics is that this asshole is right, that would be the winning narrative.
It's the stupidest thing, yet it resonates with the low-info bothsider independents. There's a political school of thought in this country that you should vote one party for President and the other party down-ballot; that way, nobody holds total control of government and they have to work together and compromise and then only pass the stuff that both sides can agree to.
Americans are very stupid when it comes to democracy, and one of the ways we express that is by the many different ways in which we believe that handcuffing the government and preventing it from doing things is the epitome of good politics.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 19th 2020 at 5:47:34 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
x3 Well, this bickering between Donny Krueger and his GOP may cause them to lose the two Senate seats in Georgia. Let them fight.
Edited by clemont107 on Nov 19th 2020 at 8:50:04 AM
"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - DawnIt wouldn't be handcuffing the government (at least not nearly as much) if the two parties were working in good faith despite disagreements. However, that's obviously not the case anymore specifically because of the way republicans have started behaving. People either are not paying enough attention to realize that, or they simply insist on a bothsides narrative anyway because the idea that one party is worse than the other is too difficult a concept for them to accept.
This is so hilarious. For them to admit that they need to win those Georgia Senate seats to keep a lid on a Biden presidency, they have to admit that there will be a Biden presidency, and to do that risks offending Trump and his supporters.
The irony, it burns.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
![]()
I once believed that it wasn't a bad idea for one party to have the Presidency and the other Congress, stemming from my personal belief that going too far in either direction was not a Good Thing. But that was based on the idea the parties could work together/compromise, so that feels just a tad naïve now...
Isn't that what I said?
Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 19th 2020 at 5:56:21 AM
Difference between half glass full and half glass empty ;D Well besides the obvious answer that glass is half full when you are filling it and half empty when you are emptying it :p
Either way, interesting that if democrats do somehow end up gaining senate majority(or tie, I forgot which it was), it seems to be because of GOP infighting
Real life doesn't follow narratives, but its still interesting to see hoist by their own petard in action.
Edited by SpookyMask on Nov 19th 2020 at 3:58:12 PM
I was wondering if maybe you were you thinking more in line with the Men in Black quote I often think of that "A person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky animals"?
Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 19th 2020 at 5:58:21 AM
Well somewhat like that, but I was going for half full/empty dealio in this case.
Its definitely true that people in group tend to act dumb even if they are often individually smart
When you are in a group, you tend to go along with rest of the group even if you disagree with them or don't understand why they are doing what they are doing
Well isn't that quite the pair of messages. "Congratulations on your victory! I'm gonna make sure you can't do anything with it!"
![]()
It's nice to see that Ben Sasse is about a million times more outraged about possible Biden cabinet officials than, say, anything Trump did in his entire term. And he's supposed to be one of the moderates.
Erm... the Georgia GOP just brought the country Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and is home to Doug Collins.
Biden will get a new check after Trump is out of office.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Remember also that one of these Republican Senators (Perdue) was caught praying for Obama to die four years ago
and the other (Loeffler) engaged in insider trading on COVID-19
. Brad Raffensperger may not be as bad as the rest of his party but Georgia Republicans are definitively not good people.

Honestly... what does happen if the contested states fail to certify their results on time? I'm not thinking of lawsuit-related shenanigans or Republican legislatures making trouble, just low-level officials refusing to certify the way we've already seen.
(Note that the Wayne County duo have now reversed their positions again
, although none of the articles I've read make it clear whether this has any substantial effect or is just belated whining.)
Edited by nrjxll on Nov 19th 2020 at 7:23:01 AM