Interesting article, Chris. I enjoyed reading it.

I have the strongest impression that Trump is just making this one giant piss-take. He is what we would call here a ****-stirrer. Someone who revels in needling and provoking people simply for the enjoyment it gives him making other people being uncomfortable and annoyed and outright angry. It's the massive dick move of someone who has no skills, nothing to offer, no care to engage, and is just the attention-seeking behaviour of a pre-teen lout.

I would REALLY like to see the last week or two of the election process have all the media without exception suddenly go dark on Trump. Nothing mentioned at all. Not a word, not a picture. It would drive him (even further) insane.

I think it would be hilarious if someone said to DJT, “Sir, this would be a perfect time for you to lead us in a prayer. Unless, of course, you think someone else could do it better.”

Maybe when he was visiting shooting victims in El Paso.

Or just after he threw rolls of paper towels at Puerto Ricans.

I thought Trump didn't like losers.

Sure. All words, no action. What do the Cubans in FL think Donnie's going to do? Invade Cuba?

Silly rabbit ! The Cubans in the US aren't losers, they're winners. They escaped the communist hellhole which is Cuba and live in the greatest country in the history of the world.

The fact that they predominantly vote Republican only reinforces how much of winners they actually are ;)

They are losers for trusting the US to have their back when they tried to invade Cuba.
The Bay of Pigs Award should be awarded for getting abandoned by the US.

"US President Donald Trump has declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the 3 November election to Democratic rival Joe Biden.

"Mr Trump has also said he expects the election battle to end up before the Supreme Court.

"We're going to have to see what happens," Mr Trump, a Republican, told reporters at the White House when asked whether he would commit to transferring power.""

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pjGyO-V0AQ

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I AGREE

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2020/0...rump-election/

Shocking news! No one could have predicted that!

Yeah, though, Trump's telegraphed that he intends to try to cause serious problems should he lose since well before he was elected. It's just outright worse, now that he's had time to f up the systems that we have in place to minimize such damage much more directly.

"there won't be a transfer, frankly. There'll be a continuation." is rather more than just declining to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, though.

He's claiming that the only way he could possibly get less votes than Biden is if the Democrats cheat. He can't countenance the idea that more people might actually, genuinely, be intending to vote for Biden than for him. Remember how he blamed Hilary Clinton getting more votes than him last time on cheating? It's the same thing.

From the BBC

US election: Trump won't commit to peaceful transfer of power

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-54274115

US President Donald Trump has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses November's election.

"Well, we'll have to see what happens,You know that."

Trump also said he believed the result could end up in the Supreme Court

"I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster."
"Get rid of the ballots, and you'll have a very - you'll have a very peaceful - there won't be a transfer, frankly, there'll be a continuation."


Mitt Romney tweeted on Wednesday: "Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus.
Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable."

Biden said Mr Trump's comments on the transition of power were "irrational".
His campaign said it was prepared for any "shenanigans" from Trump.
"the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House".


Trump commented on the Supreme court.

"I think this will end up in the Supreme Court, and I think it's very important that we have nine justices," the president said.
I think it's better if you go before the election, because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it's a scam, the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court."

I thought he’d sworn to uphold the constitution.

Personally, again, I disagree. I think that such both is more part of a cynical and dishonest strategy than an actual inability to comprehend - and is far better to treat as strategy, regardless, than treating it as an actual inability, for pretty much every practical purpose.

Politicians and specific curricular decisions
 

Snopes has an article about a plaque at one Mr. Trump's golf courses (in Virginia). It commemorates a battle that did not take place. KC Johnson (whose politics might be described as centrist) also tweeted, "To me, K-12 history should be shaped primarily by educators. Trump (& other pols) have no business making specific curricular decisions..."

I don't see how Trump could possibly be a Xian. That would require him to acknowledge the existence of an entity more perfect and powerful than himself.

Unbelievable. Anybody left out there that thinks it's not possible that even trump would try and contest the election result in order to justify refusing to leave office?

There are still issues with the critique, however. Of courser, the first is the matter of what, exactly, they mean by "our founding". Whose? They don't mean that it's when the Constitution was enacted, obviously. They could quite reasonably mean what set us on the path we've taken - and certainly the desire to continue enslaving others was one monetary reason for the Revolution. - I've noticed that people tend to avoid the noticeable accumulation of wealth and political power that rebellion immediately handed to the Founding Fathers - the Boston Tea Party wasn't just a bunch of dudes chilling at brunch, only to have the redcoats show up and steal their brie and mimosas, after all.

(I've noted, myself, that the first Africans in the US were kept as indentured servants, rather than as chattel slaves, so I also disagree with some of the claims. Still, if by "our" they mean black Americans, it's supported far better than 1492 - which is what Dolt 45 intends to teach. I do note, regarding his "1776 program" - it's just like a white supremacist to outright steal a black person's idea and use it to oppress.)

"And a voice said to me, 'Sir, if you had been responsible for creating the universe, it would have been done in only three days, instead of the six I needed, it would work much better, and you wouldn't have needed to rest for a day afterward. Nobody knows more about design and construction that you or has more energy than you.'"

He does!
He upholds his very own constitution:

1st amendment: Lie

2nd amendment: Lie even more

3rd amendment: Go back to 1st amendment

Not true in my experience.

My evangelical family members regard Trump as chosen by God, like Saul. I don't recall Saul being a total dick and incompetent after the conversion, but you know, God works in mysterious ways.

In any case, it's God who chose him, not the evangelicals, and who are we to question God's judgment?

How do they know?

Trump wouldn't be the first person to balance delusions of grandeur and martyrdom in religious terms.

Only thing which scares me more than idiot president with nukes is idiot president with nukes and God.

I thought the usual comparison was to King Cyrus of Persia, a non-believer chosen by God to benefit the actual believers.

But of course, to even suggest the possibility that Trump might actually carry out the old "Stay in power after the election" conspiracy theory is just TDS. He's just like every other President has been, speculating about the death of democracy is just hyperbole and nonsense from a bunch of fringe losers.

Trump met with chanting protesters while pretending to pay respects to Ginsburg.

As much as I like to see him uncomfortable, you just know the revenge hamsters in his head are recording every chant and planning to punish people.

https://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...-to-ruth-bader

Footage: https://twitter.com/murray_nyc/statu...51487122120706

And I am certain he will telling us all on Twitter later on today that the crowd was shouting "vote him out" about Biden.

They were shouting "Boo-urns!"

Trump Tweets

Sleepy Joe Biden just closed down his campaign for the day (Again). Wants to rest! He is a very LOW ENERGY INDIVIDUAL, and our Country cannot make it in these exciting, but complex and competitive times, with a Low Energy President !!!

North Carolina looking good! See you later.

Trump Tweets

Rasmussen Approval Rating: 52%. Republican Party Approval Rating, 95%. Thank you!

Florida looking good!

Praying for the two police officers that were shot tonight in Louisville, Kentucky. The Federal Government stands behind you and is ready to help. Spoke to @GovAndyBeshear and we are prepared to work together, immediately upon request!

LAW & ORDER!

That's been kind of an open secret for a few years now.

That's a dead European squirrel.

Typical Trump reply when told that historians say no such battle occurred:

CHICAGO JUSTICE!

THE ROCKFORD FILES!

BOSTON LEGAL!

TRUMP: "The ballots, that's a whole big scam. They found 8 ballots in a waste basket, others in a river. They throw 'em out if they have the name Trump on them."

REPORTER: "There were no names on them"

TRUMP: "Well, they still found them in a river."

REPORTER: "What do you think the peaceful protesters are fighting for?"

TRUMP: "It's fine to do that in a peaceful manner, but when it gets less than peaceful, then it's unacceptable."

REPORTER: "You didn't answer my question."

After an unusual press release saying they found 9 discarded military ballots and all 9 were cast for Trump, the Department of Justice has deleted the release and issued a new one saying it's 7 for Trump and they dunno about the other 2. https://justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/rev...s-mail-ballots

Given that it's judicial watch, probably fairly and impartially did her job and obeyed the law in all ways.

Nothing like a law abiding citizen to rile up the Volksgerichtshof types.

<Pointless questions follow> What is the GOP's long game with regards to Trump? I'm not talking about their plan to stack the supreme court with theocratic conservatives, I mean with Trump specifically. They've put all their energy into becoming the Party Cult of Trump®, so what will they do when they lose him?

Even if they rig the election or somehow get a third term, they still have to deal with life after Trump eventually. (No way Don Jr. can pull it off even though some seem to want him to be the guy.) Someone posted a link recently to a clip of Trump-enthusiasts registering to vote. A lot of them said Trump Party when asked what party they wanted to register with. Doesn't that worry the younger GOP congress-critters? "Wait, which party are you? Republican? I don't care about them; now where's the Trump-guy?"

I especially loved the "“how would they know that? Were they there?” bit- straight from the Ken Ham fact-denial playbook. If the reality of what happened in the past can only be ascertained by personal experience, then that reality is up for grabs. And when that's so, any reality is as possible as any other; the only thing that needs to be done then is to make your preferred reality as plausible as any other, and you've succeeded in making fact a matter of how well you've argued for an opinion. Creationists do this, hard-core CTists do this- it's no surprise to me that Trump does this.

It'll be a new party, the one that forms when the Republicans disband. (There won't be a need for a "Republican" party once we're no longer a republic, after all.)

I think that "Project Veritas" guy would be the perfect next Trump: an incompetent blowhard idiot who's been involved in crime and public stupidity. He's perfect for the role. I expect he's sending his resume to Putin now, asking for the job.