David Brooks: Republicans have been slaughtered

[question everything]

From today's PBS NewsHour

David Brooks:

Just to underline something Mark said, a lot of Democrats, I think, and I spoke to this week, think that Trump will win.

I just don't — look at the evidence, and I do not see that. The former Republican political consultant Mike Murphy said, there have been some like 20 or 300 elections, local — state and local elections, since Trump took over, and Republicans have been slaughtered in almost all of them.

So why do we think, when he's losing by 7, 8 percentage points to almost every potential Democratic nominee — so I don't quite understand the sense of pessimism on the Democratic Party or the strength of that argument that they're only doing it to…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/shields-and-brooks-on-trumps-impeachment-reaction-democratic-debate

[Girard442]

1. Maybe Dave, it's because Moscow Mitch and the Senate are about to greenlight unlimited ratf***ing.

[spanone]

10. ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧⇧ ⇧

YEP

[mountain grammy]

17. Agree!

[unitedwethrive]

20. Yup...in 2016 the polls had him behind as well, but Putin (and Comey) went to work and

we all know how that turned out.

[blm]

2. I think it's being spread deliberately by some to instill a fear

that no one can beat Trump except one candidate. Those insiders have the ear of the media.

[TheBlackAdder]

22. Nothing stokes Evangelical passion like mentioning they're being slaughtered right before Christmas.

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Democrats can't afford to let up until they drag that amoral pig from the WH.

[lastlib]

31. ...AND her POTUS husband!

I wouldn't compare him to a pig, tho--pigs are much cleaner, actually. And SMARTER!

[42bambi]

4. Spread the fear of a potential loss, which

should keep us on alert to be sure to VOTE.

[ck4829]

25. Yep

[Skittles]

5. Trump and his bootlicking fans know Putin has his back

[maxrandb]

6. Maybe it's because 2 of the last 3 Presidents won with a minority of the vote

"Coincidentally"...both of them were from the asshat Retrumplican Party.

Democrats might be just a little pissed and a little pessimistic.

I'm wondering what the fuck Democrats have to do to win.

It's been like a football team scoring more points than another team, and then having to watch the team with the fewest points hoist the super bowl trophy.

Funny how that shit always seems to only work for Retrumplicans.

Think about that. 2 of the last 3 Presidents entered office with a minority of the vote . Let's talk about "pessimism" AFTER it happens just ONE time to the Retrumplicans. The fucking whining and gnashing of teeth would be heard from outer space...but, Democrats are expected to just "suck it up".

I mean, it's not like the guy is fucking commander in chief of the entire power of our military, appoints judges for life that impact our entire lives for generations, runs the largest and most powerful law enforcement apparatus in the world, and represents our country on the world stage. I guess it's no big deal that a majority of Americans wanted someone else.

Hell, you shouldn't be wondering why Democrats are pessimistic... you should be wondering why there's not armed revolt!

[Crunchy Frog]

8. +1000.

[captain queeg]

9. What do you suppose the reaction would be if next election the Dems win the electoral college

But Trump wins the popular vote? The rethugs would get whiplash from changing their tune so suddenly.

[Crunchy Frog]

11. They'd launch a civil war at us.

[democrattotheend]

21. In 2012, many Republicans (including Trump) feared that would happen

For a very brief moment, I even considered voting for Romney in my very blue state, because I figured if Obama won the electoral college but lost the popular vote, maybe there would finally be bipartisan support for ending the electoral college, since Democrats were still bitter over Bush v. Gore. I quickly came to my senses, because I knew that as the first black president Obama already had enough people challenging his legitimacy despite winning a clear majority in both the popular and electoral vote, and besides, I didn't want to give up my third and last opportunity to vote for him.

[exboyfil]

30. Trump even challenged the Electoral college

By Tweet based upon early returns. He wanted Romney to fight it.

[Pope George Ringo II]

13. Technically, it's 3 of the last 4 who didn't win a majority.

Clinton only got 43% of the popular vote in 1992 to beat Bush., and let's be clear that he did win by nearly 6 million votes. I'd actually argue that a plurality of the popular vote is the preferred method within the American system, so I certainly won't complain about the only genuinely legitimate one of the three----other than the obvious Electoral College detour being useless even at the best of times--but I can't call a plurality a majority.

The 1992 election percentages don't contribute to an argument against legitimacy like the other two do, but they do suggest Americans are really confused about what they want in a President. That confusion may be clouding the argument on the legitimacy raised by the Bush and Trump "wins."

[Beartracks]

19. Shit, Republicans whine and kvetch even when they straight up lose with a *minority* of the vote!

They COULD.NOT.STOP belittling, ridiculing, minimizing, delegitimizing, and obstructing President Obama, who won with a clear majority of the votes.

========

[Cha]

7. KR!

[mn9driver]

12. Trump can lose by 5,000,000 votes and still win.

His campaign already has $500,000,000. This is going to be one hell of an ugly election.

[edhopper]

33. This

Between an electoral college that favors Republicans and voter suppression by the GOP, he can steal the election again, and we know it.

[doc03]

14. The impeachment will be out of the news in a few weeks. I fear things

change in his favor after that.

[BadgerMom]

15. K & R

We have to work as though we might lose, yet not lose hope. GOTV!

[IronLionZion]

16. Great, let's slaughter the Senate too

and governors and state legislatures and local elections too so we can have a more level playing field to stop voter suppression efforts and gerrymandering.

We need the Senate to pass the House's bills or to convict (automatic removal) of an impeached president. Our next president is going to have an epic mess to clean up, just like Obama had to clean up W's miserable failures.

[AlexSFCA]

18. it's called electoral college

the only polls that matter in 2020 election are those in PA, MI, WI, OH, FL and AZ. The rest is noise. I believe trump will win in 2020 and lost popular vote by even larger margin that last time. There is still time to change it, we need to have the best ticket possible and have innovative campaign, entirely new way of messaging. And most importantly, focus ONLY on those states. Don’t come to CA, ask Bloomberg for 10B. Stay away from Sanders and Warren who can never compete with 100+ billion pumping into trump campaign from all over the world, not to mention upcoming military grade disinformation campaign. This time not just from Russia.
BS is going around endorsing freakshos like cenk and tulsi. Bottomline we will need a warchest of money to maintain the narrative.

[MineralMan]

23. Frankly, it's better if we think Republicans can win. That will help us turn out

more voters come November. We may need as many voters as possible if the Republicans try to subvert the elections, which is very possible in some states.

Keep up the GOTV efforts!

[ck4829]

24. K&R

[DinahMoeHum]

26. Excuse my Latin, but: GOPus Delendus Est

The GOP Must. Be. Destroyed.

[Recursion]

28. Salve, Cato!

Magna veteris pars delenda est!

[Recursion]

27. Yeah. I keep hearing that about BJP and the Tories, too

And yet it keeps not actually happening.

[DFW]

29. In today's America, it is not enough to win or have a majority

You have to win the counting, too.

Stalin is supposed to have said:
Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decides everything.

On Election day, 2004, a Republican at the White House said on tape:
We won. It's all over but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting.

Whether it's Jeb Bush's girlfriend "finding" enough votes for Bush in Florida in 2000, Ken Blackwell "finding" enough votes for Bush in Ohio in 2004, or Scott Walker's lady friend "finding" enough votes in Waukesha county, or Republican-programmed computers "finding" enough votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania for Trump in 2016, despite all indications to the contrary--it is not even a secret that Republicans cheat. The only thing that is a secret is what new method they will find to use next year. There is no doubt on either side that they will do it.

Republican electoral fraud has become a big game of "Catch Me If You Can," and so far, the Democratic answer has been "no, we can't." Figuring out what they did they did a month after the election has been conceded has not been of great help to us in the last 18 years, and we can't continue to count on massive, fraud-proof majorities to put us over the top every time.

Some elections WILL be close, and those are the ones where they will continue to score "surprise upset victories" until we either say ENOUGH! or are wiped out ourselves.

A nice start would be a ten year mandatory jail sentence for EVERY ACT of electoral fraud, whether it is throwing away voter registrations for Democrats, deliberate repression of voting rights or re-programming vote-counting machines. A few Republican operatives, maybe accompanied by a couple of Russian "guests," suddenly serving life sentences should get the message across.

[Renew Deal]

32. A reliable D said it to me yesterday

Not sure where it can from. She said the current pack of candidates is not strong enough, except for Buttigieg, but she didn’t think America was ready for a gay president.

I think that she’s right about Biden, Warren, and Sanders. That’s why Bloomberg chose to run. He sees it too.