Biden vs. Trump

[_subgenius]

One worrisome problem is that Trump hates the USPS and the very idea of mail in voting, and has recently appointed one of his big donors as postmaster general. This does not bode well for the prospect of fair and impartial elections! :mad

Huh?
1. CFR that Trump hates USPS
2. How does Trump's alleged "hatred" of mail in voting jeopardize fair and impartial elections?

spoiler alert: ya basic

[_subgenius]

[_Gunnar]

Trump doesn't hate the very idea of mail in voting. He voted by mail himself. He thinks, perhaps incorrectly, that more widespread mail-in voting will allow Democrats to have an easier time voting and therefore opposes it because he does not see a democracy that elects someone other than Donald Trump as legitimate. He also has a separate beef with the Post Office because he thinks, or pretends to think, that they have given Amazon a sweetheart deal on shipping rates, which isn't true, and he wants to see Amazon screwed because the owner of Amazon owns a major newspaper that says critical things about him.

In addition to appointing one of his major donors as Postmaster General, there's a purge going on in the post office beneath that. It's unclear how taking it over with loyalist hacks is going to help with the VBM issue, so Trump has that going for him in this case. I mean, what is the Post Office gonna do?

Yes, I am aware of all that. What I should have clarified is that he hates the idea anyone other than himself or Republicans mindlessly loyal to him voting by mail, or making it easier for Democrats and minorities to vote, and I am aware of what his beef with the Post Office is based on.

[_Gunnar]

One worrisome problem is that Trump hates the USPS and the very idea of mail in voting, and has recently appointed one of his big donors as postmaster general. This does not bode well for the prospect of fair and impartial elections! :mad

Huh?
1. CFR that Trump hates USPS
2. How does Trump's alleged "hatred" of mail in voting jeopardize fair and impartial elections?

spoiler alert: ya basic

Trump Vs. The Postal Service: Behind The Movement To #SaveTheUSPS

Topline: Following a Washington Post report on Saturday that President Donald Trump rejected a bailout for the struggling U.S. Postal Service, supporters of the agency with more than 600,000 employees have taken to social media to encourage lawmakers to provide aid and citizens to buy stamps.

This is the latest confrontation in Trump’s fight against the Postal Service; he accused them in 2018 of giving Amazon AMZN (and his nemesis Jeff Bezos) a sweetheart deal and his administration issued recommendations later that year that the agency should change its pricing system for non-essential deliveries and work with private-sector partners to solve its financial problems.

The $2 trillion CARES Act that passed in March originally contained a $13 billion grant for the USPS, according to the Post, but a senior White House official said that the president would not sign a bill that provided aid to the agency.

[_ajax18]

Hopefully voting by mail is more agreeable to the younger demographics.

If it's not you can just make up names and social security numbers for people. Just make sure you get ACORNs seal of approval before any subsequent challenges in court.

[_Icarus]

Hopefully voting by mail is more agreeable to the younger demographics.

If it's not you can just make up names and social security numbers for people. Just make sure you get ACORNs seal of approval before any subsequent challenges in court.

No, you can't. The only people known to make up stuff on this subject are the GOP and their naïve following. Millions of Americans have been voting by mail for years. What do you think Absentee ballots are?

Where is the massive fraud?

[_EAllusion]

I'm someone who has concerns about fraud through voting by mail. Not because there's any evidence that it's occurring now. It's extremely rare, and aside from one recent case of ballot harvesting from Republicans in North Carolina, effectively inconsequential. But it is a system that is vulnerable to being abused. One of the things that keeps in-person fraud in check to the point that it is near non-existent is that it is irrational to try. The penalties for doing so are steep and the benefits of an additional vote are near meaningless. It's just an incredibly dumb risk/benefit decision, and a disturbing number of the rare prosecutions for it seem to involve voters who were just confused. When it comes to vote by mail, there are opportunities to commit fraud at a greater scale to start moving real margins in close elections. It's still risky, and all the evidence we have suggests it it's mostly not happening, but we also haven't faced any systematic efforts to exploit it.

But the question isn't whether there is a technical risk there. The question is whether that risk is worth using it as a means so people who can vote. In the middle of a pandemic where it is unsafe to be in contact with people making in-person voting unnecessarily dangerous and means of getting around that being relatively cumbersome, it seems quite obvious that this is a reasonable fix in the circumstances. Republicans are crying fraud because they are fearful that creating greater voting access will lead to more Democrats voting. It could not be more obvious. Trump, with his habit of making subtext text, has explicitly cited this as the concern. Despite dishonest claims to the contrary, there isn't meaningful fraud occurring right now, and there is ample reason to think people will be meaningfully denied a fair opportunity to vote if someone like mail voting isn't accessible to them. Fear that people will express political will against you is not a valid basis for opposing a voting mechanism. It's immoral and a threat to the foundation of a democratic state.

[_Dr Exiled]

It's way too early to call. Both Trump and Biden have the ability to blow up at any moment and turn-out will be a factor as always.

Trump blows up every day. He’s impervious to it. His base is impervious to it. The only way he gets the boot is if Millennials and Zoomers actually vote this time.

Good luck with that, by the way. CPT. Where’smypants isn’t exactly inspiring anyone to show up in November. Hopefully voting by mail is more agreeable to the younger demographics.

- Doc

It's shaping up as another battle of two losers. We have sexual assaulting Biden v. Epstein's buddy Trump. Whomever raped the least wins.

[_Some Schmo]

We have sexual assaulting Biden v. Epstein's buddy Trump. Whomever raped the least wins.

The evidence against Trump's indiscretions is far more substantial than the weak sauce leveled at Biden. This is no contest.

Personally, I don't think it matters. Why should anyone concern themselves with a politician's personal life? We got Trump. It clearly doesn't matter. What matters is competence. I'll take Biden over Trump any day.

When people start moaning about Biden's character, all I can think is, "You're another damned Trump lemming. Clean up your own house before complaining about anyone else's."

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

https://mobile.Twitter.com/DisrnNews/st ... to-pile-up

“We're ... in the middle of a pandemic that has cost us more than 85,000 jobs as of today. Lives of millions of people. Millions of people. Millions of jobs. You know, and we're in a position where, you know we just got new unemployment insurance, this morning, uh, numbers — 36.5 million claims since this crisis began."

Man. I think we’re stuck with choosing between a psychopath and, I don’t even know what to call Biden’s mental state right now. This is not good. All I can say is Biden better avoid a live debate with Trump.

- Doc