Traitor Watch - The 45 & 47 Thread

[Pocket]

Another question for y'all that I've been pondering: Now that we know what he did do when faced with an election loss, what do you think he would have done had he lost in 2016? The conventional wisdom at the time was that he was surprised by his win, and was actually planning to retire from politics and start his own TV network or something. But did something change in him over the next four years, or was he always going to be a sore loser? Because it's one thing to imagine him pretending to think the election was rigged for the sake of not appearing weak, but another to actually mean it when all the polls for months leading up to Election Night were saying Hillary had it in the bag. And another still to imagine him actually going to the extremes that he did to try to get the results thrown out. Of course, he would have had no sitting vice president to conspire with, but demanding recounts, harassing election workers, and stirring up his mob against everyone who wouldn't cave to intimidation were all options that were open to him.

 

[Wheelimus]

I see no reason to suspect he would have gently accepted Hillary Clinton's Presidency. It would have been the same stolen election script.

 

[G.B.Blackrock]

The only difference I can see is that, while he would still have been a sore loser in 2016, he wouldn't have had the same level of power he enjoyed in 2020 to try to force the country to accept his version of events. The "big lie" would have been... well, smaller.

 

[abates]

Trump continued to have rallies after he was elected president, so I strongly suspect he would have continued to do so even had he not been elected. I feel like the media coverage that would bring would have helped spread the lie. I doubt it would have reached the point of people trying to storm the Capitol, since Jan 6 had a lot of extra factors - four extra years of Fox and other stations spreading the lie that the election was stolen, and the whole Covid pandemic resulting in a proliferation of anti-vax conspiracy theories which seemed to bring out the people susceptible to accepting alternate reality nonsense. I think there would have been less of the harassing of poll workers and officials, but still a proliferation of the lie that Trump had won.

 

[Paladin]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1539604110084808706

He is not losing a SINGLE vote from the investigation.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Is that surprising at this point?

 

[Wheelimus]

Not really, but Paladin gotta Paladin.

 

[Pocket]

I was gonna say "which is why it's vitally important that he lose the ability to even run" but let's face it, anyone else who'd run instead of him would just be a more competent version of him and probably get more votes than he would have. In fact, every Republican who runs for president from this point on is going to be that.

 

[wonko the sane?]

The favorite outside of trump is desantis.

Think about that for a second, and research what desantis has done in florida. You might be scared and disgusted: but I assure you that you are nowhere NEAR scared and disgusted enough. The most monstrous among them, and actually capable, with his only real failing is being caught flat footed in debates.

 

[G.B.Blackrock]

Is that surprising at this point?

View attachment 7093

It's probably too early, even if there IS to be a change, but I find this chart pretty useless. I need to see one that tracks after the public hearings started just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Anonymous X]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1540852015693037568

Not even hiding it any more, are they?

 

[wonko the sane?]

Why would they hide it? They've won. All they have to do is kick stuff up to the supreme court and it'll get ruled 6-3 in republican favour.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

They haven't been hiding anything for years. After all, there's no consequences anyway.

 

[Anonymous X]

They haven't been hiding anything for years. After all, there's no consequences anyway.

That’s why I’m worried that they’ll attempt another coup d’etat during the mid-terms.

 

[Rust]

I mean, that's a given at this point.

Hence why I've said before it's time for everyone in the US to have a serious discussion with themselves on what they are and aren't willing to fight for. And when I say "fight" I mean physically - up to and including the use of lethal force on another human being. Not because there's no other option, but because the rhetoric coming out of the Republicult makes it blisteringly clear that they are willing to use it on others.

This is no longer a "fight for your future!" situation. This is a "They have breached the walls, defend yourselves!" situation.

 

[Pocket]

So, you're saying we should stage our own January 6?

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Nah. We need a French Revolution.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Bad example, cause the revolution fell to a tyrannical dictator.

 

[Rust]

So, you're saying we should stage our own January 6?

Not in the slightest. I'm saying there's a very real chance in the not to distant future there will be the infamous "Knock at midnight" and folks need to figure out how they plan on handling that situation.

Nah. We need a French Revolution.

Anyone calling for a repeat of the French Revolution really needs to refresh themselves on what went down during aforementioned Revolution. Sure we got a few high profile rich assholes getting a head shorter, but 99.5% of those who had a date with the National Razor were guilty of little more than being too revolutionary, even for the Jacobians (Like Olympe de Gouges, killed for daring to demand equal rights for women in the Revolution, as well as such radical ideas as abolition).

 

[Ungnome]

Yup, remember the French Revolution was immediately followed by the Reign of Terror.