2020 Presidential Election

[Don Giovanni]

Chris Wallace, son to Mike Wallace of CBS 60 Minutes fame, is considered something of a liberal. He's one of the few people to interview Trump and actually challenge him, so he's not a toadie to the president. He recently chimed that the mail-in ballots will likely result in "a mess" involving potential fraud.

“I know the Democrats say that President Trump is trying to block mail-in voting and trying to block billions of dollars more for the postal service in order to suppress voting in this election, but hear me out for a minute, isn’t it possible that the president really has a point here?” Wallace asked former DNC communications director Mo Elleithee. “As I mentioned earlier, there were 33 million either absentee or mail-in ballots in 2016. If we have to double that or triple that, isn’t there a pretty good chance that we will have a mess at the least, and yes, possibly fraud?”

I've seen others make similar contentions elsewhere even on CNN. They may not have raised the specter of fraud, but they acknowledge that mail-in ballots may take time to tally, that the election results will not be known right away. This is part of the reason why we have the electoral college, so that even if the popular will remains unclear these electors can decide the outcome anyways. And it's not just the presidential election we are talking about here; we're also talking about the Senate (a third of the seats are up for reelection) and all the seats in the House.

I still harbor the belief the results of this election may be the start of a serious fracture in America, that the union may end, if not soon after the election then in the years to come. On a ideological, I think the country is ready for a clean break between the left and right, that this is a sentiment carried by both sides.

[aek66]

didn't need to listen to nor read the text of michelle obama's virtual speech to know that today - it would be called: 'powerful', 'moving' and 'emotional'. the media is so predictable it's not even laughable anymore, you just ignore the usual suspects.

joe biden refuses to answer questions from even friendly reporters, yet has time to do an 'interview' with a female rapper who once bragged that as a prostitute, she drugged clients and stole their money.

it's ok, she's black. we all aspire our daughters and grandchildren to be prostitutes and steal the johns' money. wish tzatziki was here to explain this societal aspiration.

sick party. can't wait to vote and very encouraging that majority america is rejecting the nonsense as trump has caught up to biden in many polls.

[Don Giovanni]

During his announcement of a posthumous presidential pardon for pioneering women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony — who died in 1906 — Trump was asked about his feud with the Democratic Party over mail-in voting.

“The Democrats want to make it a political issue. It’s not a political issue, it’s really about a correct vote. You have to get voting right,” he declared. “You can’t have millions and millions of ballots sent all over the place, sent to people that are dead, sent to dogs, cats. Sent to everyone. This is a serious situation, this isn’t games, and you have to get it right.”

“I just want to get it right. Win, lose, or draw — I think I’m going to win — win, lose, or draw, we have to get it right,” Trump insisted. “We have to have honest voting.”

[Don Giovanni]

It's good to see the president return the Republican party back to some of her roots. Bush's dumb vendetta against Saddam Hussein nearly destroyed the Republican party.

[Don Giovanni]

It turns out that a third of troops will remain in Iraq by election day.

[tantra]

let's see the outcome

[Don Giovanni]

I see Michael Moore is sounding the alarm again.

[Don Giovanni]

How can this be true? It's absurd.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit [to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018] because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

(emphasis mine)

But according to sources with knowledge of this visit, Trump, while standing by Robert Kelly’s grave, turned directly to his father and said, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Kelly (who declined to comment for this story) initially believed, people close to him said, that Trump was making a ham-handed reference to the selflessness of America’s all-volunteer force. But later he came to realize that Trump simply does not understand non-transactional life choices.

(emphasis mine)

I could understand if the president was disinterested or distracted in deciding not to visit the cemetery in Paris. Who knows what other things he has going on in his life with his family, his business, etc. I can't imagine a more stressful job in the world than that of the American presidency. It's understandable when a president is weary, tired, and simply not in the mood to do ceremonies. And if he blames poor weather conditions for an excuse, so be it. That much is forgivable.

What I don't believe is the president actually used these words to describe dead American servicemen. This is a lie, but I think it will lay the ground for people in the military to come out and attack the president.

No, what we're seeing is weaponized media:

The Washington Post first reported that the initiative, called Defeat Disinfo, will utilize "artificial intelligence and network analysis to map discussion of the president’s claims on social media," and then attempt to "intervene" by "identifying the most popular counter-narratives and boosting them through a network of more than 3.4 million influencers across the country — in some cases paying users with large followings to take sides against the president."

And Trump is up against people like General McChrystal, who some think had Pat Tillman and Michael Hastings murdered.

McChrystal, who led U.S. forces in Afghanistan before he was fired by then-President Obama in 2010 for deriding his civilian bosses in a Rolling Stone interview, told the Post that the operation was necessary, even if it might appear unseemly.

“Everyone wishes the Pandora’s box was closed and none of this existed, but it does," McChrystal said.

McChrystal has not explicitly endorsed Biden, even though the new information warfare project is intended to help his candidacy. The former general has previously gone on the record with a less-than-glowing assessment of Biden's competence.

[Don Giovanni]

I also hope they see that Trump’s incoherent foreign policy, chaotic leadership and cozy relationship with Erdogan has destabilized the region and made it less safe for Greece. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is a longtime friend of Greece and Greek Americans. He is a Philhellene who for decades has had the nickname of “Joe Bidenopoulos.” I worked directly with the vice president when he was personally involved in ensuring Greece stayed in the eurozone. The difference is staggering.

What should Greece and Cyprus expect from a Biden administration, especially against the backdrop of today’s tense relations with Turkey?

I was on a Zoom call with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris a few weeks ago, just before he chose her as VP. In the “waiting room” we talked about Cyprus and he expressed his frustration with the current situation. Biden has visited Cyprus, he knows the facts on the ground and I know he is committed to making meaningful progress on this difficult issue.

Kamala and I have been friends for almost two decades. She is smart, hardworking and joyful. She believes in progressive change, without dismantling our institutions.

[aek66]

right...scraping the bottom of the barrel for votes - as if sleepy joe is pro-hellas.

waiting for joe to tell us cleopatra was black to pander to blacks...after so much pandering. got up off your knee and tell us a black invented the light bulb, not some white guy named edison. hillary said she always carried hot sauce in her purse..now, it's erasing history to pander.

bottom line, i don't trust joe's modern day views based on the history he hears from his handlers and then misrepeats. he'll say anything to get elected, even sell out himself and what he stood for, for decades.

[Don Giovanni]

For the US the overriding concern is keeping Turkey within their orbit and not the orbit of Russia/China. I don't think Biden will go far enough to contain Turkey to my liking, but it's very possible relations between Biden and Erdogan will be strained.

My worry is more about Trump. The Turks have cultivated personal ties with him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/u...ly-turkey.html

Mr. Erdogan predicted in a television interview this year that a private dialogue between Berat Albayrak, his son-in-law and finance minister, and Mr. Kushner would soon put “back on track” the vexed relations between Washington and Ankara. “The bridge works well in this manner,” Mr. Erdogan said.

Both leaders appear to favor family or business connections as back channels, several advisers to Mr. Erdogan said, in part because both share a suspicion that the agencies of their own governments may be conspiring against them.

Trump and Erdogan genuinely do share a kinship. It's not just their son-in-laws, they both go through the same challenges with the "deep state." What Trump is going through now, Erdogan has already been through.

I can't say things would improve with Biden necessarily. He might bend over backwards to keep Turkey in NATO just the same, but it's clear that with Trump there is a problem. It's impossible to ignore for me. For that reason, I simply can't vote for Trump and for now I'm going to stay on the fence for Biden. I might not vote.

[aek66]

i'd ask kounalaki why doesn't sleepy joe denounce the platforms of blm. nuclear family. the greek church and greek culture revolves around the nuclear family. stability, morality and wealth are all threatened (at personal and societal levels) by abandoning the 'western' nuclear family. how well is the one-parent black family doing? do i want want little sofia making babies at age 15 and having 3 kids with 3 different daddies by age 22? no. blm is also against any form or hint of a 'meritocracy'. this is also the exact antithesis of why greeks emigrated, fleeing greece in the 50's-70's - because greece was controlled by oligarchs who did not wish to share power and wealth. merit didn't matter and greece suffered.

not to mention the 'law and order' issue. we know which side biden is on that. people that play by the rules and expect everyone else to also play by the rules.

all in all, i'd say good luck to her trying to pull this off for sleepy joe.

i'd tell kounalaki that problems with race in the usa are a cultural issue, not an issue of systemic racism. get to that before you dangle greece as the new israel, trying to entice greek-american voters to vote for biden.

[aek66]

Kamala and I have been friends for almost two decades. She is smart, hardworking and joyful. She believes in progressive change, without dismantling our institutions.

progressive change?? ok. change the culture, kamala.

talking to blacks at my job and they tell me that black kids in high school and grade school who want to learn - are successfully beaten down by peers who physically attack them when they are seen with books/school supplies going to and from school. these kids are targeted, not by trump or by the kkk, but by other blacks who hold getting an education, in contempt.

i have also personally seen blacks from africa (ghana and nigeria) get ridiculed and bullied by american blacks who don't like their overall demeanor. you speak and dress too white. these blacks, who are legitimate african-americans, believe in the nuclear family, are church-goers and overly stress an education for their children. that is why they came here.

this is the conversation no one wants to have. i've heard various hints of discussing this, but this is the argument to end all arguments for those who believe that the usa is an evil, racist nation.

[Reaper]

Most Greeks in the US, they Dems or Reps? Got family over thete, they all lean fairly hard left.

[Don Giovanni]

Depends where they are from. All major cities lean left. A lot of Greek politicians in the recent era ran as Democrats. Tsongas and Dukakis were the most prominent, but a Republican Spiro Agnew was Richard Nixon's VP in the early 70s.

[aek66]

from what i have observed - i believe many greeks are firm republicans. self-employed, professionals. i also know of greeks who posses firearms and want to keep those firearms.

the democratic party is not the party of the 1960s-70s. the issues they are currently making a stand for: blm, illegal immigrants, higher taxes on the wealthy, not dealing with the lawlessness, re-writing history to their liking, ridiculous no bail/joke electronic monitoring for those arrested for violent felonies, etc., will see more trump votes.

i recently saw blm harass catholic churchgoers in st. louis. right up the steps into the church. wait until this occurs at a greek church in the 'old neighborhood'. it won't go over well.

i reject today's democratic party and anxious to vote as soon as i can. if indeed trump wins and republicans make surprising gains in local and state elections, i'd expect the repubs to do something about the funding and organizations of these violent malcontents. cut the head off. from there, it will always be a struggle because of the culture in the usa - the SJW teachers corrupting the kids in school and the glorification/messages of urban thug life.

i made the same argument about fyrom and it's institutionalized brainwashing of it's children, it will one day bite greece. 30 years on, the skopians were wildly fanatic about their 'macedonian' identity. no surprise as to why.