The Biden Presidency - 2020
 

Time for the new thread,

Decision Desk HQ projects that @JoeBiden has won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes for a total of 273.

Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States of America.

Race called at 11-06 08:50 AM EST

All Results: https://t.co/BgcQsEyt3j

— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 6, 2020

Good luck Joe!

With the record high deficit, disease, Mitch McConnel, and the unrest out there, you're going to need it!

Can we call it a failed presidency yet?

GOP very concerned that over 100,000 Americans were diagnosed with COVID-19 on President-Elect Biden's first day. There is talk of impeachment.

I'm going to wait for it to actually fail before I call it a failed presidency. Crazy talk I know, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Premature thread. The more I think about it, the more I think we're gonna need a "Pence Presidency" thread.

Too soon.

Probably not, but "C'mon man!" :lol:

I don't think it's premature. Even if Trump resigns, we can put Pence's two months in the Trump thread.

Hasn't gotten rid of COVID. Sad.

I'm not betting on it on PredictIt, but I think you are right.

My guess:

Ivanka does the deed. He trusts her, and she understands that she has a brand to protect that might be tarnished by starting a literal civil war. She's one of the few people (maybe the only person) that he trusts that does not want him to burn it all down.

She convinces him that it is over. And then I think that quitting in a huff because they "stole it from him" (after he pardons himself and everyone in his circle) and "I'm not going to stay here like a sucker" and pledging to run in 2024 when "there will be no fraud" is the most likely play.

I don't think Trump resigns, he'll just behave as if he's resigned. The transition will fall to Pence, who to be fair, will probably handle it pretty well.

Objective 1: Move in to the White House and get the old tenant to leave.

You mean he'll play a bunch of golf, watch Fox News, and shitpost on Twitter all day?

SI

Yeah, he might just fly to M-a-L and send for his stuff.

Lots of pardons coming. How does he handle his own case?

We could always just let this thread be about Biden, Trump has his own thread. Or not, it's just an idea.

You think Ivanka pulls a John Snow?

Biden and his administration have a lot of work to clean up the mess trump will have left him. Count on the GOP to stymie Biden at every turn, blame him for the deficit that trump created, the inflation that trump created with his tariffs and tax cuts, the corona virus deaths that trump caused, the delay of any stimulus package for Americans out of work or hurting financially from the virus/shutdown and the loss of trust in the international community.

The damage trump has done will take years to clean up and that will only happen if the GOP doesn't take back control. From the environment to jobs, it's not going to be fixed over night.

Like the bullies they are, the GOP will whine and complain that Biden isn't doing anything, demand solutions to problems the GOP created and will continue to try and gaslight this country. Good luck Joe.

I second this motion.

First issue: the inevitable spike in COVID-19 that occurs shortly before his inauguration, due to Meemaws across the nation insisting that all the kids and grandkids come for Christmas like they always do.

Funny Biden feels the same way:

"“The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

Unfortunately, it will be their last christmas for some of them. :(

Like, how long will it take to undo all the stupid executive orders and rescinding of Obama's orders? Weeks? Months?

I wonder if Hunter and Ashley took the Trans Am keys away yet?

Riddle me this: how come current administrations take credit for the good things that happen during their term, but blame the previous administration for all of the bad shit? Anyone who believes that Trump or Harris...I mean Biden...can turn this country around is delusional. The two-party political system is archaic and it's flaws are amplified every four years. I have a feeling that in 2025 we will be thinking that 2020 wasn't so bad. God help us all.

Definitely a serious question here! I mean, politicians haven't been doing this since it was expedient since the dawn of time and part of our job as citizens is to untangle some of it. But the President Harris thing - that's how I know it's really serious.

SI

I'm not so sure about that. If the republicans hold the senate, Biden will appoint moderates to his cabinet (which have to be approved by the senate). If Breyer retires from the Supreme Court, he'll also appoint a moderate judge to take his place. He won't have to appease the leftists in his party, and can basically tell them he's hamstrung and has to appoint people who can get approved so the country's business can go on. I think there's a decent chance that some good will come out of this (like Bill Clinton and the republican congress).

Don't you know covid disappeared Nov 4th?

When do we turn into Venezuela?

I’m going to seize back my farm and turn it into a collective farm.

I tend to agree with you on more moderate judges first.than full out liberal/progressive judges. I will make one exception here:

Merrick Garland is first in line and he gets the hearing and vote he should have got when Obama nominated him.

Then have a debate on whether there should be an actual law that states no judge may be nominated to the Court in the last year of the Presidency instead of the "common decency" agreement Congress is supposed to have on this issue. And then decide if there will be term limits on both judges and Congresspeople just like there is for the President.

Garland may not want to go through that again though.

Also Garland is now 67. I'd rather have Biden nominate someone younger.

You just know McConnell is going to say "If Joe Biden is serious about getting bipartisan support on a nominee he'll send us Merrick Garland" and Biden will nominate him. He should put up somebody much younger if he gets the chance.

Senate map is more favorable to Dems in 2022 and they have GOP retirements in NC and PA, which probably means Dems will blow it and lose 5 seats.

Abby Phillips just made a great point. It made me think about this and the other thread about our institutions. Despite all the talk of Left Wing Joe, we all know Biden is a moderate. We know he's first instinct is to make deals and be bipartisan. He is going to reach across the aisle no matter the pressure that comes from his left. What will he find on the other side? We shall see.

Wait. The GOP Congress was literally shooting watermelons to try and prove Clinton had Vince Foster murdered. And the Gingrich government shut-downs. And the travel office investigations. And the Whitewater investigations. And the impeachment. And on and on. The 1994 GOP win set the foundation for the McConnell Senate under Obama.

What time zone are you in?

You guys, the deficit is an issue again. Lindsey Graham is already talking about it. Wonder what happened?

I know some tax cuts for people who don't need it that can go

SI

But without those cuts, how will they create jobs?

I forget. Is it the government's job to create jobs or is it the private sector's job?

I apologize for mucking up this thread with a post not overflowing with snark, but I'm seriously curious what Biden does. Specifically, what COVID steps does he take and how? What exactly does he do vis a vis climate change, globalization, international agreements, etc? Energy issues ... I know he will be limited by opposition from the Senate, but with it being nearly equally divided I think some minor bills will pass. What does he go for and what does he decide isn't worth the fight?

Going to be watching how all that plays out a lot more closely than I did anything that happened under our current President.

I'll reserve my sarcasm for Pelosi; somebody needs to remind her what the word mandate means.

Maybe we can get some infrastructure stuff done. Probably not.

Don't worry - looks like you got it covered

SI

Can I just say I felt a little verklempt reading the title of this thread?

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He is definitely a moderate, no doubt. But I think you give the GOP too much credit. They have not and will not change their stripes and will be just as obstructionist as they were with Obama. If he does get to appoint any justices, I do think they will lean on the moderate side, but, hopefully he will be pressured by the more progressive dems to go with someone that is more left. Time will tell, but, I think one thing can be guaranteed is, the GOP will be a pain in the ass.

It's great to see this thread!

Since cases are ramping up I think he can renew faith in our acquisition and distribution of equipment for front-line workers, making sure that the proper orgs are in place and ready to help as needed if we reach the unfortunate case of hospital overflow/overcrowding, just basic logistics where we were left with the impression back in March that Trump was creating a situation where "friendly" states got help, and where states were bidding against each other and the feds for equipment. That I assume can all be set straight immediately if the rise in cases is creating any shortage concerns.

Past that - the most important thing that a proper president could have done was brought unity around the idea that we're all in this together when the pandemic first started, that we don't have all the answers and we may not get everything right but that we are all Americans and we all need to work together and make some personal sacrifices in the best interest of all of us, that none of us are immune to this. I assume that we're far past the point that this unity could ever be created now, but he'll try, and hopefully it'll help some.

Hmmm - reasonable stimulus packages that actually help Americans? Can Biden help guide congress towards that?


There's so much dysfunction around climate change that I've pretty much lost hope and I don't think this change will do anything to fix it. The longer we go the more urgent it is that we implement something like the Green New Deal as of yesterday, and I think a lot of moderates don't actually have it in them to make hard decisions even if they are backed by the entirity of the scientific community. I think we lose here, and I fear that Biden won't even make a push for what is necessary, but even a more moderate push will probably fail.

But - at least get back into the Paris Climate Agreement and undo a lot of the executive orders that we've heard about over time that Trump put into place that weakened the EPA, things like that.


My areas of interest politically don't really fall here, but I assume there will be some active efforts to try to restore relationships with allies that have been harmed,to re-establish deals that had been set up, to try to work with China to re-establish trade agreements that are closer to neutral and less antagonistic. I'm well aware that my language here is oversimplified, that's the best answer I've got.



Similar to Climate Change, I believe the science says that we need a massive worldwide effort to throw all of our resources behind renewable energy to even have a prayer of saving the planet (as far as it being comfortably habitable by humans). I'm not entirely sure Biden is even for that, and I don't think there's any hope of success. So I expect that Biden can undo some of Trump's harmful de-regulation that was mostly aimed at creating profit for his friends, but I sadly am extremely pessimistic here.



I expect some police reform. A Biden victory is no reason to stop protesting for the issues that BLM cares about. I think by now everyone who pays attention here knows that I think Biden is an enemy of black lives matter, not a friend. I do not think he wants changes that will have any real impact on systemic racism. But I expect that he will take the tone necessary to calm some of the inflamed edges of these situations. And I think there is some reasonable police reform that will probably happen.

I expect to be disappointed, but I do think he will at least be capable of acknowledging the legitimate issues and doing what he honestly feels is the right thing to help address them, and he will make a real and honest effort to ease tensions. And that is very important to get us back to some kind of reasonable place that we were before Trump. I think many will consider this wonderful progress. That's the best I can say here given my own much further left leaning views on oppression and systemic/institutional racism in America.

One thing is for sure, I'm curious to see how much bigger of crowd will be there for Biden's inauguration than trumps.

Unfortunately COVID may hamstring that a bit.

I think more than "a bit." If Trump doesn't admit defeat and/or quit in a huff, we're in for 10 weeks of chaotic government, protests, riots, etc., during what would already have been the worst possible time for virus spread. I find it hard to imagine that having a large gathering of any kind on 1/20 is going to be a good idea..

Let Trump have this one

SI

I think it's unlikely Biden gives enough of a shit about inauguration size to hold a major rally. Even if he did, Trump would still be all over social media about how his was bigger.

He's probably going to be sworn in privately, with cameras in attendance, rather than risk a super-spreader event for no good reason.

We can't even agree that COVID is a real thing when it's here right now and people are dying right now. I have absolutely zero hope that some far-off danger of climate change will allow anyone to do much of anything.

Actually, this would be a great way to try and start setting the tone for COVID response.

SI

There were over 1600 deaths reported today. With the holidays and two more months of fuckitall from the government, things good be really bad by mid-January.

Good solution.

Hey, I only began my post with snark. At least there was more to it for most of the post :).


Good post. I'm surprised you didn't mention a national mask mandate. Do you not expect that to be tried?


I'm actually kind of surprised by this. Ignore this if you wish, but from my perspective you can't address climate change without the global piece - it doesn't matter what the US does all that much if you don't get other countries on board as well. It also seems to me that issues of what you term equality are in a somewhat similar boat; there is much greater suffering around the world than there is in America and therefore drastically ramping up foreign aid for example, global enforcement on human rights, basic infrastructure and medical care in various places around the world, etc. is where the front line is on those issues.

It's debatable whether any President has that ability. But with that said, he can certainly be the leader-in-chief-cheerleader.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/prod...f/LSB/LSB10530

I don't think he can enact it by executive order or anything, it's more the kind of thing that I'd expect him to push for and then see how far that goes. .

Biden to speak tonight. Doesn't look like any additional MSM is ready to call it yet.

He's good with declaring victory without actually declaring victory. I think he'll do that tonight.

How I totally blanked that out...I guess I got a little too excited.

Now may not because nobody is calling it.

I would imagine he will encourage local officials to follow the CDC guidlines, and then not try to edit the CDC guidelines. Novel, I know.

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The fact that we are actually discussing possible policy positions is a welcome change for sure.

Nice to see empathy from the leader of the free world.

It's just completely surreal to have a competent human being with some level of decency getting ready to hold that position. He's old, he's shaky, I can't imagine what he'll be in 4 years if he makes that long, but he will fill his administration with non-super villain human beings and I just can't wait for that.

I feel like as polarized as we are right now that the best we're going to be able to do is to try to calm things down a bit and appeal towards reasonableness via a calm, consistent message. A national mandate I would expect gets people in AR-15's in the streets in many states.


Hm when I was thinking globalization and the like I was thinking global economics more than anything, which I feel is a very weak subject of mine. If nothing else I feel like the US should lead by example when it comes to the environment. You're definitely right in that we need global buy-in, but up to this point we have been at our best participants and at our worst antagonistic on climate change. I'm sure many things could happen simultaneously but I would make my major focus of climate change to do our part in a very visible and aggressive way, and definitely as we do that to work with the international community in any capacity that we can to be world leaders and to get others to come along with us. Thus far though this has only been a weakness of the US, so until we're doing it ourselves, I'd expect global conversations on climate change to be mocked.





What I term equality is very heavily biased towards the treatment of blacks in the united states going back to 1619 (and many of those things work to harm women and other minorities and LGBTQ+ folks and of course indigenous americans). But that systemic oppression is really based on power. Our system of government is designed to keep those in power, in power. Solving issues of oppression would help you and me - straight white males who are not in power, in many ways as well. There is, in my view, an unbelievable and overwhelming effort to make at home to take care of our own people. Those issues can be addressed internally - obviously, without extra layers of international diplomacy and potential military conflicts to address inequality and suffering around the world.

But it's not an either/or situation. But I have spent a significant time learning about oppression within the United States, and I have concrete ideas about what's happening here. So my focus when it comes to my own activism is entirely built around this. I've just made it my issue and my focus.

We should absolutely work to address world hunger and genocide around the world. But I believe that we should dramatically shrink our military budget and remove ourselves from many places that we exist today. That's where we find a lot of the money to clean our own house. But at this point we're talking far beyond what Biden could do (or would want to do, remember I consider him to be on the side of the oppressors, when it comes to systemic rascism). We're also far out of my wheelhouse. I see the issues, hunger, medical care and violence throughout the world, but we know that in war torn regions getting food to the people that need it is problematic, and we know we have a weird way of deciding when to intervene militarily and when not to, and we tend to cause a shitton of problems when we do, and those are problems I don't really know how to address. So yeah, I'm in favor of spending a ton more on humanitarian aid, but the reality of how that would work I'm not smart enough to speak on. And I would argue that cleaning our own house should be a top priority.

Pretty good read on the past relationship between Biden and McConnell.


America’s new power couple: Mitch and Joe

+1. "non-super villain human beings" - holy shit the bar is low isn't it? :D

I started watching the West Wing again, the first time I watched it through I'm not sure I'd even been to the States (maybe I'd visited my then-GF one time, I'm not 100% sure). And at the time being from abroad the office of the President of the US just seemed like this incredible institution, and the leader of the free world shit and all that.

It's insane to look back on that now and think what Trump has done to the office and the US' standing in the world. It's funny that watching a TV show made me think about that, but holy hell. How on earth did we get to that place, and even worse to a place where he was (or still is) a couple of coin flips away from being re-elected.

I just wanna go 6 weeks at a time without thinking about what insane shit the president and his evil henchmen are cooking up. For the past 4 years it's been like, what the fuck, but like what the fuck all the time. I drive a ton, all I see are trump signs, flags, tributes, etc. And it just gets my mind going, like why the hell would someone put a Trump, No More Bullshit flag in front of their house. I don't see how almost anyone could possibly like this wanker, let alone put random tributes to him out there. Trump is like a Full Screen DVD. You'd wonder who the hell would buy the pan and scan stuff when widescreen versions were available. Until you'd invariably come across a friend or acquaintance who was like "I hate black bars" and your opinion of that person was forever tainted.

So I hope that Biden does a good job of Eternal Sunshine-ing me of giving a crap about politics. It's an incredibly low bar.

I saw this and glanced through it. After 4 years of Trump drama, I'm ready for the smoked filled, backroom handshake.

I think McConnell did what he had to do to survive and what his constituents wanted. I expect him to continue to be conservative etc. but have to believe he has reconciliation & bargaining in mind.

Maybe the McConnell-Pelosi just doesn't work vs McConnell-Biden.

Damn. Mitch is already laying the groundwork to blame everything on Biden when he blocks everything. I thought we'd be able to work together, but the radical left, blah, blah, blah.

There's nothing in Mitch's past that even remotely suggests he's looking to work across the aisle.

Mitch got everything he wanted Tuesday. He had already written off the White House. He's almost definitely going to keep the Senate and can block any left wing Cabinet members, to say nothing of judicial nominees again. Plus, he has a group that can start talking about debt, again. He's not suddenly going to actually negotiate

Other than what was said in the article? Yes, I can see both the radical left and radical right being a problem.

I'm very comfortable predicting that the next two years won't be a golden age of bipartisan deal making. We have evidence of how Mitch worked with Biden. He's almost certainly going to do the same thing again.

The open question is whether Dems repeat the mistakes of 2010-2016 or deal with the problem differently.

Or the Dems sweep the runoffs in GA and this is hopefully a moot point.

At 50/50, who is named the Majority Leader in the Senate if that occurs.

Kamala breaks the tie.

I know she breaks the tie on votes, but was more curious if a Majority leader was named. Looks like it would default over to Schumer in this case.

A 50-50 Senate: Democrats in power but not control - Axios

I was answering your question on who would be majority leader. Kamala would break the tie to name Schumer majority leader.

I don't disagree, there will be plenty of compromises.

But that is shifting the goalpost from your original statement. He has worked with Joe before.


From Foxnews so take it a grain of salt, but here's a list of things that both worked together on.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bid...ating-partners

Thanks.

I can't wait until the negotiations where the Dems look for a $2.5T stimulus bill to keep the economy from falling back (further) into the gutters, Mitch counters with $500B and won't move over $1T and we can hear all about how the Dems aren't negotiating fairly or in good faith

SI

CNN calls it for Biden

.

I'm saying the same thing in both quotes. Mitch isn't going to be looking for compromises with Biden. He's going to block everything he can just like he did with Obama/Biden. Biden's relationships and skills didn't matter then and they won't matter now.

I've been physically ill for 3 days....frozen in fear and dreadful expectation. :(
Afraid to turn on the TV and look at a webpage. Day after election I saw someone whining about Biden and his brother knows everything blahblahblah...Saying "Biden was done"

I stopped reading.

I saw yesterdfay morning a little article link saying trump is waging legal war in wisconsin and michigan...that gave me a little hope. Then I heard on the radio "Biden will address the nation tonight..." that didn't sound good to me....

I can't take any more of this :( I feel like i could die

in other news I got a job as a salesman for a massage therapyp company. I get a free massage a month and cheaper extra massages....i can see i'm going to blow my paycheck

We'll agree to disagree once again (re: what you said) and leave it at that.

Any notable tweets yet?

And let's see which world leaders are first to congratulate Joe.

EDIT: Trudeau, Mayor of Paris, Boris

if this involves headchopping, I'm in

BoJo has congratulated him and looks forward to working with him on the climate.

If JEB! isn’t planning on running again (he will be 71 in 2024, so could certainly contend), I’d like to see him co-chair a commission to improve voting turnout and legitimization.

A random thought:

I bet Mayor Pete is going to be lobbying hard for a position in Biden's cabinet as it is his best chance to pad his political resume. His other options would require him to win a state-wide race in Indiana (like senator or governor), which is an uphill battle.

CNN said Biden will have coronavirus task force (12 people) on Mon.

It will be nice to hear how Biden & team plans to attack this. It will be good to hear reality & facts again. You can't fix a problem unless you admit there is a problem, and that, has been the Trump admin problem for the past 2-3-4 months.

(But admittedly, I also want to start traveling and earning points again)

I'm wondering about this too.

Right now I'm pretty resigned to the fact that life is going to be like this until we get a vaccine.

Hopefully Joe's team can come up with something.

That's been my thought, watching him make the rounds the last month or so. And, really, it's the right move for him

SI

Will Pete be VA Secretary or UN Ambassador? I'm guessing Ron Klain is Chief of staff. Susan Rice at State, Sally Yates or Doug Jones at AG. Not sure about the others. Probably can't take any dem senators with an R governor(Warren, Bernie) out of the Senate.

He's really great with messaging. Wherever he ends up, he needs to be able to be in front of cameras a lot.