PBO calls out Trump on his lies about the rigged election, and it’s glorious:
A partial transcript in case you can’t watch:
I have ever seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before the votes take place. It’s unprecedented…
You start whining before the game’s even over? If, whenever things are going bad for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else? You don’t have what it takes to do this job… I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go make his case to get votes.
BOOM. The president also pointed out that elections are run by state and local officials, so if there’s a massive con job going on, people like Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Trump supporter (and possible alien life form from Planet Reptar) would have to be in on it.
I would only add that there is an ongoing attempt to rig this election, one that cleverly bypasses local voting mechanisms that are hard to corrupt nationwide due to decentralization. The genuine attempt to rig this election is being carried out by a foreign power, Russia, using a hostile third party, WikiLeaks, to disseminate stolen information timed to maximize damage to Democrats.
If anyone on earth should STFU about rigged elections, it’s Donald J. Trump. He’s the beneficiary of an attempted heist on a scale we’ve never seen before.
Trentrunner
I’d also count unjustified voting restrictions targeting THOSE PEOPLE as “rigging.”
So. Yeah. Projection: It’s What I’m Grabbing This Week
Jeffro
Too funny, I just re-posted (because FYWP, that’s why) a link to this down thread not 5 seconds ago waiting for an Open Thread…thanks Betty!
What a spectacular dis!!
japa21
How many times can I say how much I am going to miss this guy in the WH?
Gin & Tonic
s/ever/never
barns
He had me at “you start whining before he game is even over”.
Trentrunner
I heard Obama’s whole answer live on the radio, and it was magnificent.
BUT, oh lord, the part where he basically walked through the counter-example of how, if Trump won, he (Obama) would welcome him and transfer power peacefully…
I would almost rather lose a limb than have to witness that.
GOTV, people.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
I wonder who’s job it is to babysit the manbaby and his android today? Cuz that’s gonna leave a mark. Obama is the only black man in America completely beyond Trump’s – and every other mediocre white man in America’s – reach, and that has made him way overreach, and has made them all crazy. The irony of Trump running to show that ni*clang who’s really boss, then losing to a woman, is just too delicious to even be fiction.
DCrefugee
PBO is giving a doctoral dissertation in presidential.
hovercraft
NFTG Obama is my absolute favorite Obama, he just barely edges out Michelle.
barns
“You start whining before the game is even over”
Lol.
MattF
If Trump really wants to take revenge on Republicans rather than just whine, he should withdraw from the race.
mike in dc
Natasha Stoynoff now has 6 corroborating witnesses, including one to refute Melania’s claim that they never met on 5th Avenue.
I still think another bad story will drop on Trump in the next 30 hours or so, just in time for the final debate but too late to formulate an effective response.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
I can’t see the video at work, but doesn’t NFLTG PBO also drop the Putin bomb on the GOP and Trump’s head?
Matt McIrvin
So over on LGM Cleek linked to this analysis, arguing that the 2008 and 2012 primaries and the 2008 general election were all rigged in favor of Romney and McCain, based on some correlation between candidate margin and precinct size. I am unconvinced that this is evidence of cheating; I suspect it’s just manifesting an urban-rural divide. The supposed near-universality of it alone makes me suspicious; they’re claiming somebody managed to pull something across hundreds of local election systems. But Mike the Mad Biologist seems to think it’s convincing.
hovercraft
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
I guarantee that if there were hidden mics in Trump Tower, and his phones were bugged, we would have hours of c-bombs and ni-clangs. The whining is that much louder because of the indignity of who he’s losing to, that bitch and by extension that ni-clang.
Betty Cracker
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
QFT.
dmsilev
I assume his staff has hidden his phone again, or maybe told him that it had to go back to the store because it was one of those ‘might burst into flames’ models.
dmsilev
@mike in dc: My guess is that Bad Story will be something that Clunton brings up at the debate, followed by several days of Trump wildly overreacting.
hovercraft
Can We Call It?
by Nancy LeTourneau
The title of Stuart Rothenberg’s latest article in the Washington Post is really quite extraordinary: “Trump’s path to an electoral college victory isn’t narrow. It’s non-existent.” Here’s what he says to back that up:
It would be a mistake to call Trump’s current path to an electoral college victory narrow. It is nonexistent. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, once part of the Trump scenario, have never been “in play,” and he is not competitive in 2012 states Obama won only narrowly, such as Virginia and Colorado. Trump is more likely to lose North Carolina than win it, which would put him under 200 electoral votes.
Frankly, the writing has been on the wall for months about this race. You simply needed to look at the candidates, their campaign teams, the map and the voters.
That isn’t extraordinary because it is out of sync with reality – but because he actually said it.
A couple of forces line up to keep prognosticators from making that kind of call. First of all, with the election still 3 weeks away, unforeseen events can happen that change the dynamics. Secondly, when a presidential election is not viewed as a horse race, voters can lose interest. That could mean fewer clicks and eyeballs for the media. And for partisans, it could lower turnout.
But in this race, reality might be overtaking those forces. So Rothenberg was willing to go out on a limb and call it. That’s one more way that Donald Trump is changing the norms we’ve come to expect in politics.
piratedan
So, last night I was in the hotel room watching Lawrence O’D bring up the latest wiki-leaks bugaboo where someone implies that the State department is playing footsie with the FBI, i.e. u change the classification and we find room for more FBI overseas…only problem was, it was the FBI approaching the state department, offering the deal. State said no deal and now the FBI agent that proposed this (now retired) is under investigation for sending said e-mail…
Essentially showing that context matters and in this case, State didn’t do anything wrong, in fact behaved as we would want them to. Complete nothingburger, not even any special sauce to be seen.
Fast forward to MSNBC this morning and they bring up the exact same incident, yet this morning, instead of applying anything that Lawrence O’D said last night, continue to pass this off as something potentially troubling at State. The guest analyst, former Fiorina campaign director… yes yes, very concerning for Clinton campaign and in any other election would be getting more notice yada yada yada…
what in the living fuck… don’t these people ever talk to each other?
MattF
@piratedan:
For what purpose? Logic, truth, etc. are not the goals here.
ET
The orange one’s hair is on fire right now. I also can’t help thinking that behind closed doors there are a few Republicans that laughing over this.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
The 2008 general election was rigged in favor of McCain?
Something went wrong.
This stuff is stupid. A mathematics of stupidity.
Shell
It was a thing of beauty
Brachiator
@hovercraft:
Trump gives aid and comfort to white supremacists. I really don’t care whether he uses intemperate language.
eyelessgame
Well, Big Lie, obviously. Accuse your opponent of what you’re guilty of.
Shell
Charlie Pierce sums up what looks like Trumps end game:
“But, more importantly, what he is doing now is running a presidential campaign as nothing less than an incitement to riot.”
Brachiator
@Trentrunner:
I hope that this baits Trump into another debate interrupting rant.
bystander
@piratedan: The lead in to the story on MSNBC is “Quid pro quo? Upcoming new wikileaks revelations!” Then the reportage, after cutting to a ranting Trumpkins, is to point out that there was qpq. And never does anyone say that Clinton’s name was on the email in any way shape or form. I hate this baloney.
Also, John Oliver is a bothsiderist. Funny occasionally but always the case equivalence.
hovercraft
@piratedan:
Lawrence is a liberal, and is taking the word of the FBI at face value. The Morning Joe crew are looking for a scandal to bring Clinton down, so the fact that said agent made the allegation means that the question must be asked, never mind that the entire incident in question came about before the discovery of her private server. Like most of the so called Clinton scandals, the fact that something is possible is grounds for investigation, and because there’s an investigation she is shady and secretive.
Bobby Thomson
NFLTG Obama is glorious. Just glorious.
Let us savor.
p.a.
Blood pressure be damned, I might watch Sniffy McSniffleson tomorrow night to see if he actually bleeds from his ears in frustration. Otherwise, you folks do a fine job keeping me entertained during the debates. (That is what you’re here for, right?)
Major Major Major Major
@Matt McIrvin:
Overrepresentation of rural populations is a method of cheating intentionally built in to the American political system, but otherwise I agree with your take.
Just One More Canuck
@barns: Trump is the Jose Bautista of presidential politics
hovercraft
PBO is not alone with this sentiment:
Bill O’Reilly Tells Donald Trump To Stop ‘Whining’
Jesse
@bystander:
I think he does it merely as a rhetorical technique, because he’s usually pretty careful to emphasize that one of the things he’s comparing is much worse than the other. Candidate badness is symbolized by raisins; HRC is imperfect, so she’s a raisin cookie; Trump is an avalanche of raisins burying his entire desk. His entire point is that they are not the same.
Fair Economist
@piratedan:
Of course they do. In this case they said “O’Donnell dismembered the smear last night but I think we can still give it a go this morning before the real facts get around”. You’re not under the delusion that the corporate media is interested in truth, are you?
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Love seeing PBO take that gibbering buffoon to the woodshed. Also,
That’s gold right there. GOLD I TELL YOU!
In the waiting room about to find out how I get my back sorted.
scav
@mike in dc: One would think that Melania would learn not to speak in public anymore — well, in theory at least. Amazing what one can buy.
John D
@Major Major Major Major:
You could read the article at the link, y’know. It contains the following quote: “This doesn’t seem to be an urban/rural divide either: the authors took a geographically randomized subset of the data and found the same patterns.”
Another Scott
Reposted from downstairs, ICYMI:
BooMan makes a good case that Ryan is doomed and the GOP will fracture next year (assuming they keep the House).
It’s a good read, and makes a lot of sense.
Here’s hoping that his prognostications don’t come to pass that way, though, and instead (as he also discusses) Team D takes the House.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mai.naem.mobile
As I am typing this, Ivanka is running through the streets of.Manhattan, ripping off her Jimmy Choos, sprinting into the Trump Tower, up the stairs because she is too impatient for the elevator and attempting to grab his twitter machine and screaming ‘Nooooo,Daaddddyyyyy. Just NO!’
jonas
Classic projection by Trump: “All the attempts to rig the election in my favor are clearly not working! Clinton’s must be 10x more devious and nefarious, otherwise she wouldn’t be shellacking me in the polls! It’s an outrage!”
The Moar You Know
@bystander: The ugly truth – save for Bee and Colbert, the Daily Show alumni have been miserable failures both as pundits and comics.
I include Stewart in that gallery of failures. He was a decent gadfly. But his dogmatic, almost religious insistence that both sides do it made him woefully ineffective as a pundit, and towards the end of his run made him a pretty shitty comic as well.
Mike in NC
Shorter Obama: “Grow the fuck up, Trump, and stop acting like a spoiled toddler. No elections in this country are rigged.”
Trump will offer no concession speech, but tell all his devoted followers if they buy a campaign t-shirt, they’ll get one for free.
DocSardonic
Little advance notice on popcorn futures for 2018….. Looks like Curt Schilling is going to run for Senate against Elizabeth Warren( pending of course on his wife giving this manly man her permission).
hovercraft
Speaking assholes in trouble. Heads up a POLITICO link.
Republicans rush to build firewall to save the House
A top conservative super PAC is dropping millions in districts once thought invincible for the GOP.
dmsilev
@Mike in NC:
Fixed. Trump don’t do free.
MattF
@jonas: So, Clinton is succeeding in beating Trump through intelligence and hard work. That must burn.
DocSardonic
@DocSardonic: ETA apologies, forgot link.
catclub
It would be brilliant (and horrifying) if Trump is going to rig the election. All the pious statements that the election cannot be rigged would be used to stop any investigations.
But luckily, only on some other planet.
hovercraft
@DocSardonic:
These people truly are delusional aren’t they? He thinks he can unseat Professor Senator Warren? That bloody sock was a while ago son, and since you retired you’ve put your foot in your mouth so much it’s a wonder you can still breath. Fingers crossed the wife says yes.
amygdala
What a thing of beauty. I’ve long thought that DJT ran out of spite, after President Obama spanked him at the 2011 nerd prom. It’s beyond delicious that he’s still taking the Combover Caligula to the woodshed so late in the campaign.
Jeffro
@MattF:
It’s one of the main reasons the GOP is afraid of her – she’ll outwork them by a country mile.
Peale
I was actually kind of disjointed in the presser itself with Renzi. The part where Obama needed to opine about Renzi’s political reforms that are set to go to referendum in December. That was probably the reason for Renzi’s visit, but does Obama really need to give his support to a referendum on the structure of house and senate in another country? I know its not meddling in a political question of another country when the PM comes and asks for his support, but why is that invitation even offered?
delk
Just saw my second Christmas commercial today. Only saw one political ad.
Villago Delenda Est
70 year old whining babby. That’s our Donald.
Turgidson
@piratedan: Chris “Most Useless Man on the Plant” Cillizza was all over the State/FBI nothingburger yesterday, saying Clinton’s email problems came “roaring back” yadda yadda derp derp.
I had thought, maybe, the media took a step back from their embarrassing and misleading (or worse) coverage of “teh emailz” after getting so much grief over that and the equally atrocious Foundation coverage in September. Cillizza is determined to avoid looking in that mirror at all costs. Even being shamed by Norm Ornstein about his hacktacular, substance-free style of derp couldn’t get him to rethink his addiction to “ZOMG EMAILS” stupidity.
Can’t fucking stand that guy. He’s on the shortlist with Ron Fournier and David f’ing Brooks for the award of being the single worst person in all of Beltway/national political punditry.
hovercraft
DocSardonic
@DocSardonic: apparently I’m lacking the brain power to add links but I’m stubborn so here we go again…ESPN
scott (the other one)
@John D: One of the things that jumped out at them, when they analyzed the data, was that the expected urban-rural divide worked the other way: the larger the precinct, the larger the percentage of Republican votes.
Turgidson
@hovercraft:
fixed.
John Revolta
@DocSardonic: Hmmmm……………what’s his ERA against lefties?
Peale
@hovercraft: Her vote % in 2012 was 6.5% lower than Obama’s and the state has a good history of dumping democratic party women when it can.
hovercraft
@Turgidson:
You cannot exclude Mark Halpern and Andrea Mitchell Greenspan, and Maureen Dowd, and Bob Woodward, and, the list is neverending.
? Martin
538 has recently tipped NV, MO, and NC blue in senate polling. Still very close, but close trending in the right direction. Florida might be the only remaining winnable seat. KY, LA and AZ still looking like longshots.
538 puts best odds on Dems holding 52/48.
Mnemosyne
@DocSardonic:
Didn’t Schilling just defend Trump by saying he thinks his 9-year-old daughter’s friends are hot?
Yeah, that’s going to go over well in the debates.
Peale
@hovercraft: Yep. If I offer you a bribe and you turn it down, aren’t you guilty just because I thought you were bribe-able? I think I have a new plan. Just go around offering politicians I don’t like bribes, then showing the videos of them turning me down.
Bill E Pilgrim
So now when Short Fingers McGropetopus acts like a toddler at the debate, his crew will say it’s because Obama egged him on.
hovercraft
@Peale:
Yes she had a hard time getting elected the first time, yes she only won with 53 %, but this year she’s been around 61 approve and 27 disapprove (that number again). So I hope you are wrong, but I know almost nothing about Mass voters.
Turgidson
@hovercraft:
Good point. Take Fournier off and put Halperin in there instead. Only because Fournier has mostly left the national/Beltway scene to take over some journal in Detroit and isn’t heard from as much other than being a willfully obtuse dolt on Twitter.
Andrea Mitchell gets temporary recognition, because her coverage of HRC is so ridiculous it almost defies description. Trump could go on a live-streamed murder spree of women and children, and bless her heart, Andrea Mitchell would still insist that the EMAILS are the biggest story of the race and far more damaging than Trump’s latest missteps. But I think Andrea Mitchell will fall off this list once the election is over, because I presume she’ll be assigned to cover things other than HRC and her emails. I could be wrong about that, though.
catclub
@? Martin:
LA has the election as jungle primary. There are 24 candidates and a 50%+1 is needed to win. If the Democrats had figured a way to only have two candidates, they might have had the two top finishers. Less likely now, I think there are about 6 Democrats, 9 Republicans, the rest crazy people.
jl
When speaking to an infantile narcissist, the line between ‘trolling’ and simply stating what the vast majority of grown-up people would deem a reasonable argument gets very fine. Infantile narcissist liable to explode in rage at either.
Sadly and dangerously, it will be harder to determine what is trolling versus what is simply stating what somebody believes to be the obvious as the election draws closer.
And one problem with Obama’s example of Florida, is that, yes, as far as Trump is concerned, state and local GOP officials, the good the bad and the ugly, are now ‘those people’. Maybe some of them will understand how that feels, probably many will still not get it.
scav
@Bill E Pilgrim: He’s such a little teeny tender little innocent, easily lead into misdeeds by anyone passing by: Billy Bush, Obama, random people on twitter. Can anyone look into those dewy little eyes and think anything else?
gvg
Trump doesn’t actually know anything about rigging elections. Didn’t you notice back in the summer, his definition of “fair” is he wins. All while he talked about lawsuits, tax policy, deals, etc, he always defines fair as he wins or gets his way. When he agrees with his supporters end result they take it to mean he is their hero but it’s all about him. He actually doesn’t understand the english language the way the dictionary does. It bugs me that his supporters are so gullible. Anyway this isn’t a position he is taking because of the election, it’s the way he is all the time. He is incapable of realizing that fair has a different meaning.
His supporters (racists) are also delusional. The really don’t understand that a lot more voters don’t agree with the voices in their head. They think they are the majority. In a way they are right. Whites still are the majority. If whites stuck together, racists policies would still be in place. It may be less than 50% of whites are still anti equality, but a pretty large number of them are adamantly proequality and stick with the minorities. The other thing I noticed just before Obama was elected, is racists think PC and not saying certain things was just politeness that we all did like not speaking curse words in front of the kids. The did not understand that most of us thought you shouldn’t say certain things because it was wrong to think that. Just wrong. Not impolite, wrong. those creeps assumed that all the rest of us still thought like they did quietly. they don’t even know how insulting that is to us. They really expected McCain and Romney to win in spite of the polls, that the rest of us were going to see they were right (race realists) and vote the way they did. They still don’t believe many whites PREFERRED Obama and will prefer Clinton. I think they think our votes are being supressed because they don’t process how many of us hate their views. I think that is how they jump to vote fraud.
catclub
@jonas: Also cheapskate. He refuses to spend the money for a campaign that would have a better chance.
Considers Clinton doing it cheating.
sukabi
Not to mention the $3 BILLION in free advertising the cable networks have guven him this election season.
Betty Cracker
@? Martin: I think Murphy has a decent shot at unseating Rubio. The more anti-Trump the electorate, the better, of course.
jl
I guess an important question is who will feel the brunt of the Trump camp’s rage if his electoral prospects remain dismal?
Let’s see, HRC, Obama, Democrats, or GOP office holders are likely.
We have to hope his plans to disrupt the polling places does not pan out, otherwise random voters, and election officials and volunteers will get it.
If HRC, Obama and Dems continue to speak and act honestly calmly, responsibly, and resolutely, Trump probably won’t confront them directly. That is where his bully/coward issues come in.
If we are lucky the GOP will feel his wrath most. They are on his enemies list now. And he has been dominating them for months. They are likely to be the ‘go to’ group for taking his abuse.
Bill E Pilgrim
@scav: He’s like the perfect judo or jiu jitsu opponent you should wish for, or an entire chapter in The Art of War outlining what not to do. If staying detached and non-reactive makes you strong, he’s whatever the opposite is.
She should definitely try tomorrow night to work in “Donald, there’s no conspiracy. (beat) You’re just losing”.
weaselone
@Peale:
Warren won over Brown who was a reasonably popular male Republican incumbent. Republicans in Mass don’t have a candidate that could challenge her now that she’s an fairly popular incumbent with the possible exception of Charlie Baker.
jl
From news on latest hot HRC email leaks, I’d guess the newest HRC email scandal that will bring her down is that Warren’s and Sander’s names were not in the right places on potential veeps list.
Villago Delenda Est
@Turgidson: Mrs. Greenspan is fighting very hard to get a lower tumbrel manifest number than Chuckles the Toddler.
Gelfling 545
@scav: And all those wicked women leading him astray.
The Moar You Know
@Matt McIrvin: Damn good link. Author is basically arguing for a “VW emissions” type of scenario, where the numeric manipulation only occurs if there are enough votes to bury it reasonably well. More votes, more manipulation.
I am not so unconvinced. We’ve already seen it happen, albeit on a small scale. And it would be damn near impossible to find for months afterwards.
Gin & Tonic
@Villago Delenda Est: I wasn’t around when you were before and didn’t have a chance to say it, but please accept my condolences on your loss. A good run is a good run, but it’s still sad when it comes to an end.
SFBayAreaGal
I love, love, love President Obama and First Lady Obama. I will miss them tremendously.
Aleta
Trump World
1. “Normal business” — When he rigs an outcome
1.a. “Huge victory, big success” — Swindle worked.
1.b. “Rigged” — Swindle didn’t work.
If 1.b., then conduct “normal business” on perceptions.
schrodinger's cat
@Jesse: He is too long winded and unfunny these days.
Villago Delenda Est
That’s Donald’s problem. It’s not possible for him to do this. He can only appeal to his base, no one beyond it.
scav
@Bill E Pilgrim: I can’t think of a more perfect caricature from implausible central casting to epitomize the ideals, moral worth, social values and economic policies of the moral scolds of Reaganism. And, from their behavior towards him, the preponderance of them (certainly the ones flapping their lips and answering polls) more than fine with it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you. Still trying to adjust.
Villago Delenda Est
@jl: Probably something like Podesta being all catty about someone wearing white shoes after Labor Day.
Joel
@Jesse: ding ding ding
and that’s a big part of why Oliver is so damned effective
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est: I saw a comment about your recent loss.
My deepest sympathies to you.
Gerald
Soooo …JU WANNA PLAY RUFF? OK!
THE POTUS Obama just pulled out a huge can of whip-ass …made the GOP/ Republican nominee go to the tree and get a switch for his own ass whooping!
Ouch!
Mike the Mad Biologist
@Matt McIrvin: actually, the paper controlled for urban-rural divides. I hate writing about that stuff because it makes me feel all tin-foil helmet-ey, but I can’t think of another hypothesis to explanation the pattern across two elections (as well as both GOP primaries and the general election).
Either there’s a very interesting sociological phenomenon going on (I hope so), or there’s a real problem.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Villago Delenda Est: I have also missed the news, please allow me to add my condolences as well.
debbie
@Villago Delenda Est:
I too missed your post. I’m sorry for your loss.
gogol's wife
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m sorry for your loss, Villago.
debbie
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Trump’s love of Putin makes me wonder whether he thinks, should he lose, the vote was rigged because Russian hackers have assured him they can fix the vote count.
Kathleen
@Villago Delenda Est: I missed the news as well. My deepest condolences.
Uncle Cosmo
@Villago Delenda Est: Even later to the topic, but please let me add my condolences. What G&T said: A good long run offers some solace, but you’re never ready to see your loved ones move on to the next plane.