Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, July 30, 2020

Trump calls for delaying US elections in November



Claiming the election will be the most fraudulent in history (based on no evidence) because of mail-in ballots, Trump calls for delaying the vote in November.

Trump has no authority to do that. That would require an act of Congress.

This is exactly what many of us feared. 


"There is little evidence to support Mr Trump's claims but he has long railed against mail-in voting which he has said would be susceptible to fraud US states want to make postal voting easier due to public health concerns over the coronavirus pandemic."



(CNN)On Thursday night during a virtual fundraiser, former Vice President Joe Biden floated a very scary notion.

"Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can't be held," Biden said of President Donald Trump.




Also this:

17 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

Is this the reason Donald has ignored Covid19? Has it been his plan all along to use it as a means of staying in office knowing that he would never be re-elected? It fits his MO!

Ray said...

Re: your banner about USPS:

t's true. The USPS now refuses to pay O/T to make sure all mail is sorted by day's end. So a new day starts and yesterday's mail is still unsorted. But now delivery drivers are instructed to start their routes on time, regardless whether their mail is ready to go.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Jerry, Trump doesn't have the authority to delay the November election.

But he has instructed the post master general of the US to slow down the mail, which would throw the November elections into chaos.

I've always called Trump the Chaos President. It's the only thing he's good at. Oh, that and corruption.

Les Carpenter said...

Precisely what I've been expecting. Wait, more roadblocks and chaos coming. MAGA as ONLY Dotard can!

Snark off.

I'm confused. Is this still the USA? I sincerely have my doubts.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Herman Caine, a one-time GOP presidential candidate, has died. Cause of death: A Democratic hoax.

Seriously though, Caine was at Trump's Tulsa rally in June, not social distancing and without a mask. He was 74.

RIP

skudrunner said...

A little misinformation on your post. He was asking a question not making a statement, ??? means a question. The president does not have the authority to change the election date only congress does so even if it wasn't a question he can't do anything about it.

Because of covid and the number of post office workers affected the POSTMASTER recommended slowing down deliveries in April. This is long before the mail in fraud elections were proposed. 20% of deliveries are made paying overtime so you are taking a poorly run, money losing business and making it lose more money. The post office slowed down deliveries in 2011, can't remember who the president was, and they found out it didn't work.

The answer is to privatize the post office so it can run efficiently and in the black, that means profitably. Charge more for junk mail or eliminate it, stop weekend deliveries. Of course this would affect government workers who overwhelmingly vote democrat so I can understand the reluctance to privatize.

Shaw Kenawe said...

It's quite possible that taking over the USPS is politically motivated by Trump's jealousy of Jeff Bezos. Trump's complained in the past about Amazon's deal in using the USPS for delivering its packages. Everything Trump does is based on vendettas, enriching himself, or pleasing Puting. The USPS should not have to turn a profit.

I believe THIS ARTICLE, not what skudrunner claims.

As for Trump's musing about illegally postponing the November election, here's his exact quote:

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

Putting question marks after making d declarative sentence is underhanded, and that's how Trump operates.

He's too ignorant of the Constitution to know that even "suggesting" what this is not in his authority.

Can you imagine what the Goopers would have done had President Obama made such a suggestion.

It's so amusing to watch the hypocrites in the GOP stay silent as Trump lies, cheats, and now "suggests" (like the good little wannabe dictator he is), that America postpones the November elections. Trump's numbers are in the toilet, and he'll try anything to hold onto power. We're still a nation of laws, despite the authoritarian the Republicans still support in the WH.

Herman Caine died from Covid-19. He attended Trump's Tulsa rally where there was no social distancing nor masks encouraged by the reckless POTUS. Trump can be directly blamed for that death, along with thousands of other Americans.

November can't come soon enough so we can rid ourselves of this living stain on our country.

Dave Miller said...

So Skud... the Postal Service slowed down service in 2011, and by your own words, found out it didn't work.

So why in H E double toothpicks would we return to something that even you admit doesn't work at the only time in our nation's history where democracy, through the vote and the mail, could hang in the balance?

Why tinker now? In the age of trillion dollar bailouts and stimulus payments, what is 9 billion to bail out the postal service and guarantee millions of Americans will have their mail in votes counted accurately and efficiently?

skudrunner said...

Rev, The postal service has been broken for years and needs a major overhaul. Bulk mail rates should be eliminated as well as Saturday delivery. Most businesses are closed Saturdays so eliminating delivery would not be a big deal.

The reason they found out the postal service slowdown in 2011 didn't work is because nothing changed. Take it private and take a burden off the taxpayer.

What about those people who don't get their mail, are you suggesting it is voter suppression to have mail in ballots. We have absentee voting which is mail in so those who want to mail in their vote can. It seems like you don't believe there would be massive fraud, guess you never lived in Chicago.

Dave Miller said...

Well Skud, you're right, I've never lived in Chicago, nor was I of age to vote in the 1960 election.

Now, if you want to have a discussion on actual voter fraud, bring it on.

Secs of States, across America, both Republican and Democrat, have all presided over numerous elections and never, since the early 60's, have they ever seen voter fraud on the level that would change an election.

Pres Trump feels, his word, there might be voter fraud. Without evidence.

I do not believe mail in voting will bring massive voter fraud, nor do GOP leaders in states where it already happens. You and the rest of the voter fraud ilk should do this. Since we already have significant mail in voting, show us the fraud, or shut up.

Come back when you have some evidence.

R.D. said...

Barack Obama eulogizing John Lewis was among the most inspiring moments in American history. It glaringly points out how far we have fallen with our current president.

Dervish Sanders said...

Taking the Post Office private would put a burden on the taxpayer as prices would surely skyrocket. The Post Office is in the Constitution. Given this, it should NOT be run as a business but as an institution that operates to benefit all Americans. By the way, the reason for the PO's problems is republican sabotage. The answer is NOT to privatize the PO, but to eliminate the requirement (imposed upon it by the "GOP") to fund retirements for workers that have yet to be born.

Quote: "In 2006, Congress passed a law to require the USPS to prefund 75 years worth of retiree health benefits in the span of ten years -- at a cost of approximately $110 billion. Although the money is intended to be set aside for future Post Office retirees, the funds are instead being diverted to help pay down the national debt.

No other private enterprise or federal agency is required to prefund retiree health benefits on a comparable timetable. The mandate is responsible for all of USPS's financial losses since 2013". [end quote]

btw, if the Post Office still loses money (even after getting rid of this ridiculous mandate imposed upon it), it should be subsidized by the taxpayer. Although I doubt this would be necessary. There are numerous proposals for how the PO could easily become profitable again. Such as Bernie Sanders's Highly Sensible Plan to Turn Post Offices Into Banks.

I feel strongly about this because I sell on eBay and Amazon. So far all I've noticed is that my international packages seem to be indefinitely delayed. Which will probably result in me having to give refunds I can't afford and/or receive negative feedback. Not that I ship a lot of international packages. When the PO increased international rates by 100 percent in 2013 (from just over $6 to almost $13) that just about killed my international sales. I used to get lots of orders from other countries -- now only once in a while. Another recent price increase pushed shipping to Japan from just over $13 to over $16 (most packages I send are in the 5-8oz range).

skudrunner said...

Rev, Your answer about voter fraud seems to be contradictory to your other belief of Russian interference in the 2016 election which resulted in a three year impeachment fiasco. If it is your belief that the Russians committed voter fraud how can you say there is no voter fraud. Of course this was brought on by the opposing party manufacturing a document that was later proven to be false.

Wasn't it New Jersey that did not allow one in five votes as fraud. Just imagine how that could affect a national election. I am not convinced you are naive to not believe there is voter fraud but just very partisan. Voter fraud will affect both parties and if you don't want to go in person to vote request and absentee ballot.

There is all this hoopla about trump not accepting the results of the upcoming election. If he didn't he would be following in the footsteps of big -H- who went on a two year whining tour.

Derv, Why should all taxpayers have to pay for a broken federal system. Why not demand more efficiency but that is contrary to any federal institution. Does a federal monopoly need to sponsor a bicycle team and spend millions advertising just to make them feel better. When FedEx and UPS went to dimensional weight it cost a lot of money because I could not pass it on but that is the price of doing business.

Dave Miller said...

No SKud,,, it's my belief, and that of every national security group in the US, as well as the GOP led Senate, that Russia interfered in our elections in 2016.

It is my belief, and that of even Kris Kobach's group and other, including the Carter/Baker Commission that there is little, or no Voter Fraud in the US.

Again, Secretary's of State, across political parties and the US, have certified our elections as fair and free of fraud. Not foreign interference mind you, but fraud.

There is all this hoopla because Trump causes it.

Dervish Sanders said...

Skud, there is a difference between voter fraud and election fraud. Voter fraud has always been statically insignificant. republican election fraud is rampant. btw, I'd add that we don't know if Russian hackers changed any votes or did anything else within our systems to affect the vote (getting people kicked off the voter rolls by changing their registration information). I believe it is at least moderately probable that they did.

As for your New Jersey example (a special election in Paterson NJ, specifically), 1 in 5 votes were not fraudulent. It appears as though those running the election f'd it up. As per the NPR fact check, "It was... the first election in New Jersey conducted entirely vote-by-mail, and officials had warned of hiccups in matching signatures". Sounds to me like they flagged ballots as possibly fraudulent that were NOT fraudulent.

The proof is that there were only 4 people charged. Quote: "New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal charged Paterson City Councilman Michael Jackson, Councilman-elect Alex Mendez and two other men with voter fraud and other crimes". These weren't even regular voters. Or illegal immigrants. If this were as big a deal as Dotard made it out to be, lots more people would have been charged. Not 4 TOTAL.

As for the post office, all taxpayers should pay because that's how government works. We pool our money to pay for things that benefit society. Also other things that don't. But the Post Office is certainly one that benefits us all. You want to pay several times more for a private company to provide mail delivery only when it's profitable? Keep in mind that for some citizens, delivery of their mail isn't profitable (people who live in remote locations). Too bad bad for them, huh? Maybe they'll be able to run into town to collect their mail from a corporate PO, maybe not. Maybe delivering mail to their entire town isn't profitable.

Les Carpenter said...

You are right Shaw, the post office, a huge and important public sevice, should not need to turn a profit. Public setvice is not about turning a profit. However, it should be revenue neutral and it should not LOSE money either. Modernize, improve effeciencies, AND RAISE postal fees if neccessary to maintain a ZERO balance sheet.

Dervish is right, the USPS should NOT be privatized. PERIOD.

skudrunner said...

Sorry to disagree Rev but both parties have committed unquestionably hideous acts. The republicans imported thousands of russians to vote and the democrats used a foreign paid for document with zero facts to impeach a president.

It is time in this country to make the US like a corporation. Board of directors and CEO who are paid for performance. Congress is made up of incompetent individuals who could not earn a living except off the public dole and the next president will be a narcissistic jerk or a political puppet who won't last a year. Pretty sad for a country who has experienced greatness.