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Wow! The same court that 20 years ago stopped the recount, except like 100 percent more partisan than when Rhenquist, Scalia, and Sandra Day O'Connor were still around.

I was thinking that the reason why Trump will stay in is because, you are right, it'll eventually make its way to the Supreme Court.

At the very least, I predict Orange Head won't concede on election night.

I read a thoughtful, informed article about what’s likely to happen on Nov 7th if Trump loses the election, especially if it’s close. We can be sure he will howl at the moon about voter fraud and he’s very likely to egg his supporters on to violence in the streets. I’d bet the farm he refuses to concede, and from what we’ve seen, Lindsay Graham et al will aid and abet him every step of the way. There’s a Constitution crisis coming like we’ve not seen since at least Watergate, maybe ever.

Personally, I think the absolute best case scenario is high ranking republicans finally convince Trump to concede in return for a preemptive, blanket pardon — a la Ford to Nixon — for his systematic money laundering, tax fraud, federal election law violations, overarching criminal conspiracies and all the other overtly criminal and corrupt practices that have defined his life.

Agreed... And for his family members too.

Don't forget, he has the "rough" people on his side.

Blabbering lightweights... once upon a time we called this "the silly season," but that was before the bedrock principles on which our country was founded were being threatened. I think I said this a few pages/months back, but I’d vote for Jacques. Get that foot back into ass-kicking shape and make a run for it!

I wish I could say that I can’t imagine Trump refusing to leave office if he lost the election, but the fact is, I can imagine it.

19 years later, I still can’t believe how docile we all were in 2000 after the Supreme Court stopped the recount and stole the election for Bush. Al Gore won Florida by 1000s, probably tens of thousands of votes, and we just rolled over when an overtly political decision by 5 old dudes (ok one was a woman) gave the election to Bush and stole the election from democracy. Al Gore’s disappearing act was the worst of all in this regard.

That was far, far worse than Russia hacking the election for Trump and “hiding” it by making his margin of victory a near statistical impossibility.

Dershowitz wrote a good book on the political grand larceny that occurred in Florida.

The old Florida judge, I forget his name, who was like a bought and sold right wing Jeb Bush hatchet man, making one right wing ruling after another, and that corrupt secretary of state, and those fascist Roger Stone young Republicans beating down the voting clerk's doors. You are right, blanquito, Gore easily won Florida by hundreds of thousands of butterfly ballots that never got counted. God, the democrats are such pussies. And like that can never happen again, in this climate? that was the minor league compared to what herr Orange Head has brought tothe scene 20 years later.

Man, I hope you guys are wrong, I can't imagine we'd sink this low. Even with this guy in the White House I refuse to believe it. So far it has been smelly even stinky but still somewhat acceptable to me. And so far Roberts has proven to be a decent Chief Justice.

Jacques:
John Roberts was a lawyer for Dubya during Gore v. Bush.
Like you, I was intrigued by this Roberts guy, the new “center” on the Supreme Court, the new “Anthony Kennedy” of the court, especially after his Obamacare vote.
I read “The Chief” this past year by an Atlantic writer, I’m drawing a blank on her name, to find out whether he is in fact a principled conservative concerned with fairness and the integrity of the institution of the Supreme Court, or... whether he’s just another entitled, elitist, Ivy League, right wing hack partisan Republican corporatist dink.

My conclusion after reading the book:
He’s just another entitled, elitist, Ivy League, right wing hack partisan Republican corporatist dink.

Recommended:
“The Chief,” by Joan Biskupic:

https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Turbulent- ... 0465093272

Fair enough Jim, I still give him the benefit of the doubt especially because of the Obamacare vote.
I'll check out the book

I’ll be interested in hearing your review Jacques.

When this sad, sordid reaches its crescendo, there’s an excellent chance that it will all boil down to the integrity and wisdom (assuming he has any) of John Roberts.

Of course, this all assumes Putin let’s Trump lose in 2020.

It’s morbid but if Ruth Ginsburg does not survive until January 2021, John Roberts will be just an irrelevant vote from the “left” of the spectrum of the new Gorsuch/Kavanaugh-centered court.

JimHow wrote:It’s morbid but if Ruth Ginsburg does not survive until January 2021, John Roberts will be just an irrelevant vote from the “left” of the spectrum of the new Gorsuch/Kavanaugh-centered court.

Ugh!

That's terrifying

She will hold on until then. 1 year, 4 months.

She has to. Please lord.

This might come as a revelation to many of you

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... 0-election

Oh no Ian, everyone knows

https://www.wsj.com/articles/everyone-k ... yURL_share

It’s one thing to hear it from a former democrat Labor secretary it’s another from a former Reagan speechwriter. The man, on top of all his disgusting behavior is a mental case!

I’ve long felt that way about Trump, Ian. The 25th amendment solution has been bandied about for well over a year. It’s just as unlikely as the Senate convicting him on articles of impeachment. No way Pence and a majority of his Cabinet would agree to remove him. They’re all a bunch of toadies. At the first hint that any of them were considering it, he’d replace them with another Acting Secretary.

The only way to remove him from office is to vote him out. If that doesn’t happen after close to 4 years of his dangerous instability on display, I fear it will mark a point of no return for the decline and fall of the US as a republic of the people, by the people, for the people.

I can't stand Peggy "My Shit Doesn't Stink" Noonan.
I'm still waiting for her first article in which she doesn't reference Ronald Reagan.

My life hasn't changed one iota because of Orange Head. If anything, I have more money in my pocket.
I mean, we're all doomed because of climate change, and younger women are losing their reproductive and other rights, but those are due to failures in the system unconnected to Trump. I think the Congress is a much bigger problem than the presidency. I have Trump friends, nobody is fighting each other in the streets, no signs of the militias coming out of the hills up here in Maine. It's all a circus on TV, not so much in the real world. The Supreme Court will keep going rightward, but that would be the case if ANY Republican were elected president. Indeed, I would argue that guys like Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, or even Marco Rubio would nominate justices even MORE to the right than Orange Head has.

The system is completely broken because of the role of money in Congress, but that would be the case whether herr Trump were in there or not. In the end we have only ourselves to blame.

I shouted out
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

I know how you feel about her Jim. And I find her overbearing at times too, but I find that reading the same old echo chamber columnists teaches me nothing. It is always the same subject and the same opinion. That's why this BWE thread is so much better than any op-ed. I always learn something new and get a better focus especially on my own views.

From her in this piece I learned:

By my observation something is going on with Mr. Trump’s supporters. They now concede much more about him in private than they did in the past. They use words like “unpredictable” or “emotional” or “a little chaotic.” They say, “Well, he may be crazy but maybe that’s what’s needed to keep his enemies hopping.” He may not be a good man, they concede, but the swamp has defeated good men.

What is interesting is that they no longer say what they used to—“You’ve got it wrong, he’s stable, a successful businessman, a realist.” And they no longer compare him to Reagan.

His most frequent public defenders now believe he’s a screwball, which is why they no longer devote their time to lauding him but to attacking his critics.

Jim, I share your opinion of Peggy Noonan (though this was a decent article) and the role of money in Congress. Citizens United made it orders of magnitude worse, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

You’re not the only one comfortable with your investments and peaceful neighborhood. I am too, and so are a lot of others. I hope they can see beyond their insular little world when it comes time to vote. There will be consequences to the ongoing suppression of women's rights (and yes Pence and Kasich are worse), letting the planet burn, destroying our relationships with allies, elevating the international status of despots and autocrats, ignoring (tacitly encouraging) threats to the integrity of our elections, allowing the debt to rocket higher, permitting unfettered access to guns, promoting bigotry, and decimating respect for the office of the President.

Yeah, you’re right, no matter how much I try to rationalize it, we are doomed.
And I’ve just about had enough of the far left as well.

JimHow wrote:And I’ve just about had enough of the far left as well.

I thought you like Bernie?

I also think Bernie would have won in 2016, but Bernie screwed up. He waited until the 11th hour to get into the race, he steadfastly refused to support being a Democrat’s despite running for the Democratic nomination! If he’d been organized and decisive, it became clear he would have beaten Hillary but he gave her far too big a lead to catch her in the end. And now his moment is past.

I like Bernie, just not the intolerant AOC crowd and the general weak snowflake generation that has emerged on the left. Everybody so easily offended, so outraged, so intolerant of opposing views.
We’ll see where Bernie and everyone else shakes out after the first few caucuses and primaries.

An article this weekend on Mitch McConnell in the Wall Street Journal. Boy, it really looks like this Maine seat is going to be the decider. It appears the Democrats have a chance of picking up NC, CO, and AZ, and likely losing AL. That would be a net of two seats. We need three, unless we win the White House and the Veep is the tie-breaker. You'll note that Mitch doesn't seem to consider Maine to be in play. I'm really, really concerned, I think there is a self-deception in the Democratic Party that Sara Gideon is going to pull this out but I'm just not seeing how she is going to fare very well in the secocond congressional district... and, thus, in the statewide results.

https://www.wsj.com/.../the-man-democrats-loathe-more...

I heard a frighting scenario from Thom Hartmann recently, based on a recent article in the Financial Times, on how Trump could easily contest 2020 election results. Apparently it is the Vice President who certifies Presidential election results, and if Fox News or anybody can manufacture some doubt about the exact results in a particular state or two, Pence can just say he has some doubt and refuse to certify the results. Then, under the constitution, it goes to the House of Representatives; however, although the Democrats control the House and the most seats, for Presidential certification each State gets one vote, and Republicans control more states than Democrats. No certification and Trump remains. Lucky us.

--Gary Rust

... the Democrats walk out of Congress, states move to secede, Trump declares martial law and a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, military generals split camps.... Get the popcorn out!

Lewandowski's testimony. A harbinger of the anarchy coming in 2020....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwKBypbqz4c

I watched chunks of it live. Chilling, but not surprising knowing his past behavior.

Come on Jim, I find it hard to imagine any good lawyer being as unprepared as Nadler.
All that it showed to me is a bunch of ill prepared ranting senators. You want to question this lowlife, get your shit together and don’t waste time with rants.

Yeah that was a pretty hapless performance by Nadler.
God, are the Democrats lame.

Watching Orange Head's press conference right now. VERY presidential, very likeable. He's going to rip the Dems to shreds.

JimHow wrote:Watching Orange Head's press conference right now. VERY presidential, very likeable. He's going to rip the Dems to shreds.

$50 bet? Or a gentlemen’s bet? Bottle of 1989 Lynch? Warren wins in 2020.

Oh I see Orange Head winning re-election pretty easily.
He’s going to toy with the lightweight Democrats.

Is it the peace or the prosperity that the Democrats are bitching most about?

I mean, seriously, the Democrats and the fake media are calling for the impeachment of a president over THAT telephone call?

Really?

This will be an even bigger fiasco than the Mueller report.

God almighty are the Democrats a sad lot.

I don't know. Maybe there's a chance. After all if it's a government/State Dept. issue, why is Giuliani, a private citizen, involved?

It will be hard to get 2/3 of the senate but nothing ventured....

“The United States has been very good to Ukraine,” Trump said early in the call, before quickly adding, “I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily.” After Zelensky responded by requesting approval to buy more U.S. anti-tank Javelin missiles, to aid his fight against Russia, Trump replied by explaining the reciprocity he really wanted: investigations of the Bidens and also of Ukraine’s role in the 2016 U.S. elections.

“I would like you to do us a favor though,” the President said, in a line that seems destined to land in the history books. “Whatever you can do,” Trump added later in the conversation, “it’s very important that you do it.” This was not the exculpatory moment that Trump had claimed it would be. Impeachment may have been an uncertain outcome before 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Afterward, it was a near-certainty.