I'll believe it when I see it on 9 November. Well, I'm not sure I will believe it then either.
As analysts such as Glenn Greenwald and Redacted Tonight's Lee Camp have done, I shall preface the remainder of this post with a disclaimer:
In no way whatsoever does any of the following verbiage mean or imply that I have any desire to see that overstuffed egomaniac pro wrestling villain Donald Trump installed in the White House.
You may have seen the news that Real Clear Politics has just moved Texas out of the Leans Trump category and into Toss-Up. Even with two weeks left before Election Day, I believe that call is premature. A few recent polls show Trump's lead in Texas within their respective margins of error. But I'm not too confident in the ways some of those polls were conducted. (Really, CBS? 17% of Millennials voting Johnson, but just 1% voting Stein?)
As analysts such as Glenn Greenwald and Redacted Tonight's Lee Camp have done, I shall preface the remainder of this post with a disclaimer:
In no way whatsoever does any of the following verbiage mean or imply that I have any desire to see that overstuffed egomaniac pro wrestling villain Donald Trump installed in the White House.
You may have seen the news that Real Clear Politics has just moved Texas out of the Leans Trump category and into Toss-Up. Even with two weeks left before Election Day, I believe that call is premature. A few recent polls show Trump's lead in Texas within their respective margins of error. But I'm not too confident in the ways some of those polls were conducted. (Really, CBS? 17% of Millennials voting Johnson, but just 1% voting Stein?)
RCP also moved Minnesota from Toss-Up to Leans Clinton, giving Hillary Clinton a total of 272 electoral votes on its magical Predict-a-Prez Map. That's enough for Clinton to win without Texas. Congratulations, Secretary Clinton.
Capitalism Wins, Planet Loses Either Way
While I'm prepared to be proven wrong, I have said all along that Trump will win Texas, Clinton will win the White House, and it is not only safe but advantageous for progressives of conscience to vote for Jill Stein. What I somehow did not foresee was the spectacular ways in which Trump has sabotaged his own campaign, or the way his utterances from years past have arisen to trip him up.
"Progressives of conscience," eh? Yes, that's what I said, and I'm not taking that one back. My progressive friends who plan to vote for Clinton (or have already) certainly have working consciences. They believe that a conscientious vote is one that keeps Trump away from the launch codes. They value peace and justice, just as I do. But with the heinous prospect of a Trump presidency looming, it's hard for them to see just what Clinton's record indicates: that she will likely maintain or strengthen the neoliberal, capitalist, imperialist, extractivist regime that is incompatible with peace and justice—and incompatible with rescuing the world from catastrophic climate disruption.
Can We Trust the Results?
Clinton's team will move heaven and earth to get her elected. This celestial and terrestrial movement includes manipulation of the electoral process, as demonstrated in the primaries and the leaked emails. The team has also gone far out of its way to discredit any opposition from the left, with its smear machine in high gear this entire year.
You might infer that all the trouble Team Clinton has taken indicates that our votes actually count. For the most part, they do, but the people who pull the strings don't need a heavy hand to change the result. Election fraud does not have to be blatant to be effective.
I remember the Republican shenanigans in Florida and Ohio back in '00 and '04, when those states secretaries of state were also George W. Bush's state campaign chairs. The Other Wall Street Party has shown us that it is not above that kind of chicanery in the 2016 general election.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: The media have justifiably taken Trump to task for his claims that the election is rigged and his not stating whether he will accept the result if he loses. But Democrats who complained about Florida and Ohio, when the the Gore and Kerry campaigns declined to contest the final counts, have no right to assume that a Clinton victory would be 100% clean. As Jennifer Jason Leigh reminded us in Robert Altman's Kansas City, "Democrats? They're what they're paid to be. This is America, lady."
Capitalism Wins, Planet Loses Either Way
While I'm prepared to be proven wrong, I have said all along that Trump will win Texas, Clinton will win the White House, and it is not only safe but advantageous for progressives of conscience to vote for Jill Stein. What I somehow did not foresee was the spectacular ways in which Trump has sabotaged his own campaign, or the way his utterances from years past have arisen to trip him up.
"Progressives of conscience," eh? Yes, that's what I said, and I'm not taking that one back. My progressive friends who plan to vote for Clinton (or have already) certainly have working consciences. They believe that a conscientious vote is one that keeps Trump away from the launch codes. They value peace and justice, just as I do. But with the heinous prospect of a Trump presidency looming, it's hard for them to see just what Clinton's record indicates: that she will likely maintain or strengthen the neoliberal, capitalist, imperialist, extractivist regime that is incompatible with peace and justice—and incompatible with rescuing the world from catastrophic climate disruption.
Can We Trust the Results?
Clinton's team will move heaven and earth to get her elected. This celestial and terrestrial movement includes manipulation of the electoral process, as demonstrated in the primaries and the leaked emails. The team has also gone far out of its way to discredit any opposition from the left, with its smear machine in high gear this entire year.
You might infer that all the trouble Team Clinton has taken indicates that our votes actually count. For the most part, they do, but the people who pull the strings don't need a heavy hand to change the result. Election fraud does not have to be blatant to be effective.
I remember the Republican shenanigans in Florida and Ohio back in '00 and '04, when those states secretaries of state were also George W. Bush's state campaign chairs. The Other Wall Street Party has shown us that it is not above that kind of chicanery in the 2016 general election.
ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: The media have justifiably taken Trump to task for his claims that the election is rigged and his not stating whether he will accept the result if he loses. But Democrats who complained about Florida and Ohio, when the the Gore and Kerry campaigns declined to contest the final counts, have no right to assume that a Clinton victory would be 100% clean. As Jennifer Jason Leigh reminded us in Robert Altman's Kansas City, "Democrats? They're what they're paid to be. This is America, lady."
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