US Election Week 2020

[Syt]

[Sheilbh]

I've said it a million times - but no-one normal cares about policy which might help explain some stuff for Krugman.

Apparently all votes have been counted in Wisconsin and Biden has won - I think with a bigger margin than Trump in 2016.

[FunkMonk]

The failing of Liberal Democracy in the US is that it sold out and now the people who were supposed to benefit from that political economic system are getting screwed allowing Trumpism to flourish.

That is certainly the Progressive critique.

Not just from Progressives.  One needs to have blinders on to not acknowledge the effect of election spending rules and how that impacts your politics.

Is this the critique of center-left parties in the West in general?

[derspiess]

So with Trump mercifully removed as head of the GOP, I'm wondering what direction the party will take?  My hope is it's away from Trumpist rightwing populism, but who knows.  Trump did so well in this election, maybe the populist BS needs longer to burn itself out.  I'm guessing there's a fight of some sort that will have to decide it.

[Tonitrus]

The failing of Liberal Democracy in the US is that it sold out and now the people who were supposed to benefit from that political economic system are getting screwed allowing Trumpism to flourish.

That is certainly the Progressive critique.

Not just from Progressives.  One needs to have blinders on to not acknowledge the effect of election spending rules and how that impacts your politics.

I won't dispute the overall issue of money in politics...but just like this election is destroying the reputation of pollsters, one could also argue it is wrecking the simple notion that more money = more votes.  Dems have outspent the GOP significantly and are getting almost nothing to show for that.

[alfred russel]

Kelly Loeffler is the one who ran the ads favourably calling herself more conservative than Atilla the Hun.

Ah yes, I remember now.

This is a jungle primary where the top two candidates go to a run-off, no matter if they're from the same party or not.

Ok, so this is basically locked in as GOP, then.

I think the runoff is in January so a lot can happen. It will also probably be a double runoff--if you don't get over 50% in a senate election in Georgia you go to a runoff, and we have two senate elections. This one is obviously a runoff, but the other is right now at 50.8% republican 46.9% democrat. Since most outstanding votes are in Atlanta it is likely the republican will dip below 50%.

2 senate seats up for grabs at the same time is going to generate a ton of national attention. The democrats are both complementary: one is a urban/suburban white dude, the other is a black minister. If they each turn out their bases, it could be a good turnout for democrats, and both of the republicans are weak candidates.

That said, historically democrats struggle in runoffs in Georgia, and democrats will probably be demoralized.

[Syt]

NC is 99% counted out according to WaPo, with Trump leading by 80k. Looks like a win for the pumpkin.

[Valmy]

Apparently all votes have been counted in Wisconsin and Biden has won - I think with a bigger margin than Trump in 2016.

I will believe it when the AP calls it

[Barrister]

The failing of Liberal Democracy in the US is that it sold out and now the people who were supposed to benefit from that political economic system are getting screwed allowing Trumpism to flourish.

That is certainly the Progressive critique.

Not just from Progressives.  One needs to have blinders on to not acknowledge the effect of election spending rules and how that impacts your politics.

Did we just watch the same election campaign?  You know the one where Biden massively outspent Trump at the end of the campaign?

Or did you miss the time where Michael Bloomberg spent One Billion Dollars and won only American Samoa in the Democratic primaries?

[Valmy]

So with Trump mercifully removed as head of the GOP, I'm wondering what direction the party will take?  My hope is it's away from Trumpist rightwing populism, but who knows.  Trump did so well in this election, maybe the populist BS needs longer to burn itself out.  I'm guessing there's a fight of some sort that will have to decide it.

Man that is an interesting conversation.

I will wait until I see Donald Trump leaving the White House before I have it though

[Grey Fox]

@BB & all

That's what CC is saying.

[crazy canuck]

The failing of Liberal Democracy in the US is that it sold out and now the people who were supposed to benefit from that political economic system are getting screwed allowing Trumpism to flourish.

That is certainly the Progressive critique.

Not just from Progressives.  One needs to have blinders on to not acknowledge the effect of election spending rules and how that impacts your politics.

Is this the critique of center-left parties in the West in general?

Not really.  In Canada, for example, we have health care, legislation which actually protects workers etc.  We also have strict election spending rules.

The US is an outlier amongst western countries in a lot of ways, including health care, labour laws and election spending rules.

[FunkMonk]

I've said it a million times - but no-one normal cares about policy which might help explain some stuff for Krugman.

The GOP is just so much better at messaging at all levels, national, state, and local. Policies are nice, but if I can convince Emilio to come out and vote for me because the Democrat is a vicious communist hellbent on destroying his small business running a food truck then honestly policies don't matter all that much.

[Tamas]

The failing of Liberal Democracy in the US is that it sold out and now the people who were supposed to benefit from that political economic system are getting screwed allowing Trumpism to flourish.

That is certainly the Progressive critique.

Not just from Progressives.  One needs to have blinders on to not acknowledge the effect of election spending rules and how that impacts your politics.

That would imply that before the last few decades there was no undue influence of rich people on democratic elections, which I simply find unrealistic and impossible.

And I'd turn the general criticism around. It was mainly the lower classes which abandoned liberal-left ideas once the parties supporting those ideas could not give them further economic benefits for supporting them. Since they could not get further economic benefits either way, the have decided to go with the ideology they always preferred.

[Barrister]

So with Trump mercifully removed as head of the GOP, I'm wondering what direction the party will take?  My hope is it's away from Trumpist rightwing populism, but who knows.  Trump did so well in this election, maybe the populist BS needs longer to burn itself out.  I'm guessing there's a fight of some sort that will have to decide it.

If this comes out as an incredibly narrow Biden win I don't see how Trump is removed as head of the GOP.