David Weigel of the Washington Post answers questions that readers have asked:
In the old world, the one we lived in before the coronavirus, this would be primary day in Puerto Rico. A few days earlier, Joe Biden would have probably won Georgia and announced an “insurmountable delegate lead” over Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump would be holding rally after rally, flying into swing states to prove the enthusiasm gap between him and the Democrats.
That world doesn’t exist anymore, so it’s a good time to answer some questions from readers and subscribers. Many of them still had questions about the primary, which is not over, although no delegate lead as large as Joe Biden’s has ever been overcome by a challenger. A few had questions about how elections will go forward during a pandemic, something that has not happened since 1918. Luckily, most of the questions people have about this election have answers.
Bob asks: “Does the administration have the legal right to postpone an election due to this pandemic?”
This was a very popular question and, luckily, pretty easy to answer. Primary elections are run by state governments and in some cases, state parties, and they can be moved rather easily. But the federal election, while administered by state governments, has its date set by federal law. It would take a bipartisan act of Congress to change the date — possible, but not likely. It would take an amendment to the Constitution to delay the inauguration of whoever wins the 2020 election — possible, and even less likely.
But the short answer is no: The Trump administration cannot postpone an election all by itself. The circumstances that would get people thinking about that might be a second coronavirus outbreak in October. But we have six months before early voting gets underway in key states, and there is time for states to come up with contingency voting plans. Could they fritter that time away and fail to fund it? Could some states put comprehensive vote-by-mail in place while other states don’t? Yes and yes.
Debbie asks: “What happens to delegates of candidates who won them and later dropped out? Warren has not supported either Biden nor Sanders. Does she still hold on to the delegates she won? Or can she choose where they go?”
It’s complicated, and it’s one reason that the delegate counts you see collected by media outlets can diverge so much. While 3,979 delegates are being allocated by voters in primaries and caucuses, most state parties select the actual delegates — the people who will represent the candidate at the party’s convention — after the voting is over. In Iowa, for example, five candidates got delegates, but only two of them remain in the race. When activists meet at their local conventions, they will elect the actual flesh-and-blood humans who will represent Biden and Sanders and delegates.
In most states, this will be a boon for Sanders. Every candidate who has quit the race has endorsed Biden, except for Elizabeth Warren. Had they remained active candidates they could have released those delegates to Biden at the convention. Instead, their departure changes the math for selecting delegates; in the nine states where candidates besides Biden and Sanders won delegates, the local conventions will base their selection on the two-way vote between Sanders and Biden instead.
Rob asks: “Is there any possibility that Andrew Cuomo could emerge as a draft candidate for the Democratic ticket?”
Outside Twitter, no, there is not any organized effort to give the nomination to New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The primacy of New York in American media, and in the outbreaks so far, has clearly given Cuomo the best coverage of his career. Even the glow around his push for same-sex marriage in New York state was dimmer than this. Other Democratic governors have impressed voters with their pandemic response, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, but Cuomo is clearly the star.
Still, let’s be honest: The “draft somebody else” question is less about Cuomo in particular than about the worries surrounding potential Democratic nominees who would turn 80 in their first terms.
Were Biden or Sanders to leave the race now, the remaining candidate would secure almost all remaining delegates and have enough to win the nomination on the first ballot of a convention. If that candidate became unable to serve, delegates would be free to select someone else, and it would not matter whether that person had run in the primary. Were both candidates to continue, but the candidate with the most delegates became unable to serve, it would be up to those delegates to decide whether to nominate someone new, or whether to walk over and nominate the runner-up.
On their current trajectory, Democrats are not heading for a contested convention; that is, one of their remaining candidates should have enough delegates to win the nomination outright. And some of the “draft Cuomo” chatter has quieted as Biden has become more assertive, doing interviews from his studio.
If by “assertive” Mr. Weigel means that Biden has become more adept at lying while self-quarantining, I guess that’s true. https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/joe-biden-mainstream-media-lies-trust-reporting
I don’t see how we can pretend that Biden is or should be the presumptive nominee when it has just become clear that the man is a sexual perpetrator: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/03/tara-reade-tells-her-story
Not that you’ll hear about that in the mainstream “liberal” media – see first link above.
Poor Tara Reade. Does Vladimir Putin love her as much as she loves him? Remember, this is the guy who kills journalists, jails political opponents, and disappears anyone he doesn’t like:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190404032244/https:/medium.com/@shewrites94/bring-on-the-light-bf4e8c859058
Well, here we go again. Trump wins. If people don’t vote blue in November, in great numbers (while keeping a 6′ distance), we will have 4 more years of a hideous human being far worse than Biden by a far stretch. Remember how the puritanical hyper left ideologues said that they could not vote for Hillary because she was just as bad, nay, even worse than Trump. Deja vomit all over again.
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/tara-reade-joe-biden-me-too-bernie-sanders-feminism
THANK YOU, dienne77.
Biden and Sanders are both better qualified than Trump. I will vote blue no matter who.
Meanwhile, it’s disgraceful that Bernie supporters continue to spew attacks and lies about Biden. What purpose does that serve other than to help Trump.
If sexual propriety is your standard, would you have voted for FDR? JFK? I guess not.
But Nixon, I have heard, would be your kind of faithful guy.
OMG, Diane, it is NOT lies! It’s all documented! Biden has a long history of lying. He’s been credibly accused of sexual impropriety, including now sexual assault, he’s faithfully served the rich and the corporations – these are all FACTS. Read the articles I posted. Read the links in those articles. The evidence is undeniable. I thought Democrats were the ones who supported facts?
And, seriously, Diane, I’m not aware of JFK or FDR ever being accused of unwanted advances, including up to digital penetration. Is this okay with you? Or do you simply not believe the women making the accusations? To compare adultery to sexual harassment/assault is sickening, and you’re better than that.
I’m probably going to get myself thrown back into moderation for saying this, but, frankly, you remind me of a child with her fingers in her ears screaming “I can’t hear you!” I’m sorry the facts don’t fit your convenience, but the facts remain that Joe Biden is a vile, sexist, racist, neoliberal, anti-working class, lying, controlling sexual predator – very little different than the vile, sexist, racist, neoconservative, anti-working class, lying, controlling sexual predator currently in office, even if he is somewhat more “dignified” about it.
And what it serves is hopefully averting the nomination of the worst possible Democratic nominee possible. Joe Biden will get eaten alive by Donald Trump, thereby ensuring another four years of the man – is that what you want???
I can’t hear you, Dienne.
Biden was not my first choice but he is on track to be the Democrat nominee.
I will support him against Trump with all my energy.
Anything less is a vote for Trump, the worst president in American history. Only today he rolled back the federal fuel emission standards. That is a death sentence for many Americans, especially those with compromised lungs, like me, who are already at risk for coronavirus.
Who is Tara Reade, the woman who is making accusations against Biden? Not even the legal firm defending Harvey Weinstein’s victims would take her case. She has a credibility problem. And judging by what she wrote her in praise of one of the most villainous men in the world today, she has an intelligence problem as well:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190404032244/https:/medium.com/@shewrites94/bring-on-the-light-bf4e8c859058
There are many extremely valid reasons why Trump is unfit for office. He’s a serial liar, a sexual predator, he’s mentally impaired, he’s in the pocket of the rich and corporations, he’s completely unpredictable and embarrassing to the nation. All very true.
But how then is it acceptable to nominate an opposition candidate who has a long and documented history of lying (in fact, had to drop out of a previous race because of it), who has been accused by eight different women of sexual impropriety, including one accusation of outright sexual assault, who is clearly suffering from cognitive decline and can often not even complete a coherent sentence, who has faithfully represented the credit card industry and DuPont his entire career?
What practical, let alone moral, leg do Democrats have to stand on if we nominate a near-clone of the man we claim to loathe so much?
Why are Democrats uniting behind the worst possible candidate at a time when it couldn’t matter more for the very survival of our country? Biden can barely manage a livestream, and we think he can manage a pandemic? And please don’t talk to me about “character”. I don’t vote for rapists.
If you don’t vote in November, you help Trump.
Oh, I’ll vote, all right. Just not for a rapist. It saddens me that there is no bar low enough for the Democrats to stoop that makes them unpalatable to you. You’ll even support a lying sexual predator if it means getting rid of the current lying sexual predator.
I think the woman making accusations against Joe Biden is a liar.
If you plan to cast a third party vote, be sure that the person you vote for is pure as the driven snow.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190404032244/https:/medium.com/@shewrites94/bring-on-the-light-bf4e8c859058
I must say that given our recent history, the facts that Ms. Reade
a) just happens to have written public love letters to Vladimir Putin and
b) to have made calls for Americans to rethink everything they’ve ever heard about her beloved Russia
are both quite disturbing.
That Biden has had a history of being touchy reveals a vulnerability that can be exploited by just such a disinformation campaign/smear job of precisely the kind that Russian intelligence has perfected.
So, as I see it, on the one hand we have this extremely questionable allegation, in light of Ms. Reade’s Medium post, and on the other we have the clear and present danger of four more years of Donald Trump,
who has a history of predatory sexual behavior and of criminal money laundering for Russian mobsters,
who does the bidding of handlers in Moscow and has alienated or abandoned our allies,
who supports autocratic dictators around the globe,
who has sowed racial division throughout the body politic,
who has adopted the stances of the most extreme evangelicals as public policy,
who is trashing the environment,
who has stacked the federal bench and the Supreme Court with extremists who are quite likely to overturn Roe v. Wade,
and who called the Coronavirus pandemic the Democrats’ “new hoax” and delayed action until the virus was endemic in the U.S., which delay will cost hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of U.S. lives.
Blue no matter who.
Berniecrat ready to vote for Biden here. I’ll vote blue, no matter who. Thank goodness I don’t have to think about voting blue-mberg no matter whom-berg. “Vote blue, no matter who” is not exactly a rallying slogan, though. I would go with the campaign slogan, “Our best days still lie ahead,” instead. (Is that the campaign slogan? Really? That wasn’t already taken by a drug company? No? Okay, I guess that’s the campaign slogan.)
Thank you, LCT.
The federal government—every agency and department—has been crippled by Trump. He has purposely not filled key positions or filled them with people intent on destroying the agency. We are the laughing stock of the world. We must stay focused on what matters most. Reclaiming the government from Trump and his base.
I like “Vote Blue, No Matter Who”. You need to copyright that and make some money on bumper stickers and t-shirts if you wrote it.
No as good as the Edwards “Vote for the Crook, It’s Important” when he ran against David Duke for LA governor, but still very good and marketable.
Greg,
The expression did not originate with me.
My dear… Biden is not my choice. I wanted Warren, or Bernie, but Trump’s unbounded ignorance, plus his unstable, narcissistic, impulsive personality and his mobster habits, added to his enormous stupidity and cruel nature make him very, very dangerous. Trump must GO… we have a nation. heal from a disaster.
Terms like “liberal media outlets” are thrown around.
Election Day was established by Federal Law. To change the date both houses of Congress would have to pass the same bill and then be signed into law by the President. Can’t quite see the democratic controlled House agreeing to that. In addition the 20th Amendment to the Constitution established that the new Congress goes into effect on Jan 3 and Inauguration Day as a Jan 20th. So even if Congress changed the Federal Election Law the new election would have to be in time for Congress to go in effect on Jan 3 and the President inaugurated on Jan 20. Don’t see the the Constitution being changed either.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
In researching this topic last night. The answer is No. Trump and Pence’s terms expire Jan 20, 2021. There is nothing that can stop that. The election must go on as scheduled.
Thank you, drext727.
What happens if police departments around the nation and some governors, legislatures orchestrated mobs, and significant parts of the military decide to work together to support a president who will not recognize the results if they go against him? Certainly not as implausible as it seemed for most of American history.
Definitely not out of the realm of possibilities. If this happens, then he goes from being president to dictator.
It just demonstrates how this nation has drifted. No matter if it’s hyperbole or not, remember when this was once unthinkable?
Trump has the bully pulpit, he appears almost everyday on TV pretending to be presidential as he bloviates, blusters and fulminates against PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor and other reporters who ask hard questions. Biden is largely invisible to the general public, they might catch a brief glimpse of him once in awhile.
This virus will not disappear by November, the authorities will definitely have to make some kind of accommodations regarding voting or risk another explosion of cases.
Many people are impressed by Cuomo’s leadership in this crisis. Before he became Count Dracula, Guiliani was heralded as the primo leader after 911 in the same manner. I have warned my friends and family members to be careful what they wish for. Many of my friends are current or retired NYS teachers. I told them that Cuomo is no friend of public education. He called public education a “monopoly,” and his main supporters are hedge funds. Numerous Cuomo associates are currently in jail for their corrupt dealings. Likewise, Biden has some skeletons in his closet as well.
Skeletons
The skeletons in lockers
Have yet to be discerned
But ones that are the talkers
Are really of concern
Politically speaking, the pandemic came 12-18 months too late for Bernie. Virtually every effective measure now being used in crisis mode is, at its core, a socialist idea. We now see the mirage of the miracle of the free market and relying the on kindness of immediate neighbors for what it is. Will the pandemic have an equalizing effect on politics? (And I have to laugh ironically as Bill Gates is lionized for his comment that we won’t ease social distancing too soon because the we can’t “ignore the pile of bodies over in the corner.” That’s what the whole model of pure capitalism is built on. We ignore the bodies of shooting victims because of the gun fetishes a NRA members, we ignore environmental toxins [I think of Louisiana’s Cancer Alley body count] because the carcinogens produce products that make our lives easier, we ignore the lives of people without insurance to make sure there are unaccountable profiteers who become model citizens, etc, etc.)
Socialism is about preparing and securing, and if neither work, expected to coordinate a response to an unexpected crisis. Capitalism is about building up enough cumulative wealth to overcome an unexpected crisis. How it is distributed is not its concern. Representative democracy is about giving as many as possible a voice, hopefully informed, to choose leadership and tend to the business of governing, preferably in the interests of the vast majority of citizens, but certainly not inhibiting individual freedom.
This is what we should be debating all the time, but especially now, when most of us have to sit still for a while. Not personalities. If the election is about personalities, as I fear it will be, the status quo and worse will be the future for the rest of my life and probably the majority, if not all, of my children’s. This might be our one chance at redemption. I fear we will blow it. We won’t if we have a rigorous, informed discussion about where we want to go. Bernie and Warren were the only candidates who joined socialism plus democracy as defined above. If that collective mindset, regardless of who the standard-bearer is, can prevail, if personality politics take a back seat for a change, that is the only way some things have a chance to change. Capitalism as it is presently practiced—when much of its riches are bestowed by public spending and taxes, or lack thereof—will corrupt the process where it can.
Here’s an analogy I use for my friends. Most Europeans—remember those days gone-by when they could travel here?—are mystified by four way stop signs. As are many, if not most, Americans. But they generally are supposed to work on a first-come, first-drive-on principle. In cases of ties, the one on the right goes first. But what happens when four stop at the same time? Or when some people run the sign, ahead of their turn? Or when two drivers start using hand and lip gestures to decide which one goes first? Worst off all, what happens when some public entity blocks you to allow certain car the right of way? That, culminating with the special privilege allowed in the latter scenario, is capitalism in a nut shell. And it can all be observed as a four-way stop sign.
What then, do most Europeans do at intersections? There are two possibilities, both of which bewilder Americans. One is that any intersection that does not have a light is to be approached cautiously. When there, the car on the right always has the right of way. First one looks left to see if a car is approaching, then one looks right to see if there are any bicycles or pedestrians to be aware of, and if all clear and first, you go. Consider the situation at a four-way stop sign with one car at one sign, and a line of cars at the sign to the right. In Europe, in the same situation, all the cars in that line would have the right of way: right before left. The only times you keep driving, there is a sign before the intersection, in Germany it is a yellow triangle surrounded by white, that tells the driver they have right of way and cross streets have stop signs. Another possibility is the roundabout. The principle of it is simple: right before left, but mostly keep moving (maybe that why they prefer soccer to American sports). It is, practiced correctly, a much more efficient way of keeping traffic flowing. Many Americans don’t like it because they might have to wait, even they were the second ones there. And that’s my analogy. Americans think about politics and society as a four-way stop sign, just deal with its quirks and inconsistencies. For those who like right before left rules and roundabouts, there’s more to it. Efficiency, safety and knowledge of the rules of the road are all essential to achieve.
Americans might figure out in the next few months that fairness, like a functioning roundabout, means replacing some of the capitalist principles for socialist ones. That’s too late for Bernie, but I don’t think personalities matter if these are the perceived stakes. But the American people have given me little reason for optimism; we are no longer a forward looking people. (Sorry for this, it was supposed to be 2 or 3 sentences when I started.)
No need to apologize, GregB. As usual from you, this was quite interesting. Love the analogy!
And if people don’t want to read your posts, they can scroll past them. I, for one, am pleased that people don’t think that every issue can be addressed in a sound bite.
The rant began with the first parentheses in the first paragraph. Not sure who wrote the rest of it. 🤓
LMAO!!! As you are doubtless excruciatingly well aware, I often have this feeling.
Reality Endorses Bernie Sanders
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/reality-has-endorsed-bernie-sanders
Reality endorses
The Bernies and their courses
The Medicare for All
The viruses to stall
The guarantee of wages
Enabling macrophages
The Social Safety net
To help the ones beset
Reality’s endorsement
Might come a little late
But Nature’s strict enforcement
Will surely be our fate
👍👍
Interview of Tara Reade on The HillTV:
I’m just flummoxed, I may consume a whole bottle of burgundy tonight.
You might find it interesting that Ms. Reade wrote this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190404032244/https:/medium.com/@shewrites94/bring-on-the-light-bf4e8c859058
Puts an entirely different light on this accusation, doesn’t it, given the history of Russian meddling in our elections?
At about the 17:50 minute part of the interview she was asked about her Russia, Putin comments. She says that she is not a fan of Putin, that Putin would not like her because she’s a feminist liberal vegan and that Putin weakened the domestic violence laws. She claimed that some of the pro Russian/Putin comments attributed to her were bogus and some sort of hoax. She may be a nut, a complete liar or she could be telling the truth or the partial truth. Who knows at this point. The right wingers will flog this thing to death.
Geezus, what’s next. Will someone come out of the woodwork and say that Bernie beat puppies to death and ate them with his scrambled eggs in 1978?
In any case, I’m voting Democratic in the general election, I guess that makes me a horrible person and hypocrite. The main thing is to dump Trump.
Joe Jersey,
Tara Reade’s sudden emergence serves the interest of only one person: Donald J. Trump.
Lets see? Vote for the pile of dog **** on my lawn or for Donald Trump? Definitely the former.
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now also interviewed Tara Reade. It’s worth watching.
JJ: I am watching now. (It airs here at 12 AM.)
If you’ve missed it, you can see it on democracynow.org
Also, listen to Michael Moore’s podcast (I forget what it’s called–some of you probably know) RE: the DNC, Biden & “mothballing.”
There’s also a good article at Salon about Reade.
Here’s the concluding paragraph: What can be said is that Reade’s story is credible and compelling in some important ways, and also comes with a number of troubling red flags. For a variety of reasons it has not been taken seriously on a national level, but those reasons do not include a mainstream media conspiracy to protect Joe Biden. Rather than becoming the subject of serious investigation, this has instead become an occasion for die-hard supporters on both the Sanders and Biden sides to score points on one another online. Actual facts have been supplanted by reckless conspiracy theories spun by enthusiasts of both candidates. Whatever the facts of this case may be, the #MeToo movement deserves better than to be dragged into the sleaze like this.
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
Amanda Marcotte is a politics writer for Salon.
If the choice is Trump or Biden, I have no doubt who I will vote for.
Four more years of this malignant narcissist will destroy our government.
I belle that Trump will try to suspend elections, but that the people of this nation will not allow it… even corrupt Congress will not permit it, because it will put an end to America, for sure.
Michael’s podcast is titled “Rumble.”
Yes, I’ve been listening to his podcasts, there quite good.
whoops……………..there should be they’re
Joe: Dis you hear the one in which he talks about DNC promising him “mothballing,” &, if so, which one would that be? (A number or a title.)
If you can identify this one, I strongly recommend that we all listen to it.
It’s nothing more than a wishful thinking. To be fair, Trump is the least qualified national leader people have in the White House, and Biden has far more credibility and qualifications than him, at least. Nevertheless, Biden is also the man who is now under scrutiny for the emergence of his ‘fixing’ narratives that will put him in very precarious situation like Hillary Clinton 4 years ago.
What’s disturbing to me is that this top candidate has a bag of tricks that make him look better in the media–including his claiming of joining in the march with African-Americans in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement while unknowingly supporting southern white anti-desegregationists, and getting arrested in Johannesburg on his way to meet with the late Nelson Mandela in the mid 1990s (which turned out be a lie). Also, he supported a disastrous Iraq War in 2003. Yes, he agreed to cut Social Security and Medicaid. And now, he is saying repetitively that Single Payment healthcare system is not the solution in this very moment of time hundreds of people are dying every day. And certainly, he is no friend of public eduction. He would likely choose another ‘Duncanister’ or ‘DeVos Lite’ for Secretary of Education. Unions? Look what he said to the auto union workers in Michigan in February. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPig-AllQe8
Many of these anecdotes seem to be dwarfed, if you put them in contrast with Trump. That’s easy for people to say. Make no mistake. The person who is running for the president is exactly the same person who is trying to shake off any cloud of suspicion in an attempt to silence the voice of the woman through his “professional’ campaign team and pundits. And he would not hesitate to clobber anyone who stands in his way–just like Harvey Weinstein and Roger Ailes.
And that’s who Joe Biden is. Let’s just not be naive.
I am more worried about people’s reactionary behavior than which candidate is a best fit to beat the sitting president. When I hear some people say Bernie supporters are nasty and mean, they assume the worst. But, people who are claiming they are politician X’s supporter turn out to be those engaging in the groundwork online like Twitter or facebook. They are essentially not much different, in terms of meanness. Yesterday I just saw a bunch of pro-Biden media pundits on Twitter impugning the character of Sander’s press secretary who suggested free cancer treatment as if she were the worst enemy. The very same pundits didn’t even bother saying anything about Anita Dunn, a former top campaign advisor for Obama, offered free legal advice to a disgruntled, convicted rapist mogul Harvey Weinstein. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stevenperlberg/former-obama-adviser-anita-dunn-helped-harvey-weinstein (Hypocrisy meter rising up.) Of course, they wouldn’t because she’s on the same camp. It’s really sad and depressing to learn the face of democrats today, but that’s what they are now turning into.
One thing you need to know is that defeating Trump alone doesn’t guarantee a dramatic change of current political climate, let alone the undoing of everything ‘unjust,’ ‘inhumane,’ ‘bigoted,’ ‘obscene,’ ‘reckless,’ created by the current administration. People who vote for Biden don’t have the same reason for their choice of candidate. Some of them choose to do so, not because they trust Biden, but out of compromise (There’s no other choice for us, but it’s still better than a bigot.) Even harsh critics of Democratic presidents voted for Clinton and Obama, and I believe they would do so for Biden.
I am not in favor of Trump. But I don’t think Biden gives people much hope for improvement, either, other than taking months(or years) away to sanitize the office razed by an Insane Clown Possum and his Yes-men/-women infected by MORONAVIRUS (COVID45) since January 2017.
Having said that, people should keep working on the agendas for the best of the country–that neither Trump nor Biden would match– for the next 4 years.