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patriotsnet · 3 years ago

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Are Other Republicans Running For President

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Are Other Republicans Running For President

Im Running For President Because Its Time For New Leadership Because Its Time For New Energy And Its Time For A New Commitment To Make Sure That The Opportunities Getting Out There Being Able To Hear Peoples Concerns Address Them With New Ideas Has Been An Extraordinary Experience He Said

Biden thought hard about running in 2016, but he decided against it, being so soon after his son beau’s death and. Running for president of the united states is an. But there is so much more to it. Joe biden opposed president reagan’s peace through strength that led to the fall of the berlin wall. And speaking of brand image i read the program of warren recently, and was tempted to give her a french honorary citizenship as she is trying to import.

With The Debates About To Begin Bill Whittle And I Discuss Whether Republican Candidates Should Have To Perform In Exploding Chairs Like The Villains In Thunderball So That The Process Of Elimination Can Be More Immediate And Entertaining

There have been previous unsuccessful efforts to drop the natural born requirement. Former vice president joseph r. Here’s everyone who’s running for president in 2020, and who has quit the race. Amash, the republican turned independent congressman from michigan, announced last month that he was launching an exploratory committee to run for the libertarian party nomination for president. They’ll be able to catch you when you fall.

As for the opposition, there are four republicans running in the primaries as of april 2012. They emerged because when andrew jackson was running for president he was for the ‘common man and they called themselves democratic republicans. But what about the other republicans running for president in 2020? Running for president of the united states is an. Dead things most rotten before they.

Biden thought hard about running in 2016, but he decided against it, being so soon after his son beau’s death and. Is there any other republican running than trump ? There was plenty of motivation to take me out. But these figures don’t quite include everyone who’s running. On the republican side, there is, of course, president donald trump.

Lets Take A Look At The Republican Landscape And The Potential Challengers To So Far There Are Three Official Republican Challengers And One Was Just Announced A Few Days Ago:

I’m going to run for president of the united states because, as a young mom, i’m going to fight for other people’s i know there is a tear in that fabric right now; There are 24 main democratic candidates. People embark on a presidential odyssey for a wide variety of reasons. And speaking of brand image i read the program of warren recently, and was tempted to give her a french honorary citizenship as she is trying to import. But it can be repaired by someone who can lead, and i ran for president to win and make a difference in our great country, swalwell photo: He is not expected to run for any other office in 2020. But these figures don’t quite include everyone who’s running. On the other side, some republicans have challenged president trump in the republican primary. Republican leaders have said they want to protect trump by having state parties change the rules for their primaries to guard against an insurgency. The players and other stadia will make their show of support, so the benefit has already been had. Not coincidentally, there’s been renewed talk of a serious republican taking on the president in the 2020 primaries. ‘there is a rot at the center of the modern republican party,’ he continued. On the republican side, there is, of course, president donald trump.

Notable Candidates Include Individuals Who Have Qualified To Appear On Enough State There Were 21 Candidates On The Ballot Each In Vermont And Colorado

Bush said in retrospect that the divisiveness of the primary challenge might have cost bush reelection. There are several people running for the republican nomination, but given the current president is a republican, he is the only one that matters. Notable candidates include individuals who have qualified to appear on enough state there were 21 candidates on the ballot each in vermont and colorado. While the republican and democratic nominees will be on the ballot in all states, independents must meet an array why is he running for president? Former congressmen joe walsh announces republican presidential primary challenge.

But it can be repaired by someone who can lead, and i ran for president to win and make a difference in our great country, swalwell photo: Since the current president is democrat, we already know who the democrat running for president will be . The only other person running worth mentioning is bill weld, former governor of massachusetts, who was the libertarian nominee for vp back in 2016. Other republicans have made it quite clear they don’t see a path to the nomination for anyone but trump in 2020. I think that as a republican party, we have lost our way. mark sanford.

Republican Hopefuls Will Need To Lay The Groundwork For Potential Campaigns Of Their Own Without Alienating The President And His Supporters

WASHINGTON—President Trump’s public and private musings about running again in 2024 are scrambling the calculus for the large field of fellow Republicans considering bids.

Most hopefuls have been quick to show deference. But it’s unclear whether Mr. Trump, who refuses to concede his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, will follow through, and rivals either way will likely seek ways to remain viable. Prospective GOP candidates don’t want to risk alienating Mr. Trump’s base by appearing to push him aside, but they also don’t want to be left unprepared if he decides not to run.

“For the last 20 years everyone who has run for president has always started off pretending like they weren’t. You can still do that with the possibility of Trump running again,” said Republican strategist Todd Harris. The 2024 election, he added, “could be the first time loyalty to Trump and political ambition are put on a collision course.”

Mr. Trump—who managed to get more than 74 million votes in his losing effort this year—demonstrated his grip on the party base with Saturday’s rally in Georgia for two senators locked in tight runoff elections. “Four more years, four more years,” a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd chanted. He is raising millions of dollars for a newly formed political committee that can fund future campaign activity.

Next Test Of Trumps Influence On The Republican Party: A Crowded Gop Primary Fight For An Ohio House Seat

A GOP primary Tuesday to fill a congressional seat outside Columbus is shaping up to be a test of former president Donald Trump’s influence over the Republican Party, coming after his preferred candidate lost a Texas House campaign last week and some of his allies aligned with other candidates in the competitive Ohio race.

arrow-right

Tuesday’s contest — in which 11 candidates are vying to replace longtime GOP congressman Rep. Steve Stivers — has caused serious consternation among the former president’s advisers and even Trump himself, according to people familiar with the private discussions.

Trump railed at aides after Susan Wright, the candidate he backed in a special Texas Congressional race to replace her late husband, Rep. Ron Wright, lost to a state Republican lawmaker last week, they said.

The defeat was an embarrassing setback for the former president, who has sought to flex his hold on the party by making a slew of endorsements since leaving the White House, inserting himself into GOP primaries and going after political enemies.

Trump has made his preference clear, issuing slashing statements in which he has complained that other candidates are suggesting to voters that he supports them rather than Carey, a close friend of Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager who advisers say helped secure the endorsement.

Collins says infrastructure bill could pass Senate by end of week with at least 10 Republicans in support

New 2020 Voter Data: How Biden Won How Trump Kept The Race Close And What It Tells Us About The Future

As we saw in 2016 and again in 2020, traditional survey research is finding it harder than it once was to assess presidential elections accurately. Pre-election polls systemically misjudge who is likely to vote, and exit polls conducted as voters leave the voting booths get it wrong as well.

Now, using a massive sample of “validated” voters whose participation has been independently verified, the Pew Research Center has . It helps us understand how Joe Biden was able to accomplish what Hillary Clinton did not—and why President Trump came closer to getting reelected than the pre-election surveys had predicted.

How Joe Biden won

Five main factors account for Biden’s success.

The Biden campaign reunited the Democratic Party. Compared to 2016, he raised the share of moderate and conservative Democrats who voted for the Democratic nominee by 6 points, from 85 to 91%, while increasing the Democratic share of liberal Democrats from 94 to 98%. And he received the support of 85% of Democrats who had defected to 3rd party and independent candidates in 2016.

How Trump kept it close

Despite non-stop controversy about his policies and personal conduct, President Trump managed to raise his share of the popular vote from 46% in 2016 to 47% in 2020. His core coalition held together, and he made a few new friends.

Longer-term prospects

BillGalston

Seemingly Every Other Viable Republican Politician In The United States Is Lining Up To Make A Run

There are several people running for the republican nomination, but given the current president is a republican, he is the only one that matters. Epl had their logo plastered with the rainbow colors all of june, was there any sanctions on them!? But what about the other republicans running for president in 2020? Notable candidates include individuals who have qualified to appear on enough state there were 21 candidates on the ballot each in vermont and colorado. Former congressmen joe walsh announces republican presidential primary challenge. The only other person running worth mentioning is bill weld, former governor of massachusetts, who was the libertarian nominee for vp back in 2016. Who is running for president in the 2020 election? Seven other candidates qualified to appear on the ballot in five states or more. I think that as a republican party, we have lost our way. mark sanford. Bush said in retrospect that the divisiveness of the primary challenge might have cost bush reelection. Is there any other republican running than trump ? But it can be repaired by someone who can lead, and i ran for president to win and make a difference in our great country, swalwell photo: 18 democrats and two republicans, according to the latest numbers.

Us Election 2024: Who Are The Likely Republican Candidates To Run For President Against Joe Biden

Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump and Ted Cruz are among the rumoured candidates to become Donald Trump’s successor

The 2020 presidential race has only just finished, but the Republican candidates for 2024 are already preparing themselves for their shot at the White House.

We take a look at who may be looking to get themselves in to the race.

Pa Republicans See A Big Opportunity In 2022 But Some Are Worried Their Candidates Might Blow It

Philadelphia Inquirer

It’s a summer of worry for some Pennsylvania Republicans.

A rocky July has increased concern among some party insiders that they’re lacking marquee candidates for critical statewide races next year.

First came a public blowup between likely gubernatorial candidate Bill McSwain and former Attorney General Bill Barr. Some prominent GOP donors and operatives saw it as a daft mistake that reinforced questions about his political acumen. Those insiders, largely from Southeastern Pennsylvania, have spoken to a political veteran from McSwain’s backyard — former U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach of Chester County — to gauge his interest in running for governor, according to four people familiar with the conversations, and some are hopeful that additional candidates join the fray.

Meanwhile, in the state’s critical 2022 U.S. Senate race, fund-raising reports this month showed the leading GOP contenders all . None of the major Republican Senate candidates has ever won elected office, a stark contrast with the emerging Democratic field that includes an array of well-established officeholders.

Republicans are hoping the governor’s race delivers total control in Harrisburg , while the Senate contest is one of a handful that could decide control of the chamber — and with it the fate of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

In a state as closely divided as Pennsylvania, the strength of individual candidates can make a difference in races that could come down to a few percentage points.

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibitionthe Run For President

Return to Rise to National Prominence List Previous Section: The New Lincoln |

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was the least known of all of the contenders for the Republican Partyâ€™s nomination for president. Heading the list was former New York Governor William H. Seward, with the politically awkward Governor Salmon P. Chase of Ohio a distant second. Conservative Edward Bates of Missouri was considered too old, and many Republicans seemed uncomfortable with the popular but unpredictable Horace Greeley, founder and editor of the New York Tribune.

To overcome his disadvantage, Lincoln adopted an unobtrusive publicity campaign. The timely release of his published debates with Stephen A. Douglas and brief autobiographies and a carefully orchestrated speaking campaign in New York and parts of New England all worked to Lincolnâ€™s advantage. The nomination and the subsequent campaign were left largely to trusted handlers, but even after his election was secure, Lincoln maintained a dogged silence on national issues prior to his inauguration.

In Gop Poll From Hell Republicans Say They Want Donald Trump Jr To Be President In 2024

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A recurring nightmare among millions of Americans is that come 2024, Donald Trump will forget the fact that he actually hated being president, decide to run again, and win. Seriously, can you think of a more horrifying scenario, except perhaps falling through a sidewalk into a rat-filled chasm, which some people might still prefer? We maintain that you cannot. But an equally terrifying, skin-crawling situation would definitely be to turn on the TV on January 20, 2025, and see Donald Trump Jr. being sworn in as president of the United States, which a number of Republican voters apparently actually want to happen.

The poll, which was conducted between July 6 and 8, did not include Donald Trump Senior, who maintains an inexplicable grip on voters despite the mass-death stuff, an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and a mental state that suggests he should be in a home or studied by a team of Swiss doctors.

And the fact that Don Jr. came out on top is not where the scary news ends. Because apparently if Republicans can’t have Sheep Killer over here, their second-favorite choice is Florida governor Ron DeSantis, the man currently responsible for this:

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More Great Stories FromVanity Fair

Nj Primary Elections 2020: The Five Republicans Who Want To Take Over As Us Senator

Colleen O’Dea, Senior Writer and Projects EditorNJ Decides 2020Politics

Five Republicans are vying for the chance to try to do something no one else has been able to do in almost a half-century: Convince New Jersey voters to elect a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate, where Democrat Cory Booker now sits.

It has been 48 years since New Jersey voters have sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly a million. In 2018, Republican and former pharmaceuticals executive Bob Hugin spent more than $39 million, including $36 million of his own money, and lost by 11 percentage points to incumbent Bob Menendez, who had been considered vulnerable after his trial on political corruption charges ended in a hung jury.

“Statewide races are the toughest ones of all for a GOP outnumbered by a million more registered Democrats in the state,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “But even before party registrations were so lopsided, Republican Senate candidates have fared more poorly here than almost anywhere else in the nation.” Since New Jersey last sent a Republican to the Senate in 1972, “the GOP has lost a staggering 15 Senate races in a row,” he said.

President Trump Your Legacy Is Secure Stop The ‘stolen Election’ Rhetoric

As many on the left have pointed out, the 2020 election was less a repudiation of Trump than a narrow loss for a man who proved just unpalatable enough for a critical sliver of his coalition.

Sean Spicer, a former Trump press secretary, told The Post his ex-boss would be an instant front-runner in a 2024 primary. “He has a rock-solid base, I just don’t think that there is anyone else who even comes close.”

Teasing a potential run in 2024 would at the very least ensure Trump stays relevant and in the press for years to come.

If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump could also potentially pick up the mantle. Trump Jr. has long acted as an outside surrogate for his father online and in the press and connects strongly with his base. Ivanka, meanwhile, has years of administration experience under her belt as a White House adviser to her father.

Republican Presidential Hopefuls Move Forward As Trump Considers 2024 Run

Less than three months after former President Donald Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him atop the Republican Party is already beginning.

Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has launched an aggressive schedule, visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 primaries, and he has signed a contract with Fox News Channel. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice-president, has started a political advocacy group, finalized a book deal and later this month will give his first speech since leaving office in South Carolina. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in Trump’s backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where Trump now lives.

Trump ended his presidency with such a firm grip on Republican voters that party leaders fretted he would freeze the field of potential 2024 candidates, delaying preparations as he teased another run. Instead, many Republicans with national ambitions are openly laying the groundwork for campaigns as Trump continues to mull his own plans.

They’re raising money, making hires and working to bolster their name recognition. The moves reflect both the fervour in the party to reclaim the White House and the reality that mounting a modern presidential campaign is a yearslong endeavour.

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President Trump Your Legacy Is Secure Stop The Stolen Election Rhetoric

As many on the left have pointed out, the 2020 election was less a repudiation of Trump than a narrow loss for a man who proved just unpalatable enough for a critical sliver of his coalition.

Teasing a potential run in 2024 would at the very least ensure Trump stays relevant and in the press for years to come.

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

A new report by Politico cites multiple unnamed Republican lawmakers – even those who publicly praise Trump – who say that they REALLY don’t want Donald Trump running for President again in 2024. They would much rather see Trump working “behind the scenes” to help shore up support for the Party as a whole, and they insist that the Party is stronger now than it was five years ago. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript:

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Recently, Politico interviewed several Republican lawmakers, who of course all chose to remain nameless. But Politico says that these were Trump supporting lawmakers, still are Trump supporting lawmakers, by the way. And each one of them said that they do not want Donald Trump to be the Republican party’s nominee in 2024. In fact, they don’t want Trump to run for president ever again. I’ll read a couple quotes from some of these lawmakers here. Here’s what one of them said, he’s one of the best presidents we’ve had in terms of policies. But having said that if it were up to me, I would never have Trump on any ballot ever again, because it’s such a distraction. I would love for him to play a behind the scenes role and not be on the ballot. Another one said, I’d like to see a fresh face. I think we have a lot of them.

Eight Republican 2024 Candidates Speak In Texas Next Week But Not Trump

Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, April 30 – A Republican Party event in Texas next week will hear from eight potential candidates for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, without former President Donald Trump, a source involved in the planning said on Friday.

The May 7 event at a hotel in Austin is being co-hosted by U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to thank donors who helped fund a voter registration drive and get-out-the-vote efforts in the state.

High-profile Republican politicians who are considering whether to seek the party’s nomination in 2024 are expected to speak to the crowd of about 200 donors.

They include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and U.S. senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Rick Scott, the source said.

The event comes as Republicans wrestle with whether to try to move past Trump in the next election cycle or fall in line behind him. Trump told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that he was “100%” considering another run after losing in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump was not invited to Texas, the source said. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was invited but was unable to attend, the source said.

Many Republican insiders doubt Trump will follow through on his musings about running for president in 2024, leaving a void that other party leaders will seek to fill.

Fact Check: Trump Did Not Call Republicans The Dumbest Group Of Voters

5 Min Read

An old quote falsely attributed to Donald Trump has recently resurfaced online. The viral meme alleges Trump told People magazine in 1998 that Republicans are “the dumbest group of voters in the country”. This is false.

While the quote has been debunked several times since it apparently surfaced in 2015, users have recently been resharing it on social media. Examples can be seen here , here , here , here

The meme reads: “If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific. – Donald Trump, People Magazine, 1998”

Snopes first wrote about the false quote here in October 2015 . Since then, the quote has been debunked multiple times .

People magazine has confirmed in the past that its archive has no register of this alleged exchange.

“People looked into this exhaustively when it first surfaced back in Oct. . We combed through every Trump story in our archive. We couldn’t find anything remotely like this quote–and no interview at all in 1998.”, a magazine spokesperson told Factcheck.org that year .

In December 1987, People published a profile on Donald Trump titled “Too Darn Rich”. The article quoted him saying he was too busy to run for president .

Trump Remains 2024 Candidate Of Choice For Most Republicans Poll Shows

59% of Republican voters said they wanted Trump to play prominent role in party, but tens of thousands left after Capitol riot

If the 2024 Republican presidential primary were held today, Donald Trump would be the clear favorite to win big. That was the message from a Politico-Morning Consult poll released on Tuesday, three days after Trump’s acquittal in his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.

Among Republican voters, 59% said they wanted Trump to play a prominent role in their party, up a whopping 18 points from the last such poll, taken in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. A slightly lower number, 54%, said they would back Trump in the primary.

Tens of thousands of Republicans left the party after the Capitol insurrection, and a majority of Americans have told other pollsters they would like to see Trump banished from politics.

Though the 45th president will be 78 by election day 2024, he will be able to run again if he chooses, having escaped being barred from office after a 57-43 Senate vote to convict – with seven Republican defections but 10 votes short of the majority needed.

Mike Pence’s life was threatened by Trump supporters at the Capitol, as the vice-president presided over the ratification of electoral college results confirming Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden. He placed second in the Politico-Morning Consult poll, with 12%.

Trump Challengers: 10 Republicans Who Could Run For President In 2020

Ryan Sit U.S.Donald TrumpMike PenceBen SasseBob Corker

President Donald Trump faced down a crowded field of GOP presidential hopefuls in 2016 as a political outsider, but he could see a packed stage of Republican challengers again in 2020—only as an incumbent this time.

Trump made few political friends during his ascent to the White House. He made headlines making fun of his competition, doling out nicknames—”low energy Jeb Bush,”“Little Marco Rubio,”“Lyin’ Ted Cruz”—along the way. The president’s diplomatic dexterity hasn’t noticeably improved much since taking office. Senators Rubio and Cruz have improved their relationship with Trump since his inauguration, but other lawmakers from within his party have emerged as outspoken critics, fueling speculation he may face a stiff presidential primary race in 2020.

Here are 10 Republicans who may challenge Trump:

Cpac And The Broader Republican Party Agree: Its Trumps Party For Now

All VideosYouTube

alex: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. We know he’s a rising star in GOP circles and I think the CPAC straw poll pointed out his popularity among the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Another poll, too, after Trump.

Plus, being from Florida gives him an edge in a competitive state. To me, it appears that at this point, people like DeSantis because his policy priorities are similar to Trump’s, but he lacks the former president’s ego and baggage.

sarah: Stole my first round pick!!

geoffrey.skelley: DeSantis isn’t terribly well known, but I suspect we’ll see him try to correct for that in the coming months. He may be coy for a while about his plans, though, because he needs to win reelection in 2022, and we know that would-be candidates want to take care of the home front first.

nrakich: Yeah, I think DeSantis is a smart pick. He’s doing all the right things — picking fights with Democrats, going on Fox News a lot …

sarah: Could not agree more. There is no autopsy report yet of the 2020 election from the GOP side , but one thing that stands out to me is something Echelon Insights pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson wrote for the Washington Examiner in February, “Trump’s legacy in the party isn’t policy, and it isn’t a person. It’s a posture — a fighting posture in a moment where Republicans think the fight is what matters most.”

I bring that up because something Anderson and her organization have found is that many GOP voters want someone who will fight for them.

Republican Support For Trump Running Again In 2024 Falls To Just 45%

Daily Mail

Republicans are quickly losing interest in President Donald Trump running for president again in 2024.

In new polling conducted by Echelon Insights, 45 per cent of GOP-leaning voters in January said they wanted to see Trump run for the White House again in four years, down from the 65 per cent who said so in December.

The January 6 insurrection may have played a role in the 20-point dip as January polling found that even 30 per cent of Republicans wanted to see the ex-president barred from holding office again after the MAGA riot.

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At the same time, Democrats and independents were way more keen to see Trump punished for his role in inciting the crowd on January 6.

Fifty-two per cent of independents said Trump shouldn’t be able to run again, with 85 per cent of Democrats in agreement.

Thirty per cent of Republicans also agreed that Trump should be banned from social media platforms, with 29 per cent saying they’d support the ex-president being censured by Congress.

The smallest group of Republicans, 21 per cent, wanted to see Trump impeached and convicted.

Trump’s Senate trial begins on Capitol Hill next week.

Pollsters also asked Republicans over the past few months who they wanted as the leader of their party.

Trump’s popularity actually increased after he lost the November 3 election to President Joe Biden.

In November, 52 per cent of Republicans said they wanted Trump to be the leading voice of their party.

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xtruss · 4 years ago

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Campaign Chronicles

What Happens if Donald Trump Fights the Election Results?

Stealing a Presidential election in America is difficult, but it has been done before.

— By Eric Lach | August 21, 2020 | The New Yorker

Donald Trump has disputed the popular-vote results of a Presidential contest he won. Now he leads a concerted effort to undermine public confidence in the upcoming election.Photograph by Saul Loeb / Getty

On the night of November 7, 1876, as the results of the Presidential election between Samuel Tilden, the Democratic governor of New York, and Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican governor of Ohio, began to come in, America, in its centennial year, was barely holding together. Reconstruction was faltering. The economic collapse that followed the Panic of 1873 had left millions out of work, and provoked strikes and labor unrest across the nation. The outgoing Republican Administration of Ulysses S. Grant had been embroiled in a series of corruption scandals. A few months earlier, Sioux warriors had defeated General George Custer and his troops at Little Bighorn. Hayes, whom Henry Adams described as a “third-rate nonentity,” had earned the Republican nomination, in large part, by being the one candidate all factions of the Party could agree on. Tilden and the Democrats seemed poised for an easy victory. As the historian Eric Foner writes in “Reconstruction,” his history of the period, “political corruption and the depression became Tilden’s watchwords; issues many Republicans feared would suffice to carry the election.”

Before Election Day was over, it was clear that Tilden, who, in his previous career as a Gilded Age corporate lawyer and reorganizer of bankrupt railroad lines, had earned the nickname the Great Forecloser, would comfortably win the popular vote. He needed only a single vote in the Electoral College to put him over the top, and results were outstanding in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, where white citizens routinely used violence, intimidation, and fraud to keep their Black neighbors, most of whom were loyal to the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, from voting. With the prospect of Democrats taking the White House through disenfranchisement at hand, Republicans moved to steal the election outright. “With your state sure for Hayes, he is elected,” Party leaders said in an Election Night telegram to their cronies in the three Southern states. “Hold your state.”

In Florida, the two Republicans on the three-person election board—Samuel McLin, the Florida secretary of state, and Clayton Cowgill, the state comptroller—systematically approved and rejected results, district by district, to swing the election in their party’s favor. “If the canvassing board had simply accepted all the local returns, Tilden would have prevailed by 94 votes,” Edward Foley, an election-law professor at Ohio State University, writes in “Ballot Battles,” a survey of disputed American elections. “In its decisive 2–1 rulings, however, the board selectively invalidated Tilden-favoring returns because of technicalities, while refusing to invalidate Hayes-favoring returns despite clear evidence of actual fraud.” In this way, a narrow Tilden lead was transformed into a narrow Hayes lead. Similar events unfolded in South Carolina and Louisiana. “The result was manufactured by a deliberate manipulation of the count,” Foley writes.

Democrats were outraged. What ensued is a mostly forgotten episode of American misgovernment that has lately been haunting Foley and other academics, as well as a loose network of bipartisan ex-officials, activists, and think-tank types, who are now contemplating the potential for a disputed election in the present day, at our own fraught political moment. The three Southern states in 1876 each sent Congress two pieces of paper, one from Republican electors certifying that Hayes had won the election, the other from Democratic electors certifying that Tilden had. The crisis these pieces of paper provoked, as Congress tried to reconcile their competing claims, pushed America’s constitutional order to its breaking point—or perhaps, looked at from another angle, it was a reflection of an order that had already broken down.

The Twelfth Amendment, which lays out the procedure for electing the President and Vice-President, says nothing about what Congress should do in the event that states send competing election certificates. Republicans controlled the Senate, and Democrats controlled the House. The two chambers established a commission to try to break the impasse. The dispute went on for months. (Back then, Administrations were inaugurated in March.) With Inauguration just days away and the prospect looming of a country with two people claiming the Presidency and no actual President, House Speaker Samuel Randall presided over a debate described decades later in a history of the crisis as “probably the stormiest ever witnessed in any House of Representatives.” Congressmen reached for their revolvers, and women in the gallery, “fearing a free fight,” ducked out of the chamber.

The tension broke only after William Levy, a Democratic representative from Louisiana who had been in on negotiations between the Southern states and Hayes’s camp, finally signalled that a deal had been struck. Tilden and the Democrats would concede the White House to Republicans, allowing Hayes to effectively steal back the election. Rising to speak in the House chamber, Levy called upon his fellow-Democrats “to join me in the course which I feel called upon and justified in pursuing.” The price that Democrats exacted from Republicans, though, was incalculably high: the drawdown of federal troops in the Southern states, the end of Reconstruction, and the consignment of Black citizens to a century of violent repression. “The negro will disappear from the field of national politics,” The Nation wrote at the time. “Henceforth, the nation, as a nation, will have nothing more to do with him.”

The Hayes-Tilden crisis was resolved, Foley told me recently, “at the expense of America’s commitment to its own citizens.” Unlike the 2000 election, between George Bush and Al Gore, where the dispute was contained in the courts, the 1876 dispute spilled out into the broader political system, and its outcome was openly determined by a naked struggle for power between the two ruling parties. “Because many of us have a living memory of 2000, we think that any election dispute is going to look like 2000,” he said. “Where, in fact, I think that kind of gives us a false sense of what might happen. I think there are now conditions in place that may cause this year’s election to be more like 1876.”

It has been difficult, throughout Donald Trump’s Presidency, to immediately know which of his declarations represent constitutional danger and which are merely attention-seeking bluster. “I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election,” Trump told Fox News’s Chris Wallace during a recent White House interview. When Wallace asked if the President was suggesting that he might not accept the results, Trump, with hands raised, replied, “I have to see. I’m not going to just say yes.” The President’s intermittent musings about postponing the November election have so reliably set off rounds of breathless news coverage that Marc Elias, one of the Democratic Party’s go-to election lawyers, was compelled to write a blog post in March titled “No, Trump Cannot Move the General Election.” Similarly, in response to the persistent speculation that an electorally defeated Trump would spend Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day holed up in the Lincoln Bedroom like Tony Montana at the end of “Scarface,” the Biden campaign in July issued a pithy statement saying, “the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

But Trump’s threats about rejecting the results come November are not idle. In 2016, Trump disputed the results of an election he won, ludicrously claiming that his popular-vote shortfall was the result of illegitimate ballots cast by millions of undocumented immigrants. Four years later, the President is at the head of a concerted effort to undermine public confidence in the upcoming election. Trump has denounced efforts to expand the mail-voting systems that will allow millions of people to cast their ballots safely in this pandemic year. He has ignored calls to provide election administrators with much-needed additional funding to safeguard voters, staff, volunteers, and the vote-counting process. And he has overseen the crippling of the U.S. Postal Service at a time when its work will be critical to the success of the election. “It’s just a question of overload,” Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy,” said. “We have problems with voting machines; we have problems with incompetent election officials. There is foreign interference. Layer on top of that the covid-19 crisis. Layer on top of that a President who is a norm breaker.”

In June, the Transition Integrity Project, a newly formed group devoted to evaluating how a disputed election might unfold, hosted a series of “war games” to play out various scenarios for what might happen on and after November 3rd. Zoe Hudson, a former Open Society Foundation analyst who serves as the director of the project, told me that the idea was to “socialize” potential risks. “Surprise doesn’t work for us,” she said. “We really need people to understand that this will be an unusual election year.”

More than a hundred people participated, most of them prominent names in academia, politics, and the media—Foley was there, as were the former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, and former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Participants assumed roles as members of the Trump or Biden campaigns, state officials, and the media. The games, which were played under the Chatham House rule—participants are allowed to discuss what happened as long as they don’t reveal who in the room said or did what—proceeded by turns, with certain developments determined by dice rolls. “One of the big takeaways on all sides is that what you have here potentially is a situation where neither side accepts a loss,” Adam Jentleson, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who participated in the war games, told me. “And that’s a very difficult circle to square.”

While Americans have grown accustomed to Election Nights that unfold like Super Bowls—tune in at 5 p.m. for the pregame and turn off the set at midnight after one side or the other hoists the trophy—the surge in absentee voting brought on by the coronavirus pandemic will likely frustrate that expectation this year. Counting absentee ballots is a slow, laborious process, and, in a number of states, the counting cannot begin until the election is over. In primary elections this spring and summer, states without past experience counting large numbers of absentee ballots have struggled to process them. In New York, the state Board of Elections took six weeks to declare Representative Carolyn Maloney the winner of the congressional Democratic primary in the state’s Twelfth District. Her challenger in the race, Suraj Patel, filed a lawsuit, citing a number of issues with the count, including thousands of mail-in ballots being disqualified and tens of thousands being sent out too late for voters to realistically return on time. Maloney suggested that Patel was playing into Trump’s hands by questioning the legitimacy of an election. Patel and his campaign understandably bristled at the charge. Count every vote, they have insisted. Address the problems now so that they don’t plague us in November.

It’s one thing for an election dispute to play out in a little-noticed congressional primary. When similar disputes broke out in the Transition Integrity Project’s games, with the future of the entire country on the line, the effect was pure mayhem. In the first scenario, the results from three states—North Carolina, Michigan, and Florida—remained too close to call for more than a week. On Election Night, Trump’s campaign called on Biden to concede, citing in-person-voting returns, which looked good for the President. But as the absentee ballots in these states were counted, the numbers swung toward Biden. This was “blue shift,” a phenomenon observed by Foley and other academics in recent elections, wherein in-person-vote totals have tended to skew Republican, while absentee voting has skewed Democratic. Blue shift is what kept the Democratic House wave in 2018 from being immediately apparent on Election Night—the mail votes cast in California that fall took weeks to count, an outcome that former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, described at the time as “bizarre.” This year, with Trump explicitly making mail voting a partisan issue, the blue shift is likely to be especially pronounced. And Trump is, in turn, expected to denounce this easily explainable phenomenon as nefarious.

As the votes were being tallied in the game, Trump pounced. The team playing as his campaign called on the Justice Department to use federal agents to “secure” voting sites and tried to enlist state Republican officials to stop the further counting of absentee ballots. The Biden team, in response, called for every vote to be counted and urged its supporters to attend rallies calling for the same. During subsequent turns, Trump tried to federalize the National Guard, and both parties sought to block or overturn results in key states. Eventually, North Carolina was declared for Biden and Florida was declared for Trump, leaving Michigan as the deciding state—there, a “rogue individual” destroyed ballots believed to be favorable to Biden, leaving Trump with a narrow lead. Michigan’s Republican-led legislature certified Trump’s victory, but the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, refused to accept the result, citing the sabotage, and sent a separate certification to Congress.

It was 1876 all over again. Both campaigns called for their supporters to take to the streets. Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Republicans in Congress declared that Vice-President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, was entitled to choose which certification from Michigan to accept as legitimate. Democrats, of course, rejected that argument. “There was no clear resolution of the conflict in the January 6 joint session of Congress,” the game summary reads. “The partisans on both sides were still claiming victory, leading to the problem of two claims to Commander-in-Chief power (including access to the nuclear codes) at noon on January 20.” The game ended there.

Another scenario, in which Trump won a clear victory in the Electoral College but lost the national popular vote by an even wider margin than in 2016, also ended in chaos. Biden withdrew his Election Night concession and asked the Democratic governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina for recounts. The governors in Wisconsin and Michigan took the 1876 course again, sending a slate of electors to Congress that conflicted with those sent by their states’ Republican-controlled legislatures. Republicans, unsuccessfully, tried to cajole moderate Democrats to break from their party and back Trump’s victory. “At the end of the first turn,” the summary reads, “the country was in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.” Congress, once again, failed to resolve the standoff before Inauguration Day. “It was unclear what the military would do in this situation,” the transcript says. According to the Times, near the end of this scenario, Podesta, the former Clinton campaign chairman, called on California, Oregon, and Washington to secede from the Union.

Even a scenario that led to a peaceful transfer of power was, at certain moments, politically perilous. In one game, Biden won the election by a narrow but clear margin. Trump’s campaign persuaded the Republican-controlled legislatures in Michigan and Pennsylvania to send Congress conflicting election certifications. Attorney General William Barr announced that the Justice Department would begin investigating “voter fraud” and took steps to stop ballot counting. But, as the game went on, Senator Mitt Romney convinced three of his fellow Republican senators to break ranks and support Biden. A dice roll determined that four million people would participate in pro-Biden street demonstrations. The Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed resigning in protest at Trump’s increasingly desperate behavior, and those discussions were leaked to the press. As power began to slip away from the President, right-wing media turned increasingly toxic, and his Administration devolved into a frenzy of document destruction and corrupt pardonings. Biden called on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to investigate foreign interference in the election and announced that moderate Republicans, including the governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, would serve in his Cabinet. The game ended with the Democratic Party beginning to investigate Trump and his family.

These war games were hypothetical imaginings of extraordinary circumstances. But an election in a pandemic year with a President declaring in advance that the vote will be rigged are extraordinary circumstances. “One big takeaway is that leaders really need to know what exactly their powers are, and what the powers of others are, and think through some of these options in advance,” Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University who helped convene the Transition Integrity Project, told me recently. “Because if things go bad, they’ll go bad very quickly, and people will have to make decisions in an hour, not in a week.”

The contours of the upcoming election are already being fought over in the courts. Since the 2000 election, with its hanging chads and butterfly ballots, America has seen an explosion of election-related litigation, from an average of ninety-four lawsuits a year to an average of two hundred and seventy a year, according to an analysis by Hasen, the author of “Election Meltdown.” This year, there have already been some two hundred election lawsuits filed over covid-19-related issues alone. In May, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee doubled their legal budget, to twenty million dollars. “Bush v. Gore exposed shortcomings in our system in a very visible way,” Rebecca Green, an election-law professor at William & Mary Law School, said. “And so people started pushing back and testing it.” This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Green said. “We do disputed elections in this country. We have processes in place. We have law. It’s not the Wild West where we’re left without direction on how this should unfold.” She added, “I really worry about public confidence being undermined by this constant drumbeat of meltdown.”

The biggest cases so far have centered on mail voting. At the state level, efforts to address this year’s unprecedented voting challenges have largely been bipartisan efforts—as many as forty-five states will allow voters to mail in their ballots for the November election. But in the courts, the two parties’ overarching national positions come down to this: Democrats are trying to make voting by mail as easy as possible, and Republicans are fighting to prevent that. Caught in the middle are election administrators, the local officials tasked with organizing and processing our voting systems. The Brennan Center for Justice at N.Y.U. has estimated that administrators would need an additional four billion dollars in funding to safeguard the vote during the pandemic. In the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Congress allocated four hundred million dollars for election preparations. The shortfall will likely mean, in many cases, fewer polling places, longer lines, and slower processing of absentee ballots. Administrators have also reported trouble recruiting volunteers—the battalion of retirees that normally mind our polls and count our ballots—because many of them are wary of exposure to the virus. In normal years, election administrators and the volunteers they rely on are prone to mistakes. This year, all these issues make slow counts and frustrated voters even more likely—and create the conditions for one side or the other to dispute the outcome.

Of course, Trump has increased the chances for such a dispute by undermining public trust in the system itself. Nowhere has this dynamic been more insidious than with the Postal Service. Conservatives have been targeting the agency for cuts for years, and recent Trump Administration decisions—spearheaded by the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, who is a major Trump donor—have caused a mail slowdown around the country. Those efforts have collided with an election that will rely on the Postal Service more than any in American history. Trump has made the connection explicit. “They want three and a half billion dollars for something that’ll turn out to be fraudulent,” he said earlier this month, about the Democrats’ position in the latest round of negotiations over pandemic relief. “They need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.” The fear and distrust that Trump has sown has meant that, when the Postal Service recently sent a letter to states warning that some of their absentee-ballot application and filing deadlines were “incongruous with the Postal Service’s delivery standards” and too close to Election Day to guarantee timely delivery—a concern that independent election experts have raised for years—state officials grew worried that the federal government was preëmptively preparing to blame them for problems in November. “I think that many people were surprised by the tone of the letter,” Tammy Patrick, an adviser at the Democracy Fund who previously served as an election administrator in Maricopa County, Arizona, said. “I have never seen the Postal Service throw a customer under the bus before—and certainly not when the votes of American citizens are on the line.” (On Friday, DeJoy is scheduled to appear at hearings before congressional Democrats.)

After Election Day, the lawsuits are expected to shift to questions about ballot counting. Absentee ballots present bureaucratic problems in ways that in-person voting doesn’t. Even in normal election years, a large number of absentee ballots are disqualified. The reasons range from signature matching, a notoriously unreliable process, to disputes over “voter intent,” where individual ballots are evaluated for stray markings, and ballots that arrive after the deadline. “In a lot of cases, the law does give judges leeway,” Green said. “And the unenviable place where they end up is, do I stretch the law to enfranchise as many people as I can, or do I read the law strictly and end up disenfranchising people?” Already this year, the disqualification rate seen in some states during the primaries has been alarming. “The biggest potential disaster is that one candidate wins because so many votes are thrown out,” Hasen told me. “More votes are lost to incompetence than anything else.”

Rachana Desai Martin, who is leading the Biden campaign’s voter-protection efforts, told me that the campaign’s energy was currently focussed on voter education. “We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to put out correct information about how to vote, and that means both by mail and also in person, early and on Election Day,” Martin said. (Hasen, for his part, recently made a recommendation on Twitter. “FLATTEN THE ABSENTEE BALLOT CURVE,” he wrote. “If voting by mail request your ballot as soon as you are able and return it as soon as you can.”) Outside progressive groups, though, are preparing for all contingencies. Indivisible, the Trump resistance group founded in the wake of the 2016 election, recently paired up with Stand Up America and other progressive organizations to form Protect the Results, which will strive to get millions of people into the streets in the case of a disputed outcome. “We have to prepare for mobilization immediately,” Ezra Levin, Indivisible’s co-founder, said in a recent interview.

American elections are always messy. The Constitution does not guarantee candidates or voters the right to perfect electoral outcomes. But even a President cannot overturn an election on his own. An 1876-like scenario relies on lawmakers at the state level being willing to potentially buck the will of the voters. In this way, the days after November 3rd may offer an early clue about whether Trumpism will endure in the Republican Party. How far will state lawmakers be willing to go to keep him in office, or to back him up if he declares victory based on the vote totals before the absentees are counted, or disputes the total counts after they are? And if partisans at the state level kick the dispute up to Congress, as happened in 1876, would congressional Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, follow their lead? “That’s the key question,” William Kristol, the former editor of The Weekly Standard and a prominent Never Trump Republican, said. (Kristol played Trump in two of the Transition Integrity Project’s games.) Even if Trump can’t successfully fight an election outcome, Kristol said, if the Republican Party goes along with his protests, they’d potentially be associating themselves with “a false and dangerous stabbed-in-the-back narrative” that could define the Party for years to come.

There are other nightmare scenarios. Foley, in particular, fears that counting delays will lead to states missing the December deadlines by which elections need to be certified to Congress. There are those who fear that Trump will exploit covid-19 to mandate emergency stay-at-home orders in Democratic-leaning cities in the final days or weeks of the campaign. There are others who point to a recently lapsed judicial-consent decree that, for decades, prevented the Republican Party from sending “poll watchers” out to intimidate voters in nonwhite neighborhoods. (“There is this real concern that officials who have been engaged in voter suppression as an electoral tactic can now weaponize covid to push that further,” Vanita Gupta, the former head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who participated in the Transition Integrity Project, said. “Frankly, it’s all of a piece.”) And there are fears about the Portland or Lafayette Square-style deployment of federal agents across the country. Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who sat in on two of the Transition Integrity Project’s games, told me that he couldn’t rule out Trump trying to drag the military into a postelection dispute. “That’s what worries me about this,” he said, “that anybody who told Trump that some action they were going to take was conducive to his retention of office would be told immediately, ‘Go do it.’ ”

As he has in other areas of American self-government, Trump has revealed how much of our democracy rests on norms rather than enforceable laws. Ultimately, the one norm that has been crucial to the resolution of past disputes is the one that Trump is perhaps least likely to observe: conceding defeat. In 1876, Tilden, from the start of the crisis, was privately prepared to concede and ultimately did so. And while the Supreme Court is popularly remembered as the decisive actor that handed the 2000 election to George W. Bush, it was Al Gore’s decision to concede, and to not pursue additional legal options, that really ended matters. In November, if Trump loses and refuses to concede, he may live up to one of his favorite boasts. No one will have ever seen anything like it. When I asked the Trump campaign what preparations it was making for the possibility of counts coming in slowly, or being too close to call, on and after Election Day, Tim Murtaugh, Trump’s campaign communications director, told me in an e-mailed statement, “We don’t know what kind of shenanigans Democrats will try leading up to November. If someone had asked George W. Bush and Al Gore this same question in 2000, would they have been able to foresee the drawn out fight over Florida? The central point remains clear: in a free and fair election, President Trump will win.”

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evenstevensranked · 8 years ago

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#40: Season 2, Episode 7 - “Thin Ice”

Ren is locked in for two events on the same night — Dinner with their new neighbors The Minkler’s and an ice skating date with Bobby Deaver. Oh, no! We’re also introduced to Nelson and his hypochondria. Meanwhile, Louis and Twitty discover prank calling and fail miserably at it. It’s fantastic.

This one opens with Ren’s bedroom phone ringing as she frantically runs to answer it. Ya know, that purple see-through plastic Y2K phone that every teen girl on TV had? Dang. I wanted one so badly. It’s Ruby calling to let her know that Bobby Deaver is going to be calling soon. Her “sources never lie.” That’s a little creepy. It’s like she’s in the gossip mob or something. Fo’ real, Ruby needs a new hobby. Just then, Ren gets a call waiting. She answers and an extremely deep voice that sounds nothing like the guy Ren is so obsessed with says “Hey, it’s Bobby” and she falls for it. That was easy. Too bad it’s just Twitty and Louis calling from across the hall. They’re giggling like idiots because they’re 13 year old boys and telling someone “I just thought you should know I’m not wearing any socks” is hilarious apparently. It doesn’t take long for Ren to catch on when “Bobby” starts referring to himself as the “hot little cuddle muffin” she loves so much. Too far, guys. Too far. She decides to play along for a minute which is pretty funny. She says that she’s actually in love with Twitty -- not Bobby -- before busting into Louis’ room. She threatens them while simultaneously blasting them with a water gun. Twitty is all “Dude, your sister loves me.” Completely missing the sarcasm.

....that moment u know u f’d up.

At school the next day, Ren’s at her locker when suddenly this strange kid appears and calls her “Boo Boo.” It’s Nelson Minkler. We find out that they used to be neighbors when they were toddlers and now the Minklers have moved back to Sacramento. This episode marks what should’ve been his actual first appearance. The episodes were obviously aired out of production order because Nelson is randomly in the Season 2 premiere with no explanation of who the heck he is — and then 6 episodes later we get this one.. which is clearly his proper introduction. Why does Disney Channel do this?! Their worst offense was with Lizzie McGuire. The airing schedule was so jumbled that the freaking SERIES FINALE aired 8 MONTHS before the show stopped airing new episodes. Like, what the hell???

Anywaaay, they’re locker neighbors now and we find out right away that Nelson is a hypochondriac when he opens his locker and a zillion health care items come pouring out of it. Anti-ointments, a freaking snake bite kit, knee pads… yeah. Ren clearly doesn’t want to deal with any of that. She quickly runs away from him and he shouts “BYE BYE, BOO BOO! If you ever need any anti-fungals just knock on my door!” Wow, buddy. I feel Ren’s pain here.

We see that Louis and Twitty have become obsessed with prank calling. They’re even doing it during school hours now. They’re at Louis’ locker prank calling Wexler telling him he won a free fish or something stupid. Louis is trying to put on some “older” sounding voice, but I would 100% recognize it as him. The face he makes to achieve this voice is gold though:

Just then, Tawny shows up and catches them in the act and she is honestly me:

I’d have no patience for this.

At lunch, Bobby Deaver was genuinely about to sit down and have lunch with Ren and Ruby… but, Nelson shows up all “HEY, BOO BOO!” and ruins everything. As usual. No wonder this character was only around for a few episodes in Season 2 before disappearing from the face of the earth. He serves no other purpose than for Ren to have a male friend and to mess things up for her constantly. Annoying. Still better than Beans, though.

He starts coughing and asks Ren to check his tonsils for inflammation. He claims “Just last month I had puss balls the size of acorns!” This kid seriously must’ve lived under a rock his entire life. Any remotely civilized human knows this sort of behavior is weird. He makes the most obnoxious “AHHHHH!” sounds just sitting there with his mouth wide open forcing Ren to look. Ren once again wants nothing to do with this and makes up some excuse to get away. Same. Ruby and Nelson are awkwardly left alone… so Ruby breaks the silence by saying “I’ll look at your puss balls” in that New York accent of hers and I swear to god. The innuendos in Season 2 are next level.

Louis and Twitty decide to prank call Tawny’s family and we get to see her house for the first time in the series! Add this to the list of sets with on-point characterization. It’s very yuppie and warm… with lots of house plants. Not to mention, she’s doing yoga when the phone rings. This makes so much sense to me.

Louis claims to be Lance Larsen calling from QPop radio with a $1,000,000 trivia challenge. Again, Louis’ voice is so painfully obvious. Tawny gets her dad to answer the winning question, which is to name the “Top 5 most popular lunch meats” — If this was a legit question, Dr. Dean’s answers would most definitely be incorrect. He lists liverwurst and olive loaf but not turkey or roast beef. I told you they’re yuppies. It doesn’t matter though… they become “millionaires” anyway of course.

“DADDY, WE’RE MILLIONAIRES!!!”

To Ren’s dismay, Steve and Eileen tell her that they’ve planned a dinner date with the Minkler’s Friday night to welcome them back to the neighborhood. Ren gets another phone call that night that starts off with “Hi, Ren! It’s Bobby.” Bet ya can’t guess what happens next…

Ren assumes it’s Louis and Twitty pranking her again so she plays it up saying “So, this is Bobby Deaver. The hot little cuddle muffin who I love sooo much.” Dude on the other end is all.. “Um.. I guess?” Yeah. It’s actually Bobby this time. Oops. It’s pretty hilarious because she yells “Listen you little twerpazoid, I told you if you ever called me again you’d be sipping your food through a feeding tube!!!” and Bobby’s like “Ren, is this a bad time?” HAHA. Ren has a mental breakdown once she realizes. She quickly apologizes and explains that Louis just discovered prank calling. (“It’s okay I have a little brother too. He’s in 3rd grade.” / “Yeah, well mine just acts like it.” - True.) Ren collapses on her bed and the incredibly cheesy, romantic piano stock music they always use for Ren/Bobby stuff starts playing. Bobby invites her to go to an ice skating party with him on Friday night. This is one of the reasons why I ranked this episode #40. It cuts to Ren’s ridiculous daydream of how she envisions the party. The music swells and it fades to footage of Ren and Bobby dramatically ice skating like freaking professionals competing at the Olympics in an empty, moody-lit rink. It’s absolutely hysterical to me.

Obviously, she accepts the invitation but — wait! Friday night?! That’s dinner with the Minkler’s! Whatever will she do?! Not even gonna lie. I’m a sucker for this potential “two places at one time” cliché TV trope. Regardless, she still promises Bobby that she’ll be there “...no matter what.” A little melodramatic but, ok. She tells Ruby about the situation the next day and is totally in a bind over what to do. Ruby suggests that she fakes sick to skip out on the dinner and sneak out to the party. This entire episode is giving me flashbacks to Free Skate at the local ice rink every Friday back in middle school and the drama that would always ensue. Especially “relationship” drama. And crush drama. Oh, wow.

Tawny excitedly runs up to Louis and Twitty in the hall telling them “My dad and I won a MILLION DOLLARS on the radio!” “Ya don’t say?” Louis responds. Which is great. She tells them they’re moving to Paris immediately. Yeah, now Louis and Twitty ain’t laughing. Tawny’s dad picks her up in a limo and everything, and Louis and Twitty are left to break the news to them that they didn’t actually win a million dollars. This is another reason why I ranked this episode higher. I think this is hilarious. Tawny and her dad break down in tears, as do Louis and Twitty. Louis vows “I’m never making prank phone calls again. I’M A BAD BAD BOYYYY!” when suddenly Tawny and Dr. Dean start dying of laughter. Turns out they planned the whole thing to teach them a lesson. Brilliant.

Tawny tells them, “We knew it was you two the whole time. We have caller ID.” SERIOUSLY, LOUIS?! The first rule of prank calling is to dial *67 first! Amateur. Just imagine that. Tawny picking up the phone seeing “Stevens” or whatever on the caller ID and just going along with Louis’ terrible fake DJ voice, oh my god. She really is perfect for him. Tawny and her dad offer them a ride home in the limo (which is a rental) but speed off without them.

Ren goes through with lying and fakes sick to get out of the dinner. She goes gallivanting off to the skating party and bumps into… Nelson??? Yep. He faked sick, too. Nelson tells her that his feelings were hurt when she refused to give him a simple throat examination. To which Ren responds “Well, people don’t generally ask me to look at their puss balls.” THERE IT IS AGAIN.

For whatever reason, Louis and Tawny are at the party as well. (She asks him where Twitty is and… “He sprained his ankle chasing after the limo.” “You know, I really thought you guys would give up once we hit the freeway.” - Why is this so funny?!) Louis thanks her for teaching him a valuable lesson about the dangers of prank calling. “Gotta grow up sometime,” he says. She’s super impressed and they’re adorable. They skate together and hold hands, which is precious… and it would’ve been even more precious if it was actually Louis’ hand she was holding. But, alas… Louis skates off leaving Tawny holding a fake hand. I’m dying. Louis Stevens — What a legend. It really is so cute seeing them together like this, though.

THEY’RE SO FREAKIN CUTE!!! I’M DYIN

Tawny throws the fake hand, and ends up hitting Nelson in the head. Ren decides to help Nelson instead of doing the couple-skate with Bobby. Wow. I guess that’s nice of her, though. In the end, Ren and Nelson make up and he lists, like.. every single thing he’s allergic to as the episode fades out.

It’s not over though! The bit where they come back for one more minute after the last commercial break is the real reason why I ranked this one #40. Normally, these “last minute” bits are pointless and generally not very funny. But, this one. OH MAN! The first time I watched this I was literally in tears for 10 minutes -- I couldn’t breathe. This time, Louis dreams of him and Tawny skating like Ren dreamed about her and Bobby. Everything’s romantic… until taWNY’S LEG BREAKS OFF AND THE HAPPY MUSIC DRAMATICALLY CHANGES TO MINOR AND WE GET THE CLASSIC LOUIS SCREAM. It’s so freaking random and unexpected and so great.

And there you have it, #40! This is actually one of my personal favorites. I think it’s pretty solid in the humor department. I love the Louis/Tawny stuff. The prank calling bits are great. The Ren/Bobby stuff is finally more funny and entertaining here than cringy. And yeah. I just like this one a lot.

I also totally didn’t even realize I missed a weekend. THE DAYS HAVE BEEN GOING BY SO FAST!!!! What the heck. Also, we’re now officially moving into the #30s!

Thank you for reading!

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#rank #even stevens #louis stevens #shia labeouf #ren stevens #christy carlson romano #review #louis x tawny #louis and tawny #tawny dean #margo harshman #bobby deaver #nelson minkler #alan twitty #season 2 #mr. pookie

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leftpress · 8 years ago

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Left Unity Is A Suicide Pact: For An Anarchist Antifascism

Anonymous | anarchistnews.org | March 3rd 2017

In most of our lifetimes, anarchy has never been in as good of a position to start wrecking shop and making marks on the story of the place they call America as right fucking now.

A totalitaritarian nationalist has ascended to power, his rise spurred on by a combination of promises to fix a country in which no one feels they have a say in their futures, and to ...

punish the law-breakers, foreigners, outcasts and heathens (expressed in words that can be compatible with both mainstream center to right sensibilities, as well as a growing wave of ecstatic fascists, depending on how one wants to hear them). In power, he shows that his priorities are far more with intensifying the speed and intensity with which those on the margins are persecuted and beaten down than they are with bringing any sort of better life to the Rust Belt, Appalachia, or the forgotten, so called “real” America. What middling support the new tyrant had on election night against an incarnate symbol of a system that has never given a fuck about anyone who has ever set foot in a Wal Mart or ridden on a public bus is sinking fast, but that significant fraction who were in it for a strongman, cops with gloves off, or ethnic cleansing couldn’t be happier.

While scores of millions are outraged by the new tenant on Pennsylvania Avenue, only a fraction seem to be really mourning the loss of business as usual. Naturally, those voices speak the loudest in the media, and in the clumsy infrastructure of resistance that has popped to fight one new master rather than them all: swearing that this new world is not to be normalized, as if the old “normal” was anything to be celebrated. But most are generally reacting to a new intolerability aimed at their person, their loved ones or their ideals that no party platform has ever delivered on, and many are excited to see anarchists do what we do best: doing shit that needs doing, beholden to no agenda but our own. Burning limos and punching famous fascists are serious crimes in any state, yet these actions have been cheered on by millions who have never set foot in an infoshop and couldn’t pick up Emma Goldman out in a lineup. Anarchists have the benefit of wrecking it in all times, and it is looking to serve us well.

And as always, most are just trying to survive, seeing politics as a storm to weather or avoid, with nothing to offer them but a headache.

All of this isn’t intended to deceive ourselves into thinking the masses (whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean) are on our side and don’t know it yet, just to say that things are moving fast in drastic and terrifying directions, and the soil is uniquely ripe for the ideas and actions of those who have the enemies of authority from the word go, if we can stick to our guns.

And into that mix, comes a monster called “left unity.”

Left unity, at least as I have encountered it, seems to be code for “authoritarian Marxists and anarchists must stick together, cause we both hate liberals and are cool with shooting cops and fascists, or at least joking about it.” I don’t know how it plays out in anarcho-hubs where it seems anarchists can be as open as they can about whatever the differences they have amongst themselves and still find plenty of people to build and/or break with, but in most of the rest of the country and online, this relationship seems to be solidifying as the default. It’s rare to find explicitly “anarchist” or anti state organizations and projects, rather a sea of “anti-capitalist” or “radical left” formulations, where the circle A and the hammer and sickle sit side by side or intertwined as just alternate options, heading in the same direction, the differences more or less irrelevant in the face of a greater enemy. This seems especially true (and to be fair, has been for a while) in anti-fascism.

And yes, the state communists may be reliable to be, or at least talk, militant towards far right forces and the liberal state. They always seem a lot more organized, seem to have plans and histories of winning (and then losing spectacularly, torn down by the very people they claimed to liberate but w/e) Fuck it, plenty of them aren’t bad people, and Marxism has brought some good shit to the table. It can be tempting to find common cause with people who share the same enemies and are resolute in fighting them with us, even grace us with the sweet name of “comrade”, especially in times of rising far right power. But this left unity is a suicide pact that we don’t have to join.

I will leave alone for the most part the horrendous history of cooperation between state communists and anarchists over the last 150 years. This article is being written mostly for those I trust to know that history but if anyone unfamiliar with the history is reading this, it usually involves our kind being mass murdered by the leaders these so called friends put up altars to. No other ideology has killed as many anarchists over the twentieth century, and the treatment for rebellious proletarians and others that have refused to take orders from an absolute state authority has been the same. In 1900, the workers movement and anti-capitalism was demonized as a place for lazy people and dangerous rebels, and potential recruits were scared away from it by fear of chaos and anarchy. A hundred years late, capitalism could make a dishonest but convincing argument for itself as the path of liberty and self determination, their point made by a century of Marxists in power.

But my point isn’t to warn anarchists that working with state communists means they’ll wind up in a gulag, working at the gunpoint of old friends. Anything is possible, but in this country at least, the odds of a Leninist takeover are next to fucking nothing. But every second we try to build false unity with state communists is a second that we can’t be true to our best qualities, qualities that are uniquely useful right now.

We can either fight a rising fascism as a force that believes that individuals know how to run their lives better than institutions, as sworn and weathered enemies of all oppression, or we can fight it with the fans of some of the greatest tyrants of all time, dulling everything about our message that actually appeals to people to focus on the common ground of being sharing and laughing at jokes about dead (capitalist) cops. Catering our message to be compatible with Stalinists means we can no longer be taken seriously as out for liberation.

Just as in the alt right, where a diverse mix of shitty tendencies converged to fight a common enemy, only to have statist neofascists become the main face of the movement, authoritarians trying to follow in the footsteps of proven tyrants tend to rise to the top in unity movements. Gather a slew of anarchists, Leninists and randos that hate cops, racists and bosses under their various flags and logos, and sooner rather than later it becomes an argument with bystanders about whether or not some of the most despotic regimes in history were really all that bad, and whether those they crushed had it coming by not just getting with the program. Anarchists could, in that situation, assert themselves as enemies of all authorities and the heirs of some of the greatest enemies of those states, or we could stand there next to the apologists awkwardly, our hands in our hoodies, lying to ourselves and saying we’re on the same side, all in all. Left unity means a lot of energy wasted rehabilitating the architects of great atrocities that anarchists have stood and fought consistently against (though with a slow and fatal learning curve, to be honest).

All of the time spent building bridges to small handfuls of authoritarian leftists could be spent far more effectively finding comrades that don’t believe that freedom is a bourgeois farce. There has been a growth of interest in state communism over the last couple years, and perhaps some naïve enough to think that it’s not so bad will join us if we make our objections clear and do good work, but they’re not gonna if we delude ourselves and those we speak to into thinking anarchism and a hundred years of bloodthirsty dictatorships have jack shit in common.

When 1984 is back on the bestsellers list because it rings true to the world we live in, it’s a terrible idea for anarchists of all people to be seen as having fuck all to do with the regimes that were the inspiration for that book in the first place! When walls are being built to keep an entire population out why the fuck would we want to be holding a banner with anyone who thinks the Berlin Wall was a good thing? The fascists have always framed their militant and illegal enemies as being just a bunch of “communists”, preferring it be seen as a clash of two totalitarian ideologies than a battle between those that want a world of unlimited possibilities and those that want total control. We must make it clear how wrong they are. Those in charge of the state and the Nazi and alt right reactionary goons want a world of suffocating restriction where everyone’s future is spoken for. We can fight them as the antithesis to all they want, or we can fight with people who want a life just as restricted as part of a left/right beef. Let the authoritarian left find a way to make America want to live in the Soviet Union all by themselves. We’ve got something amazing and intoxicating of our own and we’d be fools to dial it down for anyone.

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antifa

category:

Essays

#leftpress #news #resistance #politics

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spiralingworm · 8 years ago

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Let's Switch it up!

So us you probably all know I like Nintendo products. There are couple of reasons for that, but I think nostalgia has a lot to do with it. I liked playing games like Contra or Mario in my younger times, because those games were simply fun. Nintendo still has some great ideas when it comes to game designing. I think Splatoon is one of the prime examples here.

(You’re a kid, you’re a squid now!)

For those of you that don't know about what game am I talking now Splatoon is a team based platforming arena shooter about squids. Oh and paintball... You win by covering map with your team colour, and by turning into a squid you can swin in your paint for higher movement speed and longer jumps. If this very brief explanation doesn't seem exciting for you it's okay, because I really think you need to play it or extensively watch to understand. This whole bizzare concept for a game came from young team of game designers in Nintendo. In the world of really violent shooters like Titanfall 2, Doom or Battlefield the non-violent route seems risky to say the least. Nintendo is known from this high risk high reward move or in other words cheese.

(Triforce... cheese joke...)

Nintendo's whole bussines relies on three fundamentals let's call this a Triforce for humour purposes.

Zelda

Link started his adventure on Nintendo Entertainment System with Legend of Zelda and it quickly proved everyone that he is here to stay. There is something magical about all those games starring Link. Maybe it is everyone's dream for the grand adventure where you save a princess. You know the one that takes place in a kingdom far, far away. You just pick up a sword and charge into unknown. Is it safe out there? Of course not and that is why you have a sword. Maybe it is the fact that Link is just another random noname boy and he simply believes that what he is doing is right. By the way this is courage App... back to the point. I know that this seems like a typical story in typical world by lazy writer, but I don't know it just works. It is simple and it is fun.

Mario

Platformer about a plumber who saves a princess, but in Mario defense those games actually have very little story to it. This game is all about precise jumps and last second decisions. Nobody actually cares who Mario is, why he is here or why the hell he has a mustache. He just is here to beat King Koopa and his minions and free princess Peach from her prison. Ridiculous? Of course it is, but again this a game about story. Everyone plays Mario for great level design and interesting mechanics or power ups. Thanks to the succes of the first game Mario became an icon for Nintendo. So much so the company venture into other genres with him like kart racing or RPG. He even was briefly considered as a playable character fo Splatoon and thank Jim they went with squids. Mario is on the front line for gaming not just for Nintendo.

Gimmicks

Wait, what? Yes, I think that trying to be as innovative as possible with every product is the fundament of Nintendo and it is the most important one for them. It is at the same time a blessing and a curse for them. I mean just look at the Wii succes versus Wii U failure. Yeah the marketing for the latter was just so painly bad that it is hard to even comprehend, but it is also showing the mentality of Nintendo “Play big or don't even bother”. They create hardware that relies on some new interesting idea and then they will try to build a game that use it to its fullest potential. Most of the times this approach really works and we receive a well balanced gameplay that is just fun to play around. The problem appears when N will try to reinvent a wheel and gameplay will suffer because they refuse to use schematics that simply work. Nintendo is Nintendo biggest enemy in this situations.

youtube

(That was actually very good)

Okay so with all that in mind let's talk march 3rd and the upcoming release of Nintendo Switch. Brand new hybrid of handheld and stationary console which was, for a very long time, known under a codename NX. As, hopefully, you can see the premise is simple but actually really exciting. Play your games on a TV and when you need to leave your home just snap Joycon's on the console and take your game with you. Even the click sound is something that still sits in my head and does not want to leave. I don't know this console just spoke to me when on october 20th this clip saw the light of day. It was awesome till like 5 minutes after the clip realeased. It went only down for me after that.

(My excellent hype versus time line)

I think the biggest problem for me is the attitude that Nintendo presented after that. They simply refused to say anything about their shiny new console until January 12th. They didn't want to comment on anything, not even a confirmation that Skyrim would be ported for the device. Why would you show gameplay of a game if you aren't ready to acknowledge it will be on your console. You could say that they wanted to avoid drowning in sea of mud that is christmas, but for me this just shows that you don't believe in your product. You don't have anything new this holiday season so why in the hell you go silent? Okay so maybe this is just my gamer ADHD speaking. Maybe the January presentation will be awesome and it will be all fine.

youtube

(I feel kinda meh..)

Well... yes and no. The price is actually quite nice and of course the games are actually really interesting. Of course we already knew a lot about Breath of the Wild and it actually looks really good from gameplay perspective. There is of course new Mario game which looks really weird and awesome at the same time. The hat throwing in particular seems like a mechanic that can provide really hard and really satisfying manouvers. Splatoon is coming back with some more splatting and while it looks like just more of the same it is fine, because this game is just that good. Of course Nintendo wouldn't be itself if it didn't introduce something entirely new to the table.

(Arms a new IP)

Arms is game about putting on some boxing gloves and stepping on a ring to fight 1on1 with some absurd enemy. Oh and your character is also absurd just to let you know. I mean the over stylisation is fine, because at this point you just don't expect anything else from Nintendo. Not to mention that they are the company that actually can deliver when it comes down to simple fun from gameplay. So actually while Arms may as well seem really stupid it can actually work pretty well.

(Series of mini games.)

1-2 Switch is actually series of mini games that tries to show off what an actual hardware can do. In most cases you don't even need to look on the screen to play. There are games like cow milking, wizard fight, cowboy quick draw... Simple stuff that will entertain your guests for like an hour and it will be put back to the box and never shown again. In their defense Wii Sports is on the second place when it comes to copies sold, but it also was bundled to Wii for a very long time. 1-2 is not budled it is a stand-alone product with MSRP 49.99. This is a lot I don't care how many mini games are there.

(Those are of course included in base console, but additional cost...)

I think this is the problem I have with Switch the cost is low, but not as low to reason day one/year one purchase. It may seem like there is a lot games coming to Switch now in March, but no. Mario will be released in holiday season. Arms will be month or two after Switch and the same goes for Mario Kart. Splatoon 2? Summer 2017. Of all that games only Zelda and 1-2 Switch is coming day one. No, wait Bomberman R... wait no... Do I want to count it? Well early adopters sure as hell will need to do it because there is nothing else they will be able to do with this device.

(Wii U got crap for too big controller. How is it any different?)

There will be no video apps available for them at launch and before you ask. No, not even Youtube. Meaning that you are either happy with Zelda or will use Switch as shiny statue on your shelf. I don't expect Zelda to suck as the matter of fact I can safely claim this will GOTY for 2017, but some choice would be nice. Surely we can compromise I mean Wii U had some awesome internet browser and almost everything worked there. There is only one small exception for this Nintendo Switch will not feature aa internet browser on launch. If and when it will appear remains a secret. Not that you could use internet on the go. Switch will not have sim card slot for 3G or something like that. So maybe let's turn to third parties, indies of this world.

(The indies)

So there will be World of Goo on day one, great. Except people that would want to play this game already did on other devices. We have Binding of Isaac great game that will debut on march 17th, but wait currently only for NA region. Despite claiming on the presentation that will not be region locked we still need to jump through hoopes of company own regional politics. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't sometimes pissed on Sony for the very same thing, but I swear Nintendo is worse. We also have Shovel Knight great game... here actually have a list and sort by date here. It seems like a lot but keep in my mind that most of those are just rereleased products. Please don't exactly believe people saying something along the line of “X game is amazing I bought it on y, z and t, and I will buy it for Switch”. I mean maybe believe them, but are you seriously consider them sane? For comparison PS4 here, and of course sort by date and look at day one/month one anything after that is pointless.

(JoyCon)

Remember when I said that the biggest enemy of Nintendo is Nintendo? I think the villain strikes again. Aside the horrendous accessory prices for Switch. Single Joycons that presumably are perfect for a grown-up. Like hell they are... There is the problem of power. There is reason as to why specifics about GPU or CPU can be found only in rumours and leaks. Official specifications here basicly says “Yes, we have a GPU here.”... Well I hope so. The internet got mad about Mohammad Alavi comment "No. F*** no. No you're not going to be able to fit Titanfall on it. That's the same Zelda from the Wii U [laughs].". This is Respawn Entertainment senior designer saying no to prospect of porting TF2 to Switch. Just to let you know they did exceptional optimisation for PS4 in my eyes. You receive nice 60 FPS and I swear sometimes I blinked and missed the load times for couple MP matches. The amount of work needed to downgrade a game like this so it will work like this is absurd and not worth the money. AAA developers would need to create games specifically for Switch and they will not create games for a platform that doesn't sold well. It didn't sold well because people are not especially keened on buying Nintendo only exclusive device... I mean I have Wii U, but I am not entirely sane... exactly... So the playerbase will stay low and... You see where I am going here? Okay, but you could say Wii and try to shut me down this way.

(Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii)

Well the whole premise of motion controls simply worked for everyone. Gramma, granda, mother, father, uncle, three year old sister, that cousin that hate games. Pretty much all of them know how to swing a tennis racket or play golf using Wiimote. The stereotypical housewives played Wii Sports to stay fit and it was a perfect sell. I mean if there was one thing that nerds don't do is exercise. So no I don't think Switch even remotely compares to what Wii have to offer. Not to mention that those housewives does not have any reason to buy a new shiny box. At this point I am fairly convinced that Nintendo hardware would endure atomic bomb, napalm strike, Cyclops laser beam, dropping from 100 meters and Hugh Jackman.

youtube

(That’s right!)

As always only time will tell if Nintendo is a genius or they will need to live through another generation of weak sales. I wish I was wrong. I wish that Switch will be a great game changer, but at this point I think there only be one true game changer. Pokemon. If there ever was a franchise that literally moved consoles and people bought a device only to play one game it is this one. It would also need to come with the news of killing New 3DS. It is possible, but when?

#nintendo #nintendo switch #pokemon #teamrocket #splatoon

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patriotsnet · 3 years ago

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Are There Any Other Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-there-any-other-republicans-running-for-president/

Are There Any Other Republicans Running For President

I’m Running For President Because It’s Time For New Leadership Because It’s Time For New Energy And It’s Time For A New Commitment To Make Sure That The Opportunities Getting Out There Being Able To Hear People’s Concerns Address Them With New Ideas Has Been An Extraordinary Experience He Said

Let’s Take A Look At The Republican Landscape And The Potential Challengers To So Far There Are Three Official Republican Challengers And One Was Just Announced A Few Days Ago:

Notable Candidates Include Individuals Who Have Qualified To Appear On Enough State There Were 21 Candidates On The Ballot Each In Vermont And Colorado

Republican Hopefuls Will Need To Lay The Groundwork For Potential Campaigns Of Their Own Without Alienating The President And His Supporters

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