Month: November 2020

Transition begins

by Dave

I said the transition to the Biden administration would begin sometime between November 25 to December 1, 2020. It started yesterday, November 23, 2020. What was holding up the transition was Trump’s lawsuits in key states. Losing his lawsuit in Pennsylvania and certification in Michigan were critical to the General Services Administration’ consent to begin the transition.

My predictions going forward: The recount in Georgia will confirm that the last two recounts were right, Joe Biden won the election. Similarly, nothing will change in the partial recount in Wisconsin, except the Trump leadership PAC will pay 3 million dollars.

“The President can sue a ham sandwich, he can send a thousand lawyers to Pennsylvania, but it’s not going to change the basic fact of the matter.”

John Fetterman, PA’s lieutenant governor, responding to a question on the lawsuit to stop counting later arriving ballots, Nov 6.

I am hoping we are seeing a wind down of frivolous lawsuits from Trump. In Pennsylvania, Trump’s legal team appealed Judge Brann’s scathing dismissal. They are not looking for a reversal, but instead claim Judge Brann erred in ignoring the second amended lawsuit. My prediction here, is the court will let stand Brann’s opinion very quickly.

Judge Brann’s called Trump’s PA case “Frankenstein’s monster. ” Dr. Frankenstein, in bringing a corpse to life again, had to patch together various body parts in such a way that his monster could barely walk.

I am on Trump’s emailing list, and receive about 15 emails a day (all go to my spam folder) claiming how they need funds to protect election integrity and prove to the courts, that the election of Joe Biden was rigged. This is a lie. Now the fine print. “Save America” PAC is set up as a “Leadership PAC”, there’s nothing stopping Trump from having fundraisers, say at the Trump Doral Golf Resort and enriching himself, the Trump organization and anyone employed by the PAC. High paying jobs for Donald, Jr, his girlfriend, Eric, Ivanka, Lara, Jared, and the rest of the gang. Save America, Save Doral Golf Resorts, Golf Club West Palm Beach, National Golf Resort, Sterling, VA, Trump’s Jupiter Golf Resorts.

Yes, Save America is to put Trump and his organization and their needs ($$$) above the Republican Party. Save Trump and his billions (soon to be millions after the IRS audit) and his resorts.

Yes, this is Trumpism! On top of every other problem, real or imagined, we have this enormously huge conspiracy against America, that somehow alluded the FBI, the CISA and some 30 courts around the country – Election rigging by evil Democrats, and Rino (Republicans in name only).

Rinos are those that still cling to old Republican ideals of balancing the budget and maintaining a strong defense. Now totally outdated by saturating social media with slogans, like Save America. A massive coordinated and evil conspiracy to steal the election is the only way that Donald Trump could have lost.

Let’s forget this post election Trump sideshow. Trump has already kicked out of his administration anyone with an ounce of integrity, with the latest victim being Chris Krebs. Amazingly, the DHS has not disabled the “Rumor vs Reality” webpage. Unfortunately, I believe Trump supporters and of course the president, reject reality and embrace the rumors. Reality vs Rumors. This is how we save America, or the Republican Party, by being the most gullible and misinformed party in existence.

Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. We have failed miserably in containing Covid-19. The real challenge is an incredibly difficult one, and that is to restore confidence in government and our institutions, such as the CDC, FDA and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It is desperately needed now, as we need all Americans to get vaccinated.

When the vaccine is available where I live, I will be first in line. Every time someone is not vaccinated, they likely will spread it to others before it is discovered. Take a good look at the people you associate with or just pass by, acquaintances and loved ones. You can be part of the chain in spreading the disease because you don’t know you have it at first.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Trump tells his donors they’re paying for recounts. They aren’t.

Pennsylvania counties certify election results despite isolated pushback from Trump allies

How many times has President Donald Trump played golf while in office?

Getting rid of Trump

by Dave

Joe Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes. Donald Trump is obstructing the normal transition in every way possible. This has never been done before.

Either its obstruction or apathy, but never the cooperation needed to transition to a Biden administration. As the virtual G20 meeting discussed the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump went golfing. See link below.

Trump isn’t leaving Biden much to help with Covid-19 crisis. The reason why there aren’t more bankruptcies is because the Fed has been propping up the economy with loan programs with the Treasury’s blessing. Unfortunately, the cooperation between Jay Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserves Committee and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, has broken down, in terms of renewal of emergency funds to help keep the economy going. By any measure, new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the Covid-19 pandemic is far worse today than at any time since it first began.

Yes – the handoff to Biden in January 2020 will come stripped of what was working. Call it Trump’s revenge. Worldwide, we just hit a new high of 11,000 people dying of Covid-19, and the president goes golfing and the Treasury Secretary restricts the Feds ability to keep our economy from collapsing.

There are limits to what Trump can do. Washington stays intact despite a vengeful president. To start the transition process, the Administrator of the GSA, Emily Murphy has to be satisfied that Joe Biden has at least 270 electoral votes to be the apparent winner of the election. I predict this will occur sometime between November 25 and December 1. The certification of all key states will be done by December 1. Georgia was certified on November 20. Michigan and Pennsylvania certify on Monday, November 23, then Nevada on Tuesday, November 24. The last two, Arizona and Wisconsin are November 30 and December 1, 2020, respectively.

A partial recount is taking place in Wisconsin in a few districts which voted heavily for Biden. It was done at Trump’s request. He’s is paying 3 million dollars to have it done with his observers in attendance. But these observers are breaking the rules, objecting to every ballot for no reason, removing their mask, sitting in chairs reserved for other parties and even picking fights. More fodder for pointless lawsuits, I’m certain. See links below.

Georgia completed its recount/audit which showed Biden won by 12,670 votes, not the around 14,000 votes. Georgia was vote was certified by the Georgia’s governor, so I would say Biden is the apparent winner of Georgia. Next Tuesday, Trump can request another recount, which will be done by high speed scanners.

On Nov 21, Trump lost his lawsuit in Pennsylvania. Judge Brann delivered a scathing rebuke to the his lawsuit for an injunction, in which the Judge said, in essence, “You have got to be kidding” by blocking certification and disenfranchising 7 million voters in Pennsylvania, so just possibly, the legislature could override the electorate. This was to be based on what some observers thought were possible violations of rules.

Lawsuits like these are paid for by citizens, who still are having trouble believing Trump lost fair and square. Trump has now either withdrawn or lost 30 lawsuits. A lawsuit is withdrawn when it is so obvious that it has no chance of succeeding, because it’s filled with duplicate claims that were already denied for lack of evidence.

If our voting machines or voter registration had been hacked or in anyway compromised, you would want the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency), part of Homeland Security to back up the accusations. Christopher Krebs was appointed as the CISA Director in 2017 by Trump until he was fired on November 17, 2020 for disagreeing with Trump on massive fraud in the elections. Note that the fraud only occurred in states Trump lost by very narrow margins.

Groups which talk about counting all legal votes and election integrity, really want neither. They are looking for someway to overturn our elections, or at least discredit the 2020 election process in anyway they can. The intelligence community warned us that bad actors from Iran, China, North Korea and Russia could spread misinformation on the integrity of our electoral process, to discredit our democracy. They left out the president of the United States.

Despite all the noise and nonsense in the courts, I am hoping Administrator of the GSA will sign the appropriate document this week, as the states certify election results.

Bottom line this is the worse transition in our election history. I hope I never see this again in my lifetime.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Pro-Trump ‘voter integrity’ group that is calling Pennsylvania voters has ties to White House

Wisconsin officials: Trump observers obstructing recount

Trump fires director of Homeland Security agency who had rejected President’s election conspiracy theories

Coronavirus Cases:

Yahoo Finance: Treasury’s Mnuchin declines to extend 5 pandemic programs

Trump skipped a coronavirus meeting with G20 leaders to play golf

Trump endgame

by Dave

Trump lost the election. Somehow, conceding and wishing the winner well, is definitely not in his game plan. There is no obligation to concede. He’s busy raising money for the “Trump Defense Fund.” I don’t know if he can use the money raised to defend himself and others, when they go after him for tax fraud in New York.

Donald Trump will leave the White House on January 20, 2021. The great egomaniac president time is up. Republicans will show him the door. He hit rock bottom on Friday, with the Giuliani press conference.

The next phase of the egotistical president will be a mix of sleaze politics and television, not hotels, golf courses or casinos. It will be sleaze politics for sure, because sleaze sells. Facts are boring and unimaginative.

He’s the ultimate showman and marketer. He wants to go back to the Apprentice days, because the Apprentice made money. The key to the next phase will be the television networks with really zero scruples – namely One American News Network and NewsMax. He will be more than willing to partner up with them, continuing the narrative of how the Democrats are destroying America.

He knows the themes. It’s the Dems, communists and radicals. They are taking over the country. They spied on his campaign in 2016, punished him with the fake investigations, and ultimately stole the election.

He’s formed a Political Action Committee (PAC). That’s where the cash will come from to continue to market Donald Trump, who fell victim to diabolic forces controlled by the Democrats. It will keep him in the game.

I feel author Michael D’Antonio, who has written two books on Trump, really nailed it on Trump’s next moves. The PAC is incredibly important to promoting Trumpism. The sleaze networks look at Trump as something still very marketable. Republicans in Congress will still cling to him as they rally against the Biden presidency.

The slogans and themes he will promote are very familiar. It’s all about the Dems, socialism and total government control. The Dems will take away your guns, make friends with our Muslim enemies and radicals, destroy our schools, open our borders to Mexico, let in drug dealers and rapists and waste trillion of dollars on the New Green Deal. Take your pick.

Trump wants admiration. He wants his rallies and people around him who will make him look good. He wants to keep contacts which will keep the Trump organization growing. However, there will not be any more real development. Trump will sign branding deals, so his name can be on buildings and help with marketing efforts outside of the US. Look for a Trump tower or resort in Saudi Arabia, or United Arab Emirates soon. He knows there will be more court battles over his taxes. He will of course, consider this as an attack by the Democrats.

He prefers the counter offensive to the normal defense of his actions. So, Save America, will coincide with hate corrupt Democrats who stole the election. It was the corrupt, disgraceful, despicable state officials who rigged the election and nobody stood up to them except Rudy and his legal team. The courts just ignored mountains of evidence and were too timid to take action.

This is Trumpism.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

Trump camp fundraises off Giuliani press conference

What’s next for the Trump show?

Election Recounts – Deal or No Deal!

by Dave

If Trump wants a recount in Wisconsin, he’s got to pay 7.9 million dollars for it. If the recount shows he won, the state has to refund the money. Biden leads in Wisconsin by 20,470 votes. Deadline to request a recount is tomorrow, Dec 18.

In 2016, Jill Stein requested a recount in Wisconsin. As a result, Clinton gained 713 votes, Trump gained 844 and so Trump ended up ahead by 131 votes. Whoopie doo!

If the recount doesn’t cost 7.9 million dollars, Wisconsin gives Trump a partial refund.

Nevada has the same deal for Trump. I don’t know the deadlines or the cost of a recount. In 2016, Jill Stein requested a partial recount, and it ended in a net gain of 3 votes for Trump.

Deal or No Deal? If Trump goes for the recounts, the only thing that will come out of it is the count is off, perhaps a couple hundred votes. It will further legitimize the initial count of votes.

Deal or no deal. We shall see.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Misinform/obstruct or Concede

by Dave

Since Trump lost the 2020 election, he will have earned the reputation of a president who puts himself and partisan politics above what is good for the country. This is the way he began his term and it will end even worse.

“Have lawyers, will sue” is what our president does instead of concede. It’s consistent with his BS on fraudulent ballots. Of course, it is getting tiresome. “The president avoided speaking to reporters but kept up his tweeting, claiming “a mountain of corruption & dishonesty” in the US election, despite lacking evidence.” Reporting from Al-Jazeera.

Court cases are being dismissed quickly, score now is 16 dismissals to zero wins. Almost zero. The Trump observers were allowed to stand six feet away from the election workers in Philadelphia. Of course, what they want is to stop the counting. The counts in Pennsylvania add to Biden’s lead. There is at least one court case that was dismissed within hours of being heard.

It is the opposite of what happened in Al Gore’s case in year 2000. He wanted the counting (or really the recounting) to continue in select counties in Florida despite legal deadlines. The Supreme Court decision is complicated, but its effect was to end the recount. The difference in votes in Gore’s case was 537 out of 6 million votes cast.

At this point, Trump must win Pennsylvania to make the case he could win the election. In PA, Biden is ahead by 56,000 votes. Biden’s lead is well over 0.5%, so there will be no recount. I am hoping we get the projected results from Arizona and Nevada by next week. That will establish Biden wins even without PA.

Trump is doing what Russian agents and trolls have been trying to do for years, to sow mistrust among our citizens of our democratic system and institutions. This is exactly what the Director of National Intelligence warned about. They have seen Russia active in other countries as well.

“In September, U.S. intelligence officials warned that because of the pandemic, it might take a few days for the results of the presidential election to emerge—and that foreign adversaries might exploit the delay to spread false information intended to undermine confidence in the vote.”

Please see link below from NBC News:

The Russians have no need to spread misinformation. Trump and his allies are doing it for them
“Nothing that Russia or Iran or China could say is anywhere near as wild as what the president is saying,” said a former FBI agent who tracks foreign disinformation.

It is time for Trump to concede. I wish the Republicans can convince him that the time has come.

Stay tuned,

Dave

“Have gun, will travel”

Links:

Bob Dole was funny, John McCain was sincere: Here’s how presidential candidates have conceded over the years

California Congressman Ted Lieu calls Trump election lawsuits ‘meaningless’

Where Election 2020 stands?

by Dave

Newton could explain this: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” in Newton’s third law. Things can look like they are at a standstill, because the forces are in balance. Lawsuits backed by evidence opens doors to the courts. Lawsuits presented without evidence closes doors.

In four states where Trump lost, lawsuits have been filed and quickly dismissed. Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada. Doors are closing because evidence good enough for Twitter, doesn’t come close to what is needed in court.

Trump’s baseless claims in Nevada

The vote count is continuing and this is not helpful to Trump’s case. Biden’s margin in Pennsylvania is above the 0.5% so there is no automatic recount.

You get a judge to hear a case because there is something to be presented that shows violations of the rules and could make a difference in the case. The “there” isn’t there.

It was in year 2000 (for those of us that remembers year 2000) when all that separated candidates Bush and Gore was 700 votes and lawyers could show up in court with the punch card ballots in hand, showing ballots that should have been counted. The case was resolved in favor of Bush.

Twenty years ago, candidate Al Gore gave a concession speech which is a model today, of the real choices candidates have between patriotism and partisanship.

Al Gore’s Concession Speech

I have to give the President George HW Bush the top award, with the best concession speech, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” and he then puts up his hands and says, “Hey folks we’ve got to get going” – from humility comes strength. And he begins with the fact that he had just called Clinton to congratulate him on becoming president.

A dozen more are on Youtube. Larry Sabato (University of Virginia, Center for Politic) provides a few clips of 3 presidents who lost re-election (Ford, Carter and HW Bush):

Sabato’s Crystal Ball America Votes 2020 – Episode 13

Stay tuned,

Dave

Calling our elections

by Dave

“If you don’t like Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow or Wolf Blitzer, don’t worry, they’re not making the calls.”

It is not CNN, Fox News or any other news organization which is legally tasked to declare projected winners. The states certify their election results weeks after the election.

On November 7, 2020, at about 11:20 am, the Associated Press called the election for Joe Biden, the projected winner of the election. Within 20 minutes, every network had called the election. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris celebrated that night.

Not all networks follow AP. There’s another organization called Decision Desk HQ. They also called Pennsylvania but not Arizona. CNN has not yet to call Arizona.

Some felt that Trump should concede immediately. I did not feel this way, and if Joe Biden had been the loser, I would have felt the same way. Conceding soon after an election is “called” makes sense if the candidate has lost in several states. Here, it was only Pennsylvania and I saw no reason for Trump to concede that day. The next day, the vote margin exceeded 0.50%, a vote recount could only happen with a court order, which appears unlikely.

In contesting an election, the legal challenges should be directed to the narrowest margins, namely Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. However, as these challenges may be filed, it is likely that this week, the Associated Press will call the election for Joe Biden in Arizona and Nevada, which will mean Biden no longer needs Pennsylvania to win. Georgia’s recount will not matter.

Certainly, at that point, it’s time for Trump to thank his supporters and throw in the towel.

Others opined that Trump will never concede and that will be terrible ending to his administration. For four years, Trump has been on the attack of the media, and it must appear to him that they (and not the electorate) have declared him a loser.

Obvious, the Associated Press or Decision Desk HQ can not tell a president he has lost. It has to be an independent decision. I’m sure he will listen to his lawyers on the chances of his lawsuits succeeding. In public, Rudy Giuliani will blast away at election results, and confidently announce they have solid proof of wrong doing. Yet privately, Trump will want to know the truth.

Let’s face it – our nation is polarized and so are the broadcast networks. It is sometimes incredible how the news stories vary or what is considered the most important story of the day.

Yet, they all came together as you could flip the channel and see the identical projected winners of the election. They could still disagree on everything else. Commentators on conservative networks in general did not call the results as fake, rigged or stolen, as Trump did. The keyword was election fraud is suspect.

The general public wants results as soon as possible not only the winner of the presidential race but of the 435 congressional seats that were up for re-election. It reduces a network’s credibility if they project a winner one moment, and change it a few minutes later.

See the link for more specifics on election projection by Decision Desk HQ, and the Associated Press. ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News have a different method on election night. They rely on a partnership called the National Election Pool, which provides exit polling and other data to the member organizations.

The issue is always the same, if the outstanding votes can possibly change the outcome. When the difference between candidates becomes very narrow, then they have to err on the side of caution and wait for more votes to be recorded.

Stay tuned,

Dave

Links:

How the press calls elections, explained


AP Explainer: Why did AP call the election for Biden

Thank you election workers and voters

by Dave

Poll observers and workers keep our system working. I know that the part time election workers, whether they are in the backrooms counting ballots, or at the desks checking ID’s are doing their jobs. It’s likely the person who signs you in and hands you the ballot today, got to work at 5:30 am, at least in Miami. Smile and thank them.

Turn out in 2020 is going to set new records. This is excellent. Whether the electorate votes to keep our current president for the next four years or elect a new one, it is the voters choice, as set in our constitution.

The enemies of democracy are the silence of the press and apathy of the electorate. Our election is labor intensive. At every polling location across this country, volunteers act as observers, making sure everyone gets a chance to vote. Every single legitimate vote must be counted.

In other countries, leaders find ways to engineer their re-election to perpetuate their hold on the countries. A country does not one day slip into a dictatorship, it happens through an erosion of the freedoms to assemble and speak freely and a willingness to accept corruption and autocracy.

Democracy needs participation and vigilance. Your vote counts. Bring your ID. If you are in line before the polls close and are at the right voting location, you can vote.

Stay tuned,

Dave