It’s all about ego for these people.
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If it’s not $100M to pay off old fines for ex-cons to be able to vote thanks to the rigged judiciary, I really don’t give a shit.
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You think stop and frisk Mike is going to help ex-cons?
I agree that would be the best use of his money.
Of course it is. If you have billions of dollars then you have way more than you’ll ever need. All the money over your first several million is just keeping score and bullying.
I see your Williamson and Delaney, and raise you Tulsi Gabbard.
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There was an article I read yesterday, maybe WAPO, about how this was basically impossible. It’s not even about the money. There are already groups trying to pay off these fines, but there’s no central repository anywhere of fines owed. The amount of legwork required to go to all teh courthouses to research all the possible fines owed by everyone is insanity. There’s no way for the individuals to even find out all the fines they owe unless they go to all the courthouses and ask them to look it up. If this project had started 4 years ago an had a staff of a hundred people doing nothing but this all day every day, maybe. But in 50 days? No way.
I hope you’re right, but I genuinely believe that a second trump term means exactly this. While it’s generally true that stoking fear is an elite electoral strategy and we need to be humble re: our potential vulnerability to manipulation, there are still a number of reasons why this election is uniquely high-risk.
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Trump is legitimately, inarguably a monster. I don’t need political ads to tell me this. Every time I read his twitter or watch him speak, it’s abundantly clear that Trump is a broken-brained narcissist who needs power/status and views opposition as a mortal sin. Trump will burn the country to the ground if he believes it is necessary to secure his power.
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Trump (and many from the GOP) have crossed enough lines already that they have legitimate fears of imprisonment should they lose. At this point, the only way (at least, from their perception) for Trump, Bannon, Manafort, Stone, Giuliani, etc. to avoid jail is to win. And the fact that all of these people have engaged in treason is actually evidence of their strategy. They are committing crimes in order to win, with the expectation that winning is the what will save them. It only gets worse from here.
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Fascist entrenchment tends to accelerate over time. The more norms and institutions you sabotage, the easier it becomes to sabotage the next one. Trump is clearly on this path. Remember the days when his tweets were actually pretending to be presidential, and we had the luxury of freaking out over things that changed only monthly? Trump spent the first 1-2 years of his presidency at least pretending to occasionally be a functioning adult. Now he is sabotaging the economy, spreading deadly misinformation, destroying services (e.g., post office) that are essential to basic community functioning, and essentially calling for a civil war 3-4x/day. I expect he’ll do more damage to our long-term democracy in the first two years of his reelection than in the four years up to this point.
For me, it comes down to this: This is not a normal election, where GW Bush - despite himself being a catastrophic moron - can count on riding off into a post-presidential sunset of adoration and legacy-rewriting. We are facing a horrific narcissist with his back against the wall. He will shoot us all, on Fifth Avenue, if he has to. And 30% of the country will cheer him on. Because we’re anti-fascist terrorists. He told them so.
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So then why don’t they just go ahead and vote? If it’s impossible to tell whether they’ve paid their fines, seems like that’s the obvious play.
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It’s probably a crime, maybe a serious one. Sure, it’s a tiny chance you get sent back to prison, but the benefit is you get to vote? And, man, what a system! Are you committing voter fraud? Do a month’s research and you might be able to find out.
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My understanding was that the state can see that they owe money but can’t see the exact amount easily. So voting would be a crime, and they can’t pay their poll tax beforehand even if they want to because they aren’t given an amount.
The GOP is evil, and they are damn good at it.
This is a narrative I don’t believe anymore.
The dems don’t care about relief either. It’s that simple.
Why not both?
The key to good communication is communicating to people that you deeply care about the issue you are talking about. When Chuck and Nancy “communicate” they are just dispassionately spitting out talking points and at best feigning emotion. If they ever did truly give a shit… those days are long gone.
Why Trump is so good at communicating racism, conspiracies and Fox News talking point, he lives for that shit.
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Oops yeah I forgot about Tulsi. I had him ahead of her too.
Not true imo. They’re fighting the way they have to in the House, perhaps they’re not engaging in a messaging war because they’re afraid to lose it, which is pretty dumb.
@microbet I’m in on the bet that a democrat is elected in 2024. with a 6-3, or 7-2 majority Trump pawns his EO will be law straight up. No way he’s going to want democrats to come after him to dig up dirt. Even civil cases.
The riggage will be off the charts; Shit like seizing voting machines etc will be a lock. Voter suppression will be insane. Repeal of all voter rights.
I’ll let you lay out the details and I’ll book, but I really, really hope it doesn’t come to that and if it does I’ll root for you super hard.
Clovis got all my action. I’m poor. I can probably get other people I know to take action, but that might require escrow.
Honestly I don’t have interest in making money off of it, but put it out there since you suggested it and didn’t want to look like I wouldn’t put my money where my mouth is.
Like I truly believe we’re fucked if this happens, but I’m not looking for angles to make money off of it.
Wait up. I’m confused. My bet with Clovis is about the Joe Biden defense budget.
Ok, I will take this bet with you. This bet only counts if Trump wins this election and then it’s a 4 year bet.
In consideration of the long term of this bet, I suggest we just keep it small so that when we inevitably forget about it and maybe one of us isn’t even posting here by then it won’t really matter.
My $15 to your $45? (If Trump wins 2020 and a Dem wins 2024, I win. If Trump wins 2020 and a Dem does not win 2024, you win.)
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I think they can tell they owe fines when they try to register and it gets denied. They just don’t have specifics as to what the fines are, how much they owe, and where to. It’s basically binary. Also it’s apparently a crime in Florida to attempt to vote when you are not eligible to do so.
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Yeah, it’s this.