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"It is perfectly valid for the American public to express outrage over Trump’s declaration of victory, but the entire American media and political class forever lost all legitimacy to condemn a nation’s leader for illegitimately crowning themselves by backing the Venezuela coup."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

Trump Says the Election Is Being Stolen. GOP Leaders Aren’t So Sure.

President Donald Trump declared at the White House last night that “we did win this election” and that “we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court.” He also claimed on Wednesday via Twitter that Democrats are “trying to STEAL the Election” and that votes that hadn’t been counted by the end of Election Day are somehow illegitimate. However, Trump’s ability to stick to this position and maintain support for it within the Republican Party — critical for any attempt by him to wage legal battles to exclude any votes — appeared fragile by Wednesday afternoon. As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took the lead in vote counts in key states, few GOP leaders, elected or in the media, backed Trump’s accusations, and most ignored or even repudiated them.

Given the unpredictability of U.S. politics, it is likely that Republicans will reverse themselves if they feel it’s politically expedient to do so. Trump may also have the power to generate enough street chaos that state counts could get into GOP-dominated courts where anything could happen. This is particularly true with Democratic leadership, as in 2000, who were resistant to getting into the streets themselves.

That said, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fresh off a successful reelection campaign, clearly seemed uninterested in going to battle for Trump for now. “It’s not unusual for people to claim they’ve won the election. I can think of that happening on numerous occasions,” McConnell said on Wednesday morning. “But claiming you win the election is different from finishing the counting.” In a sign of the hesitation of GOP leaders to support the president, McConnell’s deputy, Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., has not made any comments on the presidential election. In response to questioning from reporters, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., claimed that “what POTUS wants to make sure is that every legal vote is counted,” but he did not endorse Trump’s assertions of widespread fraud.

The right’s media stars, many of whom wield more power than actual politicians, reacted with more variation but generally were not rallying behind any particular Trumpian storyline. ... Fox’s Sean Hannity had little to say on Twitter on Wednesday about Trump. Tucker Carlson said nothing at all.

.....there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

As Michigan Called for Biden, Trump Supporters Condemned for Chanting 'Stop the Count!' at Detroit Ballot Center

Raucous supporters of President Donald Trump tried to get election officials to stop counting ballots in Detroit, Michigan Wednesday afternoon—chanting "Stop the count!" and banging on windows—as major news outlets called the battleground state for Democrat Joe Biden and the Trump campaign filed lawsuits to temporarily halt vote tallying there and in Pennsylvania.

The Detroit Free Press reported that "a chaotic scene erupted outside the vote tally room at TCF Center in Detroit as election officials informed dozens of challengers that they could not reenter the room due to it being over-capacity." Police were called in response to the rowdy crowd, which pounded on windows and doors while shouting "let us in."

Trump supporters protesting... *checks notes* ...democracy pic.twitter.com/cOMlkPfdwD

— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) November 5, 2020

Biden says he's on course to win US election as Trump threatens to fight outcome

Joe Biden has claimed he is on course to win the US presidential election and issued a plea for national unity, even as Donald Trump threatens to fight the outcome in court. The former vice-president flipped the crucial battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, giving him 264 electoral college votes to Trump’s 214. The target is 270 to secure the White House.

“After a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes need to win the presidency,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won but I am here to report that, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

Biden praised a historic turnout of about 150 million and noted that he was set to win Wisconsin by 20,000 votes, similar to the president’s margin in 2016, and leading in Michigan by more than 35,000 votes and growing – substantially more than Trump managed four years ago. Both states have been called for Biden.

As Trump seeks to fire up his supporters for a bitter legal struggle, Biden called for people on both sides “to unite, to heal, to come together as a nation”.

Pennsylvania keeps counting, despite 'disgraceful' intimidation

PENNSYLVANIA UPDATE: Lt. Gov. On WHEN All Ballots Will Be Counted

Biden plus a Republican senate is a dream scenario for a campaign that pledged nothing would fundamentally change. Gives them a perfect excuse to do the nothing they had planned.

— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) November 4, 2020

Democrats fail to persuade swaths of rural America's heartlands

America’s rural heartland stuck firmly with Donald Trump on Tuesday, dashing Joe Biden’s hope of a decisive victory that would have allowed him to claim he had reunited the country, as well as undercutting Democratic expectations of winning the US Senate. Results across the midwest showed the US still firmly divided as Trump again won a solid victory in Iowa, a state that twice voted for Barack Obama, and the Republicans held on to crucial Senate seats targeted by the Democrats. ...

In Iowa and Missouri, Trump’s support in rural counties generally held up or strengthened. In some states that delivered him victory. In others, such as Wisconsin, Biden triumphed after a surge of urban votes. But the president’s solid performance in rural America could cost the Democrats control of the Senate after what the party regarded as its best shot at two midwestern seats in Iowa and Kansas flopped. ...

Results showed that the president dominated in rural counties that he took from the Democrats four years ago. Opinion polls said that in recent weeks voters’ primary concern shifted from coronavirus to the economy which helped swing independent voters the president’s way to supplement his core support. ...

Iowa is not a crucial state for Biden but his failure to significantly reduce the size of Trump’s 2016 victory there is evidence that the Democrats failed to persuade swaths of rural America that the party had much to offer them or was even paying attention to their communities and concerns.

Caitlin Johnstone: 25 Lessons Democrats Will Take From Their Horrible 2020 Performance

Democrats have shocked the world by managing to spectacularly under-perform against a president who has failed the nation by virtually every metric after years of mass media stories claiming he is literally a secret agent for a hostile foreign government.

As of this writing the election is still too close to call, and Trump could still end up winning. This should never have been close, and it should prompt some serious soul-searching for the party. Obviously some drastic changes need to be made, because what they are doing clearly is not working.

So with that in mind, here are the key lessons we can expect Democrats to take away from their terrible 2020 performance:

1. RUSSIA!!!!

2. RUSSIA!!!!

3. Should have run a more right wing candidate.

4. RUSSIA!!!!

5. Should have given more money to the Lincoln Project.

6. This is still Susan Sarandon’s fault.

7. Get Pelosi to say “Wakanda forever!” at the next State of the Union address.

8. Bernie Sanders: secretly Russian?? Demand investigation by Special Counsel.

9. Demand more internet censorship. Threaten antitrust cases if necessary.

10. RUSSIA!!!!

11. Was there a Green Party candidate this year? Find out. If yes, they’re Russian.

12. Get the Krassenstein brothers their own MSNBC show.

13. Breast hats.

14. Kente cloth surrender flag.

15. Re-appoint Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to DNC chair.

16. IRAN!!!! (plot twist!)

17. Spend more time on Twitter yelling at leftists for being too far left.

18. Get Steve Bannon to join the #Resistance.

19. Promise voters if they start supporting Democrats they’ll be rewarded with economic sanctions on geostrategically valuable nations on the other side of the world.

20. Try doing literally nothing and see if that helps.

21. Try giving Trump everything he wants and see if that helps.

22. Get wealthy celebrities to shame voters.

23. See if Ted Cruz will run as a Dem in 2024.

24. Find out what “QAnon” is, then see if maybe we can do something similar.

25. RUSSIA!!!!

Looks like Pelosi was too clever by half in refusing to pass a responsible relief package for the people:

Fears about economy under Covid lockdown helped Trump outperform polls

Voters’ fears about the economic impact of coronavirus lockdowns appear to have helped Donald Trump outperform pollsters’ expectations and brought the US election down to a nail-biting finish. While ballots are still being counted, that performance probably shows the continued resonance of anti-lockdown rhetoric in an election where, especially for Trump voters, economic health came first. ...

Exit polls show economic concerns were top of mind for voters, even for voters who had not yet experienced personal hardship because of the pandemic. Both a CNN and a New York Times exit poll showed Trump voters’ main issue was the economy with the coronavirus pandemic in fourth place in the Times survey, behind crime and health policy. Racial inequality beat the coronavirus into second place as the deciding issue for Democratic voters.

Broad-based shutdowns in March and April brought economic worries to places such as the rural upper midwest long before the virus was widespread there. Political scientist Kathy Cramer, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said this was certainly the case in Wisconsin, where an edge-of-your-seat finish is now playing out. “There is no doubt that, in general, people were experiencing economic effects more than the health effects of the pandemic,” especially in the spring and summer, said Cramer.

Legendary War Correspondent ROBERT FISK

Coronavirus: US sets record for daily new cases average one day after election

The US has set a new record for average daily confirmed Covid-19 cases, with surging infections and hospitalizations as the country remains on edge waiting for a winner to be declared in the presidential race.

Daily new coronavirus cases in America have increased 45% over the past two weeks to a record seven-day average of 86,352, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths are also on the rise, up 15% to an average of 846 deaths every day.

There were more than 91,000 new cases recorded on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins. The university counted nearly 99,000 US cases on 30 October. ...

More than 232,000 people have died from Covid in the US, and total confirmed cases have surpassed 9 million. Those are the highest totals in the world, and new infections are increasing in nearly every state.

Tiny air pollution rise linked to 11% more Covid-19 deaths – study

A small rise in people’s long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with an 11% increase in deaths from Covid-19, research has found. Another recent study suggests that 15% of all Covid-19 deaths around the world are attributable to dirty air.

The available data only allows correlations to be established and further work is needed to confirm the connections, but the researchers said the evidence was now strong enough that levels of dirty air must be considered a key factor in handling coronavirus outbreaks.

The new analysis is based on research reported by the Guardian in April, which has now been reviewed by independent scientists and published in a prominent journal. The consideration of additional data and more factors that may also influence Covid-19 death rates refined the rise in deaths from 15% down to 11%.

Most scientists think it is very likely that air pollution increases the number and severity of Covid-19 cases. Breathing dirty air over years is already known to cause heart and lung disease, and these illnesses make coronavirus infections worse. Short-term exposure is also known to increase the risk of acute lung infections.

The gold-standard method for confirming the link between air pollution and Covid-19 would be to assess a large number of coronavirus patients on an individual level, so their age, smoking history and other details can be taken into account. Such data, however, is not yet available so given the urgency of the pandemic researchers have used data on groups of people. This can be strongly indicative of a link, but may hide important individual factors.

Philadelphia police release body camera video of Walter Wallace killing

Philadelphia police have publicly released body camera footage and 911 recordings of the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr as they named the officers responsible for the shooting and announced a series of reforms. The Philadelphia police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, said the release of the footage on Wednesday night marked the first time in the department’s history that it had done so.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, she said the two officers responsible for the shooting were Sean Matarazzo, 25, and Thomas Munz, 26. She said the officers, both of the 18th district, had been with the department since 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The distressing footage, taken from each of the officers’ body cameras, shows them approaching Wallace’s doorstep and shouting “put the knife down now” and pointing a gun at Wallace, after he appears carrying a knife. Within seconds, multiple gunshots are audible as Wallace falls to the ground in the street, prompting screams and commotion. In one of the videos, one of the officers is heard instructing the other to shoot. ...

Outlaw also announced a series of police reform initiatives – including a training programme for 911 dispatchers to better identify people in crisis, implicit bias training and active bystandership training for officers – and said they were working with the department of behavioral health. ... The fatal incident is currently under two investigations – one by the district attorney’s office and one by the force’s internal affairs unit.

US drug laws set for sweeping overhaul as voters choose decriminalization

On Tuesday night, a number of US states voted in favor of decriminalizing drugs in an unprecedented drug law overhaul. Thanks to a push by drug reform advocates, in every state where the ballot was proposed, people voted to abolish criminal penalties for possession.

Last night, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota, voted to decriminalize recreational marijuana. Meanwhile, in Mississippi and South Dakota, medical marijuana will legalized – taking the tally of US states that have legalized the substance up to 15. And in Washington DC, psychedelic plants will be decriminalized.

Oregon’s Decriminalization Vote Might Be Biggest Step Yet to Ending War on Drugs

Thanks to voters, Oregon will be the first state in the country to decriminalize the personal possession of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. Oregonians passed Ballot Measure 110, also known as the Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative, with 59 percent of the vote; it’s the most far-reaching of numerous successful drug-related measures on ballots nationwide, including the legalization of recreational marijuana in New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota. Every one of these victories constitutes a long overdue challenge to the racist, carceral logic of drug criminalization. Oregonians have taken a historic step in recognizing that if a carceral approach to drug use is harmful, it is harmful regardless of the drug in question.

In a general election between two candidates proudly committed to “law and order” politics and aggressive policing — regardless of Joe Biden’s minimal gestures towards marijuana reform — Oregon’s ballot decision offered a glimmer of hope for those interested in significant criminal justice changes. The success of Measure 110, alongside other decriminalization and legalization efforts, is a rebuke to the notion that any person who uses illegalized drugs, no matter what the substance, is best served by an interaction with the police and prison system.

“This is part of how we reform policing: by getting them out of the drug business,” wrote Brooklyn College sociology professor Alex Vitale, author of “The End of Policing,” on Twitter. Vitale was referring to the four states that voted to legalize recreational marijuana, but he added that “Measure 110 in Oregon is even better.”

Oregon’s decriminalization measure should not be confused with the legalization of all drugs; it instead entails the removal of criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of illegal substances. After February 1, the penalty for drug possession will be akin to a hefty traffic ticket: a $100 fine. Those who cannot or do not want to pay can choose to agree to a “health assessment” at an addiction recovery center. The ballot measure also includes the expansion of access to recovery treatments, housing, and harm reduction services, to be funded through the reallocation of tens of millions of dollars from Oregon’s cannabis tax. Money saved by not arresting, prosecuting, and caging people found with drugs will also be redirected to a fund for treatment services.

The Election: How Did This Happen?!

Trump just won the highest share of non-white support of any Republican in 60 years. The Democratic Party is an absolute joke.

— Gravel Institute (@GravelInstitute) November 4, 2020

Lincoln Project 'Epically Failed,' Say Progressives as Trump Wins Bigger Share of Republican Voters Than in 2016

In response to Tuesday night exit polls showing that a greater percentage of self-identified Republicans voted this year to reelect President Donald Trump than supported him in the presidential contest four years ago, progressive commentators characterized the massive spending by anti-Trump conservative groups like the Lincoln Project and the associated attempt by Democratic challenger Joe Biden's campaign to appeal to GOP voters as a misguided and ultimately losing strategy that squandered crucial resources.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the Lincoln Project raised more than $67 million in 2020 and spent over $59 million on federal elections this year. In the same time period, Republican Voters Against Trump raised nearly $10 million and spent almost $7.5 million.

The Lincoln Project—described by the Daily Poster's David Sirota, Andrew Perez, and Julia Rock as "the anti-Trump cash cow for veteran Republican consultants"—ran "ads focused on trying to court disaffected Republican voters and attack Trump's character, as Biden loaded up the Democratic convention with GOP speakers."

"When polls during the summer showed that the strategy wasn't working," noted the Daily Poster early Wednesday morning, "galaxy brain Rahm Emanuel defended it to a national televised audience, insisting that 2020 would be 'the year of the Biden Republican.'"

Nonetheless, a comparison of exit polls from Tuesday night and from four years ago shows that the share of Republican voters who supported Trump increased from 90% in 2016 to 93% in 2020.

Turns out there were no "Biden Republicans." The whole drift to the right strategy was a 100% failure. GOP voters went more strongly for Trump in 2020 than in 2016.

— Alex Vitale (@avitale) November 4, 2020

The Election: Who To Blame?!

Arizona's Blue Shift Rooted in Years of Grassroots Latinx Organizing Against GOP's Xenophobia

Gideon Concession to Collins Dashes Democratic Hopes to Oust Reviled Maine GOP Senator

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine claimed victory Wednesday after Democratic challenger Sara Gideon conceded the contest, further undermining hopes for Democrats to take control of the U.S. Senate.

With 99% of precincts reporting, Collins— the nation's most unpopular senator— had 51% to Gideon's 42%. Independent Lisa Savage notched 5% of the vote, while Max Linn, another Independent, secured 2%. ...

Gideon had been leading in polls in the run-up to Election Day, and the Associated Press described as Collins as being in the "hardest-fought race of her career" in which she emerged victorious after receiving "a majority of first-place votes. That meant no additional tabulation rounds were necessary under Maine's ranked choice voting system."

"Collins' triumph came after a yearlong campaign in which Democrats and aligned interest groups organized a massive and well-funded effort to unseat her," Maine Public reported.

The Republican senator has long described herself as a centrist and moderate voice, claims her opponents said were clearly rubbish in the face of her actions during the Trump administration.

George Goehl: If Dems Don't Embrace Populism They Will Be Destroyed

Senate Dems Spent A Billion Dollars And Need A Miracle

Senate Democratic candidates in competitive races this year and the party committees that backed them raised more than $1.1 billion dollars this election cycle, according to data reviewed by The Daily Poster.

Despite all that spending, Democrats have only netted one seat so far, and they would need a miracle to pick up two more seats to win control of the Senate. ...

Only two Democratic challengers, former Gov. John Hickenlooper in Colorado and Mark Kelly in Arizona, won their races on Tuesday. Democrats also lost one seat in Alabama, so they currently hold 48 seats.

U.S. Withdrawal From Paris Agreement Casts the Stakes of Election in Planetary Terms

The United States officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, casting the stakes of the still-undecided presidential election in planetary terms. With the completion of the formal withdrawal process, which Trump began in June 2017, the U.S. became the only country in the world not to participate in the global effort to fight the climate crisis.

Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax and rolled back dozens of environmental regulations designed to protect the environment and stave off climate change, decided to exit the international agreement early in his term. But because the accord didn’t allow countries to begin the formal withdrawal process until three years after it went into effect, the yearlong process officially began on November 4, 2019.

Joe Biden has promised to reenter the climate accord on the first day of his presidency. The process of rejoining would take just 30 days, enabling the country to be readmitted as a party as soon as February 19, 2021.

'Prevent, discourage, confront': South American states tackle Chinese trawlers

Four South American countries have joined forces in a bid to combat illegal fishing by huge Chinese fleets off their coasts.

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have threatened measures “to prevent, discourage and jointly confront” illegal fishing near their exclusive economic zones in the Pacific.

The joint statement made no specific mention of China but environmental groups Greenpeace and Oceana have repeatedly warned of the growing presence of Chinese fishing fleets in the area.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Democrats Underperformed Among Voters of Color — Except in Arizona. Here’s Why.

Media Fail to Prepare Public for Potential Trump Coup

The Delayed Reporting of Pennsylvania’s Vote Was Strategically Orchestrated by Trump Republicans

Why Is The Election So Close?

In Iowa, as in Other Red States, Hopeful Democrats Failed to Make Gains

Record number of Native American women elected to Congress

Caitlin Johnstone - Electoral Musings: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

How Covid-19 Is Increasing Support for Social Spending

Giant Antarctic iceberg on collision course with British territory of South Georgia

Dorset mega henge may be ‘last hurrah’ of stone-age builders

Juan González: The Media Has It Wrong. Record Latinx Turnout Helped Biden. White Voters Failed Dems

Keiser Report | We Have a Winner!

Jimmy Dore: Buttigieg Now Wants Votes To Count!

Krystal and Saagar: Latest 2020 Battleground Election Results And What To Expect TODAY

Rising: Will Trump's Lawsuits Save Him From Defeat?

Rising: How Will Dems Justify Loss With Blacks, Latinos?

Julius Krein: Will The GOP Embrace Working Populism?

A Little Night Music

The "5" Royales - Baby Don't Do It

The "5" Royales - Think

The 5 Royales - Catch That Teardrop

The 5 Royales - Please Please Please

The 5 Royales - They Don't Know

The 5 Royales - I Like It Like That

The "5" Royales - Don't Be Ashamed

The "5" Royales - Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

The "5" Royales - Thirty Second Lover

The 5 Royales - I Got To Know

The 5 Royales - Slummer the Slum