My latest at PJ Media:
The Leftist media establishment has been in a predictable uproar ever since President Trump tweeted Thursday: “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” But this time it isn’t just the Left: for Steven Calabresi, whose conservativism is established with the impressive credential of having co-founded the Federalist Society, this was the last straw: He took to that bastion of the conservative media, the New York Times, to denounce Trump’s tweet as “fascistic” and claim that it “is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.”
Calabresi was not the only alleged conservative to break with Trump over this. John Bolton tweeted out the link to Calabresi’s Times article. Numerous Republican leaders joined with Democrats to denounce the tweet. Some warned darkly about how Trump posed an imminent threat to democracy and the rule of law. “Donald Trump has cheated his whole life,” his former rival for the Republican nomination, Joe Walsh, tweeted. “Of course he’ll cheat in this election. Heck, he cheated in the last one.” Peter Wehner, who worked for the three Republican presidents before Trump, declared: “I think Republicans will look back on the deal that they made to get Trump and they will rue the day. I think he is doing generational damage not just to the country, but to the Republican Party and to the conservative cause.”
But what exactly did this incipient dictator do? Calabresi thundered: “President Trump needs to be told by every Republican in Congress that he cannot postpone the federal election. Doing so would be illegal, unconstitutional and without precedent in American history. Anyone who says otherwise should never be elected to Congress again.”
But did Trump actually state that he was planning unilaterally to postpone the federal election? He did not. The hysteria and rage that his question has provoked is once again based on a false premise, as it has been so very many times in the past. Trump never stated any intention to delay the election in some way that would be in defiance of U.S. law. He never stated, contrary to widespread claims, that he would not relinquish his office on January 20, 2021 if he lost the election. Yet every bit of the horror and indignation that has ensued has been based on the idea that he did.
There is much more. Read the rest here.
revereridesagain says
If they don’t want to hear that they can stop the squawking about trying to hold a national election with mail-in ballots. It’s not Trump’s fault that so many people are afraid WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE! if they spend 5 minutes in a polling place with a mask on. Throw in Fauci’s damn goggles if they’re as paranoid as that. There’s no excuse for disrupting the election in November. It’s the DeMarxocrats we know are going to be doing the cheating, and Trump is well within his rights to be concerned.
James Lincoln says
revereridesagain,
Agree 100%.
With proper planning, masks, social distancing, liberal use of official ABSENTEE ballots, there is absolutely no need for generic “mail in” ballots…
Donovan Nuera says
Heck, have drive-through polling lines; get handed ballot by attendant who checks you against their registered voter rolls, park in selected space (just like cell phone lots at airports), fill out ballot, drop it off in box.
Or have polling places for young healthy people and one for older voters.
I vote absentee ballot and I was able to prove who I was prior to being granted the waiver to use it as I cannot usually get off of work to go to the polls. But I still make it a point, if I can do so, to personally drop it off and show my ID to the poll watcher (even though IDs are not needed but simply to show HOW EASY it is to have ID!!)
The main thing is to NOT publicize all the “exit poll” results before the polls close as just like the Florida Panhandle voters skipping the vote when the Eastern part of Florida was closed and one candidate (Gore I think) had “won”. The media can twist those unscientific results to show a false LARGE lead of their DEM candidate thus discouraging GOP voters getting off work late to bother to vote at he polls.
sweetolbob says
The demoRATS are upset at the suggestion of delaying the eletion because they have already gone to the trouble of getting all the “Joke” Biden ballots postmarked.
gravenimage says
Co-Founder of Federalist Society Calls for ‘Fascistic’ Trump to Be Impeached for Election Delay Tweet
……………….
Right–because impeaching Trump the first time was so effective. Good grief…
Donovan Nuera says
No mention that Trump, a liberal non-ideologue, did MORE to help the Pro-Life movement, Border control, Illegal alien control, immigration from terror-chaotic “nations” control, tax reform, employment for minorities, prison reform, deregulation, energy independence than BUSH I and BUSH II, you know, those “compassionate conservatives”…. or Boehner, Ryan, Haskert, Frist, Barbour, Hatch, Romney, McCain, JEB!, Gov. Schwartzennegger, Kasich, Flake, Souter, Kennedy, Rehnquist, Sandra Day O’Connor, …
mgoldberg says
Trumps mention of the delay was to force the dems and repubs to consider how dangerous the fraudulent mail in vote can and would be. The Dems don’t care and don’t anyone to dare care as they want all the illegals and all the dead people to be counted on to vote for them. It is horrendous that the Federalist would fall for this silly trap. And they did. To call for his impeachment is itself horrendous. The president did not institute such a political call, only the idea in the face of mail fraud.
CogitoErgoSum says
Yes, Trump’s tweet was in the form of a question. He wanted to know what people thought on the matter. There is nothing wrong with that at all. The people who are calling him Fascistic must have a reading comprehension problem. The number of people in the U.S. who have that problem never ceases to amaze me. It’s frightening to think that it’s even worse in the rest of the world or that there are huge numbers of people who cannot read at all and who must rely on others to tell them what’s going on in the world.
Al says
Public ” Edjamakation ” ?
Donovan Nuera says
I thought everyone, especially “creativity coaches” , teachers, and Boards of Directors, liked CEOs to “think outside the box” or brainstorm…just to put out ideas that could work….or not. Trump is not a lawyer (not that Congressmen write their own bills anymore themselves…. they have their lobbyists do that..). Calabresi sounds like a drama-queen. How many Op-Eds did he write for the NYT from 2009-2017 about the Constitutional abuses by Obama-Biden? Does he think Gorsuch’s stretch in including “gender fluidity” in the Civil Rights act was “conservative”??
Keith O says
Trump tweeted. DELAY THE ELECTION UNTIL PEOPLE CAN PROPERLY, SAFELY AND SECURELY VOTE???
Now, my grasp of the English language isn’t the best, we speak Australian, but isn’t the use of question marks after a statement make it a question and not a statement of intent???
Isn’t Trump saying. “Should we delay the election”?
If asking a question that takes into account public safety in the midst of a pandemic makes someone a dictator, then I have to ask the person who states this, WHAT DRUGS ARE YOU ON?
I may not like some of the things Trump does, however, he is simply doing what he was elected to do. Protect the people and the nation.
Westman says
I suspect what we are seeing is desperation after BLM riots have put a nail in the coffin of the Biden campaign. It was, “a bridge too far”, that has raised Trump in the polls as it revealed itself as both Marxist and violent while being politically supported by the Democrats.
BLM doesn’t know where to stop in its demands, pulling down statues of Lincoln, abolitionist Hans Christian Heg, black activist Frederick Douglass, and using mafia tactics to extort money and support from Louisville, KY, businesses.
Those opposing a 2nd Trump term are realizing Biden cannot get out of the basement and carry on a cogent debate nor can an electable black female running mate be found who would be a likely President before Biden finished his first year in office. In their minds, impeaching Trump may be the only way they could eliminate Trump, yet, they underestimate the backlash and, in very unlikely success, the transfer of votes to Pence.
It’s just desperation noise. If they don’t get Biden out of the basement or replace him the Dems might have to ask for an election delay.
Wellington says
The descent continues.
Instructive through all this is that many so-called conservatives are not nearly as conservative as they think they are, e.g., some Federalist Society members.
A related thought: The true conservatives in our time, e.g., Trump, are actually Jeffersonian liberals—and what a gigantic irony exists here. That is to say, such true conservatives realize that government is best which ordinarily governs least—and such folks can even propose a sensible, possible and desirable delay in a federal election FOR CONSERVATIVE REASONS.
Viewing that famous feud between Hamilton and Jefferson in the Washington Administration, the actual origin of the American political party system, what is most remarkable about this, seen from the perspective of our era, is that “a 180” has occurred, to wit, conservatives like Hamilton in the late 18th century wanted more government and liberals like Jefferson wanted less government.
Holy Hell, what a mess of a world we live in nowadays. Made no better by faux conservatives.
mortimer says
Agree. Today, ‘conservatism’ is the defense of classical Jeffersonian liberalism.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
I often wonder how some of our founding fathers and great presidents from the past would fare in 2020.
For example, how would Pres. Lincoln, one of our greatest, fair in today’s political / big tech environment?
Wellington says
Not well, James—and which is a condemnation of our times and certainly not of Lincoln.
gravenimage says
I don’t think any of these great men would do well now–which is an indictment of our times.
mortimer says
Joe Biden is looking so feeble … a better question for these people to ask is whether Joe would have the stamina for a real election campaign … one that isn’t spent from the comfort of his basement?
CogitoErgoSum says
I watched the video of him from the other day in which he “joked” about not knowing where he was. He looked like he was having trouble just walking to the podium. I don’t think the man is mentally OR physically able to make it through the stress of an entire debate. If elected President he may not last too much longer than the one month that William Henry Harrison did.
James Lincoln says
CogitoErgoSum,
I believe that you are correct.
Joe Biden is in cognitive decline and has great difficulty even reading from a Teleprompter.
Joe Biden going up against President Donald Trump would be like a “ham and egg” weekend golfer trying to go up against Jack Nicholas in his prime…
Donovan Nuera says
I have a lot of experience with cognitively-impaired and frankly demented people as well as stroke patients; he does exhibit things that he cannot truly attribute to his “stuttering” problems as a youth. He forgets where he is. He responds strangely to “pre-taped” video questioners as if they are live. He looks frail. His facial complexion and thinning skin, notwithstanding being stuck in his bunker since later winter, is something one sees in people in their mid-80s. Word-finding issues. Disjointed sentences. Getting lost in midst of a sentence. Confused gaze. This is on top of his penchant for trying to sound “cool” (his overuse of “…, man.” or saying TOO loud to Obama at the podium of the announcement of the passage of Obamacare as “a effing big deal..” while millions of viewers were watching live.
Then of course, he had 2 ruptured aneurysms and the bleeding from those can not only spread into the subarachnoid space but also into the ventricles and into the brain parenchyma itself. Then he had two open surgeries to clip the necks of the aneurysms and surgery can be traumatic too. (Since 1995 with the advent of coils invented at UCLA, a majority of aneurysm treatments have been with coils as they are as effective and have lower side effects). I wonder if Biden has encephalomalacia of the frontal and temporal lobes which has led to his disinhibited persona (and possible resulting inappropriate touching of women and girls). He probably cannot have an MRI due to clips from that era being not MRI-safe but at least a CT Brain would should if he had gross damage to his frontal and/or temporal lobes. I will usually give this stat when asked about why aneurysmal bleeds are the most difficult conditions to deal with; Out of 100 patients with subarachnoid aneurysm bleeds, 10 usually die before the ambulance arrives, 30 are dead in 30 days, 30 are gorked in nursing homes for a while, the rest make it home but only 3 go back to work full time….and the average age is 50.
He might have to replace his Secret Service detail with Visiting Angels.
James Lincoln says
Donovan Nuera,
Wow, impressive post!
I am a physician board certified in two specialties – you must have had some serious medical training!
Wellington says
I believe, mortimer, Democrats have made the “calculation” that if only they can get Joe past November 3rd with victory, then he is completely expendable. Hell, for the most part he already is.
Highly symbolic and fitting, I would contend, that Biden is feeble but so is the Democratic Party. Two of a kind no doubt. And I take no joy in stating this. I want a strong, two-party system in America, but with soul-less people like Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff and Harris, accompanied by Biden as a true figurehead, the Democratic Party has never looked more feeble and pathetic.
Strong but wrong, yes, for instance in 1860, but more feeble and pathetic? Never. Very fluid times. Very.
Myron J. Poltroonian says
The real problem with the proposed (“Imposed” in Calipornia) Vote By Mail solution for the upcoming November election cycle is the fact that if your state government sends you a ballot with a pre-paid return envelope, the post office does not time/date stamp them when they’re processed. That means that there is no proof of when the ballots were sent – Before, By, or After the deadline to return your ballot. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? [“Extra pre-filled out ballots for your candidate(s) in the trunk of your car? No problem, just turn them in. After all, nobody will be able to tell the difference”.]
I have a simple solution, count only the “Mail In Ballots” that come in envelopes with an official USPS time/date cancelation which will show if it was sent Before, By, or After the “Must Be Postmarked By” date. All “Harvested” ballots must be gathered and turned in with an affidavit personally signed, under penalty of perjury by the gatherer, that they were all legally gathered, are unaltered and were obtained without any influence whatsoever. See? Simple.
gravenimage says
Myron, your belief that California is all vote by mail is mistaken. The states that have already gone to vote by mail are Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah–not California. Three of these states are “blue”, one is “red”, and one a mix. There will still be voting at polls in California in November.
Donovan Nuera says
One analyst said that although states like WA and UT have “mail-in ballots” (which would be processed with more security such as with absentee ballots, ) these states took YEARS to set up and fine-tune the system to handle the issues that would arise with distribution, processing, and security. I am not sure the naïve states doing this for the first time can do it without a lot of errors. Remember the Obamacare Rollout?
The main issue is that a lot of states and counties are not diligent in purging/auditing their voter rolls within the legal timeframes. Judicial Watch last year at least won their lawsuit against Los Angeles County to purge 1.5 MILLION names off of their rolls of people who had died, moved, or were felons…… after they had not updated their rolls in something like 25 years! It always seems like official registrars love to have our taxes for their salaries without actually having to do their official simple jobs.
One of the issues is that ballots will be mailed to anybody whose name is on the rolls without any attempt at accuracy.
Also, an non-partisan election research group 2 years ago or so interviewed illegal aliens to see how many of them voted in the 2012 General election; they got 6% who actually admitted to illegally voting. It is safe to say that the actual percentage is higher. It is also more accurate to say that the actual illegal alien population is closer to 22-23 million (see Harvard/MIT./ Hopkins studies) rather than the static number 11 million that the media keeps referring to although that number goes back at least 15 years. So if just 6% of illegals vote (because they just happened to get a ballot with their name on it in the mail…which is part of the system, and not a bug, in California motor-voter data bases) that number, 99.9% democrat, can swing an election locally or nationally. With California’s “ballot harvesting” law that was passed without really any public comment by our SUPER-majority Dems in Sacramento, more mischief is guaranteed; the harvesters don’t have to be citizens or registered voters themselves. There is no way to track the ballots that they harvest between the voter and the polling station. Those seats in Orange Co. that mysteriously all went DEM in 2018 during the prolonged voted tally is something we still worry about.
gravenimage says
All grimly possible, Donovan.
Harvey says
When are my fellow right-wingers going to stop giving Trump a pass for his awful communications? I agree – he’s not a fascist. And I actually agree that there is discussion we need to have about this issue. As POTUS, he’s supposed to set the path and let his political attack dogs go do their work, reserving the immense political capital that comes with being POTUS for maximum impact.
But instead, he creates drama and reason to loathe him, which effects some people, even if folks here can dismiss it. I hated when he said, this, even as I knew he was trolling the left. We have a “troll in chief” folks, and he squanders the power of his office and his “brand” constantly, communicating in just terrible ways. Note in this exchange, he’s using superlatives nonstop and making the most hysterical forecast for problems with mail-in voting. So guess what? People not already hard right will dismiss it cuz he sounds ridiculous. You tune out people who overstate everything after a while. He’s mostly only talking to his base and the rabid Left with these tweets but when he does this, he busts back out to all media headlines and the average person thinks he just might do something crazy. Cuz of how he communicates.
This is easily forecastable and avoidable. POTUS has one single power that no other branch of govt has – the “bully pulpit”. Their words can drive the national narrative and frame the debate on any issue. Trump squanders this power, shooting from the hip and just doing the same things he did when building a personal, celebrity brand. When he pulls this crap as POTUS, he reduces his power and prestige. And he knows he’s doing it – he’s a troll.
Being POTUS and a troll is a problem. It’s just not impeachable. Nor is he being fascistic in any meaningful way. In fact, powerful corporate interests are aligned against him and his supporters, whereas fascism is characterized by govt and corps jointly and cozily enforcing a social and political order they desire. Fascism cannot occur without corporate/business/financial alignment, in fact…
The Dems are so stupid. There are so many of us on the right who could be tempted to vote for say a guy with say Joe Lieberman’s temperament over Trump. But instead, they’ve gone off the cliff. But even in this, I think the right mis-diagnoses. Obama’s political achievement was largely one that occurred outside of govt. He built a network of “organizing” non-profits and coordinated their work with political strategists and activists across many issues. He helped attract a lot of big money to very radical causes, and coordinated messaging and media. He also brought many radicals into govt and other positions of power. He also cultivated very strong relationships with the tech companies and their ideologues.
The Right should step back and look what the Left actually had to do to destroy our nation and think before reacting. Trump isn’t the answer – granted, he’s what a girl late on Friday night calls “Mr. Right Now” but he’s not “Mr. Right”. In fact, he’s a symptom, cuz our politics are so messed up I don’t think a normal person can survive them…
gravenimage says
You don’t have to love every aspect of Trump’s style–I don’t–to consider him still *far* better for the nation than Biden would be.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage says,
Pres. Donald Trump can be loud and crude, but his policies are sound.
I can put up with the loud and crude – many cannot see past this…
gravenimage says
Absolutely agree, James. Substance is *always* more important to me than is style. (Besides, I realize that a lot of people love the President’s style, as well.)
CogitoErgoSum says
Trump won and he’s the President. I don’t see any better alternative to him right now. I was not a big fan of his at first but I still voted for him mainly because I did not want the Democrats to control appointments to the Supreme Court for the next 4 to 8 years. I have to admit I also voted for Trump because I had had enough of political correctness and all the hypocrisy. Trump is not polished in the way he talks but he tells it the way it is. I prefer that to the more devious lies that come from the mouths of the Democrats – who should really call themselves Democratic Socialists (You see. The Democrats can’t even be honest with America about the name of their party).
Walter Sieruk says
When Obama was in the Office of President, he was the one who actually should have had been in impeached.
For example In the book written by the scholar on Islam and Islamic terrorism Jamie Glazov , which has the title of JIHADIST PSYCHOPATH on page 9, the reader is informed that “America’s suicidal disposition in the terror war reached a crisis level under Obama when American officials actually started seeking advice and direction from precisely those forces seeking to destroy the country …With Obama in the White House , therefore ,the enemy was in effect , advising Americans and formulating their policy on how to promote their cause.”
This is an absurdly of madness. This reveals the Obama was, as President, far worse than grossly incompetent, Obama was traitorous to both the American people a as well as to the United State of America. Obama was therefore an affront and disgrace to the office of Chief Executive in the White House
Therefore, the former President Obama in his Islamic subversion of America is not even limited to being a traitor to The USA but in his insidious he way and is dangerous to all the other nations of the West.
CogitoErgoSum says
I am in full agreement with you, Walter.
James Lincoln says
Walter Sieruk says,
“…Obama was, as President, far worse than grossly incompetent, Obama was traitorous to both the American people a as well as to the United State of America.”
100% correct, few knew it at the time…
Idol and Icon says
All this boo hooing is merely a prelude to President Trump’s re election. We need leaders like Trump. I hope he’s in office for as many terms as is necessary to rid America of all its jihadis, violent vandals, and so on. BLM must be stamped out, Islam must be stamped out.