How worried about the election are you?

[Gergar12]

The problem with Fauci being fired by Trump is that half the country won't want to take the vaccine, and if Trump fires Fauci no one will know who to trust for a relativity unbiased assessment of the vaccine which could prolong the pandemic.

We are so screwed.

 

[Dalisclock]

I have been so disgusted with Trump's handling of the COVID-19 crisis that I have decided not to vote for him.
I live in a red state, so I'm not thinking it really matters. But I refuse to add my vote to giving him a mandate if he wins, or an excuse to contest the election if he loses.

Blue state here. Who I vote for president doesn't matter at all, really and we have 7 measly EC votes anyway so it's not like we'd be much of a prize if it was a swing/purple state.

The election is gonna be decided by other like half a dozen states I've never lived in(though I was born in Pennsylvania).There's always the down ballot races, so the ballot isn't completely useless.

 

[Gergar12]

September; Let's see I already asked to volunteer at my local polling place(got rejected)

October; Voted straight D on an absentee ballot(I never told you guys this, but I was furious with Trump that day or maybe it's a habit, but I vote for the democratic candidate for president and boycotted local republican candidates even when they were the only people running)

November 2nd: Freaked out having seen Dr. Fauci likely to be fired like Mattis after the election

Twitter; told people to vote

Facebook; same

I even told people to vote at my college carmen website

Reddit; Pointless as it's a hivemind

ActBlue; Rushed a 46 dollar donation for Neoliberal Satan, I mean that guy that likes trains.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

As a general rule I don't worry about things I don't control.

Plan for, sure

 

[Shadyside]

I generally assumed Dr. Fauci was untouchable.

lol no. Donald has been butting heads with Fauci since the beginning. I am actually surprised he didn't fire him months ago.

 

[Thaluikhain]

lol no. Donald has been butting heads with Fauci since the beginning. I am actually surprised he didn't fire him months ago.

Yeah, bit odd he's not been fired yet, but also a weird time to announce maybe doing it, surely?

 

[stroopwafel]

Yeah, bit odd he's not been fired yet, but also a weird time to announce maybe doing it, surely?

It most likely just wasn't opportune to fire Fauci given that he's a public darling. With a new term Trump will probably drop him like a hot potato.

 

[Shadyside]

The problem with Fauci being fired by Trump is that half the country won't want to take the vaccine, and if Trump fires Fauci no one will know who to trust for a relativity unbiased assessment of the vaccine which could prolong the pandemic.

We are so screwed.

People weren't going to take the vaccine regardless if Fauci was there or not.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Just don't allow the polls to install a sense of complacency towards voting this time plz.

 

[SilentPony]

It most likely just wasn't opportune to fire Fauci given that he's a public darling. With a new term Trump will probably drop him like a hot potato.

Probably because Trump doesn't have the authority to fire Fauci. He's a career civil servant, not a political appointee. He doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president and he's protected by law from political retaliation. If Trump wants Fauci fired he'll have to appeal to his boss, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and show Fauci has acted in bad-faith, which would require an administrative law judge to rule in Trump's favor.
Even if an administrative law judge agreed that Fauci had acted inappropriately, Fauci could appeal that decision before the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal body that Trump has let languish without enough appointees to establish a quorum and is sitting on a massive backlog of cases.

In short its not happening and Trump isn't smart enough to know why not.

 

[stroopwafel]

People weren't going to take the vaccine regardless if Fauci was there or not.

With coronavirus in particular there is no point for people below sixty without severe health issues. At best you might be immunized for 40% for a virus with marginal risk of complications for this group but with risk of potential lethal side-effects of the vaccine for no reason at all, other than to take another shot six months later. It's really pointless risk. Now for people in the risk group(ie oldies, fatties, immunocompromised etc) it's ofcourse another story.

 

[stroopwafel]

Probably because Trump doesn't have the authority to fire Fauci. He's a career civil servant, not a political appointee. He doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president and he's protected by law from political retaliation. If Trump wants Fauci fired he'll have to appeal to his boss, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, and show Fauci has acted in bad-faith, which would require an administrative law judge to rule in Trump's favor.
Even if an administrative law judge agreed that Fauci had acted inappropriately, Fauci could appeal that decision before the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal body that Trump has let languish without enough appointees to establish a quorum and is sitting on a massive backlog of cases.

In short its not happening and Trump isn't smart enough to know why not.

I'm sure there is some exception protocol with a spoiled working relationship. And if not if Trump simply hires a different adviser he would render Fauci irrelevant even if he's still symbolically the one in charge.

 

[SilentPony]

I'm sure there is some exception protocol with a spoiled working relationship. And if not if Trump simply hires a different adviser he would render Fauci irrelevant even if he's still symbolically the one in charge.

Maybe, but I doubt it would hold up in court. The thing Trump never understood is the Government isn't a business and the employees work for the Government and the people, not Trump personally. He can't just go around firing random employees he doesn't like. He's not the CEO of America.

 

[stroopwafel]

Maybe, but I doubt it would hold up in court. The thing Trump never understood is the Government isn't a business and the employees work for the Government and the people, not Trump personally. He can't just go around firing random employees he doesn't like. He's not the CEO of America.

If Trump is re-elected and wants Fauci gone so will his cronies and the Republican party and Fauci doesn't strike me like a particular bureaucratic infighter that can turn that tide. Espescially not when they are put beyond the fact like is usual with Trump. At the least Trump has a keen sense of people so it wouldn't surprise me he would push such a decision until after the election.

 

[Agema]

If Trump is re-elected and wants Fauci gone so will his cronies and the Republican party and Fauci doesn't strike me like a particular bureaucratic infighter that can turn that tide.

If Trump is re-elected, no-one has any power over Trump at all. He's not got an election to win in four year's time, he doesn't give a damn about the Republican Congress or the reputation of the Republicans for whoever stands in 2024, he is going to tear shit up to his heart's content as everyone looks on with about as much effectiveness as a sad face emoji. He will, admittedly, be limited by only controlling the executive, but there's still plenty of stuff he can smash up with that.

 

[Iron]

It probably won't matter, because Wall Street will prefer the same as what had been in place since 1982.

I feel like ever since 2012 and Occupy this nightmarish divide and conquer critical race theory garbage had been pushed to distract people from the banker's misdeeds.

 

[Agema]

I feel like ever since 2012 and Occupy this nightmarish divide and conquer critical race theory garbage had been pushed to distract people from the banker's misdeeds.

Quite possibly, yes.

It's long theorised that the interest in keeping people talking about social issues is that those people talk a lot less about who's got all the money and what they're doing with it. But that's nothing on the new tactic.

We've now got to the point where an administration that has spent four years handing bits of the USA to big business, deregulating, reducing corporate taxes, taking corporate lobbying money, boasting about how much Wall Street loves it... that administration tells us that the opposition are sell-outs to the corporate elites.

It's hilarious, isn't it?

Apparently all you need to do to get the anti-corporate vote is say you're against big business. You don't actually need to do anything against big business, because those voters don't even check to see whether you've done it. Granted, in about another ten years the voters will finally twig like they always do, but by then there'll be another three-headed monkey to distract them with.

 

[Iron]

Quite possibly, yes.

It's long theorised that the interest in keeping people talking about social issues is that those people talk a lot less about who's got all the money and what they're doing with it. But that's nothing on the new tactic.

We've now got to the point where an administration that has spent four years handing bits of the USA to big business, deregulating, reducing corporate taxes, taking corporate lobbying money, boasting about how much Wall Street loves it... that administration tells us that the opposition are sell-outs to the corporate elites.

It's hilarious, isn't it?

Apparently all you need to do to get the anti-corporate vote is say you're against big business. You don't actually need to do anything against big business, because those voters don't even check to see whether you've done it. Granted, in about another ten years the voters will finally twig like they always do, but by then there'll be another three-headed monkey to distract them with.

There is legitimately nothing you can do against this unless you have all three branches of government on your side. That's assuming you have the will, which I think you believe Trump doesn't.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm only worried about people's reactions to the election. I'm very much nonpartisan (liberal, but not aligning based on party lines alone,) but that was typical of me during the years when "normal" presidents toed the line between milquetoast pandering and the occasional jab at the "other." Trump, however, has been a different beast. I've never seen someone so overtly stoke the flames of people's basest, most selfish and entitled desires they'd have never dared to voice in civil company, and then get away with it without repercussion time and time and time again. I'd call him a walking joke, a caricature of everything wrong with American politics, but then, I see my neighbors and all the "Trump/Pence 2020" signs, those who support him not because of his policies (because honestly, what ARE they outside of "great," wonderful" and "fantastic?") but because his actions and behavior empower them to act similarly and be the disgusting human beings they feel they can be because the highest seat of power in our nation has given them the green flag disguised as a right.

I won't go so far as to say I'm scared, but the ignorant Trump masses have been encouraged to be just that, and they concern me; if they don't get their way over the next few days, I can't see them walking anything back, but I CAN see them walking forward and doubling down on the something being taken from them that they feel they deserve and have "earned." I'm worried that Trump has divide our nation beyond fatigued disaffectedness and what some will do if they don't get to enjoy another 4 years of this orange megalomanic to nurture their once restrained hatred, bigotry and entitlement. Will a Trump loss be the call to arms for those the 2nd amendment empowers to rise up against an oppressive and unjust government? And can any of those who might feel that way appreciate the irony given the history of our nation literally founded on the backs of those who were beaten down and silenced in lieu of their privilege?

I really just want it to be over. I want Trump out, but if he wins, fine; I made it this far; what's four more years of his inanity? (I know, that's a very dismissive statement given the potential fallout from a country already at the brink, but when you're numb to the pain, whats another lash or two?) Perhaps given his tacit lame duck status, those around him can rein in his more ludicrous decrees and limit his actions/nonactions in an attempt to salvage some legitimacy he'll not be accountable for in future elections. If he loses, great; maybe we can try and salvage whatever might remain of American decency and get behind someone who at they very least (but most importantly at the very most) is NOT Trump, someone grounded in civility and cooperation, even if he's not the best man for the job; I'll take yet another vanilla, old white guy over the orange radical we have now any day of the week, month, year, decade or a lifetime.

 

[ObsidianJones]

I really just want it to be over. I want Trump out, but if he wins, fine; I made it this far; what's four more years of his inanity? (I know, that's a very dismissive statement given the potential fallout from a country already at the brink, but when you're numb to the pain, whats another lash or two?) Perhaps given his tacit lame duck status, those around him can rein in his more ludicrous decrees and limit his actions/nonactions in an attempt to salvage some legitimacy he'll not be accountable for in future elections. If he loses, great; maybe we can try and salvage whatever might remain of American decency and get behind someone who at they very least (but most importantly at the very most) is NOT Trump, someone grounded in civility and cooperation, even if he's not the best man for the job; I'll take yet another vanilla, old white guy over the orange radical we have now any day of the week, month, year, decade or a lifetime.

What's Four More Years of Trump?

This is a perfect example


Not to you, X who will give it to you Impartially, But this is the issue once again. The Right is afraid of Socialism. The Left sees crap like this happen and the people who are supposed to enforce Law allowing it to occur. The Left isn't afraid of what might supposedly will happen if Trump remains in office. This happened yesterday. It will get worse if Trump wins.