Donald has barricaded himself in the WH and we have Georgia on our minds. (Trump thread #113)

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

Will Donald pardon the turkeys or will the turkeys pardon Donald?

Previous thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4072846-He-can-thcream-and-thcream-until-he-s-sick-but-the-US-has-taken-its-future-back-Trump-thread-112?watched=1&msgid=101645744#101645744

Conceding or not he's still President until the 19th (part of the 20th?) January.

Lweji
Indeed but Jack Dorsey has said that his special status goes when he concedes

Sacha Baron Cohen is now gunning for Zuckerberg.
I think there is a serious reckoning brewing about how the social media companies created the monster of instant worldwide misinformation.

In the old days it was chain letters
Then chain emails
now tweets and FB pages can reach every continent in minutes
spewing hatred and lies
that has to stop

@nauticant

why on earth is he fighting this tooth and nail. Is it literally only because he can't bear to be thought of as a loser?

Aside from hating the "loser" label, I'm convinced it's because Trump wants to be at the head of a mass movement and the best way to do this is to this is to create a whole swirling mass of conspiracy theories in which the great leader and his loyal followers are being beset by dark forces. Part of this is to draw his followers close together to share a common identity that is so far apart from normal thinking that they are very difficult to reach by rational discussion. He needs his supporters to feel their way into their isolated common identity rather than think their way there.

All of this.

Trump may not be able to articulate this as an aim (he just enjoys it), but I'm pretty sure the people who put him there can.

In the early threads we talked a lot about the writings of Hannah Arendt and other writers on facism. The detachment of followers from observable facts and the demand that they believe the leader over what they can see to be true, is an exercise of power which binds followers ever closer to the leader.

"Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes."

If anyone has watched the Netflix series about Trump, there is a very old interview with him, I think soon after his comeback from bankruptcy of his casinos, where he says something to the effect of 'Everything always works out for me, I don't know why, that's just the way it is'"

I guess he expects this will be the case with this election, he doesn't want to lose, so he will 'fight' it and presumes it will work out to him in the end anyway.

Completely non- Trump but tangentially White House...
Some light relief
An oldie but a goodie from the happy days when Trump was just that eejit in a reality show

@Copperas

Also his father’s dreadful male sex slave fantasy novel, dedicated to his wife!

say what...wait..who?

I remember that interview... he was saying he always falls on his feet as it were. This time it isn't happening and it must be beyond frustrating for him.

What a nasty nasty man he is. It must be hell to be around him.

Sacha Baron Cohen is now gunning for Zuckerberg.
I think there is a serious reckoning brewing about how the social media companies created the monster of instant worldwide misinformation
I agree, Zuckerberg and the other robber barons:
you've had your fun but the dumb fucks have got your number now....

@BruceAndNosh - have a look at the Fintan O'Toole article! Barr's father was the authoritarian headmaster of a Catholic school until the parents complained about him. O'Toole talks about the novel Barr senior wrote called Space Relations, mostly for evidence of political theory, but with some truly cringe-inducing examples. And he dedicated it to his wife! www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/11/05/enabler-in-chief/

Facebook have been an awful company for ages, ripping off and selling your data to advertise effectively to you. Zuckerberg has form for trying to get Donald's attention. The LRB did a great article on them, in fact lots of good articles on the big tech companies.

I'm glad Baron-Cohen is gunning for him, I thought he was a genius before but now I'm hoping he goes into politics.

LBR article think you need to sign up LRB should make this freely available right now!

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n16/john-lanchester/you-are-the-product

Genuine question, with all this mess happening why isn't the US economy/stock market tanking? Surely people will react if this starts a downward spiral to their income.
I'm shocked there seems to be no plan B that kicks in when a president decides to become a dick. Maybe I'm naive.

Genuine question, with all this mess happening why isn't the US economy/stock market tanking?
Economy - the shenanegins in the White house have nothing to do with people needing to repair their car
Stock market - getting rid of trump improves the chances of world business stabilising

vote counting continued

Phil Mattingley @phil_mattingley

ARIZONA after last night's Maricopa batch:
Biden: 1,663,447 votes (49.4%)
Trump: 1,651,812 votes (49.1%)

Biden margin: 11,635

Votes outstanding: 24K-ish (and a little less than half of that is from Dem-heavy Pima)

Pretty obvious where this will end up....

Is there a recount clause in AZ law?

.1% or 200 votes. this isn't going to a recount.

And while we're updating, PENNSYLVANIA:
Biden: 3,385,459 votes (49.8%)
Trump: 3,332,215 votes (49.0%)

Biden's margin has now grown to 53,244 (with more room to grow based on what's outstanding)

twitter.com/phil_mattingly/status/1326845125176258562?s=21

@nauticant

why on earth is he fighting this tooth and nail. Is it literally only because he can't bear to be thought of as a loser?

Aside from hating the "loser" label, I'm convinced it's because Trump wants to be at the head of a mass movement and the best way to do this is to this is to create a whole swirling mass of conspiracy theories in which the great leader and his loyal followers are being beset by dark forces. Part of this is to draw his followers close together to share a common identity that is so far apart from normal thinking that they are very difficult to reach by rational discussion. He needs his supporters to feel their way into their isolated common identity rather than think their way there.

Funny you should say that. For the last few days DH has been saying that Scrotus is entering Rev Jim Jones territory and he expects that soon he's going to be telling his followers about a paradise in the jungle somewhere.

You say barricading, but it could get worse.

Even better because he mocked the award winning film.

Lads n lasses, I have found the guy to get Trump out

[quote Lweji]He can try as he wants but it's now officially confirmed by Madame Tussaud's in London.

The Ex-President, who is defined by his golfing habit.

twitter.com/PA/status/1325165761799729153?s=09[/quote]
That waxwork is visibly holding in its gut

Oh my. In Scotland Politics programme on STV. the Parliament are just now discussing Trump and his money. NS referred to him as “soon to be x-president” not by name and reminded everyone what she thinks of him she has previously said in the past. 😀

Correction. said “soon to be former President”

And lo! It came to pass...

Trump eyes digital media empire to take on Fox News
www.axios.com/trump-fox-news-digital-media-competitor-25afddee-144d-4820-8ed4-9eb0ffa42420.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

President Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell Axios.

The state of play: Some Trump advisers think Fox News made a mistake with an early call (seconded by AP) of President-elect Biden's win in Arizona. That enraged Trump, and gave him something tangible to use in his attacks on the network.

"He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it," said a source with detailed knowledge of Trump's intentions.

Today at the WH. The President’s schedule shows him returning to routine meetings for first time since the election. He’ll be having lunch with VP Pence. This afternoon, he has an Oval Office meeting with @SecPompeo and @stevenmnuchin1.
twitter.com/markknoller/status/1326874774874820609?s=21

Much is being made of Biden not being given access to security briefings as he should be during the transition.

Trump hasn't heard one for at least six weeks.

Who is actually paying any attention to American national security at the moment?

www.rawstory.com/2020/11/pathetic-gop-is-enabling-trumps-autocratic-impulses-by-pretending-he-can-still-win-cnns-avlon/#.X605URt7A7k.twitter

Nice Tweet from Amy Siskind just now.