Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Are We Watching Failure Theater? Because Team Trump’s Actions Don’t Make Any Sense.

 

Maybe Giuliani, Murtaugh, Stepien, etc. have some different, better course of action planned that I cannot begin to guess at, but otherwise what’s happening (or not happening) isn’t making any sense.

Let’s be honest; everyone knew from the onset that no judge is going to set aside the results, or delay the certification of the election, and no state legislature is going to send a different slate of electors without incontrovertible evidence of election fraud in sufficient volume to change the outcome.

One would think the Trump legal team would therefore prioritize the pursuit of that evidence, and try and secure court orders to state and local authorities to provide full access to *everything* (documents, records, the ballots themselves) so that the Trump Campaign can conduct a full in-depth audit of the vote and forensic examinations of ballots in the suspect counties in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.

I am not in the loop on what the Trump team’s strategy is, but I have yet to see any filings in any state making such a request. At the very least we should be seeing requests for court orders to impound the records, documents, machines, and ballots. Instead, we’ve seen Trump suffering predictable defeat after defeat from lawyers aiming for the impossible. You cannot expect a judge to order a remedy, especially one like setting aside election results, based on a criminal allegation you cannot readily prove in court.

What bothers me even more is the lack of any evidence of the logistical ramp-up to carry out audits across multiple states that we should be seeing now. I’ve not seen anything like the level of recruitment and mobilization of equipment and manpower that will be needed to carry out the sort of investigation that can prove the election was stolen (or not).

It’s already been almost two weeks since the election and the clock is ticking. The only way this can be done within the timeline is by a massive mobilization of volunteers, crowdsourcing, data analytics, and forensic analysis on an industrial scale.

So where is the call for volunteers, for data and forensics experts, software testers, investigators, and auditors? Where are the logistics pros to orchestrate this operation?

The Trump Campaign is right now supposed to be recruiting folks like RedState’s Scott Hounsell*, data analysts and statisticians, to help identify locales with statistical anomalies and other red flags – e.g. 95% turnout, incredible vote swings, impossible margins – for investigation.

Please read Hounsell’s analyses of the results in GA, WI, MI and PA.

Once so directed, investigators can do the document tracing and investigate and verify the audit trails. Who took custody of this ballot box? Who delivered it? How many people voted in the precinct? How many ballots were inside when it left the precinct? Where’s the voters’ register? Who received the ballot box at the counting center? When? How many ballots arrived at the counting center? etc.

Volunteers can be coordinated to methodically verify addresses (physically and otherwise) and check information against public records, identify potential signature mismatches, with separate verification teams and AI/ML applications to validate the data.

Volunteers in their thousands can also be deputized by the campaign to physically sort out ballots and identify the suspicious, e.g. ballots with only the Presidential race marked. These (and others) can then be subjected to extra scrutiny by forensic teams.

Out of the President’s 70 million voters, there are certainly more than enough who know something about ink forensics and the use of spectrophotometers and other forensic equipment. Thousands of people using the exact same pen brand in the exact same color in the exact same patterns across multiple jurisdictions with different races, particularly when it comes to absentee ballots, is incontrovertible evidence of fraud.

I also expect that the President’s 70 million supporters include computer forensics experts and software analysts who will only be too happy to examine the tabulating machines’ logs and validate the software.

In other words, this should be a coordinated endeavor involving a massive number of people, akin to a military operation. Even without Big Tech, with Parler, MeWe, Signal, etc. and 70 million passionate supporters from all walks of life, there is a no lack of avenues for coordination, manpower or expertise.

Given the deadlines, and the fact that even the very best logistics experts know you must respect the one most unforgiving resource, time, the lawyers need to start convincing some judges (Justices, preferably) that this is an accounting/audit problem; red flags mean we get to take an in-depth look at the books, it serves the public’s interest, and it can be done within the necessary deadlines. Most helpful would be securing the support of the Republican leaders in charge of the affected State Legislatures (GA, MI, PA, and WI) as amici for their petition.

The best time for this, mounting up the resources for the audits and filing the necessary suits, was last week. The next best time is *now*, and the very moment Alito, Kavanaugh and Thomas are able to receive petitions in their chambers.

Again, maybe there’s a better plan that we’re not privy to and I’m wrong, and we’re not seeing failure theater.

But bitter experience and Occam’s Razor suggests otherwise.

I just hope I’m wrong.

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  1. HeavyWater Coolidge

    J Climacus (View Comment):

    I get that Republicans beat expectations. So did Trump. He was supposed to get slaughtered in this election. The argument is being made that Trump was repudiated while down ballot Republicans prospered. My point is that down ballot Republicans didn’t actually prosper any more than Trump did. Both beat expectations, and both came close to but did not claim control of their respective branches of government.

    Let’s take the state of Maine as one example.

    Susan Collins, whom you might call an establishment Republican, ran for reelection to the US Senate. 

    Collins beat her Democrat opponent with 385,459 votes to 325,277, or 51 percent to 43 percent.

    Trump lost to Biden in Maine with 341,949 votes to 420,357, or 43 percent to 53 percent.

    But there are other examples of a divergence between the local Republican candidates and Trump. In Pennsylvania, the Republican candidates for US House of Representatives beat the Democrat candidates for US House, even as Trump lost to Biden in Pennsylvania by 74,000 votes.

    Trump appears to have motivated a record number of voters to vote against him, in the person of Joe Biden, despite the fact that Joe Biden was barely breathing.

     

    • #151
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:19 PM PST
    • Like
  2. Django Member

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    J Climacus (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment)

     

    Good point.

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

    It seems as if we don’t live in the same universe. Trump got more support from minorities than any Republican since 1960 and those down-ticket candidates didn’t, to my knowledge, oppose Trump’s policies. So I don’t know how you can blame the “Trumpist wing”

     

    Just to be clear this election is still not decided, and while I believe the result will be a Trump loss, the polls had Trump losing in a landslide and the (D)/MSM Corporate media are still pooping their pants in disbelief that Trump did so well after 4 years of constant MSM bombardment.

    So this idea that Trump was crushed in this election is simply not true, and saying it repeatedly will not change the fact that, win or lose, this was a very close Presidential election.

    I don’t believe Trump should run again in 2024 because he would be 78 then, and IMO, too old to be President ….

    BTW Joe Biden turns 78 on Friday.

    This was a close run election, just as the 2016 election was a close run election. 2020 was a Republican victory, and a Trump loss.

    Why do people keep saying 2020 was a Republican victory? Republicans lost the election for the House of Representatives. Every seat is up every 2 years. More Democrats were elected than Republicans. Republicans lost less badly than they did in 2018. So what? It’s still not a victory. Republicans may or may not win the Senate. That is still up in the air.

    We narrowed the gap in the House, bigly. We held the Senate provided that we win a least one of the Georgia runoffs. We held legislatures. 2020 was an overall Republican win, and Trump loss.

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    I just heard a report on the hourly news that 60% of those who voted for Trump want him to run again. If he does, the Usual Suspects will join forces and contribute to another Republican loss. They will be blaming those nasty Trump supporters again. 

    • #152
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:32 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  3. Jim George Member

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate. 

    You are not on the side of Republicans. 

    Amen! 

    Any supporter this avid about The Lincoln Project has, in my humble opinion, forfeited any right to call himself a Republican. They are a despicable and tawdry disgrace to the Nation, and were apparently heavily involved in the intimidation of the law firms of Jones Day (cowards) and Porter Wright (cowards) which drove them to withdraw as counsel for the President. How any member of the Bar can so loudly proclaim his or her admiration for such a bunch of thugs is simply beyond me. 

    Well said, Bryan.

    Sincerely, Jim

    • #153
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:33 PM PST
    • 7 likes
  4. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. StephensJoined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    Amen!

    Any supporter this avid about The Lincoln Project has, in my humble opinion, forfeited any right to call himself a Republican. They are a despicable and tawdry disgrace to the Nation, and were apparently heavily involved in the intimidation of the law firms of Jones Day (cowards) and Porter Wright (cowards) which drove them to withdraw as counsel for the President. How any member of the Bar can so loudly proclaim his or her admiration for such a bunch of thugs is simply beyond me.

    Well said, Bryan.

    Sincerely, Jim

    But, this behavior is clearly fine for Gary Which is rich, because Gary calls posting his public donations “doxxing”.

     

    • #154
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:35 PM PST
    • 1 like
  5. HeavyWater Coolidge

    Django (View Comment):

    I just heard a report on the hourly news that 60% of those who voted for Trump want him to run again. If he does, the Usual Suspects will join forces and contribute to another Republican loss. They will be blaming those nasty Trump supporters again.

    Imagine a contest between Tom Cotton and Donald Trump. Epic.

     

    • #155
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:36 PM PST
    • 1 like
  6. Django Member

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    I just heard a report on the hourly news that 60% of those who voted for Trump want him to run again. If he does, the Usual Suspects will join forces and contribute to another Republican loss. They will be blaming those nasty Trump supporters again.

    Imagine a contest between Tom Cotton and Donald Trump. Epic.

    May the best man win. Fairly. If Nevers could say that, there wouldn’t be such a divide in the GOP. 

    BTW, I’ve read some columns by leftists who claim Cotton is worse than Trump because he is Trump’s policies without Trump’s baggage. 

    • #156
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:53 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  7. CRD Member

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    I tend to agree that Trump could probably have won despite all of that other stuff, if he’d been a different kind of person. But then we’d have to speculate about whether a different kind of person would have won the first time around, would have drawn the left out and revealed it to so many, would have stood by his nominations despite the howling left, would have pursued the agenda he went into office saying he was going to pursue, etc.

    @henryracette, thank you for this paragraph!

    • #157
    • November 17, 2020, at 1:57 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  8. Henry Racette Contributor

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    I don’t know how one narrows it down to a single thing. If the press had not launched a four year hit job on the President, I expect he would have won despite “Trump himself.” If social media had not censored Biden family coverage three weeks before the election, it’s entirely possible that Trump would have won despite his peccadilloes. If the Wuhan virus had not infected the world in the last year of his presidency, it seems almost certain that he would have won, again despite his vulgarity and rudeness and tweets, etc.

    I tend to agree that Trump could probably have won despite all of that other stuff, if he’d been a different kind of person. But then we’d have to speculate about whether a different kind of person would have won the first time around, would have drawn the left out and revealed it to so many, would have stood by his nominations despite the howling left, would have pursued the agenda he went into office saying he was going to pursue, etc.

    I think a better way to say it is that there were many causes to Trump’s defeat, and that it’s possible that, had he behaved differently, he could have won despite them. And that’s probably true of a great many candidates.

    How about; HAd the Republican establishment not joined with Democrats to work against him?

     

    That too, Bryan. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. But those other things I mentioned were all big enough to be determinative, I think, whereas I don’t have a sense of how significant an impact the more churlish Republicans had on Trump’s prospects. Same goes for the so-called never-Trumpers: they were insufferable fools, in my opinion, but I don’t have a sense of how big an impact they had.

    • #158
    • November 17, 2020, at 2:02 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  9. Django Member

    CRD (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    I tend to agree that Trump could probably have won despite all of that other stuff, if he’d been a different kind of person. But then we’d have to speculate about whether a different kind of person would have won the first time around, would have drawn the left out and revealed it to so many, would have stood by his nominations despite the howling left, would have pursued the agenda he went into office saying he was going to pursue, etc.

    @henryracette, thank you for this paragraph!

    Every American owes Trump debt of gratitude for exposing the rot. It is in the open and if “we” ignore it, we deserve what we get. 

    • #159
    • November 17, 2020, at 2:02 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  10. HeavyWater Coolidge

    The judge in Pennsylvania just asked Giuliani and other Trump lawyers “you are asking me to throw out” many thousands of votes, “can you tell me how this result can even possibly be justified?” After a long pause, Giuliani…does not answer the question. Just repeats his fraud allegations.

    • #160
    • November 17, 2020, at 2:40 PM PST
    • 1 like
  11. Django Member

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    The judge in Pennsylvania just asked Giuliani and other Trump lawyers “you are asking me to throw out” many thousands of votes, “can you tell me how this result can even possibly be justified?” After a long pause, Giuliani…does not answer the question. Just repeats his fraud allegations.

    Sounds to me like the judge is an idiot. If the votes are fraudulent, that IS the justification. Of course, if Giuliani can’t offer proof, why is he there wasting the judge’s time? 

    • #161
    • November 17, 2020, at 2:50 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  12. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    I don’t know how one narrows it down to a single thing. If the press had not launched a four year hit job on the President, I expect he would have won despite “Trump himself.” If social media had not censored Biden family coverage three weeks before the election, it’s entirely possible that Trump would have won despite his peccadilloes. If the Wuhan virus had not infected the world in the last year of his presidency, it seems almost certain that he would have won, again despite his vulgarity and rudeness and tweets, etc.

    I tend to agree that Trump could probably have won despite all of that other stuff, if he’d been a different kind of person. But then we’d have to speculate about whether a different kind of person would have won the first time around, would have drawn the left out and revealed it to so many, would have stood by his nominations despite the howling left, would have pursued the agenda he went into office saying he was going to pursue, etc.

    I think a better way to say it is that there were many causes to Trump’s defeat, and that it’s possible that, had he behaved differently, he could have won despite them. And that’s probably true of a great many candidates.

    How about; HAd the Republican establishment not joined with Democrats to work against him?

    Since I see Trump as an existential threat to the Republic and the Republican Party, I felt that I had no choice but to vote for a Democrat for President for the first time since McGovern in 1972.

    Bryan, can we just agree to disagree and stop the tit for tat? I am guessing that our fellow Ricochetti know very well your antipathy to NT, and my responses.

    • #162
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:11 PM PST
    • Like
  13. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    It is interesting to see the NeverTrumpers pull off their masks and show us who they really are. Thank you, Gary.

    Yes. We are called Republicans.

    Nope. I am now watching what happens with Sidney Powell and Lin Wood. They both have serious reputations. Rush Limbaugh this morning made the very good point that they are unlikely to risk that. It is amusing to see self described Republicans adopting the left’s cries for an early concession.

    • #163
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:17 PM PST
    • 3 likes
  14. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    J Climacus (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment)

    Thanks to you and your ilk, Trump could be the last Republican elected.

    The Republican Party did well in the election, except for the Presidency. Remove Trump, and we have a winning message and coalition.

    Good point.

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

    It seems as if we don’t live in the same universe. Trump got more support from minorities than any Republican since 1960 and those down-ticket candidates didn’t, to my knowledge, oppose Trump’s policies. So I don’t know how you can blame the “Trumpist wing”

    In the state of Maine, the voters re-elected Establishment Republican Susan Collins while those same voters rejected Donald Trump.

    The lesson from the 2020 election might be that if you nominate a man who pays off porn stars, you won’t win the election, even if the Democrat is senile.

    Just to be clear this election is still not decided, and while I believe the result will be a Trump loss, the polls had Trump losing in a landslide and the (D)/MSM Corporate media are still pooping their pants in disbelief that Trump did so well after 4 years of constant MSM bombardment.

    So this idea that Trump was crushed in this election is simply not true, and saying it repeatedly will not change the fact that, win or lose, this was a very close Presidential election.

    I don’t believe Trump should run again in 2024 because he would be 78 then, and IMO, too old to be President ….

    BTW Joe Biden turns 78 on Friday.

    This was a close run election, just as the 2016 election was a close run election. 2020 was a Republican victory, and a Trump loss.

    Why do people keep saying 2020 was a Republican victory? Republicans lost the election for the House of Representatives. Every seat is up every 2 years. More Democrats were elected than Republicans. Republicans lost less badly than they did in 2018. So what? It’s still not a victory. Republicans may or may not win the Senate. That is still up in the air.

    We narrowed the gap in the House, bigly. We held the Senate provided that we win a least one of the Georgia runoffs. We held legislatures. 2020 was an overall Republican win, and Trump loss.

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    Not true. I supported the Republicans keeping control of the Senate. https://ricochet.com/779702/who-i-support-in-the-senate-elections/

    • #164
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:18 PM PST
    • Like
  15. HeavyWater Coolidge

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    It is interesting to see the NeverTrumpers pull off their masks and show us who they really are. Thank you, Gary.

    Yes. We are called Republicans.

    Nope. I am now watching what happens with Sidney Powell and Lin Wood. They both have serious reputations. Rush Limbaugh this morning made the very good point that they are unlikely to risk that. It is amusing to see self described Republicans adopting the left’s cries for an early concession.

    Has Trump hired competent attorneys to make his case in court?

    • #165
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:19 PM PST
    • Like
  16. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Hang On (View Comment):

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):
    May we assume that where you came from, no one, not even the richest or most powerful, could have the benefit of legal representation of a lawyer of the unparalleled excellence of Sidney Powell, who has outlined multiple instances of computer manipulation of votes in favor of your apparently favored candidate?

    And it is statements like this why I call you fools and malign your intelligence or honesty because clearly one is deficient. There has been no demonstration of computer manipulation of votes. All I’ve seen from you people is references to changes in reported vote totals. These changes are caused by vote counting officials updating their results. When errors are made in the inputs they are corrected with later inputs that occur in batches causing a skipping effect if one is tracking the data in real time. If Mr. Powell really had the evidence you impute to him and he pretends to have when communicating to the MAGA idiots he would have presented it in court and a judge would have ordered a halt of the count.

    It is precisely that I do love my adopted country that I find her infested with such credulous fools enslaved to the rhetoric of man who has done nothing but bring shame and dishonor to her name infuriating. She will be far better off once Trump and his followers are removed from power.

    Then please just go away. Form your own party.

    snipped

    Trump is overweight. He doesn’t exercise. Soon he will be a Dead Failure, Loser, Criminal, Broke Deadbeat.

    More examples of your fantasy dreamworld. It must be something inside that head of yours.

    Some immolation. Got more votes than any other Republican has. And until Trump decides what he’s going to do, the 2024 GOP field will be frozen. But you still haven’t figured that out because, well, you ain’t all that much.

    Trump’s stock is declining every day. It will take a huge fall in 27 days on December 14:2020 when the Electoral College votes. It will take a huge fall in 64 days on January 20, 2021 when Biden is inaugurated.

    Trump’s stock will further decline if he is convicted in New York. The trial will be on TV, and Trump will be subject to the Rules of Evidence and cross-examination if he chooses to testify.

    Trump’s stock will further decline if the women win their defamation lawsuits against him. The trials will be on TV and unlike a criminal case, Trump cannot refuse to testify.

    Trump’s stock will continue to decline if he is forced to declare bankruptcy, not for a subsidiary company, but personally.

    It is just amazing to have these people who can tell the future among us. We should feel honored.

    • #166
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:20 PM PST
    • 1 like
  17. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment)

     

    Thanks to you and your ilk, Trump could be the last Republican elected.

    The Republican Party did well in the election, except for the Presidency. Remove Trump, and we have a winning message and coalition.

    Good point.

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

     

    Another future teller.

    • #167
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:22 PM PST
    • 1 like
  18. HeavyWater Coolidge

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

    Another future teller.

    It’s not a prediction. As a lifelong Republican, I hope the GOP nominates a better candidate in 2024.

    Trump might claim a “moral victory” in his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden. But it would be better if we simply selected a candidate who’s brain is connected to his mouth.

     

    • #168
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:24 PM PST
    • 1 like
  19. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Django (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    J Climacus (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment)

     

    Good point.

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

    It seems as if we don’t live in the same universe. Trump got more support from minorities than any Republican since 1960 and those down-ticket candidates didn’t, to my knowledge, oppose Trump’s policies. So I don’t know how you can blame the “Trumpist wing”

     

    Just to be clear this election is still not decided, and while I believe the result will be a Trump loss, the polls had Trump losing in a landslide and the (D)/MSM Corporate media are still pooping their pants in disbelief that Trump did so well after 4 years of constant MSM bombardment.

    So this idea that Trump was crushed in this election is simply not true, and saying it repeatedly will not change the fact that, win or lose, this was a very close Presidential election.

    I don’t believe Trump should run again in 2024 because he would be 78 then, and IMO, too old to be President ….

    BTW Joe Biden turns 78 on Friday.

    This was a close run election, just as the 2016 election was a close run election. 2020 was a Republican victory, and a Trump loss.

    Why do people keep saying 2020 was a Republican victory? Republicans lost the election for the House of Representatives. Every seat is up every 2 years. More Democrats were elected than Republicans. Republicans lost less badly than they did in 2018. So what? It’s still not a victory. Republicans may or may not win the Senate. That is still up in the air.

    We narrowed the gap in the House, bigly. We held the Senate provided that we win a least one of the Georgia runoffs. We held legislatures. 2020 was an overall Republican win, and Trump loss.

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    I just heard a report on the hourly news that 60% of those who voted for Trump want him to run again. If he does, the Usual Suspects will join forces and contribute to another Republican loss. They will be blaming those nasty Trump supporters again.

    I am putting you on notice that I can’t ever see myself voting for Trump or his children. Nominate him or them at your peril. 

    But consider this. Trump has a gauntlet of six tough lawsuits to deal with, two of them being criminal, and four being civil. See the CNN piece: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/politics/donald-trump-lawsuits/index.html. 

    Trump has a bunch of debts that he has guaranteed. He has a world of hurt that being President had protected him from. That protection is ending on January 20, 2021, which is 64 days from now.

    • #169
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:25 PM PST
    • Like
  20. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    My sense is that Trump could have won this election if he had not made so many nut job comments, convincing a critical swath of voters that Trump was mentally defective.

    In the middle of an economic contraction due to covid-19, Trump decided to take up the conspiracy theory of Joe Scarborough having one of his congressional aides killed in the 1990s.

    Bonehead move. It was statements like those that cost Trump the election.

    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    You focus on minutia like your Scarborough story. You obviously know very little about elections.

    • #170
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:26 PM PST
    • 1 like
  21. HeavyWater Coolidge

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    My sense is that Trump could have won this election if he had not made so many nut job comments, convincing a critical swath of voters that Trump was mentally defective.

    In the middle of an economic contraction due to covid-19, Trump decided to take up the conspiracy theory of Joe Scarborough having one of his congressional aides killed in the 1990s.

    Bonehead move. It was statements like those that cost Trump the election.

    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    You focus on minutia like your Scarborough story. You obviously know very little about elections.

    You obviously know even less.

    • #171
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:27 PM PST
    • 1 like
  22. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    MartinKnight (View Comment):

    You lost me when you stated that Trump needed to submit the evidence 12 days ago.

    I hope you never get to be a Comptroller of a large corporation where extensive embezzlement has occurred, and then find out you are living somewhere where you are not allowed to present a court case regarding the embezzlement because you didn’t present the evidence of who did it and how they did some 10 hours after you realized that your company had suffered that fate.

    You just identified the key issue here – this is an accounting/audit problem. And just like in audit work, red flags (i.e. the finding of mysterious new Biden favoring ballots, procedural irregularities, statistical anomalies, weird data spikes, the count stoppages, large numbers of ballots with only the Presidential race marked, etc. ) are just the starting point.

    An accountant I know helped uncover a fraud of over a million dollars because one guy’s wife showed up at the office with an enhanced chest and a bag worth more than a month of his salary.

    It wasn’t much of a red flag, but someone checked and found other red flags, an audit was launched, and a bunch of seemingly unconnected men in more than one company ended up losing their jobs and going to prison.

    The point is that the audit team investigated, they looked at the books, noted the discrepancies, gathered the evidence and ultimately got the thieves. The wife’s bigger breasts and designer bag were barely mentioned in the report.

    The problem is that the Trump team is trying to prove the theft of a million dollars with nothing but the boob job and a designer bag.

    Nope. Watch what Sidney Powell and Lin Wood have coming.

    • #172
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:29 PM PST
    • 1 like
  23. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Update in Pennsylvania federal court case.

    Rudy Giuliani has filed papers to appear on behalf of the Trump campaign in the federal election lawsuit in Pennsylvania after Trump’s attorney Linda Kerns withdrew from the case.

    Right now Biden leads Trump by 74,047 votes or 1.1 percent of the vote.

    Do you even know why she withdrew?

    • #173
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:30 PM PST
    • 1 like
  24. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    Amen!

    Any supporter this avid about The Lincoln Project has, in my humble opinion, forfeited any right to call himself a Republican. They are a despicable and tawdry disgrace to the Nation, and were apparently heavily involved in the intimidation of the law firms of Jones Day (cowards) and Porter Wright (cowards) which drove them to withdraw as counsel for the President. How any member of the Bar can so loudly proclaim his or her admiration for such a bunch of thugs is simply beyond me.

    Well said, Bryan.

    Sincerely, Jim

    During the election, I was treated to a great deal of information on Ricochet complaining about “The Lincoln Project” (“TLP”) some of it on point, some of it not. I made a public decision to switch my contributions from TLP to “Republican Voters Against Trump” or “RVAT.” So I don’t take criticism of TLP personally, nor am I responsible for whatever they do. Regardless of everything else, TLP put out devastating ads during the 2020 cycle.

    • #174
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:31 PM PST
    • Like
  25. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    J Climacus (View Comment):

    I get that Republicans beat expectations. So did Trump. He was supposed to get slaughtered in this election. The argument is being made that Trump was repudiated while down ballot Republicans prospered. My point is that down ballot Republicans didn’t actually prosper any more than Trump did. Both beat expectations, and both came close to but did not claim control of their respective branches of government.

    Let’s take the state of Maine as one example.

    Susan Collins, whom you might call an establishment Republican, ran for reelection to the US Senate.

    Collins beat her Democrat opponent with 385,459 votes to 325,277, or 51 percent to 43 percent.

    Trump lost to Biden in Maine with 341,949 votes to 420,357, or 43 percent to 53 percent.

    But there are other examples of a divergence between the local Republican candidates and Trump. In Pennsylvania, the Republican candidates for US House of Representatives beat the Democrat candidates for US House, even as Trump lost to Biden in Pennsylvania by 74,000 votes.

    Trump appears to have motivated a record number of voters to vote against him, in the person of Joe Biden, despite the fact that Joe Biden was barely breathing.

     

    Yes and they were Democrats filling out bogus ballots.

    • #175
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:33 PM PST
    • 1 like
  26. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Jim George (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    What is this “We” stuff, Gary.

    You are not on our side. You are an enemy of the Republicans, as per your votes for democrats, and your desire for them to control the house and the senate.

    You are not on the side of Republicans.

    Amen!

    Any supporter this avid about The Lincoln Project has, in my humble opinion, forfeited any right to call himself a Republican. They are a despicable and tawdry disgrace to the Nation, and were apparently heavily involved in the intimidation of the law firms of Jones Day (cowards) and Porter Wright (cowards) which drove them to withdraw as counsel for the President. How any member of the Bar can so loudly proclaim his or her admiration for such a bunch of thugs is simply beyond me.

    Well said, Bryan.

    Sincerely, Jim

    But, this behavior is clearly fine for Gary Which is rich, because Gary calls posting his public donations “doxxing”.

    Bryan, if you have been divorced, there is a public record of that. If you have declared bankruptcy, there is a public record of that. If you have had criminal charges, there is a public record of that. If you have had an Order of Protection filed against you, there is a public record of that.

    In 2008, many people made “public donations” to Proposition 8 in California which prohibited same sex marriage. Now those people are being hunted down and many of them have lost their jobs.

    I assert that posting someone’s “public donations” is a form of doxxing, just as posting their divorce record, their bankruptcies, their convictions and Orders of Protection.

    Gary

    • #176
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:37 PM PST
    • Like
  27. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    The voters supported Republicans up and down the ballot while rejecting Trump.

    So, nominating Trump in 2024 is essentially handing the Left the White House for yet another 4 years.

    If bad enough that the Trumpist wing of the GOP handed the White House to the Left in 2020. We have to nominate a better candidate in 2024.

    Another future teller.

    It’s not a prediction. As a lifelong Republican, I hope the GOP nominates a better candidate in 2024.

    Trump might claim a “moral victory” in his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden. But it would be better if we simply selected a candidate who’s brain is connected to his mouth.

     

    Over at Althouse, we have been making fun of another “Life Long Republican” who hates Trump. LLRs we call them, just like the LLRs that used to call Limbaugh and then recite a seminar DNC memo.

    • #177
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:37 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  28. MichaelKennedy Coolidge

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    My sense is that Trump could have won this election if he had not made so many nut job comments, convincing a critical swath of voters that Trump was mentally defective.

    In the middle of an economic contraction due to covid-19, Trump decided to take up the conspiracy theory of Joe Scarborough having one of his congressional aides killed in the 1990s.

    Bonehead move. It was statements like those that cost Trump the election.

    Trump’s policies were not the main cause of Trump’s defeat. The cause of Trump’s defeat was Trump himself.

    You focus on minutia like your Scarborough story. You obviously know very little about elections.

    You obviously know even less.

    Like telling the future, you also seem to be a mind reader. Middle school retorts do not impress me.

    • #178
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:39 PM PST
    • 2 likes
  29. Gary Robbins Reagan

    Django (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    I just heard a report on the hourly news that 60% of those who voted for Trump want him to run again. If he does, the Usual Suspects will join forces and contribute to another Republican loss. They will be blaming those nasty Trump supporters again.

    Imagine a contest between Tom Cotton and Donald Trump. Epic.

    May the best man win. Fairly. If Nevers could say that, there wouldn’t be such a divide in the GOP.

    BTW, I’ve read some columns by leftists who claim Cotton is worse than Trump because he is Trump’s policies without Trump’s baggage.

    I could live with Tom Cotton, while I can’t and won’t live with Trump. Tom Cotton has a law degree from Harvard. He served our country in the armed forces. I disagree with his proposed restrictions on legal immigration but he is so much better than Trump.

    • #179
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:39 PM PST
    • 1 like
  30. HeavyWater Coolidge

    Senator Lindsey Graham just gave Kamala Harris a fist bump on the senate floor.

    • #180
    • November 17, 2020, at 3:40 PM PST
    • Like