MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
A couple of pollsters have called the Warnock race for the Dems, and expect Ossoff to win too, but too early to call. The thoughts seem to be R turnout is down, mainly dupe to the Orange Whingebag.
Off to bed now - will see how this post/prediction reads when I wake up!
https://twitter.com/Nate_Cohn/status/1346641725419364353
https://twitter.com/JesseMPrescott/status/1346642104202752003
It certainly looks like the Dems are going to win both. Warnock is basically there and whilst Perdue is currently ahead of Ossoff it's by approximately 1500 votes and there are approx 30,000 to be counted still from heavily Democratic counties.
Don't know a huge amount about Perdue but I'm extremely happy about Loeffler losing, if anyone represents the sickness at the heart of GOP politics, it's her.
Now for final certification of Biden and we can all look forward to the soap.opera that will be the orangutans post election life..
To shamelessly steal a joke, if there was one person I really wanted to see lose, it was Loeffler. Same goes for Perdue.
So how do we think the MAGA cultists will react if it does go blue? Not that we’ve long to wait.
Rev Warnock wins...
Democratic control of the Senate is a good start but it gives Joe Manchin a hell of a lot of power, will be interesting to see how he votes in future. Also, assuming there's no equivalent of the whip, I wonder if progressive Democrats will use the slender majority to their benefit (although this seems unlikely given how they caved with Pelosi's re-election).
It's certainly better than 4 more years of Trump but it's essentially going to be 2-4 years of centre-right leadership with nothing getting done that could make a real difference in the US long-term, it's like if the Tories replaced a UKIP government here.
it’s like if the Tories replaced a UKIP government here.
indeed. Something many folk forget. In the US your choice is centre right or hard right
Why are there different races for the two seats? Does each one represent a different region, or are there two votes on each ballot?
indeed. Something many folk forget. In the US your choice is centre right or hard right
I can never quite get my head around Americans who think Democrats = Marxists and/or Communists
Why are there different races for the two seats? Does each one represent a different region, or are there two votes on each ballot?
Each state has two senators. Senators serve six-year terms, but are staggered, so there is usually a two-gap, then a four-year gap between senate elections in each state. One of these elections was a special election to replace a senator who had been appointed to an interim term to replace someone who died or retired. That senate seat only has two years left on the term, so the new senator will only serve two years before the next election. After that, Georgia will go back to having senate elections with a two-year gap, followed by a four-year gap.
Edit: From Wikipedia
Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, appointed Loeffler to the Senate in December 2019 after Republican senator Johnny Isakson resigned for health reasons. Loeffler is running in the 2020 Georgia U.S. Senate special election, the winner of which will hold the Senate seat until January 3, 2023. She finished second in the November 3 election, advancing to a runoff with Democrat Raphael Warnock held on January 5, 2021.[2] She lost a close race to Warnock.
Why are there different races for the two seats?
Its because senate seats have staggered elections. The terms are six years with one third being elected every two years.
In this case though a senator resigned midterm so there is an additional special election.
it’s like if the Tories replaced a UKIP government here
Or… like Labour bringing back Blair as leader, and then Johnson losing his seat and Labour getting a very slim majority.
I wonder if the MAGA lot are getting tired of winning yet.
Or… like Labour bringing back Blair as leader, and then Johnson losing his seat and Labour getting a very slim majority.
Blair era is looking like a golden age right now!
So is there anyone else who's lost both houses and the presidency in a single term? Impressive.
I'm really hoping twitter have ordered extra hamsters for today. the orange one may not be happy
Note the date on that Trump statement. Says it all.
This is from fivethirtyeight.com
CNN reports the following notable vote tallies are left:
20,000 to 25,000 votes left in Fulton County.
19,000 votes left in DeKalb County.
Almost 5,000 votes left in Gwinnett County.
7,000 votes left in deep-red Coffee County in south Georgia.
3,000 votes in Chatham County (Savannah).
So most of what is left is in pretty Democratic territory.
It's something like 4am in Georgia at the moment so I imagine the counting will resume in a few hours.
So with 59,000 votes or so to count Ossoff has a 13,000 lead over Perdue, Warnock a 50,000 lead over Loeffler. Loeffler would need 92% of the remaining votes to overtake Warnock so Warnock's certainly elected. Perdue would need around 66% of the remaining votes to overtake Ossoff.
it’s like if the Tories replaced a UKIP government here.
it means the removal of Mitch McConnell as the senate majority leader, as one commentator noted “perhaps the single most corrosive force on bipartisanship politics this country’s ever seen”
Trump is going to have a melt down
It's gonna be great
So is there anyone else who’s lost both houses and the presidency in a single term? Impressive.
Republicans took a thumping at the end of George W.'s second term, but Carter and George H. are the only other recent Presidents to serve only one full term. The Democratic Party had a lock on the House for decades, so Reagan's victory included the Senate, but not the House.
Trump is going to have a melt down
I'm not sure Trump really cares about the GOP's senate seats. He never really got behind this run-off and continually said stuff that was thought to be damaging the R candidates' chances and reduce the R turnout.
That said, hopefully now all those republicant cretins that were only standing behind Trump for his base in Georgia can actually speak out. So we may see a bit of a tide against Trump's stupid coup attempt. Here's hoping.
God, this is tense watching it all unfold from here. So glad I'm not an American at this point.
The prospect of Trump losing republican control of the senate through his narcissism is just too delicious.
I’m not sure Trump really cares about the GOP’s senate seats.
Exactly. He was never really a Republican, he just launched a hostile takeover for his own convenience. He mostly doesn't have any coherent policies, beyond being nasty to foreigners and giving himself tax cuts. The only thing he cares about is himself. This was all about him showing that he will screw over any Republican who doesn't back his crazy stuff all the way so he can keep extorting stuff from them.
Why are there different races for the two seats?
because: Georgia. They have a runoff 2 rd vote if any uppity black people win the election first round with less then 50% of the vote. Against the 2nd place contender (normally a white person) the reasoning being that in the first round the white vote will be spilt, but in the run off, most white Americans in Georgia will vote for the white candidate regardless of his/her politics. It was created it the 60s to prevent “negro block voting”
America: home of the bigot...sorry Brave, I meant brave
thols2, that is full of comedy
Powell, who pushed false conspiracy theories about state voting machines being corrupted by the dead Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.
And I thought it was just communist marxinists messing things up, turns out it's actually dead communist marxinists messing things up.
Beyond satire.
Many commentators suggesting that while the Democrat victory is a “good thing” the narrowness of the victory just before a massive MAGA rally in Washington is effectively pouring gasoline on the fire. There’s lots of well armed pissed off Qanon supporters gathering just waiting for Trump to tell them to “take your country back”
just waiting for Trump to tell them to “take your country back”
The gravy seals couldn't take their tray back in McDonalds. All they can achieve if they are violent in DC is hopefully opening a few more eyes to the rot in right-wing US society.
There’s lots of well armed pissed off Qanon supporters gathering just waiting for Trump to tell them to “take your country back”
Which is really the worst thing they could do, politically. The Republican Party used to attract centrist middle-class voters who have mortgages, run small businesses, etc., so are primarily motivated by economic considerations. Right-wing nutters also voted Republican, but the signaling was done through dog-whistles (urban unrest = angry Black people, for example). Nobody would say out loud what a significant minority privately muttered under their breath. Republican leaders had to tolerate those people because it would be impossible to win an election without them, but people like John McCain and Mitt Romney weren't blatant racists and they didn't campaign on threats of violence because they knew that middle-class suburbanites would abandon them if they went down that road.
Trump ripped the scab off that and the racism and fascism are there for all the world to see. The centrist voters turned against Trump and the Republican Party back in 2018 after they saw the reality. Now the Proud Boys think that rampaging around D.C. terrorizing people is going to convince voters that they should support Trump. Biden couldn't have picked a better thing to happen if he tried.
(Of course, this is why sensible people kept on urging the BLM protestors to keep it peaceful and condemned the burning of police stations. That sort of thing just drives voters away.)
The gravy seals couldn’t take their tray back in McDonalds
Coffee- keyboard moment 👍😂
It's a bit odd the National Guard called into DC won't be armed (I'm assuming the Proud Boys will be, despite requests that they aren't), I also wonder how many DC Police and National Guard are Proud Boys/other right-wing militia members as well. Hopefully there won't be counter-protests and it all just fizzles out with lots of photos of fat guys cos-playing action man being the news rather than mass violence.
Trump is going to have a melt down
Nah he wont care about them unless he thought somehow they would benefit him directly.
He will either just claim them losing is evidence of the "election fraud" or say that they lost because the republican leaders had failed to prove the "election fraud" and hence his supporters were too disgusted to vote for them.
Either way (or possibly some other batshit alternative) it will be a side act to his own whining though.
What’s the deal with Pennsylvania?
What’s the deal with Pennsylvania?
???
Gravy Seals - that is very nice and very apt.
I don't think for one minute that Orange is concerned about the senate run offs, thats politics, responsibility, accountability even and we know he just doesn't get involved with that one bit.
Thinking back over the last 4 years I can hardly recall him doing anything truly political (policy and such) and even if he came close to it, it was race or denier driven (banning muslims from entering the states or leaving the climate change agreements) nothing seemed to be done for people other than those who he owed money or favours to.
What’s the deal with Pennsylvania?
???
Haven't read into this yet to work out what he's on about.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346652589673345024
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/05/politics/pennsylvania-state-senate-gop/index.html
Seems a reasonable assessment on Pennsylvania
Haven’t read into this yet to work out what he’s on about.
That's just people making up nonsense to suck up to Trump. It's over, the electoral college has sent their votes to Congress. It's just a procedural matter for Congress to acknowledge those. Trump supporters are making a lot of noise about things, but it's just noise.
Haven’t read into this yet to work out what he’s on about.
Close race for one seat in the local senate about whether some postal ballots without a date on them should be discarded or not. The state supreme court has said they should count but the republicans are still whining and have a federal case pending and so are trying to block the democrat senator taking his seat until that is resolved.
No, the PA letter is about the presidential. It is masquerading as if it is from the PA senate, but it’s just a letter from a bunch of agitators rather than the will of the senate.
Well, that, last night was worth staying up for! Watched it on CNN, with excellent Twitter coverage from NateKohn and David Wasserman.
The PA senator issue was yesterday when the senate chair refused to seat a New Democrat senator, so the adults kicked out the chair and did it anyway.
Gravy Seals – that is very nice and very apt.
Not mine, obviously.
Pennsylvania is where the news coverage should be.
In brief, as I understand it, the Republican Assembly of PA refused to ratify the election of the Democrat candidate for Senator, despite the fact that he won the vote. No reason was given for this, just a bunch of Republican representatives voting against the will of the people. It sounds like it's absolutely an attempted coup and perhaps the test-case for what Trump (/Pence) may try to pull later today.
That new thing in Trump's tweet appears to just be another bunch of PA republicans saying they need 'more time' because they didn't like the result of the election, or the ruling of the PA Supreme Court. It sounds like complete fluff to me. My guess is it's just delaying tactics so some Trump cling-ons can go on record saying there are (still!) legal processes ongoing.
What surprised me is how the usually blue state of PA seems currently to be controlled by Republicans.
EDIT: Link to news story about the PA thing: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pennsylvania-trump-jim-brewster-b1782986.html
Thinking back over the last 4 years I can hardly recall him doing anything truly political (policy and such) and even if he came close to it,
In one of the interviews he gave prior to the election he was asked what he planned to do as president in a second term - he couldnt think of anything.
His only political motivation is to be someone who says what he thinks people want to hear about something that is happening.
The message of 'its all rigged, but please go and vote anyway' was always going to be a hard sell
Reap, sow, etc 🤣
They didn't stay at home, they got out and voted, it's just that the Democrats got even more voters. The participation rates in the Presidential election was a historic high, and the run off smashed that.
The Republican vote was not suppressed in any way, and the vote was not swung by traditional Republicans switching allegiances. This was won by normally disenfranchised voters feeling the need to stop the insanity.
The narrative of the middle ground is completely false, and should not be allowed to rewrite history or used as an excuse to ignore the votes that won it for Biden.
2000 55.3%, 2004 60.7%, 2008 62.2%, 2012 58.6%, 2016 60.1% and 66.7% for 2020
https://twitter.com/charlie_savage/status/1346796852985917442
https://twitter.com/JokerWildest/status/1346800873930948609
He’s probably right, but slightly premature! I wonder whether Purdue has conceded to him?
I think a split senate, but with democrat control over the legislative agenda is a good thing. The world needs checks and balances. Sadly McConnell has made an art form of blocking opponents rather than actually shaping legislation.
I wonder whether Purdue has conceded to him?
Not sure that's the done thing any more.
Purdue is a bit more old school.
Completely agree MPS
In the States the middle ground has vanished, the voting numbers illustrate that the so called 'moderate' Republican voter is still voting for Trump's vision for America, which is a version of mob rule.
Biden won not because he attracted swing voters, he won because citizens who don't ordinarily vote were terrified of what Trump was turning America into. Biden won with a silent majority who were saying "enough is enough".
The world needs checks and balances.
I generally agree, having a moderate left party and moderate conservative party is a good thing. Key to that is the parties must have some respect for each other and accept that their opponents have legitimate viewpoints, even if there are disagreements.
What has happened in the U.S. over the last 20 years is not that. John McCain was a pretty staunch conservative, but he was pragmatic enough to work with Democrats on getting stuff done and never disputed that Obama was the legitimate winner, despite how painful it must have been to lose. Same goes for Romney (who I don't think would have been a great president, but I think is an honest and decent man).
The Tea Party and Trump era is different. This is not checks and balances. This is just obstructionism for the sake of making a tv spectacle. The Trumpists don't have any serious policy positions, the only they care about is antagonizing their opponents. If Obama signed a treaty with Iran, Trumpists are against it. If Obama tried to isolate Russia, Trumpists want closer relations.
That's not checks and balances, it's just sabotage.
I agree , but there are enough moderate Rs in the senate to work with Biden & set a sensible agenda.
The only R line that works is “Radical Left Socialists” If Biden can show that they are sensible centrists then that could kill the GOP.
I agree , but there are enough moderate Rs in the senate to work with Biden & set a sensible agenda.
No, I think things have changed. There are no moderate Republicans left. The moderates have been driven out of the party and there is no goodwill for working on bipartisan agreement. Any Republican who cooperates with Democrats will be rejected by the Trumpists. FFS, the Trumpists think John McCain is a liberal sell-out. (This is the war hero, conservative Republican Senator, Presidential candidate, that we're talking about.)
It only takes a couple like Romney.
It only takes a couple like Romney.
Did you do a vote count on the impeachment last year? Romney has no Republican friends in the Senate. There is no "couple like Romney".
Trump has pushed Pence under the bus.
If Biden can show that they are sensible centrists then that could kill the GOP.
^^^^^^^^^^
I'm starting to think Trump has actually already done this, a lot of his supporters are calling for him to leave the Republican party and start his own alternative, if he does the Republican party and his own will be splitting the 75m or so that voted for them. McConnell has boasted about being 'in charge' for the last 2 years of Obama's presidency and basically blocked everything he tried to do. Trump, being the dumb **** that he is, never really noticed that McConnell still thinks he's in charge and has played him to get his own way for the last 4 years, now the penny has finally dropped its payback time
Lol at Giuliani staking his and Trump’s reputation. One must have a worthy reputation to stake or it’s pointless. They’re both shit out of luck on that front.
Well the Republicans are going ahead with objecting to the Electoral Votes.
They are currently withdrawn to the Senate and House to debate after Paul Gosar (Republican for Arizona) objected with Ted Cruz as his senate back-up.
I imagine they'll object to at least 7 of the electoral college counts so this charade will rumble on for at least 12 hrs, meanwhile the trumpists are outside fighting with the police and barricades whilst getting teargassed.
....or breaching the barricades! You would have thought they might have expected trouble and brought in some of the stormtroopers they used on BLM protesters. Or are they only for fighting black people?
The BLM protesters weren't armed to the teeth and batshit mental. They actually wanted the killings to stop not kick off world war 3.
It looks like the people on the debating chamber are discussing if they should be evacuating or not!
Edit - yup, sounds like I was right. Blimey.
In his strongest words yet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dismissed Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him and made clear he will not approve the objections raised by his GOP colleagues over the counting of electoral votes from key battleground states.Our Democracy would enter a death spiral' if election were overturned, McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Protestors are inside now, VP has been taken away by the Secret Service I'm reading (could be fake). Imagine if BLM had stormed the capital building like this.
Is anyone else watching this on the BBC? Incredible. WTF are they going to do about that?
Is anyone else watching this on the BBC?
CNN all the way baby. 😀
EDIT: Shit really is getting serious. Reinforcements arriving for the 5-oh.
CNN all the way baby. 😀
EDIT: Shit really is getting serious. Reinforcements arriving for the 5-oh.
NBC/Lester Holt is live on YouTube too. Got to be 25th now surely? Incite your supporters to march on the Capital? Tear gas and fights in the Rotunda.