The 2020 Presidential General Election thread

Jo picked the wrong year to run for president.

Just once I'd like to see the LP crack 5% so they can be on the debate stage.

I thought Johnson might get there four years ago, but he didn't.

Also, dumb pet peeve of mine, but it would technically be an autocoup, not a coup, since it would be the current regime illegally maintaining control of, not taking over, the government.

Which told me all I needed to know about the current LP’s chances. Johnson was the best candidate they had had and likely will have for a long time and the electorate had never been as primed to say no to both two party candidates and still....

The rats are abandoning the USS Insanity. I wonder if for good or if they'll return for more in case Biden really makes it today.

I would have wished for a total blue wave today. Stop, stop, before you start crying: I think Trump has destroyed so much, created so much chaos that cleaning up will require the better part of the two years until the midterms. There is absolutely no time for partisan politics right now when it comes to some major problems. Think Covid-19, think the climate catastrophe, things like that. There is a whole portfolio of stuff that must be dealt with right fucking NOW. Without the political 'enemy' blocking every move.

Once cleanup on aisle 2 is done, midterms arrive. I have a theory that we'll have a President Harris until then (Biden cleans up mess, then steps down so she can go for the reforms that require a younger brain). Of course the president's party loses, equilibrium again.

I have no doubt that both the Democrats and Republicans will continue to put up more shitty choices for the foreseeable future.

Wow! What a bold prediction by you. No one's ever thought that before. You're wasting your undeniable talents here

Why do you think that would get them on the debate stage?

Michigan!!!

Fox News is all but saying Biden will win.

https://www.foxnews.com/elections/2020/general-results

"Sir, this is a Wendy's..."

Love his shirt though

It's my understanding that that's the threshold they have to cross to be allowed in the debates.

Sadly, that's representative of about 40% of Americans right there.

Fuck yeah!

I love the other guy after the rant. "Where were we?"

That gets them Federal matching funds for their nominee in the next Presidential election.

I'd love to see the LP on a national debate stage. It would help clear up things for anyone stupid enough to consider becoming a Libertarian.

That may happen when the LP puts up a credible candidate. Justin Amash would be the best candidate they've put up in my lifetime. No way would I vote for him, but I will say he is not crazy and he is able to articulate a clear vision of what he stands for. That's a hell of a lot better than a lot candidates from any party have been doing in the last run of elections.

Imagine if you will, the Republicans having a spine and impeaching Trump when they had the chance. Does Pence/? look like a sane enough ticket that he beats Biden, given these numbers with Trump?

I mean, every year is the wrong year to run for president as a Libertarian candidate.

Nah, Trump has a twisted sort of fake macho charisma that inspires people. He's "fun." Pence doesn't have even a fraction of that energy.

Face the Bitter Truth
We are two countries, and neither of them is going to be conquered or disappear anytime soon.

How fucked up are white people (mostly, finger pointing at Latinos aside) in this country?

The looked this dumpster fire president perpetrate pure evil, unprecedented corruption, and open attacks on the very foundations of democracy in an attempt to solidify one-party autocracy and so far around four million MORE of them said "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

It's deeply depressing. 30-40 years from now we could (apart from a radically altered climate) be in a good place, IF we survive the next 10-12 years which is not even slightly certain.

No, that gets them federal matching funds, if they limit their spending to ~$50 million (that might be from several cycles ago, and might be inflation-adjusted). Debate stage is 100% about current polling, not previous election results. It's thousands of times more effective to tell a pollster that you'll vote for the LP candidate than it is to actually vote for them.

the problem with this solution, as Sarah Kendzior points out, is that dissolusion of the union gives Putin the ultimate win in his top goal (he still resents what happened to the Soviet Union.

The only way I see this working without leaving a power vacuum is if the West Coast and Northeast merge with Canada. But that aside, the geography simply doesn't work. The Blue states have millions of Trumpers and vice versa.