rolling “Trump is gonna win” containment thread

xposts

i knew that was coming, and was halfway through a post about how the category of who should be protected has grown over time, starting from a base of wealthy white men and slowly expanding out. to me, that's a pretty well-known thing at least among ilx, but it still has to be said every time.

and my dread is that we now seem to be strongly swinging back in the other direction, back to cruelty. what mcconnell is doing (by not passing covid-19 relief) directly leads to many deaths, and just worse lives, for so many people.

The thing I am struggling with is the degree to which my assessment about the future of the country influences my own well-being. I was in full-blown panic mode last night after it was clear Florida would go to Trump, and the thing I couldn't stop thinking about was "How do I let this affect me less?" I feel like the last few years have been generally pretty bad for my psyche, and I don't want that to continue to be the case, no matter what the final result is. But is that because I don't have good coping mechanisms, or because I live in a country that is objectively getting worse and in a culture where politics now plays an outsized role?

This is a terrific post and really gets to the heart of some things I've been struggling with. Pessimism was something embedded in my psyche really early on as a coping strategy and, even after years of deliberate work on it, hard as fuck to undo. I know it isn't helpful and I was pretty quickly reminded so in the politics thread, but it's what I'm working with, as much as I wish it weren't. Sadly, a lot of last night reinforced my pessimism, while I struggled to hold on to the hope.

with anxiety, at least mine, it makes you kind of like a sponge. if those around you are freaking you, so do you. sometimes without knowing why. so this country's dark cloud makes the days harder, and I've had to remind myself that my life is finite and remember to talk to those I love and tell them I Love them and spend time with my family and smile even in Hell when I can.

the one coping technique i have that works is cynical humor, but my friends don't always appreciate it.

I feel like the last few years have been generally pretty bad for my psyche, and I don't want that to continue to be the case, no matter what the final result is. But is that because I don't have good coping mechanisms, or because I live in a country that is objectively getting worse and in a culture where politics now plays an outsized role?

I think most of us esp on this board seem pretty self-aware are working with the optimized, bespoke coping mechanisms that do the trick...it just might be that they are not certain to be up to the task at hand.

racist honky death cult I know, I know it's serious

I recommend joining a local left-wing militia (or, ok, mutual aid group) to settle yr nerves, build some solidarity and make new friends

I have looked and I am quite certain the internet contains precisely zero effective coping mechanisms

do we have eto have guns, and if so, can I put a sticker on mine

Somewhat interesting article I read recently described people in my demographic as drawing from Stoicism quite a bit in our approach, and that's the way I feel to be honest. There's only so much that I can do, and I do what I can and keep moving...but part of doing what I can is calling attention to the depravity of aforementioned racist honky death cult at every opportunity.

that seems more than reasonable

Table, yeah I'm totes into stoicism - or, rather, stoic analgesics.

(This stoicism-lite is commonly understood in the popular imagination by the "serenity prayer" - change what you can/accept what you can't, etc.) If you dig further into the classical lit there is also stoic logic, stoic math, etc.

But like any doctrine of self-reliance, it needs to be tempered by compassion. It is cool to praise self-sufficiency but, turned a notch too far, it can become "blame the victim" thinking. Topic for another thread, I suspect.

seeing a lot of surprise about how the counties with the highest Covid infection/death rates wound up tilting toward Trump, which a lot of pundits seemed to think was something he'd be punished for. in fact the truth seems to be these counties have the highest Covid rates because they've got so many Trump voters. the fact that Trump's approval rating went largely unchanged despite horribly bungling a pandemic probably should've told us something.

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT? https://t.co/6487pYLZnL

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

lol he's getting desperate

I don't know how to loooooove him

jaymc, may I quote you?

Sure.

some xposts

Oh YMP, yes, I am aware of how it can go horribly, horribly wrong.

you know it's gonna be nice to be able to laugh at Trump's tweets instead of being horrified by them...like Jose Canseco, he really is a deeply funny character

I dunno, I'd say I'll remain pretty horrified for quite a while.

i'm looking forward to a day where i will not think of him at all

He's now just complaining that people voted for Biden?

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
They are finding Biden votes all over the place — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So bad for our Country!

he should pay rent and taxes in my mind xp

they're finding votes for Biden on official ballots, actually turned into the office of elections! we must fight this!

Brad et al. otm. I look forward to ignoring that individual (even more than I ignore him now, I mean)

remember Trump was also the guy who said "more votes (by a lot) equals a loss? we should take to the streets" when they called the election for Obama in 2012 but California hadn't reported yet, so popular vote was still in Romney's favor.

he has it in his head that like you have 5 minutes to find votes and after that, you can't count them anymore.

well the other thing is that if we stop counting now...he loses!

Yeah I'm a hetero white guy, I'd continue to be relatively fine under another Trump term so just like 2016 the most depressing aspect if he won is just having to hear and think about him. And the effect he has on my poor mama.

WHERE DID ALL THESE VOTES COME FROM?

He's now just complaining that people voted for Biden?

the Republican party does not view Democrats as people

at least not after they've been born

if you're born as a white god-fearing small business-owner, or at least someone who respects the supremacy of those who are, you're a person

After recount in 2011 race for WI Supreme Court, there was a swing of 300 votes. After recount in 2016 Presidential race in WI, @realDonaldTrump numbers went up by 131.

As I said, 20,000 is a high hurdle. #Election2020 https://t.co/CEr82eiCWH

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) November 4, 2020

that's a damn good sign

yah. 20,000 sounds small but recounts don't generally result in 100,000 votes.

half-expecting them to find a big box that says TRUMP VOETS in crayon with handwritten ballots written on looseleaf

Handwritten ballots on loose leaf are totally valid in my state!

Postmarked "Yesterday"

https://app.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=434-261-075

Next time there’s a special election with almost nothing on it I might write my votes out in cursive on wove with a fountain pen

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm having a REAALLLLY hard time coming up with a theory under which Trump could challenge this election at SCOTUS. Also, it would be really nice if the Wisconsin recount gets mooted by other states.

Ur a lawyer so thats reassuring

There’s always a tweet. https://t.co/H7FKgIT3Vt

— Apodyopsis (@Moyamal) November 4, 2020

I mean, don't be too reassured, bc it's not my area at all, but like what is the argument? Don't count the votes that were properly cast according to their own states' laws? That seems different than the scenarios in the recent decisions where I believe it was SCOTUS overturning a state court's decision that was in turn *rejecting* or *overturning* a state official's election decision. Still wrong, but that's not what's happening here. People have pointed to that (I think Kavanagh?) dicta about the sacred need for finality or whatever, but that was dicta. There's no basis I know of for not counting votes that were properly cast and on time. I guess if it is really down to a hair's breadth issue where the deciding votes are iffy on whether they were properly cast or something, that's different, but right now it's not looking like that yet. Don't want to be overconfident though.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
We are winning Pennsylvania big, but the PA Secretary of State just announced that there are “Millions of ballots left to be counted.”

This election is just ballots, ballots, ballots. Terrible.

Yeah how dare people try to vote using ballots

The argument is I did you a solid by helping to get multiple conservatives into the Supreme Court, so now you pay me back by throwing the election.

that doesn't even make sense (not that you're the one arguing it) because other Trump officials actually do things like that because if they don't, he fires them. The fuck does a lifetime appointed SCOTUS judge care about Trump now that they have the job?

Moreso, people seem to think all that Trump has to do is knock on Mr Supreme Court's door and say "I awnt a change in result" and they go "otay!", not like...him having to file a million state lawsuits.

I know the 6-3 court is going to produce some heinous results, including the decision in Wisconsin, but even they have some minimum standards, and we've seen in recent weeks even psycho conservatives aren't going to just greenlight meritless lawsuits.

but again I know that wasn't your argument so...this was just a response to the argument itself, not you.

we await silent tristero's empire

⏤O⏤▷▷

from the "rolling 'biden is gonna win' containment thread"

REMINDER TO THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURES, YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY OVER THE CHOOSING OF ELECTORS, NOT ANY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, SECRETARY OF STATE, GOVERNOR, OR EVEN COURT. YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY -- ARTICLE II OF THE FED CONSTITUTION. SO, GET READY TO DO YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) November 5, 2020

good. let them try to do that and see what the response is.