From the Things that ought to matter but won't files

New emails detail Trump’s efforts to have Justice Department take up his false election-fraud claims

President Donald Trump’s staff began sending emails to Jeffrey Rosen, the No. 2 at the Justice Department, asking him to embrace Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election at least 10 days before Rosen assumed the role of acting attorney general, according to new emails disclosed by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in advance of a hearing to probe the causes of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

[Paranoid delusions. Or wishful thinking. Or just plain lying.]

On the same day as the electoral college met to certify the election results — which was also the day Trump announced that William P. Barr would be stepping down as attorney general — his assistant sent Rosen an email with a list of complaints concerning the way the election had been carried out in Antrim County, Mich.

The file included a forensic analysis of the Dominion Voting Systems machines the county employed, alleging they were “intentionally and purposefully” calibrated to create fraudulent results, and “talking points” that could be used to counter any arguments “against us.”

“It’s indicative of what the machines can and did do to move votes,” the document Trump sent to Rosen reads. “We believe it has happened everywhere.”

The claims were false. [emphasis mine]

The email — one of several previously undisclosed records released by the Oversight Committee Tuesday morning — sheds light on the type of pressure Trump was putting on the Justice Department to take up his crusade against Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

It also shows how Trump was attempting to influence Rosen before he stepped into the top role at the DOJ, where he would come under continued pressure from the White House to launch a formal investigation into the integrity of the 2020 election — pressure he resisted — in advance of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

A lawyer for Rosen did not immediately return a request for comment.

On Tuesday afternoon, the House is continuing its examinations of the riot with a pair of simultaneous hearings, both probing the military and law enforcement responses to the attack as it unfolded.

[Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. This "investigation" will yield nothing because republicans are united in their contempt for the law.]

Gen. Charles E. Flynn and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, who served as the director and deputy directors of the Army staff on the day of the insurrection, will deliver their first public congressional testimony before the Committee on House Oversight and Reform.

Both were involved in determining whether the National Guard should be dispatched to aid Capitol Police and local law enforcement agencies in holding back a crowd of 10,000 pro-Trump demonstrators, approximately 800 of whom managed to break into the Capitol building.

In testimony before a joint Senate panel investigating the attacks, former Capitol Police chief Steven A. Sund said that Piatt was one of the Pentagon officials who resisted his entreaties to dispatch the National Guard to the Capitol, effectively slow-walking the response.

They will be appearing alongside FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, who has previously testified to other congressional panels about his agency’s response. Acting Capitol Police chief Yogananda D. Pittman, who was also invited to appear, declined as she cited a lack of proper notice and scheduling conflicts, according to a statement provided by the Capitol Police.

Her conflict is another Jan. 6 hearing, this one at the House Committee on Administration, which is interviewing the inspector general of the U.S. Capitol Police alongside the director of justice and law enforcement issues at the Government Accountability Office at the same time as the House Oversight hearing.

#Election2020 #Trump #Crime #Sedition #AttemptedCoup

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-emails-doj-election-fraud-claims/2021/06/15/638ab654-cdc9-11eb-8014-2f3926ca24d9_story.html

When brain damage is a requirement for joining the club: If you wanna belong to the cult, then you must accept its doctrine obvious lies.

For Republicans, fealty to Trump’s election falsehood becomes defining loyalty test

Debra Ell, a Republican organizer in Michigan and fervent supporter of former president Donald Trump, said she has good reason to believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

“I think I speak for many people in that Trump has never actually been wrong, and so we’ve learned to trust when he says something, that he’s not just going to spew something out there that’s wrong and not verified,” she said, referring to Trump’s baseless claims that widespread electoral fraud caused his loss to President Biden in November. [emphasis mine]

[Saying "Trump has never been proven wrong" is like saying "no one has proved Santa Claus doesn't exist". You have to have the mind of a six-year-old to believe that, because of this lack of "proof", the opposite must be true.

However, six-year-olds are saved from the comparison by the latter part of the statement, "...he’s not just going to spew something out there that’s wrong and not verified." Even a six-year-old knows this is bullshit.

But the cultists are not just stupid, they're dangerously stupid, destroying the careers of people who don't accept their double-speak.]

In fact, there is no evidence to support Trump’s false assertions, which culminated in a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But Ell, a Republican precinct delegate in her state, said the 2020 election is one of the reasons she’s working to censure and remove Jason Roe from his role as the Michigan Republican Party’s executive director — specifically that Roe accepted the 2020 results, telling Politico that “the election wasn’t stolen” and that “there is no one to blame but Trump.”

“He said the election was not rigged, as Donald Trump had said, so we didn’t agree with that, and then he didn’t blame the Democrats for any election fraud,” said Ell, explaining her frustration with Roe. “He said there was no fraud — again, that’s something that doesn’t line up with what we think really happened — and then he said it’s all Donald Trump’s fault.”

[Many have speculated that Trump would destroy the GOP. Will this be the mechanism whereby he finally accomplished that grandest of all feats he could possibly hope to accomplish? In order to be a Republican, one must accept and endorse the great lie. Then again, ever since I was a child (and I'm so old I occupied the manger next to Christ), in order to be a Republican one has always been forced to accept a huge number of lies ("trickle-down economics" leaps to mind, as does "white supremacy", and Christian fundamentalism), so maybe this one won't sink them either.

Let's face it, the GOP consists entirely of professional liars and their dupes.]

Nearly six months after Trump lost to Biden, rejection of the 2020 election results — dubbed the “Big Lie” by many Democrats — has increasingly become an unofficial litmus test for acceptance in the Republican Party. In January, 147 GOP lawmakers — eight senators and 139 House members — voted in support of objections to the election results, and since then, Republicans from Congress to statehouses to local party organizations have fervently embraced the falsehood.

In Washington, normally chatty senators scramble to skirt the question, and internal feuding over who is to blame for the Jan. 6 insurrection has riven the House Republican leadership, with tensions between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House Republican, spilling into public view. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is facing a Trump-aligned primary challenger in her 2022 race, inspired by her call for Trump to resign after the Jan. 6 attack and her later vote to convict him over his role in inciting the insurrection.

Local officials, too, are facing censure and threats — in states from Iowa to Michigan to Missouri — for publicly accepting the election results. And in Arizona’s largest county, a hand recount of 2.1 million votes cast in November is underway by Republicans who dispute the results, in yet another effort to overturn the results of the November contest.

The issue also could reverberate through the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election, with Trump already slamming Republicans who did not resist the election results. For Republicans, fealty to the falsehood could pull the party further to the right during the primaries, providing challenges during the general election when wooing more moderate voters is crucial. And for Democrats, the continued existence of the claim threatens to undermine Biden’s agenda. [emphasis mine]

“It is not just about the Donald Trump persona,” said Jennifer Palmieri, who served as White House communications director under President Barack Obama. “Trump is also a proxy in a culture war that’s about whose side are you on, and the people that buy into QAnon and other conspiracy theories are always looking for ways to discern whose side you’re really on.”

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, said that although such fealty to Trump may play well in a Republican primary, the calculation is far more complicated in local elections, general elections and critical swing states.

[And it seems all the good little Nazis are toeing the line:]

“In the battleground states — and Georgia is a prime example of where this played out — you had local officials who were really caught between the narrative of the ‘Big Lie’ and defending their own elections and the job they’d done,” Lake said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, resisted direct pressure from Trump to overturn their state’s election results in favor of a Trump victory. The backlash was swift: Trump called for Kemp to resign and endorsed Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), a challenger to Raffensperger, for Georgia secretary of state.

“Jody will stop the Fraud and get honesty into our Elections!” Trump said in a statement shortly after Hice announced his challenge.

After the 2020 election, in which Georgia went for Biden — and later elected two Democratic senators in a runoff in January — Kemp signed a sweeping law that critics say restricts voting access in the state. The new law provoked a public outcry from voting rights activists and major corporations — Major League Baseball moved the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response — but also proved an insufficient step for many Republicans who still say the election was stolen.

“There’s no Republican that I know of, that I’ve spoken with, who has come to me and said, ‘Biden won fair and square,’ ” said Salleigh Grubbs, the newly elected chair of the Cobb County Republican Party in Georgia. “I absolutely do believe that there were irregularities in the election. I absolutely believe that our voices were shut out.”

In Washington, McCarthy has backpedaled from his original reaction to the Jan. 6 attacks, when he said that Trump “bears responsibility,” defending Trump’s response in a recent “Fox News Sunday” interview. At the House Republicans annual policy retreat last week, he also pointedly declined to say whether Cheney — who has publicly criticized Trump’s refusal to accept the election results — was a “good fit” for the party’s leadership team.

“That’s a question for the conference,” McCarthy said, while also saying that anyone criticizing Trump during the event, as Cheney had done, was “not being productive.”

[Can we go back to killing Nazis, please? The reasons to do it now are at least as good as they were in the 1940s: Unlike the 1940s, now the Nazis have nukes.]

Cheney finds herself in an increasingly tenuous position inside her own party, which her father once helped lead as vice president. There have been new calls for her to step down from her leadership role, and several House Republican aides said many are growing increasingly frustrated with her being so outspoken against Trump.

One leadership aide added that they “wouldn’t be surprised” if a move against Cheney materializes at some point.

“Trump is still a very active part of our party,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in an Axios interview Friday about the tension between Cheney and McCarthy. “This idea that you just disregard President Trump is not where we are.”

In North Carolina, former Republican governor Pat McCrory was initially highly critical of Trump, saying on his radio show that it was the former president’s own fault that he lost the election and that his false election claims were damaging to democracy. But now, running in North Carolina for the U.S. Senate and facing a tough primary, McCrory has sought to distance himself from those comments and casts himself as “a huge defender — of Trump policies.”

Several local Republicans have either stepped down or been forced out of their party positions for not supporting Trump’s baseless election claims or for criticizing the former president’s role in inciting the deadly Capitol riot. In Iowa — after telling a local newspaper that Trump should be impeached for his “atrocious conduct” in egging on the Jan. 6 attacks — Dave Millage was called a “traitor” and forced to step down as chair of the Scott County Republican Party. In Missouri, the state’s Republican Party executive director, Jean Evans, resigned from her term several weeks early amid angry and threatening calls from Trump supporters, who urged her to do more to help Trump hold onto the White House after his loss in November.

And in Michigan, Ell is circulating a resolution to fellow precinct delegates to censure and remove Roe from his role as the party’s executive director. “WE, REPUBLICAN PARTY PRECINCT DELEGATES OF MICHIGAN believe that our voices and votes were removed in an illegal election on November 3, 2020,” reads the resolution.

Those pushing for Roe’s removal are in the grass-roots wing of the party, not on the state committee, and Roe declined to comment on the specifics of the ongoing turmoil. But he said he believes voting reforms are needed — if only to reassure the large percentage of voters who, spurred by Trump’s false claims, do not trust the electoral process.

“When half of the voters of this country don’t have faith in our electoral system, doing nothing is not an option,” Roe said. “Overwhelming majorities of Michiganders and Americans support voter ID. If all we did was make that change in our law, it would release a lot of steam from this boiling cauldron and help us get back to a more normalized political system.”

[In summary: The GOP claims we have to change the voter laws because of a falsehood. Those motherfuckers just want to kill democracy; this is just another excuse. Why aren't we removing these people for violating their oath of office? (That was a rhetorical question, of course. We all know why: Because the oligarchs love republicans. They even love, perhaps especially love, the Republicans' hostile divorce from reality.)]

Trump, meanwhile, has continued making false assertions about the election, including at a Republican gathering in Florida last month.

[Isn't there something someone could put into one of his Big Macs? Asking for a friend.]

A CNN poll released Friday found that 30 percent of Americans say Biden did not legitimately win enough votes to win the presidency, including 70 percent of Republicans. Less than a quarter of Republicans — 23 percent — believe Biden legitimately won enough votes for the presidency. However, the percentage of Republicans who falsely say there is solid evidence that Biden did not win has dropped by eight percentage points, from 58 percent in January to 50 percent now.

Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University, said the pressure inside parts of the Republican Party to support Trump’s false election narrative has “a long tail.”

“It feels like this has been happening in the Republican Party for a really long time,” Phillips said. “If you allow an entire contingent of your caucus to be steeped in conspiratorial thinking, what … do you think is going to happen? They’re going to turn on you.”

In Arizona, Republicans in the state Senate instructed Maricopa County to turn over all of its voting machinery and 2.1 million ballots for a new recount, which is underway. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers said that after the five-member board voted in November to certify election results that showed Biden winning the growing and diversifying county by more than two points, the backlash from local Republicans was so intense that police officers were posted at supervisors’ homes for their protection.

[This is no longer a joke. Republicans are a serious danger to other people, and to the entire planet. They are armed to the teeth, mentally ill, and dangerously misinformed. They are madmen with guns. At least most Nazi soldiers in WWII were innocent young men conscripted into Hitler's service. But not American Republicans. They chose the path they're on. Americans once killed Nazis less culpable and dangerous than the Nazis we now allow to run our country. What the fuck happened to us? (Another rhetorical question. Capitalism happened to us.)]

Now, Sellers said, he worries about the divisiveness, not just in the country but in his own party — especially in a place like Maricopa, where Republicans already have been losing ground.

“In Maricopa County, only a third of the voters are Republican,” Sellers said. “A third are Democrats and a third are independents. If you don’t even have a third of the voting public all together, how on earth can you expect to win over enough independents and others?”

Last week, Republican senators remained reluctant to weigh in on just how much accepting Biden’s presidency as legitimate is becoming a key question for party stalwarts. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott (Fla.), one of the eight senators who voted against certifying the election results, said the former president’s election falsehoods are not resonating with voters.

“They’re worried about the border crisis and worried about their schools opening,” Scott said. “They’re worried about men playing in women’s sports, they’re worried about the job market, watching them kill the Keystone pipeline.”

And the normally loquacious Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), who also voted against certifying the electoral college count, simply declined to answer, saying, “I don’t have any comment on that.”

#Trump #GOP #Election2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-trump-election-falsehood/2021/05/01/7bd380a0-a921-11eb-8c1a-56f0cb4ff3b5_story.html

Axios Launches Jonathan Swan Podcast on Trump’s Final Days

Swan scored some major scoops during the Trump years, and conducted a memorable interview with the president last July, in which he challenged him on the government’s pandemic response. For the podcast, Swan aims to deliver scoops about unreported meetings and the breakdown of Trump’s relationships within his own government, while also delivering a propulsive narrative.

The arc begins on election night, when Trump delivered what Swan calls a “premeditated, cynical victory speech that he planned out privately since at least early October,” and traces “the direct line that goes from that speech to the sacking of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.”

Swan’s sources all spoke on deep background, and would not agree to go on tape, creating a challenge for a podcast. As the narrator, Swan will be channeling his sources, offering precise detail about White House meetings, including where people were sitting and what food was served.

I've already listened to episode one and it's going to be a very intriguing series. I'm in!

#JonathanSwan #Axios #podcast #Trump #election2020

Ahead of the inauguration, much of D.C. closed off like never before

In an unprecedented move, the Mall and much of the surrounding area is closed to the public days ahead of next week’s presidential inauguration. Hundreds of thousands of spectators typically watch the ceremonies, but this year, the Secret Service has launched a massive security operation to protect the Biden inauguration following last week’s short-lived insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Vehicle traffic in much of the city will be prohibited or limited to residents and businesses only. Metro is shuttering stations in the city’s core and near the Mall. Street closures will continue through Thursday, and are subject to change at the discretion of the Secret Service. ..

Red and green zones, traffic barricades and razor-wire-topped high fencing extending 4--6 blocks from the Capitol, White House, Mall, and Pennsylvania Avenue. It looks like occupied Baghdad.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/15/ahead-inauguration-much-dc-closed-off-like-never-before/

#politics #uspol #JoeBiden #inauguration #election2020 #security #WashingtonDC

For those keeping tabs on the Georgia election and US Senate balance: Swearing in likely between January 15--22nd

Lost to the dusty fog of the ancient history of last Tuesday, two Democratic candidates beat their Republican incumbents in Georgia's runoff elections by margins exceeding automatic recount mandates. One of those incumbents' terms expired January 3rd, meaning the Senate now has 99 members.

Counties must certify results by January 15th, and the state by January 22nd, though possibly earlier. Swearing in will follow.

Vice President Mike Pence continues to hold the tie-breaking vote until noon on the 20th at which point VP-elect Kamala Harris becomes Vice President and President of the Senate, with a tie-breaking vote. Balance swings to the Democrats at some point between the 20th and 22nd, and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York becomes the presumed Majority Leader.

Barring further vacancies or shifts in allegiance, the Senate will have 49 democrats, 1 independent (Sanders, VT), caucusing with the Democrats, and 50 GOP members.

With a simple majority, the Democrats can pass legislation, confirm appointments, and change chamber rules. They lack the 2/3 majority required to impeach, approve treaties, or approve Constitutional amendments without further GOP votes. Some power-sharing will occur, and Committee memberships will be evenly split, with co-chairs.

I'm unclear on the rules for censuring or removing the chamber's own members, six GOP members of whom are widely considered to have supported sedition and overthrow of the elected executive representative of the People of the United States: Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and John Kennedy of Louisiana.

#uspol #politics #georgia #USSenate #ChuckSchumer #Election2020

I'd argued as the election was called in early November that the Turd was spent

I thought this would be apparent sooner rather than later, though as @Isaac Ji Kuo pointed out, settling the Georgia Senate run-offd, thanks to Stacey Abrams, was the decisive turn. I learned of yesterday's coup attempt tuning in to catch election returns, and finding myself occupied somewhat longer than expected.

That said, my assessment seems to have held up well; Trump is spent and it's gone quite poorly for the GOP.

See previousdly: Spent.

#politics #election2020 #spent

Stacey Abrams saved the Republic

Yesterday's repudiation of Trump by some of the seditious GOP (but by no means all) was the result of flipping Georgia blue, and that the consequence of long-term and farsighted legwork by Stacey Abrams. She is a national treasure of the United States.

https://www.theroot.com/stacey-abrams-is-not-your-superhero-mule-or-god-she-i-1846001869

#StaceyAbrams #election2020 #Jan6Coup #DumpTrump #blm

It's official

The electors have voted and Joe Biden is confirmed as president-elect

With the vote of California’s electors, President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win over Donald Trump is formalized. States have been voting throughout the day, but it took California’s 55 votes to bring Biden over the 270 needed to win.

Hawaii’s four electors still have to cast their votes, but Biden’s win is sealed. Not that we should expect a gracious—or any—acknowledgement from Trump. Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to even answer a question about whether Trump would accept the result.

#Election2020 #ElectionResult #BidenWins

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/12/14/2001968/-The-electors-have-voted-and-Joe-Biden-is-confirmed-as-president-elect

Biden to carry Georgia after second recount: state election official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Joe Biden is headed toward victory in Georgia in the 2020 U.S. presidential election after the state’s second recount, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Wednesday, rejecting false claims of fraud in the race.

“It looks like Vice President Biden will be carrying Georgia, and he is our president-elect,” Raffensperger, a Republican, said at a news conference after noting that no substantial changes have been seen in a second recount demanded by Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign. ...

An unexpeccted highlight of the endless recounts and challenges is watching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win, win and win again.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-georgia/biden-to-carry-georgia-after-second-recount-state-election-official-idUSKBN28C29P

#election2020 #georgia #BidenHarris2020 #JoeBiden #KamalaHarris

BREAKING: JOE BIDEN WINS (CNN)

https://nitter.net/CNN/status/1325112684644347904

#Election2020 #JoeBiden #BidenHarris2020

Q: Did mishandling of the #TrumpVirus swing the election by outright killing a critical margin of voters?

A: No.

Comparing COVID-19 deaths and election margins in the four critical states AZ, GA, and NV, plus Wisconsin because reasons, we see margins well above deaths in all but one case:

State	Electoral Margin	Covid-19 deaths
AZ	29,861	6,109
GA	4,430	8,608
NV	22,657	1,845
PA	28,883	9,059
WI	20,539	2,256

Of the four critical states, any one of which is sufficient to provide a Biden victory, and adding in Wisconsin just because, only Georgia’s Covid-19 deaths exceed the popular vote margin (bolded).

TRUMP DID NOT LOSE THE ELECTION BY SUCCESSFULLY KILLING OFF HIS VOTER BASE, THOUGH HE ARGUABLY CAME CLOSE, AND NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING AND/OR INCOMPETENCE.

Other effects, e.g., disaffecting voters through incompetence, fear, etc, may have changed the outcome. But the needless death of 238,000 Americans as of election day did not do so of itself. Deaths have been doubling about every three months, and multiple doubling periods would be required to exceed vote margins sufficient to cchange overall results. With faster spread and rates of increase that time might be less.

Data from Worldometers (COVID-19) and ABC News (election returns).

#covid19 #election2020 #BidenHarris2020

On the Media: This is Us

The week that was, and still continues ...

With Joe Biden approaching victory, Donald Trump and his political allies flooded the internet with conspiracy theories. This week, On the Media examines the misinformation fueling right-wing demonstrations across the country. Plus, why pollsters seemed to get the election wrong — again. And, how the history of the American right presaged the Republican Party's anti-majoritarian turn.

1. John Mark Hansen, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, explains what exactly it would take to steal a presidential election. Listen.

2. Zeynep Tufecki [@zeynep], associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, argues in favor of doing away with election forecasting models. Listen.

3. Rick Perlstein [@rickperlstein], author of Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980, on the history of anti-majoritarian politics on the American right. Listen.

Full programme audio:
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/otm/otm110620_cms1066207_pod.mp3

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-this-is-us

#OnTheMedia #podcasts #media #politics #election2020

After testing positive for coronavirus, White House chief of staff told others not to disclose his condition

Mark Meadows was in the East Room of the White House on election night when the president addressed a crowd of about 150 people. During that event, Meadows worked the room extensively, without a mask, speaking to dozens.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/meadows-covid-white-house/2020/11/06/88847e40-20b3-11eb-90dd-abd0f7086a91_story.html

#covid19 #politics #election2020 #uspol #MarkMeadows

Pennsylvania Has Flipped!

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is the 46th president-elect of the United States, Kamala Devi Harris the vice-president elect, pending Electoral College ballots and House certification.

The Trumpist era is at a close.

Never again.

Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273.

Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America.

Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST

All Results: https://results.decisiondeskhq.com/2020/general/pennsylvania

https://twitter.com/DecisionDeskHQ/status/1324710866516905984

#Election2020 #BidenHarris2020 #TrumpDumped

A Presidential Election Results - Biden takes the Lead

Biden (D): 49.39.% ( 2,449,371 votes)
Trump (R): 49.37% ( 2,448,454 votes)

Biden Margin: (+917)
Estimated: > 99% votes in

More results here: https://results.decisiondeskhq.com/2020/general/georgia

https://nitter.net/DecisionDeskHQ/status/1324643210283593728

Still not called, but progress.

#election2020 #BidenHarris2020

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight: Still waiting

So … where do we stand here? Well, we’re playing the waiting game. Look, FiveThirtyEight doesn’t “call” elections, and even if we did, we’d probably be exceptionally conservative. But we’re expecting that at some point, Biden will surpass Trump in the vote count in both Georgia and Pennsylvania. When? We don’t know. Possibly in the wee hours of the morning here, but also possibly not. Not so helpful, I know. But we know from our years of covering elections that sometimes important things happen at 3 in the morning … and sometimes they don’t because some key player in the system has literally gone to sleep.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/2020-election-results-coverage/

(I wish individual updates could be linked, AFAICT they cannot.)

#election2020

Wisconsin is now reported 49.3% Biden, 49.0% Trump, with 97% of vote reported.

Green Bay is the one city unreported. It went for Clinton in 2016.

This is good news for Democrats.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/election-results/wisconsin-2020/

https://nitter.net/NateSilver538/status/1323925446413721601

#uspol #election2020

For those Not avoiding All Things E-Word, and fans of On the Media: Imprecision 2020

A livestream with Brooke, Bob, and the OTM gang.

https://www.thegreenespace.org/event/indecision-2020-otms-election-night-livestream/

#OTM #OnTheMedia #Election2020

Quotations about the Presidency

As mentioned in the previous post, I collect quotations at my Wish I’d Said That (WIST) site. Here are some quotations I’ve picked up over the years on the presidency, and leadership, in consideration of what I think of as being a President, of being presidential.

It will not surprise you to discover I find a tremendous contrast between Donald Trump and these ideals. To me it’s a reminder of what we’ve lost the last four years, and have an opportunity to regain.

Links go to the original quotation on WIST, which may have additional sourcing information or notes.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

¶ Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)

“To the People of Sangamo County,” speech running for Illinois state legislature (9 Mar 1832)

A politician, for example, is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation.

¶ James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) American theologian and author

“Wanted, a Statesman!”, Old and New Magazine (Dec 1870)

Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.

¶ James K. Polk (1795-1849) American lawyer, politician, US President (1845-1849)

Inaugural Address (4 Mar 1845)

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

¶ Sam Rayburn (1882-1961) American lawyer and politician

Quoted in The Leadership of Speaker Sam Rayburn, Collected Tributes of His Congressional Colleagues, House Doc. 87-247 (1961)

For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us — recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state — our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we truly men of courage — with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies — and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one’s associates — the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?

Secondly, were we truly men of judgment — with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past — of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others — with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it.

Third, were we truly men of integrity — men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the men who believed in us — men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?

Finally, were we truly men of dedication — with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?

Courage — judgment — integrity — dedication — these are the historic qualities … which, with God’s help … will characterize our Government’s conduct in the four stormy years that lie ahead.

¶ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)

Address to the Massachusetts legislature (9 Jan 1961)

It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.

¶ Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)

Letter to the Smothers Brothers (Nov 1968)

The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

¶ James Madison (1751-1836) American statesman, political theorist, US President (1809-17)

The Federalist #57 (19 Feb 1788)

Dishonor in public life has a double poison. When people are dishonorable in private business, they injure only those with whom they deal or their own chances in the net world. When there is a lack of honor in Government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.

¶ Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, President of the US (1928-32)

Address, Des Moines, Iowa (30 Aug 1951)

Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

¶ Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, orator

Speech, Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace (Nov 1967)

PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.

¶ Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist

The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but the tone of the body. The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers.

¶ Max De Pree (b. 1924) American businessman and writer

Leadership Is An Art (1987)

Your public servants serve you right.

¶ Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) American diplomat, statesman

Speech, Los Angeles (11 Sep 1952)

The best foreign policy is to live our daily lives in honesty, decency, and integrity; at home, making our own land a more fitting habitation for free men; and abroad, joining with those of like mind and heart, to make of the world a place where all men can dwell in peace.

¶ Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)

Inaugural Gabriel Silver lecture, Columbia University (23 Mar 1950)

The legislative job of the President is especially important to the people who have no special representatives to plead their cause before Congress — and that includes the great majority. The President is the only lobbyist that 150 million Americans have. The other 20 million are able to employ people to represent them — and that’s all right, it’s the exercise of the right of petition — but someone has to look after the interests of the 150 million that are left.

¶ Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)

Speech, Press and Union Club, San Francisco (25 Oct 1956)

To serve the Public faithfully, and at the same time please it entirely, is impracticable.

¶ Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher

Poor Richard’s Almanack (Oct 1758)

The politician in my country seeks votes, affection and respect, in that order…. With few notable exceptions, they are simply men who want to be loved.

¶ Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist

Address at London Guildhall (19 Oct 1959)

I believe that the public temper is such that the voters of the land are prepared to support the party which gives the best promise of administering the government in the honest, simple, and plain manner which is consistent with its character and purposes. They have learned that mystery and concealment in the management of their affairs cover tricks and betrayal. The statesmanship they require consists in honesty and frugality, a prompt response to the needs of the people as they arise, and a vigilant protection of all their varied interests.

¶ Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) American President (1885–1889, 1893–1897)

Letter accepting Democratic nomination for President (8 Aug 1884)

When I ran for Presidency of the United States, I knew that this country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize — nor could any man realize who does not bear the burdens of this — how heavy and constant would be those burdens.

¶ John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)

“Radio and TV Report to the American People on the Berlin Crisis” (25 Jul 1961)

The first rule of democracy is to distrust all leaders who begin to believe their own publicity.

¶ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007) American historian, author, social critic

“On Heroic Leadership,” Encounter (Dec 1960)

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and of courage. This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people.

¶ Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) US President (1933-1945)

Presidential nomination acceptance speech, Chicago (2 Jul 1932)

Dependability, integrity, the characteristic of never knowingly doing anything wrong, that you would never cheat anyone, that you would give everybody a fair deal. Character is a sort of an all-inclusive thing. If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader.

¶ Omar Bradley (1893-1981) American general

Personal interview with Edgar Puryear (15 Feb 1963)

Quoted in Edgar Puryear, 19 Stars : A Study in Military Character and Leadership (1981).

You have heard the story, haven’t you, about the man who was tarred and feathered and carried out of town on a rail? A man in the crowd asked him how he liked it. His reply was that if it was not for the honor of the thing, he would much rather walk.

¶ Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)

When asked how he enjoyed being President. (Attributed (1861))

Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

¶ John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)

(Attributed)

The worst error a president can make is to assume the automatic implementation of his own decisions. In certain respects, having able subordinates aggravates that problem, since strong personalities tend to have strong ideas of their own. Civil government operates by consent, not by command; the President’s task, even within his own branch of government, is not to order but to lead.

¶ Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917-2007) American historian, author, social critic

The Age of Roosevelt: The Coming of the New Deal, ch. 33, sec. 3 (1959)

The second office of this government is honorable & easy, the first is but a splendid misery.

¶ Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)

Letter to Elbridge Gerry (13 May 1797)

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

¶ John Buchan (1875-1940) Scottish novelist, poet, and politician; Governor-General of Canada (1935 -1940)

Montrose and Leadership (1930)

All presidents start out to run a crusade, but after a couple of years they find they are running something less heroic and much more intractable: namely, the presidency.

¶ Alistair Cooke (1908-2004) Anglo-American essayist and journalist

Talk About America, ch. 6 (1981)

He serves his party best who serves the country best.

¶ Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) American attorney, soldier, politician, US President (1877-81)

Inaugural address (5 Mar 1877)

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.

¶ Max De Pree (b. 1924) American businessman and writer

Leadership Is An Art (1989)

You can lead an organization through persuasion or formal edict. I have never found the arbitrary use of authority to control an organization either effective or, for that matter, personally interesting. If you cannot persuade your colleagues of the correctness of your position, it is probably worthwhile to rethink your own.

¶ Alan Greenspan (b. 1926) American economist, bureaucrat

“Federal Reserve’s Chairman Blends Eye for Politics with Economic Skills,” New York Times (26 Jul 1990)

The Presidency is not merely an administrative office. That’s the least of it. It is more than an engineering job, efficient or inefficient. It is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. All our great Presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.

¶ Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) US President (1933-1945)

In The New York Times Magazine (11 Sep 1932)

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

¶ Abigail Adams (1744-1818) American correspondent, First Lady (1797-1801)

Letter to John Thaxter (29 Sep 1778)

I despise toadies who suck up to their bosses; they are generally the same people who bully their subordinates.

¶ David Ogilvy (1911–1999) British advertising executive

Confessions of an Advertising Man, ch. 1 (1963)

Do you know what makes a leader? It’s the man or woman who can persuade people to do what they ought to do — and which they sometimes don’t do — without being persuaded. They must also have the ability to persuade people to do what they do not want to do and like it.

¶ Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)

Speech, Annapolis (24 May 1952)

The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly as necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)

“Sedition, A Free Press, and Personal Rule,” Kansas City Star (7 May 1918)

You convey too great a compliment when you say that I have earned the right to the presidential nomination. No man can establish such an obligation upon any part of the American people. My country owes me no debt. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond any human power to repay.

¶ Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) American engineer, bureaucrat, President of the US (1928-32)

Letter to George Moses (14 Jun 1928)

When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn’t for you. It’s for the Presidency.

¶ Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)

In Merle Miller, Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, ch. 15 (1973)

Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism.

¶ Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer

Billions and Billions, ch. 14 “The Common Enemy” (1997)

The intoxication of power rapidly sobers off in the knowledge of its restrictions and under the prompt reminder of an ever-present and not always considerate press, as well as the kindly suggestions that not infrequently come from Congress.

¶ William Howard Taft (1857-1930) US President (1909-13) and Chief Justice (1921-1930)

Speech, Lotus Club (16 Nov 1912)

The leader holds his position purely because he is able to appeal to the conscience and to the reason of those who support him, and the boss holds his position because he appeals to fear of punishment and hope of reward. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

¶ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)

Speech, Binghamton, New York (24 Oct 1910)

The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.

¶ Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch. 3 (2015)

Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.

¶ Norman Schwarzkopf (b. 1934) American military leader

(Attributed)

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

¶ Colin Powell (b. 1937) American military leader, Secretary of State

My American Journey, ch. 2 (2003)

I praise loudly, I blame softly.

¶ Catherine II (1762-1796) Russian empress [Catherine the Great]

Letter (23 Aug. 1794)

If you don’t understand that you work for your mislabeled subordinates, then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny.

¶ Dee W. Hock (b. 1929) American businessman

“Unit of One Anniversary Handbook,” Fast Company (28 Feb 1997)

No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary.

¶ John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) US President (1961-63)

Speech, American Newspaper Publishers Association (27 Apr 1961)

We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.

¶ Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American clergyman, civil rights leader, orator

“The Birth of a New Age,” speech, Alpha Phi Alpha banquet, Buffalo (11 Aug 1956)

The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political, or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.

¶ John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer

“America and Americans” (1966)

Divide and rule, the politician cries;

Unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.

¶ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet, statesman, scientist

Sprüche in Prosa (1819)

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

¶ Ralph Nader (b. 1934) American attorney, author, lecturer, political activist

Time Leadership Conference, Washington, DC (Sep 1976)

You can judge a leader by the size of the problem he tackles — people nearly always pick a problem their own size, and ignore or leave to others the bigger or smaller ones. The chief executive should be thinking about the long-term changes which will bring growth or decay to different parts of the enterprise, not fussing over day-to-day problems. Other people can cope with the waves, it’s his job to watch the tide.

¶ Antony Jay (b. 1930) English writer, broadcaster, director

Management and Machiavelli: An Inquiry into the Politics of Corporate Life, ch. 17 (1967)

For a man of sensitivity and compassion to exercise great powers in a time of crisis is a grim and agonizing thing.

¶ Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970) American historian and intellectual

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It, Part 5, ch. 7 (1958)

Referring to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

It is loyalty to great ends, even though forced to combine the small and opposing motives of selfish men to accomplish them; it is the anchored cling to solid principles of duty and action, which knows how to swing with the tide, but is never carried away by it — that we demand in public men, and not sameness of policy, or a conscientious persistency in what is impracticable.

¶ James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet

“Abraham Lincoln” (1864), My Study Windows (1871)

Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to replicate your strength. It is idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is also rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.

¶ Dee W. Hock (b. 1929) American businessman

In M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Dee Hock on Management,” Fast Company (Oct/Nov 1996)

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associates find him guilty of phoniness, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore, is integrity and high purpose.

¶ Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)

(Attributed)

Our loyalty is due entirely to the United States. It is due to the President only and exactly to the degree in which he efficiently serves the United States. It is our duty to support him when he serves the United States well. It is our duty to oppose him when he serves it badly. This is true about Mr. Wilson now and it has been true about all our Presidents in the past. It is our duty at all times to tell the truth about the President and about every one else, save in the cases where to tell the truth at the moment would benefit the public enemy.

¶ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) US President (1901-1909)

Kansas City Star (7 May 1918)

Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others can receive your orders without being humiliated.

¶ Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) Swedish diplomat, author, UN Secretary-General (1953-61)

Markings (1955) [tr. Sjoberg & Auden (1964)]

The job of getting people really wanting to do something is the essence of leadership. And one of the things a leader needs occasionally is the inspiration he gets from the people he leads. The old tactical textbooks say that the commander always visits his troops to inspire them to fight. I for one soon discovered that one of the reasons for my visiting the front lines was to get inspiration from the young American soldier. I went back to my job ashamed of my own occasional resentments or discouragements, which I probably — at least I hope I concealed them.

¶ Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)

Speech, Republican State Chairmen, Denver (10 Sep 1955)

You can’t do the biggest things in this world unless you handle men; and you can’t handle men if you’re not in sympathy with them; and sympathy begins in humility.

¶ George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) American journalist, author, magazine editor

Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son (1901)

The high sentiments always win in the end, the leaders who offer blood, toil, tears, and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

¶ George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]

“The Art of Donald McGill” (Sep 1941)

Oh, if there is a man out of hell that suffers more than I do, I pity him.

¶ Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)

(Attributed (1862))

Our trouble is that we do not demand enough of the people who represent us. We are responsible for their activities. … We must spur them to more imagination and enterprise in making a push into the unknown; we must make clear that we intend to have responsible and courageous leadership.

¶ Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist

Tomorrow Is Now (1963)

God give us men. The time demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and willing hands;

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty and in private thinking ….

¶ J. G. Holland (1819-1881) American novelist, poet, editor [Josiah Gilbert Holland; pseud. Timothy Titcomb]

“Wanted” (1872)

#nb #election2020 #presidency #quotations

Originally posted at: https://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2020/11/03/quotations-about-the-presidency.html

Forty-Five: A Republic, if you can keep it (2016)

I don't like commenting on current politics, I don't think I'm good at it, things move far too quickly for my preference of considered commentary, the topic itself (and the inevitable discussions) tends to annoy me, and there's far too much superior competition.

Still, with many others I'm absorbing in a state of shock the news of Donald John Trump, 45th president-elect of the United States of America. And am wondering, how did we get here? ...

https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/5c88gg/fortyfive_a_republic_if_you_can_keep_it/

A piece from four years ago. I had my doubts when I hit "publish", though it seems to have weathered well. And be worth revisiting.

Here's to a 46 in 2021.

#vote #election2020 #BidenHarris2020 #uspol #politics #dreddit