monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Now I can relax. Had McConnell remained in control, we all know how he would have thwarted Biden at every turn. To see McConnell disempowered brings me more delight than I can easily express but the more important aspect is that now the Dems are in a position where they can begin to repair the broad damage that has been done and set to correcting the many prior pandemic failures. So this is big.

Hey, I just noticed something...
There's a conspicuous absence of long posts full of conspiracy and fraud rants cited from nutjob rightwing sources.

Democrats have pulled off at least one Senate win in Georgia, with another likely to follow. And Republicans are pointing a frustrated finger at Donald Trump.

With control of the Senate at stake in the state’s two races, the president chose to spend weeks peddling baseless claims that Georgia’s electoral system was rigged, fueling an online movement to boycott Tuesday’s election. He demonized the state’s Republican leaders and fractured the local GOP. He ignored calls from his allies to rally in the state sooner. His support for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue mainly came in the form of the occasional tweet and two rallies, including one on Monday. He blasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for not heeding his calls for boosted stimulus checks.

So when Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Loeffler early on Wednesday — and with Democrat Jon Ossoff having a good chance of toppling Perdue — Republicans were quick to blame Trump.

“Trump is the cause of this, lock, stock and barrel,” said one Republican strategist. “But when you’re relying on someone to win you a Senate race that also lost statewide eight weeks prior, you’re not in a position of strength.”

The immediate recrimination is emblematic of the complicated GOP dynamics that have emerged after Trump’s loss in the November election. Fissures are forming as Republicans decide whether it's useful to cling to Trump — even as he tries to subvert an election — or to distance themselves. And if the Georgia races are any indication, it appears Republicans are willing to turn on Trump if he can’t reliably turn out the vote for candidates in the months and years ahead.

When asked why Republicans didn’t prevail on Tuesday, a senior Senate Republican aide simply said: “Donald J. Trump.”

The frustration stems from the days after the Nov. 3 election. While Republicans tried to reset in Georgia and prepare for the two runoff races, the president set off a civil war within his own party as he launched a divisive campaign to overturn the 2020 election.

For the next few weeks, the president’s focus remained on trying to overturn his personal results in Georgia and other states. Just this past weekend, he badgered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger by phone for an hour, imploring him to “find” enough votes to take the state away from President-elect Joe Biden.

Even at a Monday rally designed to drum up voting for Loeffler and Perdue, the president obsessed over his own political grievances, swiping at lawmakers from his own party, including Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

The behavior left Republicans shaking their heads Tuesday night, incensed that it might have cost them two critical races.

President-elect Joe Biden will face pressure to send millions of Americans $2,000 stimulus checks and deliver on an aggressive economic agenda as Democrats closed in on unified control of Washington with likely Senate wins in Georgia.

Democrats whose ambitions have been strangled by a GOP Senate and president for the past two years were eyeing a new world with major opportunities for change on Wednesday — even as the coronavirus rages and the economy teeters on the brink.

Democrat Raphael Warnock won his race against Republican Kelly Loeffler in Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Georgia, and Democrat Jon Ossoff held a lead over Republican David Perdue. Winning those races would give Democrats control of the Senate, which along with their House majority and Biden’s presidency would give them a stranglehold on power in the nation’s capital for the first time since Barack Obama’s first term.

It’s unclear how quickly the Democratic wins in Georgia might be certified, especially since Republicans could challenge the outcomes. Nevertheless Democrats were celebrating.

“It feels like a brand new day. For the first time in six years, Democrats will operate a majority in the United States Senate — and that will be very good for the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who would become majority leader if the Democratic wins in Georgia hold.

“America is experiencing one of the greatest crises we have ever faced, and the Senate Democratic majority is committed to delivering the bold change and help Americans need and demand. Senate Democrats know America is hurting — help is on the way,” Schumer said.

The first two years of Obama’s presidency brought the nation the Affordable Care Act. Biden, then vice president, will now have the opportunity to enact an ambitious agenda of his own. First up could be his promise that winning Georgia would bring $2,000 checks to Americans right away.

“Their election will put an end to the block in Washington — that $2000 stimulus check — that money would go out the door immediately, to help people who are in real trouble,” Biden said in Georgia in the closing days of the race. “Think about what it will mean to your lives — putting food on the table, paying rent.”

The $2,000 stimulus payments have gained surprising bipartisan support after President Trump seized on the idea, first floated by liberal lawmakers in Congress in the spring. Biden has over the last several months shifted his position on the stimulus payments, but specifically pledged a $2,000 stimulus payment for voters if Democrats won in Georgia.
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The $2,000 checks would likely be just the beginning of an ambitious agenda that was already provoking furious debate Wednesday morning as Washington woke to a new realignment of power — presuming Ossoff’s victory holds. Democrats may seek to include the stimulus checks in a broader package with other priorities, such as additional funding for state and local governments and a more substantial expansion in federal unemployment benefits.

Infrastructure spending, climate change legislation, expanding health care benefits, student debt forgiveness and more may also be on the table — although congressional aides cautioned that discussions with the Biden team were in the very early stages. With control of both chambers, Democrats can use special budget rules to push through massive legislation with a simple majority in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes usually required for major bills. That’s how Republicans enacted their $1.5 trillion tax cut bill in the first year of Trump’s presidency with no Democratic votes.

But Democrats’ slim majorities will limit their ambitions and likely exacerbate infighting between liberals and centrists about how far to go. Their 222-211 House majority is the smallest margin of control either party has had for years. The Georgia wins would produce a Senate divided 50-50 between the parties, with Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris as the tie-breaking vote for Democrats.

blatham wrote:

Now I can relax. Had McConnell remained in control, we all know how he would have thwarted Biden at every turn. To see McConnell disempowered brings me more delight than I can easily express but the more important aspect is that now the Dems are in a position where they can begin to repair the broad damage that has been done and set to correcting the many prior pandemic failures. So this is big.

You wish. The Republicans still have the filibuster. And they will be able to derail even a simple majority vote by persuading one moderate Democrat to vote against it.

The democrats could eliminate the filibuster. What then?

Not much chance of Mr. Biden achieving anything noteworthy.

Lindsey Graham
@LindseyGrahamSC
May 3, 2016
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.

Perhaps the Republican party will see the need to liberate itself from Trump’s malign domination - if there are some people left in the party who still care about democracy, governing and holding the country together.

Coldjoint was suspended for a year for allegedly violating the rule against soapboxing.

The Republicans are well able to block the Democrats from violating people's civil liberties or imposing any sort of leftist agenda on the nation.

And they will be able to derail even a simple majority vote by persuading one moderate Democrat to vote against it.

an individual wrote:

Coldjoint was suspended for a year for allegedly violating the rule against soapboxing.

Source? I wonder where he read that — The Epoch Times?