TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

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

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#342126: Dec 3rd 2020 at 1:59:11 PM

Nixon was going to be impeached for certain actions. He was never formally charged for any of them. He got a pardon for things that might have potentially done before a charge was ever filed. Trump could do the same for his kids and even a liberal Supreme Court would likely deem it within his authority.

As for the hit-and-run hypothetical, if it were a federal crime, it absolutely would.

Edited by TheRoguePenguin on Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:00:26 AM

Pendrake That Guy from "Sweet Something of.... Someplace!" (Canada) Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Betrayed by Delilah
That Guy
#342127: Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:04:50 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-nblE8ps2M&lc=UgylK0xizRa-W7Q83WB4AaABAg.9GmOMSJyf3t9Gov9cmwvR0

Nice Legal Eagle breakdown of just how Insane Troll Logic Cloudcuckoo Lander Trump's "Elite Strikeforce"of lawyers is.

The segueway into the Masterclass ad about Creative Writing and "Believable Characters" is utterly hilarious too.

Edited by Pendrake on Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:36:35 AM

Semper Fi. Semper Paratus. Vigilo Confido.
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#342128: Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:26:22 PM

They ran out of actual talent and law knowledge within the first day.

Wake me up at your own risk.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#342129: Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:35:20 PM

That reminds me, one of those new fraud witnesses from yesterday's article is in fact guilty of forgery and theft himself.

He also claims ghosts have been haunting him across the country.

Normally I try to avoid anything that could be seen as an attack on a person rather than their claims. But his claim of voter fraud centers around not finding his favorite trailer and assuming it must have been used to steal ballots.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#342130: Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:45:29 PM

Thank you, Parable. I had a feeling there wasn't much here and it sounds like there's enough to question that it definitely shouldn't be taken at face value.

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#342131: Dec 3rd 2020 at 2:46:37 PM

[up][up] I'm not sure that's strictly true, his first team was still somewhat respectable, before it became clear just what sort of administration this was turning into.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#342132: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:15:24 PM

New York Times: 2,596 Trades in One Term: Inside Senator Perdue's Stock Portfolio

Along with Senator Kelly Loeffler, a fellow Georgia Republican, Mr. Perdue faces an unusual runoff election in January. With control of the Senate at stake, and amid renewed concern about the potential for conflicts of interest in stock trading by members of Congress, Mr. Perdue's investment activity - and especially his numerous well-timed trades - has increasingly come into the public glare.


An examination of Mr. Perdue's stock trading during his six years in office reveals that he has been the Senate’s most prolific stock trader by far, sometimes reporting 20 or more transactions in a single day.

The Times analyzed data compiled by Senate Stock Watcher, a nonpartisan website that aggregates publicly available information on lawmakers' trading, and found that Mr. Perdue's transactions accounted for nearly a third of all senators' trades reported in the past six years. His 2,596 trades, mostly in stocks but also in bonds and funds, roughly equal the combined trading volume of the next five most active traders in the Senate.

The data also shows the breadth of trades Mr. Perdue made in companies that stood to benefit from policy and spending matters that came not just before the Senate as a whole, but before the committees and subcommittees on which he served.

clemont107 Mega Togekiss?! from Land of Missed Opportunities (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Mega Togekiss?!
#342133: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:19:17 PM

[up]Uh oh. Republicans must be sweating their backs off thanks to this and the Tramp in office clashing with them over stuff.[lol][lol]

"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - Dawn
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#342134: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:21:27 PM

Reminder that Perdue's term is 2,192 days long. Which comes out to just over a trade per day of his term.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#342135: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:36:15 PM

If Perdue goes to Jail, does that mean he's automatically forfeited? Or if he wins while in jail, will he be in the Senate while also being in Prison?

At this point I don't think Republicans in the Senate are gonna try to kick him out; they need him in case the Senate comes down to 51-49.

megarockman from The Sixth Borough (Experienced Trainee)
#342136: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:40:21 PM

Far as I can tell, being in jail wouldn't disqualify anyone from being a Senator. By Article 1, the only body who can judge who can take a seat as a Senator is the Senate itself.

It would come down whether McConnell believed the PR hit at having a literal convict serving would be worth the political obstruction. Which I wouldn't put past him.

Edited by megarockman on Dec 3rd 2020 at 7:42:05 AM

The damned queen and the relentless knight.
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#342137: Dec 3rd 2020 at 4:46:12 PM

If Perdue goes to Jail, does that mean he's automatically forfeited? Or if he wins while in jail, will he be in the Senate while also being in Prison?

It is pretty unlikely Perdue goes to jail. Insider trading is difficult prosecute, IIRC (see: Kelly Loeffler and Richard Burr earlier this year). I do believe if he goes to prison, he will resign. Chris Collins did so last year.


Lots of news about Democratic leadership and Biden Cabinet picks:


Another update: Rep. Collin Peterson, who just lost reelection this year, is uninterested in being Secretary of Agriculture. His name had been floated for the post.

Edited by nova92 on Dec 3rd 2020 at 7:00:26 AM

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#342139: Dec 3rd 2020 at 6:33:28 PM

Just a heads up, because this kind of got on my nerves: the Washington Post has started paywalling its live election updates now.

FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#342140: Dec 3rd 2020 at 6:34:33 PM

It's foreign policy time again.

Financial Times: Anxious Taiwan launches US charm offensive to win Biden's backing

Key passages:

Taiwan's president will kick off a campaign to woo the incoming Biden administration on Thursday as Taipei fights to preserve the strongest support it has enjoyed from its unofficial protector in more than 40 years.

In remarks to be delivered virtually to three US think-tanks over the coming week, Tsai Ing-wen will call for Washington to continue working with Taipei in weaning global supply chains away from China and countering Beijing's threats to regional security, according to two of her aides.

Ms Tsai will address the American Legislative Exchange Council, a state legislators' organisation, on Thursday, the National Democratic Institute, loosely affiliated with the Democratic party, on Tuesday and the Hudson Institute, a conservative think-tank, on Wednesday

Ms Tsai's appeal is aimed at bolstering public support in the US as president-elect Joe Biden's team prepares to reassess fractious relations with China.

The Taiwanese public is worried that Washington's strong support for Taipei is at stake. According to domestic and international polls, Taiwan would have preferred Donald Trump to have won a second term - the only nation in Asia to record such a preference.

The backdrop for those concerns is clear. The Obama administration, in which important members of Mr Biden's foreign policy and national security team helped shape Washington's stance towards China, tried to prevent ties with Taiwan from interfering with relations with Beijing. This meant that arms sales to Taipei were often delayed and mutual visits were scarce.

Under Mr Trump, US ties with Taiwan reached their strongest point since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Senior US officials publicly praising Taiwan as a partner in shared values and a force for good while cabin et ministers visited the nation.

Antony Blinken, a former deputy national security adviser under Barack Obama who will serve as Mr Biden's secretary of state, described Taiwan in a July interview with Bloomberg as "a success story in terms of how the US and China have handled it". Those comments stoked fears in Taipei that a Biden administration would again subordinate Taiwan to Washington's relationship with Beijing.

Although Biden officials have backed the Trump administration's definition of China as a strategic competitor, they have also spoken about the need for co-operation with Beijing in certain areas and to avoid confrontation from spinning out of control. Taipei is wary that Beijing will exploit that mindset to press for a reduction in US support for Taiwan.

To avoid that, Taiwan wants the debate to be as public as possible. Taipei is lobbying US lawmakers to make sure they ask Biden officials during confirmation hearings to endorse a continuation of co-operation processes with Taiwan.

Edited by FluffyMcChicken on Dec 3rd 2020 at 6:37:10 AM

KZN02 The Master of Tediousness (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
astrokitty Happiness is a cup of tea from Somewhere Out There Since: May, 2014 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Happiness is a cup of tea
#342142: Dec 3rd 2020 at 10:15:12 PM

Everything seems very hectic right now and I hope things don't get much worse.

Somebody once told me the world was macaroni, I took a bite out of a tree
SatoshiBakura (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#342144: Dec 3rd 2020 at 10:31:20 PM

Dan Crenshaw is a piece of shit Neocon. Hopefully he gets voted out of Congress after that.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
#342145: Dec 3rd 2020 at 11:19:14 PM

Biden came quite close to winning the district but the Democratic nominee lost by a lot. I've heard people not particularly into politics suggest Crenshaw is some sort of moderate, which doesn't track at all with his actions, so Democrats have some way to go to break through that perception.

Edited by nova92 on Dec 3rd 2020 at 11:19:26 AM

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#342146: Dec 3rd 2020 at 11:30:38 PM

Florida's pathetic excuse of a governor is at it again:

''Florida Gov. Ron De Santis on Thursday told a private gathering of political donors and corporate executives that he has urged President Donald Trump to “fight on" to overturn November’s election results.

In wide-ranging remarks made in person behind closed doors at a meeting of the Associated Industries of Florida, De Santis dismissed the risks of the coronavirus, contradicted science and targeted U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. He also defended Trump's attempt to fight the results of the election.

“I told the president to fight on,” De Santis told the group gathered at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes resort hotel in Orlando, according to a recording of the speech obtained by POLITICO. “In reality, none of this stuff has succeeded yet. Time is running out.”

De Santis, a Republican, has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies. Days after the election, in an appearance on Fox News, he suggested that the Republican-controlled Legislatures in Pennsylvania and Michigan should overturn results in those states. He has said little about the election since.

On Thursday, however, the governor predicted that the “crazy stuff” sought by Democrats would be “dead on arrival” in Congress given the party's slim majority in the House and the prospect of Republicans retaining control of the Senate after a Georgia run-off vote in January.

Given the likelihood of a congressional impasse, De Santis predicted that President-elect Joe Biden will use executive orders to carry out his agenda items, including on climate change, an issue that De Santis said was not a major issue for voters. Republican attorneys general will fight those orders in the courts, he said.

The Republican strategy will be similar to what Democrats did to Trump, whose executive orders were challenged in an effort to “delay, delay, delay” his agenda for months and years, De Santis said. But Biden will be forced to argue his case to federal judges that Trump put on the bench.

“I think you are going to see a lot of battles in the courts over the scope of executive power,” said De Santis.

He also decried the “crazy rulings” of Roberts, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by George W. Bush in 2005. Without offering specifics, De Santis said certain opinions would be used by the “other side.”

De Santis defended his response to the coronavirus pandemic, during which he has resisted imposing state-level restrictions on gatherings and mask-wearing. Florida has reported more than 1 million cases as of this week.

“We have, I think, really saved the livelihoods of millions and millions of students, parents, workers, business owners by approaching this in an evidence-based way and a way that focused on facts not fear, and in a way that was more moderate,” said De Santis.

He said Florida’s unemployment rate — currently at 6.5 percent — isn't likely to drop much further before travel begins to resume from other parts of the country and the world.

De Santis also took shots at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its “ridiculous” studies on the Covid-19 outbreak, which he said were more about "affirming" the positions of “bureaucrats” than science.

He questioned the need for contract tracing, saying most people are either infected in their homes or medical authorities can’t figure out the source of infections.

People can engage in most outdoor activities, including sports, because the virus doesn’t spread at such events, De Santis told the group. He insisted that Trump's huge rallies did not contribute to the spread of Covid-19, countering a Stanford University study released in late October that traced 30,000 cases and hundreds of deaths to Trump rallies.

Loyalty to Trump helped propel De Santis to victory in 2018. De Santis is weighing a 2024 bid for president himself, but Trump is telling supporters that he might run again.

De Santis is among a handful of 2024 aspirants invited by Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Mc Daniel to the party's winter meeting in January in Amelia Island, Fla. Mc Daniel is attempting to establish some independence from Trump as he prepares to exit the White House.''

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#342147: Dec 4th 2020 at 2:05:57 AM

Here's an extensive list of the cheating Donald did during this election:

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-remains-indignant-because-he-cheated-so-hard-and-still-lost/

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
nova92 Since: Apr, 2020
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#342149: Dec 4th 2020 at 4:01:53 AM

So, of all of the conspiracy theories about dastardly plots to get Biden elected, the only one holding any kind of ground is the one about eighty million conspirators each committing the devious act of using their voting rights to cast one vote for Biden (so the scheme can't be traced to one single individual). To further confuse the enemy, a lot of them cast the votes by mail while the rest went to the crime scenes wearing masks covering their airways, so they can't be identified by their germs.

Edited by Medinoc on Dec 4th 2020 at 1:02:57 PM

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#342150: Dec 4th 2020 at 4:13:18 AM

I feel like the vote for Donald Trump included a lot of people who developed an unearned sense of invincibility. That they were just going to own the liberals and there was nothing to do to stop them.

The fact that Trump just flat out LOST and people did it by just voting against him is a reality check that reveals they had no additional power. Their false bravado did nothing to make them any more important than they were 4 years ago.

They are, in effect, losers like their boss. Because their IDEOLOGY says that the Democrats were losers for losing since REAL WINNERS don't...lose.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 4th 2020 at 4:13:47 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Total posts: 417,856
Top