CNN ran an article explaining that @GSAEmily is a nice person and is fair and wants to do the right thing, but that she thinks she is in a no win situation. On the one hand, it isn’t clear who won the election, but on the other, it is. What is she to do?
There has been rampant speculation in my Twitter feed and perhaps on your social media too that Trump is pressuring her not to ascertain that the apparent winner is #BidenHarris. That is not necessarily true, and probably isn’t true because he wouldn’t have to in order for her to carry out his wishes.
The pressure to ascertain that #BidenHarris are the apparent winners of the election is clear. The margins in all of the states are wide enough that no amount of recounting can overturn them and all of the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s court cases have been lost, he’s appointed Giuliani to lead the remainder of the legal effort, and they’ve withdrawn the remainder of the cases without ever having gone to court. It is pretty damn clear that you’re on solid ground if you ascertain that #BidenHarris are the apparent winner of the election.
Even if you’re wrong and some miraculous felony of seditious election stealing occur, no one has been hurt by allowing #BidenHarris to begin the transition. It will, however, save thousands of lives due to #COVID19 alone and help prevent any kind of terrorist effort a la 9/11. So, there’s that pressure to begin the transition.
The pressure against doesn’t come from the Ol’ Pussy Grabber directly. It comes indirectly.
FIRST, the Ol’ Pussy Grabber has groused extensively and publicly about the election being stolen and being rigged. He’s openly said that he won’t concede. If she ascertains that #BidenHarris are the apparent winners of Election 2020 the Ol’ Pussy Grabber would be greatly displeased.
It ain’t no secret how the Ol’ Pussy Grabber feels about the election and what he wants to happen. He’s putting it all out there to tell his allies and supporters what he wants to have happen. He’s telegraphing that he wants them to do everything they’re capable of doing to help him steal the election.
SECOND, elected Repubes have headed the call of the Ol’ Pussy Grabber! Many have made public statements about the Ol’ Pussy Grabber’s right to file frivolous baseless law suits attempting to delay the certification of the election until 14 December and set the stage for a SCOTUS ruling that allows Trump to “win.”
Many Repubes have stated that the media doesn’t decide elections and we won’t know who won until the election results are certified by all fifty states or at least until one of the candidates is reaches 270 certified electoral votes.
Of course, this last one violates our norms of looking at the reported vote counts and determining whether there are enough outstanding votes that are likely to go to one of the candidates and change the results. Most ascertainments of the apparent winner have been made within days of Election Day.
We’ve never relied upon waiting for the votes of each state to be certified before declaring the winner and beginning the transition. As we saw in the one time it did happen, 2000, it contributed to W’s slapdash lackadaisical administration unpreparedness for 9/11.
AND THIRD, @GSAEmily has headed his call, too. She is trying do what she thinks the Ol’ Pussy Grabber wants. As Tim Snyder explains in On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, people will obey tyrants in ADVANCE! Lesson one warns us that citizens in budding authoritarian regimes will anticipate the plans of the tyrant, and, then, do those things. Newly minted or growing authoritarians do not know which laws, values, or norms people are willing to violate or tolerate being violated. However, they let people know what they want through their propaganda. @GSAEmily is a perfect example of people voluntarily helping a dictator when they don’t have to.
The best thing you can do is POLITELY urge her to ascertain that #BidenHarris are the apparent winners of Election 2020. Point out to her that by doing so she will be saving thousands of lives because of #COVID19, and if she doesn’t, those deaths are on her. Visit Contact the Administrator of GSA and Tell Her to Begin the Transition to find her contact information, a script to use, a tweet to use, and other suggestions.
Image Attribution
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
The Psy of Life 
Howdy Haward!
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Huzzah!
Jack
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Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
Calico Jack – Just sign the paper lady.
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Yes, Preemptive Obedience is the best bet when in the power of a tyrant and his (usually, his) Groupthinking loyalists and syncophants, especially if you are one of them and hope to remain so. It is the next step on from Walking On Eggshells and Keeping Your Head Down (lest it be separated from the rest of you). Offer the cookie before the toddler throws a tantrum. Meet the alcoholic spouse at the door with a beer. But, hey, Emily is out of a job anyway on 1/21/21, so she might as well sign the paper, unless she hopes for a political future in TPOT (The Party Of Trump, AKA, Teapot — She’s the Doormouse at the Hatter’s festivity.)
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Howdy Bob!
She’s been a long-term Congressional and administrative staffer. I guess she figures no one will hire her if she doesn’t stand up to Trump. But, she’s also a devote Christian. I wonder how she feels about the #COVID19 deaths that are stacking up? They definitely lie at her feet since by delaying the transition, she is making it more difficult for Biden to minimize the deaths after he takes office. She is causing more people to suffer and die. It is the precise situation that cognitive dissonance was made for.
On another note, the page is wildly popular. It has been getting hundreds of views every day for the past few days. The gsa.gov link has been getting dozens of clicks. I’ve been getting hundreds of referrals from search engines with variations on Emily Murphy GSA contact as search terms. I’ve never had a post act like this. I’m going to be sad when it is over, though.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Jack, I’m sure you will continue to find lots to write about. Certainly, Trump and his followers and imitators will provide material for a long time to come.
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Howdy Bob!
I’ve been working on a post about post-Trump politics, meaning once Trump is out of office. I’ve been considering the implications of his narcissism and his relationship to the GOP. I think it will resemble his birtherism stuff more than anything else. He’ll retain a core of followers, but most will begin to lose their enthusiasm for him. Without Trump on the ballot, the reluctant and seldom voters will not come out and vote. Maybe H. Ross Perot is the best model for thinking of what it will be like and his effect.
His desire for revenge may be enough to sustain his activity and interest. His inability to organize and work with others will limit his appeal. The desire to exploit him by those who will work with him will limit their effectiveness kind of like Mohammad Ali lost his boxing fortune by trusting people who only wanted part of his money.
But, the threat to our democracy from the GOP is real witness the WH visit by the Michigan legislature leaders and the Pennsylvania legislature’s attempt to audit the election to support appointing an alternate slate of electors. There will be plenty to write about there.
Huzzah!
Jack
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The GOP has been on the way to their current “winning is everything, no matter how” position for a long time. Authoritarians really have little use for competitive elections. They want guaranteed outcomes, which is one reason Trump’s assurances and claims of confidence in the inevitability of his victory and winning at everything has been so attractive to them.
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Howdy Bob!
The modern GOP really us leaving me feeling quite dismayed. They misread the changes in the Civil Rights Era and the post-FDR New Deal America. They consigned themselves to a minority party until Nixon-Reagan. Seriously, the only reason Eisenhower was elected — he had debated between running as a Democrat or Republican; I forget why or how he chose the GOP — was because of his status after WWII and Korea. Otherwise, from 1932 to 1972 it was forty years of Democratic dominance at the national level.
It was only the Southern strategy that saved the GOP. Now, if the Dems misread the authoritarian move, we may be in for a long long term of GOP domination of national politics. A substantial percentage of the population is attracted to authoritarianism and another group that is swayable. That’s what 72 million votes for Trump tells us.
Huzzah!
Jack
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You may be right, but the GOP has repeatedly shown itself unable to cope effectively with real world challenges in economic-industrial policy, environmental issues, and anything resembling social equity, and obviously, pandemic. The challenges to come in the rest of this century and beyond will dwarf anything in those areas in the past as climate change progresses. Being conservative is one thing, but never giving up on an old idea that never worked isn’t conservative, it is stupid.
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Howdy Bob!
And returning conservatives to office election after election is even stupider. Somehow, conservatives have made a pact with voters to do just that: enact policies that ultimately hurt their voters but satisfy them enough emotionally to be be returned to office. Until Democrats can undo the Gordian knot of the satisfying lie that the GOP peddles to its voting base, winning the popular vote, but losing the offices of president, Congress, and legislatures could be the new normal.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Perhaps Democrats need to focus at least as much on helping voters feel good as they do trying to make them smart?
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Howdy Bob!
Yes. We should be looking for cheap jingley slogans and feel-good issues that we can push. It comes straight out of the psychology of persuasion and influence. I should make that into a blog post or two.
Huzzah!
Jack
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