Of course, the GOP believes in turn that the Democrats staged a coup from the moment of Trump's election in 2016, about which they would be right. On the other hand, the GOP did everything possible to remove Bill Clinton from office, in part as payback for the removal of Nixon. And Bush's victory in the Supreme Court can also be viewed as coup. So there is a long history to this inter-party feud.
Complicating the matter is the rank and file of both parties has become so politicized that they demand extreme measures from their leaders, even if anti-democratic. Sop view much of what is now happening on the political stage in the US as posturing for the base.
In any event, the losing side will not accept the legitimacy of the election.
Banana republic?
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Meanwhile we all, as bystanders, will have to up our popcorn supplies to sustain the next two month.Amen, bro.
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6 comments:
Coups involve someone being assassinated. This is the US, after all.
Tom, there is actually substantial evidence of Democrat electoral fraud, for instance in Wayne County (where there was electoral fraud in 2016 too) and in Pennsylvania and in Georgia. Of course, this is the Republicans, so pot-kettle, but if there are indeed thousands of affidavits of electoral fraud, then all the US and international media covering this should acknowledge this, and so should posters here.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2020/11/11/white-house-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenany-files-evidence-of-election-fraud/
Marian , Tom has to be on the DNC payroll... HAS TO BE.... I’ve been saying this for quite some time....
If Tom were on DNC payola, he'd have pushed Russiagate.
@ Marian
To the best of my knowledge, the evidence is not yet clear regarding voter fraud. Or voter suppression. There are charges and counter-charges on both side.
Lawsuits are in process and it will be up to the courts to decide what's actionable.
The question is not whether there was any fraud. There is always some fraud in elections, which is why some are calling for paper ballots and fraud-proof counting. Moreover, there is always some sort of voter suppression, some of which is "legal."
The more important question though is whether this was sufficient to influence the election. This is what courts are going to be particularly interested in establishing based on evidence. I have no idea how that is going to go, but from the experts I am reading, the effect was insufficient to make a difference in the outcome.
What is particularly interesting in my view is the systemic effects of this socially, politically and economically, since all three are mutually reinforcing. The US is now engaged in a low grade civil war, which has important implications not only for the US but also the world owing to the outsized influence of the US globally.
For example, both sides are now convinced based on similar narratives that the other side mounted a coup. Moreover the diehards on both sides have taken thread of potential evidence and spun this into conspiracy theory. People that I regard as pretty smart and informed, or at least used to, are caught up in the emotion of this, too.
Why is this significant for an economics blog? or one thing, social and political divisiveness increases uncertainty, and uncertainty increases volatility and makes planning difficult. It also complicated international relations and affects trade relations. There is no way to disentangle politics, which is about power, from economics, which is about who owns controls what resources. There is always a conflict over "scarce resources" (everything that is not a free good that cannot be capitalized in a capitalist system).
I don't have a horse this race. US politics is dominated by two parties, both representing elite factions struggling for power and control. These competing elites only need "the little people" (Alan Simpson) to provide the cover of votes so they can dress up an oligarchy, a plutonomy to be specific, as a liberal democracy ("government of, by and for the people").
Moreover, they are largely in agreement over foreign policy. The difference lately has been that Trump preferred economic warfare to military engagement (which is costly and unpopular), whereas a major cohort of the establishment favors military intervention (which they see as more effective on one hand and teaching a lesson on the other ("shock and awe"). But the goal is the same — permanent US global hegemony, which means essentially US corporate dominance. Thus, the ongoing war of "capitalism" against "socialism."
There was no coup. Not in 2016, not during Trump's reign, and not now.
There is no civil war. Low grade, or otherwise.
People that I regard as pretty smart and informed, or at least used to, are caught up in the emotion of this, too.
Look in the mirror.
As a practical matter, gathering enough evidence to overturn the results is highly unlikely. Trump is out, Biden is in. The end.
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