In 2020, contrary to conventions in the nation’s election laws, states were able to change the election rules in the middle of the election and did so with the blessings of the judiciary, often including Trump-appointed judges. Likewise, the Trump-appointed Secretary of Homeland Security offered elections procedures to use during COVID that deviated from prior elections, including the use of drop boxes for voting — a procedure novel to many states.
Erick, I listen to you every day and I agree with almost every opinion you give…almost. You seem to be very intelligent and well read. But, I think it is naive to think that the government of this country would not stoop so low as to try to steal an election. In my mind, I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt they would indeed do anything and everything they could to retain their power and control. It’s a no brainer. I am NOT a Trump fanatic,. I am in fact an independent. I look around with my own eyes and see the lengths the government will go to keep this country divided in order to gain a sliver of an advantage. Donald Trump just happened to be the curve ball they watched go by as strike three was called. The Democrats got caught sleeping and they will not let that happen again. Or at least they don’t wish to strike out looking. They will cheat.
It is a well established principle that judges must not only refrain from improper conduct, they should also avoid the appearance of impropriety. I don't know very much about the allegations against Alito, but it seems clear that were Clarence Thomas not on the Court, neither he nor his family would be getting a darn thing from this "friend" of his . . . and that just doesn't look right.
If Thomas' conduct would have violated the ethical standards to which judges on the lower federal courts are held but those standards do not apply to the Supreme Court, the motives of those raising it notwithstanding, the absence of any ethical constraints applicable to Supreme Court justices is a legitimate issue for public debate.
What is always missing in Erick's assessment of the Jan-6 protests and the still high number of people that believe the Democrats at least cheated in taking the 2020 election, and hence stole that election, is apparent in another story today that a Judge lambasted the Biden Administration for colluding with social media companies to silence political opposition. The Jan-6 protestors were in fact just more intuitive that all the "smart" people that live as media-political chattering class. Those uneducated bearded construction workers could tell that Democrats cheated. They had been building up to that conclusion over the previous months leading to the election. The profound abnormalities in the swing states was just too much to ignore or deny. And since then the Jan-6 protestors have been proven right.
I guess the mindset for those that want to continue the hyperbole lies about Jan-6 ("stormed the capital", "coup", "insurrection") is that the Democrats just exploited the system better than the Republicans. But I think this is way-off in terms of what really happened and what it means for our democratic system.
The ruling class funded by billionaires that own the media and big tech through their Wall Street holdings connected with and colluded with the Democrat political machine, including Obama plants and Democrat-faithful in government positions at the national, state and local levels, to put massive thumbs on the scale of the election process to favor Democrats.
Democracy has been corrupted by these forces. Voters were propagandized... and are still being propagandized. Then they were screwed with a "plandemic-justified" change to the long-standing election process.
The media is profoundly Democrat-biased and this is a material thumb-on-the-scale democracy-corruption topic on its own, but the actual evidence of 2020 and 2022 election tampering/cheating is that the Biden Administration and high-ranking government employees in the FBI and other agencies, along with a network of activists and other government employees involved in local elections, colluded directly with the corporate media and big tech to influence voters, and to alter the balloting process, to favor Democrats.
Read the damn Twitter Files people!
Repeat... the federal government colluded with private media, big tech and local election offices to favor the Democrats.
It was illegal. It is still illegal. It is only now that judges are getting enough evidence thrown at them that they can no longer deny the truth.
The problem has been that there is no law entity other than the federal justice department with the jurisdiction to challenge and prosecute that illegality, but the old Obama and new Biden justice department was deep into the actual malfeasance and certainly would not police itself.
Democrats cheated. Government illegally colluded with the private sector to influence voters and illegally colluded with local election offices to tamper with the election process.
Until and unless anti-Trumpers admit this, they will always be easily diagnosed as having TDS and lacking credibility on the topic.
Flawed though it may be, we have a system for determining the truth in this country. That system is the courts. Here, court after court - not just federal, but also state courts - upheld the legitimacy of the last election, and that even included Trump appointed judges.
As you whine about "the old Obama and new Biden justice department," don't forget that Trump had a Justice Department too. When you say "the federal government colluded with private media, big tech and local election offices to favor the Democrats," that would be Donald Trump's federal government. And don't give me that crap about the "deep state." Bill Barr - directly appointed by Trump - is in no way "deep," and his investigation of the election found no basis for questioning the result.
Finally, I've got news for you, dude. Looking at a tax cut anytime the GOP wins, the "ruling class" doesn't generally vote Democratic.
Your brain seems really made of mush. I don't know what you read, but you should consider something else. If I didn't already know that from other things you post, I would consider your post brilliant satire.
"the "ruling class" doesn't generally vote Democratic. "
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
This judge made the call. So it is starting to pop. I am just wondering when people like you admit you were wrong... or will you sill cling to old irrelevant narratives?
85% of OECD countries ban mass mail in ballots because they know cheating will take place and it is very difficult to prove given the way elections are done. And in the US the way elections are done with state and local jurisdiction control, it is even more difficult to capture enough evidence early.
But now we have the Twitter files. And mountains of evidence that even the most liberal Democrat-loving judges cannot ignore.
They didn't think they could lose. They really believed that an "anti-discrimination" law could violate the Constitutional free speech rights of Americans, as it has done so often. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals even advanced the novel proposition that if same sex couples were unable to access Lorie Smith's particular talent they would be "relegated to an inferior market", and therefore survived strict scrutiny. Under that reasoning, a talented Jewish website designer could be compelled to create a website praising Jesus as the Son of God...except, of course, that Colorado would never prosecute that, claiming that it was a message that the Jewish designer wouldn't create for anyone.
The 2020 election may not have ben stolen, however Democrats did illegally go around various state legislatures and change the rules during the election. It's like the NFL deciding to change the rules of football during at game at half-time because they want one team to win over the other. I honestly don't know how this can be tolerated. And I do blame the GOP for not mounting significant challenges to stop these illegal election rule changes.
I think that is Erick's point - it wasn't stolen, but the Dems did legally cheat (if that makes sense) by having the rules changed in their favor at the last minute, sometimes with GOP appointees' approval.
The rule changes that you refer to simply made it easier to vote in the middle of a pandemic. This is why many GOP appointees supported them. If making it easier for people to vote favors Democrats, this is a sad commentary on where the Republican Party stands in relation to the actual will of the American people.
Eric, thank you for saying this. The main intractable issue is the left’s almost full control of the media. I believe, though, as covid has waned, the left’s shenanigans to soften election laws only favors the clueless and so we get the results we got in 2020. I believe in dealing with reality, but in my mind, if you are able-bodied, in-country, and otherwise able to vote, you should physically cast your vote yourself. My reference for this are the men who stormed Normandy and the beaches of Pacific islands, just beginning their lives, who were maimed, blown apart, vaporized while fighting for our country. Mortally wounded crying for their mothers. And we, today, can’t get our backsides in a car and go to a voting booth? Lazy, easy, voting is, to me, is shameful repayment for our hard-won citizenship. Early voting I understand. Ballot harvesting should be stopped as soon as we can ( but do it while we must), and elections should end on election day, 12 midnight, with the results within a day or two, if not the next morning.
If the left has "almost full control of the media," which cable news network reaches the most viewers? Is there a left-leaning broadcaster that is even in the top 10 on radio? And have you ever heard of the Wall Street Journal?
Neil, the ‘left’ owns NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS and most major newspapers. Until recently, they controlled all of social media. Fox has owned cable, until recently, but cable is only cable. Yes, the left largely owns the media. And they control the narrative often by what they refuse to cover. As I’ve said before, I want the media, to please, mostly cut both ways, or at least let on a diversity of opinion. Fox is not bad at this while still leaning right. MSNBC is looney tunes.
In my haste to push back on your comments about the media, I neglected to mention that I agree with you on mail-in voting. Though not so problematic as some might have us think, the greater opportunity that it presents for electoral mischief is indeed problematic. (Glad to see that we also seem to agree on early voting, which opportunities should be amply afforded.) In 2020, however, it was in-person voting that was problematic, due to the pandemic. People should not have been expected to risk their very lives in order to vote.
Returning now to your perspective on the media, forgive me if you've read the same comment from me before. However, in expecting any media outlet to "cut both ways" or present "a diversity of opinion," you're like a judge who yearns for the lawyer who will fairly present both sides of a case. It just doesn't work that way, and it really never has.
Unfortunately, most of us would prefer to have that which we already believe reinforced than for those beliefs to be contradicted. Stated another way, most of us don't want to hear both sides. Think about it: if there was a market for a news outlet that fairly presents both sides, then surely there would be one making a stronger effort to do so. And even then, anyone who disagreed with that "balanced" perspective would still consider it biased.
The mainstream media may well have a left-leaning bias, but those operations reward their reporters for being first with a story and fire (or at the very least, demote) any who are caught lying. Fox News, on the other hand, fired the people in its news division whose election modeling allowed them to accurately call Arizona for Biden before anyone else, and has not even reprimanded those whom the Dominion lawsuit revealed as having knowingly aired information they knew was false. (Carlson doesn't count because he was fired for other reasons.) Moreover, Fox got no heat for that false reporting from its conservative competitors because they were airing the very same stuff. Were I a conservative, I would be at least as concerned about being misled by the news sources that I have come to trust as about bias on the part of other outlets.
This is so depressing. I would expect this kind of behavior from an affirmative action hack like Sotomayor, but Justice Roberts had to call out Elena Kagan for dumping acid on the foundation pillars of our republic with this kind of criticism in her dissent.
If you have convinced yourself that your guy lost the 2020 election because of rampant cheating and you plan on him running again using past cheating as a central plank for the 2024 campaign, then prepare to scream about cheating again as his opponent is sworn in as President in 2025.
The Left and their Progressive allies are losing on all fronts. Like roaches scurrying for the cracks in the walls when the lights come on they are hiding from the investigations and exposures that are happening right now. If the election begins to turn against them with polling numbers suggesting someone on the GOP side will win, you will see more violence like the "fiery but mostly peaceful" summer of 2020. I expect 2024 to be a GOP landslide but I also expect the months leading up to the election to be some of the most contentious and possibly outright violent we have ever seen. I hope I'm wrong.
The violence in the summer of 2020 related to the horrific killing of George Floyd, not any election. To date, the only violence connected to any election belongs to the perpetrators of January 6th.
That's 100% revisionist history and I reject your premise. If you insist it was ONLY about George Floyd you are as bad as those who insist January 6 was "fine."
Well, here's what I remember. In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's killing, demonstrations broke out all over the country and even overseas. In some instances (Minneapolis and Portland in particular, if memory serves), daytime demonstrations were followed by looting, vandalism, and other acts of violence after dark. This was the pattern for about two weeks. Then those demonstrations subsided. Shortly thereafter, another unarmed black man was killed by police (in Atlanta, I think) and again, daytime demonstrations were followed by nighttime violence.
I think these events were about the killing of unarmed black people by police for two reasons: (1) the demonstrations and related violence arose in the immediate aftermath of such killings, and (2) I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence, except those that arose in the immediate aftermath of apparently wrongful police killings.
So what am I missing? Is this like a J Edgar Hoover type thing where he believed that black folk were perfectly happy with race discrimination, but were being secretly agitated and led by communists?
"I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence." Really? So the Antifa prepositioning pallets of rocks, the burning police cars by BLM rioters, the smashing of minority owned businesses in the inner cities, and the sexual assaults in the "autonomous zones" doesn't count as "left-leaning organizations leading to violence?"
I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence, EXCEPT THOSE THAT AROSE IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF APPARENTLY WRONGFUL POLICE KILLINGS.
If your point was that such violence was also related to other police killings of unarmed black people, then I misspoke in attributing it only to that of George Floyd. I stand by my basic point, however, which was that none of it had anything to do with the election. Indeed, the "defund the police" nonsense that emerged from those demonstrations hurt Democrats in the fall.
More directly countering your point, nothing either of us has cited would seem to suggest that "If the election begins to turn against them with polling numbers suggesting someone on the GOP side will win," violence from the left will ensue.
For three whole months across the country in places where GOP candidates tried to meet, rally, or talk these riots happened. Those events were disrupted by violence across the country but you want me to accept that they were all about that one event? Further you are not willing to accept that the summer of "fiery but mostly peaceful" had nothing to do with the election? Fine. I will no longer trouble you in conversation on matters of weight and import. Good luck.
I might add that I don't expect any violence from the right either. Except for that meant to intimidate black voters during the very darkest days of Jim Crow, violence in connection with our elections is not in the American character.
Was talking with folks at a 4th party, quite depressing to see otherwise smart people still believe that Trump is 90% more of a crook & liar than anyone in DC, destroyed the country, and is responsible for current problems. Conservatives want to suppress the dis-advantaged, and things would have been worse in Ukraine if Trump had won! They believe what they see by liberals on TV and their kids too not what their own brain tells them. I hope I made a dent and got a few conservative points across. The liberal media is the real steal.
I'd be careful about making any "2024 GOP Landslide" predictions. In recent years, every time there's been talk of a "Red Wave", etc., it generally turns out to be a massive let-down.
Yeah, I hear you. I was having that very sentiment as I typed those words but I let them stand. 2022 was supposed to be such a thing. I contend the "stolen" rhetoric cost us 2022 from being a red wave. I don't want that to happen in 2024, which is why I'm so against that specific naming convention.
Eric - reading this, I was unclear if this was your comment or the congressman's comment ... "Democrats, often leading the rules changes, embraced them and played the system." Either way, I agree with it.
I don't care which party's people approved the covid related voting changes - I believe that ballot harvesting is stealing. I am glad that most states, including Georgia, have fixed the drop box problem.
At the same time, blue states like mine, California, took all the insane COVID policies and enshrined them into law. Conservatives already didn’t have a voice here. Now that the cheating is permanent Democrats will just get better and better at it.
Changing the rules of the game during the game is patently unfair and “un-American” some might say. I maintain and will continue to maintain that the election was stolen in advance of November 3rd 2020. Phony Russia Collusion, censoring Hunter’s hard drive and more broadly a highly biased media very likely cost Trump votes across swing states and nationally. To deny this is foolish. As you state Erick, the problem is really far greater than the results of one election.
I'll agree with you if you agree to drop the "stolen" rhetoric. America is done with the "stolen election" and that monicker only drives people away. Was the US government weaponized to defeat a political opponent of a sitting president's party? Yes, yes it was. Did the Media and Big Tech collude with them to do it? Yes, yes they did. Is it starting to be exposed at every turn? Yes, yes it is. America sees this and are beginning to believe. Using the stolen rhetoric devalues that and drives it away. Anyone using that rhetoric from this point on is actually trying to beat the GOP and not out the "truth" anymore. It is my opinion people who have seen all that we have seen and continue to declare it was "stolen" either have judgment too damaged to be considered in weighty matters or are knowingly trying to undermine us. Either case is unacceptable and I won't engage with it.
I understand your position Mark as well that of Peaceful Dad. I appreciate your use of words such as collude, weaponized, etc., but the fact remains that those words still strongly imply the perpetrator is looking to do the opposite of what they think the will of an individual will be. I can rob a bank and be convicted of stealing. I can arrange for others to rob a bank and still be convicted of stealing or robbery if you prefer. The left knowingly lied to change the result. They may not have stolen an election by altering ballots but they did steal the election by lying to people knowingly.
When Trump was in office, I used to offer a challenge that for every lie that anyone could attribute to Obama in his entire eight years in office, I would cite 5 lies that Donald Trump had told in just the past two weeks. On the one occasion when someone tried to take me up on it (citing "If you like your doctor, you can keep him"), things went no further than my identification of five lies that Trump had told ON JUST ONE SUBJECT in his debate against Biden.
In any election involving Donald Trump, no one could ever out lie him.
We agree the left did this. We also agree it potentially altered the outcome of the election. NO argument there. Further, this was not a mistake. It was done on purpose to swing the election to one side. All I am asking is that we address those as separate and different issues from "A Stolen Election" because that phrase or phrases like it now indicate someone is just as bad as those people who couldn't come to grips with HRC being deselected in favor of Donald J. Trump in 2016. We laughed at those people for their inability to be self-aware enough that they lost the election. Trump lost the election in 2020 pure and simple. Yes, the Left used dirty tricks. Yes, the Left suppressed information. Yes, the Left lied. Yes, the Left used the courts to change election law illegally before the election. However, the Right failed to mount cogent, applicable, and viable challenges to those illegal changes in election law, and we lost. I don't want to lose again. Calling it stolen plays into their hand making it easier for them to win again. Let's not commit an unforced error by making their job easier in 2024. That's my position. I'll let you have the last word if you choose. God bless and Godspeed.
Here's the difference: Republicans like to hold office. They're perfectly fine with being in the party out of power, because they're in it just to get paid. As long as they play ball with the Democrats, they get invited to the best parties and let in on all the sweetheart deals to enrich themselves. Best of all, the media will largely leave them alone, and when they go back home to town halls they can just whine to their constituents that they can't do anything because they're not in power. While Republicans like to hold office, Democrats like to hold POWER. They hate being the party out of power, and they will do anything to get it. Erick likes to talk about being the "happy warrior", etc., and I get that. However, we're sick and tired of "losing like gentlemen". The Left does all sorts of dirty tricks to win, and so should we.
I'm with you until you want to use "dirty tricks" to win. I'm fine using all the tricks in the book. I am not fine with breaking the law as the Left did in 2016 and 2020. That's where I draw the line and that's how I define "dirty tricks." Breaking the law is dirty.
I know that Joe’s judgment is fine, but I agree with you, Mark, that continuing to use the adjective ‘stolen’ is likely self-defeating. I’m only interested in a conservative candidate for president becoming our next president. Anything that gets in the way of that happening by anyone on the right is traitorous, in my opinion.
"Traitorous" is a little harsh imo concerning opposition. I'm fine with people opposing one candidate or another. I'm even fine with people supporting a candidate who uses the "stolen" rhetoric (but you know my opinion of that candidate already as referenced above.) Until we get to the general election I'm a little more lenient in my opinion. Once we get to the general, we all need to get behind whoever wins, even if it's Trump. I no longer have any truck with the people who take their ball and go home if their guy doesn't win but want to continue to trash the guy/gal who did. IMO you were never interested in a GOP candidate winning in the first place which makes your motives suspect from that point forward.
Completely correct. And if an unhappy loser of the Republican primary goes off and runs as a third party candidate, then yes, I will view that person as a traitor, not legally, but in my mind.
I'm absolutely fine with this. A sad puppy from the primary that runs third party never really wanted the GOP to win in the first place and they are a loser.
So on point Erick . As a “ past “ Chairman of a county Election Board that is 83% Conservative and overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020 I saw and felt the irresponsible accusations of fraud made against my poll workers. Was called everything but a child of God myself. Even the State Representative played into the Trumpsters request to fire the Supervisor of the Elections .
I have “ disengaged “ from the local Party, Board, and have no real desire to be a part of the process now. Regretfully I fear I am not alone in my thinking. If the Alt Right movement does not get its act together we will lose the election again. Not from fraud, but disengaged conservative voters.
The "Alt Right" are not good people. Do not participate with them. Shun them. Their ideology is one of hate. Conservatism is a path forward. Classical liberalism is resurgent but misunderstood by those who don't know what it's definition is. Libertarianism is welcome but must be overseen given their tendency to devolve into progressivism. I think America has had enough of the wokes and is ready to turn on them. That's my hope anyway.
I just read on 1945.com that Biden has ordered the Construction of a railroad from USA to the Indian Ocean.Maybe the White House White powder was used in that decision making.
14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Erick, I listen to you every day and I agree with almost every opinion you give…almost. You seem to be very intelligent and well read. But, I think it is naive to think that the government of this country would not stoop so low as to try to steal an election. In my mind, I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt they would indeed do anything and everything they could to retain their power and control. It’s a no brainer. I am NOT a Trump fanatic,. I am in fact an independent. I look around with my own eyes and see the lengths the government will go to keep this country divided in order to gain a sliver of an advantage. Donald Trump just happened to be the curve ball they watched go by as strike three was called. The Democrats got caught sleeping and they will not let that happen again. Or at least they don’t wish to strike out looking. They will cheat.
It is a well established principle that judges must not only refrain from improper conduct, they should also avoid the appearance of impropriety. I don't know very much about the allegations against Alito, but it seems clear that were Clarence Thomas not on the Court, neither he nor his family would be getting a darn thing from this "friend" of his . . . and that just doesn't look right.
If Thomas' conduct would have violated the ethical standards to which judges on the lower federal courts are held but those standards do not apply to the Supreme Court, the motives of those raising it notwithstanding, the absence of any ethical constraints applicable to Supreme Court justices is a legitimate issue for public debate.
What is always missing in Erick's assessment of the Jan-6 protests and the still high number of people that believe the Democrats at least cheated in taking the 2020 election, and hence stole that election, is apparent in another story today that a Judge lambasted the Biden Administration for colluding with social media companies to silence political opposition. The Jan-6 protestors were in fact just more intuitive that all the "smart" people that live as media-political chattering class. Those uneducated bearded construction workers could tell that Democrats cheated. They had been building up to that conclusion over the previous months leading to the election. The profound abnormalities in the swing states was just too much to ignore or deny. And since then the Jan-6 protestors have been proven right.
I guess the mindset for those that want to continue the hyperbole lies about Jan-6 ("stormed the capital", "coup", "insurrection") is that the Democrats just exploited the system better than the Republicans. But I think this is way-off in terms of what really happened and what it means for our democratic system.
The ruling class funded by billionaires that own the media and big tech through their Wall Street holdings connected with and colluded with the Democrat political machine, including Obama plants and Democrat-faithful in government positions at the national, state and local levels, to put massive thumbs on the scale of the election process to favor Democrats.
Democracy has been corrupted by these forces. Voters were propagandized... and are still being propagandized. Then they were screwed with a "plandemic-justified" change to the long-standing election process.
The media is profoundly Democrat-biased and this is a material thumb-on-the-scale democracy-corruption topic on its own, but the actual evidence of 2020 and 2022 election tampering/cheating is that the Biden Administration and high-ranking government employees in the FBI and other agencies, along with a network of activists and other government employees involved in local elections, colluded directly with the corporate media and big tech to influence voters, and to alter the balloting process, to favor Democrats.
Read the damn Twitter Files people!
Repeat... the federal government colluded with private media, big tech and local election offices to favor the Democrats.
It was illegal. It is still illegal. It is only now that judges are getting enough evidence thrown at them that they can no longer deny the truth.
The problem has been that there is no law entity other than the federal justice department with the jurisdiction to challenge and prosecute that illegality, but the old Obama and new Biden justice department was deep into the actual malfeasance and certainly would not police itself.
Democrats cheated. Government illegally colluded with the private sector to influence voters and illegally colluded with local election offices to tamper with the election process.
Until and unless anti-Trumpers admit this, they will always be easily diagnosed as having TDS and lacking credibility on the topic.
Flawed though it may be, we have a system for determining the truth in this country. That system is the courts. Here, court after court - not just federal, but also state courts - upheld the legitimacy of the last election, and that even included Trump appointed judges.
As you whine about "the old Obama and new Biden justice department," don't forget that Trump had a Justice Department too. When you say "the federal government colluded with private media, big tech and local election offices to favor the Democrats," that would be Donald Trump's federal government. And don't give me that crap about the "deep state." Bill Barr - directly appointed by Trump - is in no way "deep," and his investigation of the election found no basis for questioning the result.
Finally, I've got news for you, dude. Looking at a tax cut anytime the GOP wins, the "ruling class" doesn't generally vote Democratic.
Your brain seems really made of mush. I don't know what you read, but you should consider something else. If I didn't already know that from other things you post, I would consider your post brilliant satire.
"the "ruling class" doesn't generally vote Democratic. "
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
This judge made the call. So it is starting to pop. I am just wondering when people like you admit you were wrong... or will you sill cling to old irrelevant narratives?
85% of OECD countries ban mass mail in ballots because they know cheating will take place and it is very difficult to prove given the way elections are done. And in the US the way elections are done with state and local jurisdiction control, it is even more difficult to capture enough evidence early.
But now we have the Twitter files. And mountains of evidence that even the most liberal Democrat-loving judges cannot ignore.
First of all, notwithstanding the disdain that I have for the intellect of some commenters, I try to be respectful.
Moving now to the substance of your comment, the wealthy are so firmly in the pocket of the GOP that they even voted for Donald Trump:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1184428/presidential-election-exit-polls-share-votes-income-us/
With regard to mail-in ballots, I happen to agree with you. But were you aware that prior to 2020, mail-in balloting was dominated by Republicans?
They didn't think they could lose. They really believed that an "anti-discrimination" law could violate the Constitutional free speech rights of Americans, as it has done so often. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals even advanced the novel proposition that if same sex couples were unable to access Lorie Smith's particular talent they would be "relegated to an inferior market", and therefore survived strict scrutiny. Under that reasoning, a talented Jewish website designer could be compelled to create a website praising Jesus as the Son of God...except, of course, that Colorado would never prosecute that, claiming that it was a message that the Jewish designer wouldn't create for anyone.
The 2020 election may not have ben stolen, however Democrats did illegally go around various state legislatures and change the rules during the election. It's like the NFL deciding to change the rules of football during at game at half-time because they want one team to win over the other. I honestly don't know how this can be tolerated. And I do blame the GOP for not mounting significant challenges to stop these illegal election rule changes.
I think that is Erick's point - it wasn't stolen, but the Dems did legally cheat (if that makes sense) by having the rules changed in their favor at the last minute, sometimes with GOP appointees' approval.
The rule changes that you refer to simply made it easier to vote in the middle of a pandemic. This is why many GOP appointees supported them. If making it easier for people to vote favors Democrats, this is a sad commentary on where the Republican Party stands in relation to the actual will of the American people.
I'm a long-time listener and a fan of your show. You should hire me as your proofreader. Even the best writer can't catch all of his own typos.
"often in front of Trump appointed judged."
Eric, thank you for saying this. The main intractable issue is the left’s almost full control of the media. I believe, though, as covid has waned, the left’s shenanigans to soften election laws only favors the clueless and so we get the results we got in 2020. I believe in dealing with reality, but in my mind, if you are able-bodied, in-country, and otherwise able to vote, you should physically cast your vote yourself. My reference for this are the men who stormed Normandy and the beaches of Pacific islands, just beginning their lives, who were maimed, blown apart, vaporized while fighting for our country. Mortally wounded crying for their mothers. And we, today, can’t get our backsides in a car and go to a voting booth? Lazy, easy, voting is, to me, is shameful repayment for our hard-won citizenship. Early voting I understand. Ballot harvesting should be stopped as soon as we can ( but do it while we must), and elections should end on election day, 12 midnight, with the results within a day or two, if not the next morning.
If the left has "almost full control of the media," which cable news network reaches the most viewers? Is there a left-leaning broadcaster that is even in the top 10 on radio? And have you ever heard of the Wall Street Journal?
Neil, the ‘left’ owns NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS and most major newspapers. Until recently, they controlled all of social media. Fox has owned cable, until recently, but cable is only cable. Yes, the left largely owns the media. And they control the narrative often by what they refuse to cover. As I’ve said before, I want the media, to please, mostly cut both ways, or at least let on a diversity of opinion. Fox is not bad at this while still leaning right. MSNBC is looney tunes.
In my haste to push back on your comments about the media, I neglected to mention that I agree with you on mail-in voting. Though not so problematic as some might have us think, the greater opportunity that it presents for electoral mischief is indeed problematic. (Glad to see that we also seem to agree on early voting, which opportunities should be amply afforded.) In 2020, however, it was in-person voting that was problematic, due to the pandemic. People should not have been expected to risk their very lives in order to vote.
Returning now to your perspective on the media, forgive me if you've read the same comment from me before. However, in expecting any media outlet to "cut both ways" or present "a diversity of opinion," you're like a judge who yearns for the lawyer who will fairly present both sides of a case. It just doesn't work that way, and it really never has.
Unfortunately, most of us would prefer to have that which we already believe reinforced than for those beliefs to be contradicted. Stated another way, most of us don't want to hear both sides. Think about it: if there was a market for a news outlet that fairly presents both sides, then surely there would be one making a stronger effort to do so. And even then, anyone who disagreed with that "balanced" perspective would still consider it biased.
The mainstream media may well have a left-leaning bias, but those operations reward their reporters for being first with a story and fire (or at the very least, demote) any who are caught lying. Fox News, on the other hand, fired the people in its news division whose election modeling allowed them to accurately call Arizona for Biden before anyone else, and has not even reprimanded those whom the Dominion lawsuit revealed as having knowingly aired information they knew was false. (Carlson doesn't count because he was fired for other reasons.) Moreover, Fox got no heat for that false reporting from its conservative competitors because they were airing the very same stuff. Were I a conservative, I would be at least as concerned about being misled by the news sources that I have come to trust as about bias on the part of other outlets.
And the Wall Street Journal is a mid-road conservative newspaper, far better than the Times or the Post, imo.
This is so depressing. I would expect this kind of behavior from an affirmative action hack like Sotomayor, but Justice Roberts had to call out Elena Kagan for dumping acid on the foundation pillars of our republic with this kind of criticism in her dissent.
If you have convinced yourself that your guy lost the 2020 election because of rampant cheating and you plan on him running again using past cheating as a central plank for the 2024 campaign, then prepare to scream about cheating again as his opponent is sworn in as President in 2025.
The Left and their Progressive allies are losing on all fronts. Like roaches scurrying for the cracks in the walls when the lights come on they are hiding from the investigations and exposures that are happening right now. If the election begins to turn against them with polling numbers suggesting someone on the GOP side will win, you will see more violence like the "fiery but mostly peaceful" summer of 2020. I expect 2024 to be a GOP landslide but I also expect the months leading up to the election to be some of the most contentious and possibly outright violent we have ever seen. I hope I'm wrong.
The violence in the summer of 2020 related to the horrific killing of George Floyd, not any election. To date, the only violence connected to any election belongs to the perpetrators of January 6th.
That's 100% revisionist history and I reject your premise. If you insist it was ONLY about George Floyd you are as bad as those who insist January 6 was "fine."
Well, here's what I remember. In the immediate aftermath of George Floyd's killing, demonstrations broke out all over the country and even overseas. In some instances (Minneapolis and Portland in particular, if memory serves), daytime demonstrations were followed by looting, vandalism, and other acts of violence after dark. This was the pattern for about two weeks. Then those demonstrations subsided. Shortly thereafter, another unarmed black man was killed by police (in Atlanta, I think) and again, daytime demonstrations were followed by nighttime violence.
I think these events were about the killing of unarmed black people by police for two reasons: (1) the demonstrations and related violence arose in the immediate aftermath of such killings, and (2) I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence, except those that arose in the immediate aftermath of apparently wrongful police killings.
So what am I missing? Is this like a J Edgar Hoover type thing where he believed that black folk were perfectly happy with race discrimination, but were being secretly agitated and led by communists?
"I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence." Really? So the Antifa prepositioning pallets of rocks, the burning police cars by BLM rioters, the smashing of minority owned businesses in the inner cities, and the sexual assaults in the "autonomous zones" doesn't count as "left-leaning organizations leading to violence?"
I do not recall any demonstrations organized by left-leaning organizations leading to violence, EXCEPT THOSE THAT AROSE IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF APPARENTLY WRONGFUL POLICE KILLINGS.
If your point was that such violence was also related to other police killings of unarmed black people, then I misspoke in attributing it only to that of George Floyd. I stand by my basic point, however, which was that none of it had anything to do with the election. Indeed, the "defund the police" nonsense that emerged from those demonstrations hurt Democrats in the fall.
More directly countering your point, nothing either of us has cited would seem to suggest that "If the election begins to turn against them with polling numbers suggesting someone on the GOP side will win," violence from the left will ensue.
For three whole months across the country in places where GOP candidates tried to meet, rally, or talk these riots happened. Those events were disrupted by violence across the country but you want me to accept that they were all about that one event? Further you are not willing to accept that the summer of "fiery but mostly peaceful" had nothing to do with the election? Fine. I will no longer trouble you in conversation on matters of weight and import. Good luck.
I might add that I don't expect any violence from the right either. Except for that meant to intimidate black voters during the very darkest days of Jim Crow, violence in connection with our elections is not in the American character.
Was talking with folks at a 4th party, quite depressing to see otherwise smart people still believe that Trump is 90% more of a crook & liar than anyone in DC, destroyed the country, and is responsible for current problems. Conservatives want to suppress the dis-advantaged, and things would have been worse in Ukraine if Trump had won! They believe what they see by liberals on TV and their kids too not what their own brain tells them. I hope I made a dent and got a few conservative points across. The liberal media is the real steal.
I'd be careful about making any "2024 GOP Landslide" predictions. In recent years, every time there's been talk of a "Red Wave", etc., it generally turns out to be a massive let-down.
Yeah, I hear you. I was having that very sentiment as I typed those words but I let them stand. 2022 was supposed to be such a thing. I contend the "stolen" rhetoric cost us 2022 from being a red wave. I don't want that to happen in 2024, which is why I'm so against that specific naming convention.
Eric - reading this, I was unclear if this was your comment or the congressman's comment ... "Democrats, often leading the rules changes, embraced them and played the system." Either way, I agree with it.
I don't care which party's people approved the covid related voting changes - I believe that ballot harvesting is stealing. I am glad that most states, including Georgia, have fixed the drop box problem.
At the same time, blue states like mine, California, took all the insane COVID policies and enshrined them into law. Conservatives already didn’t have a voice here. Now that the cheating is permanent Democrats will just get better and better at it.
Do you really think Democrats have to cheat in order to win . . . in California?
Changing the rules of the game during the game is patently unfair and “un-American” some might say. I maintain and will continue to maintain that the election was stolen in advance of November 3rd 2020. Phony Russia Collusion, censoring Hunter’s hard drive and more broadly a highly biased media very likely cost Trump votes across swing states and nationally. To deny this is foolish. As you state Erick, the problem is really far greater than the results of one election.
I'll agree with you if you agree to drop the "stolen" rhetoric. America is done with the "stolen election" and that monicker only drives people away. Was the US government weaponized to defeat a political opponent of a sitting president's party? Yes, yes it was. Did the Media and Big Tech collude with them to do it? Yes, yes they did. Is it starting to be exposed at every turn? Yes, yes it is. America sees this and are beginning to believe. Using the stolen rhetoric devalues that and drives it away. Anyone using that rhetoric from this point on is actually trying to beat the GOP and not out the "truth" anymore. It is my opinion people who have seen all that we have seen and continue to declare it was "stolen" either have judgment too damaged to be considered in weighty matters or are knowingly trying to undermine us. Either case is unacceptable and I won't engage with it.
I understand your position Mark as well that of Peaceful Dad. I appreciate your use of words such as collude, weaponized, etc., but the fact remains that those words still strongly imply the perpetrator is looking to do the opposite of what they think the will of an individual will be. I can rob a bank and be convicted of stealing. I can arrange for others to rob a bank and still be convicted of stealing or robbery if you prefer. The left knowingly lied to change the result. They may not have stolen an election by altering ballots but they did steal the election by lying to people knowingly.
When Trump was in office, I used to offer a challenge that for every lie that anyone could attribute to Obama in his entire eight years in office, I would cite 5 lies that Donald Trump had told in just the past two weeks. On the one occasion when someone tried to take me up on it (citing "If you like your doctor, you can keep him"), things went no further than my identification of five lies that Trump had told ON JUST ONE SUBJECT in his debate against Biden.
In any election involving Donald Trump, no one could ever out lie him.
Yep, and they'll do it again, as the did in the mid-terms. "Democracy is at stake!" , they yelled. And the un-thinking electorate fell for it.
That’s why we can’t be afraid to speak out. We each need to get one un-thinker (I like that) to think. If we do that - landslide!
We agree the left did this. We also agree it potentially altered the outcome of the election. NO argument there. Further, this was not a mistake. It was done on purpose to swing the election to one side. All I am asking is that we address those as separate and different issues from "A Stolen Election" because that phrase or phrases like it now indicate someone is just as bad as those people who couldn't come to grips with HRC being deselected in favor of Donald J. Trump in 2016. We laughed at those people for their inability to be self-aware enough that they lost the election. Trump lost the election in 2020 pure and simple. Yes, the Left used dirty tricks. Yes, the Left suppressed information. Yes, the Left lied. Yes, the Left used the courts to change election law illegally before the election. However, the Right failed to mount cogent, applicable, and viable challenges to those illegal changes in election law, and we lost. I don't want to lose again. Calling it stolen plays into their hand making it easier for them to win again. Let's not commit an unforced error by making their job easier in 2024. That's my position. I'll let you have the last word if you choose. God bless and Godspeed.
Totally good with this, but most aren’t as nuanced. Let’s just hope everyone on our side aligns behind our candidate and that we drive to a “W”!
Here's the difference: Republicans like to hold office. They're perfectly fine with being in the party out of power, because they're in it just to get paid. As long as they play ball with the Democrats, they get invited to the best parties and let in on all the sweetheart deals to enrich themselves. Best of all, the media will largely leave them alone, and when they go back home to town halls they can just whine to their constituents that they can't do anything because they're not in power. While Republicans like to hold office, Democrats like to hold POWER. They hate being the party out of power, and they will do anything to get it. Erick likes to talk about being the "happy warrior", etc., and I get that. However, we're sick and tired of "losing like gentlemen". The Left does all sorts of dirty tricks to win, and so should we.
Like, except for "dirty tricks". Use lawyers to bend it our way as they did in 2020, but legal ways, only. Am I naive? Perhaps.
I'm with you until you want to use "dirty tricks" to win. I'm fine using all the tricks in the book. I am not fine with breaking the law as the Left did in 2016 and 2020. That's where I draw the line and that's how I define "dirty tricks." Breaking the law is dirty.
Ok, I did not see what you'd written. : )
I know that Joe’s judgment is fine, but I agree with you, Mark, that continuing to use the adjective ‘stolen’ is likely self-defeating. I’m only interested in a conservative candidate for president becoming our next president. Anything that gets in the way of that happening by anyone on the right is traitorous, in my opinion.
"Traitorous" is a little harsh imo concerning opposition. I'm fine with people opposing one candidate or another. I'm even fine with people supporting a candidate who uses the "stolen" rhetoric (but you know my opinion of that candidate already as referenced above.) Until we get to the general election I'm a little more lenient in my opinion. Once we get to the general, we all need to get behind whoever wins, even if it's Trump. I no longer have any truck with the people who take their ball and go home if their guy doesn't win but want to continue to trash the guy/gal who did. IMO you were never interested in a GOP candidate winning in the first place which makes your motives suspect from that point forward.
Completely correct. And if an unhappy loser of the Republican primary goes off and runs as a third party candidate, then yes, I will view that person as a traitor, not legally, but in my mind.
I'm absolutely fine with this. A sad puppy from the primary that runs third party never really wanted the GOP to win in the first place and they are a loser.
No one wants to be told they're wrong, and no one wants to change.
So on point Erick . As a “ past “ Chairman of a county Election Board that is 83% Conservative and overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020 I saw and felt the irresponsible accusations of fraud made against my poll workers. Was called everything but a child of God myself. Even the State Representative played into the Trumpsters request to fire the Supervisor of the Elections .
I have “ disengaged “ from the local Party, Board, and have no real desire to be a part of the process now. Regretfully I fear I am not alone in my thinking. If the Alt Right movement does not get its act together we will lose the election again. Not from fraud, but disengaged conservative voters.
The "Alt Right" are not good people. Do not participate with them. Shun them. Their ideology is one of hate. Conservatism is a path forward. Classical liberalism is resurgent but misunderstood by those who don't know what it's definition is. Libertarianism is welcome but must be overseen given their tendency to devolve into progressivism. I think America has had enough of the wokes and is ready to turn on them. That's my hope anyway.
I just read on 1945.com that Biden has ordered the Construction of a railroad from USA to the Indian Ocean.Maybe the White House White powder was used in that decision making.
And thus the republic was came to no longer be.
Unlikely
It’s all so depressing.
It would be if I weren’t a Christian.
If you need to worry pick a time say between 4 and 4:30 anything outside that time block unless dire emergency save it until next day.
My Motto is Don’t Worry about it and Don’t Worry me about it. It’s all in Gods Hands. You have no control.
Are you from Louisiana by any chance?
14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NASB95)
It’s transitory political depression not clinical. I don’t let it ruin my life. My dogs don’t seem to care. And meditation re-centers the focus.