Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonz
I havent followed the election results with avid interest nor the page on the forum, but could I get a straight answer to the following
1. where can you go to watch truthful unbiased news?
2. Has there ever been an election result like this before?
3, Is Trump afraid of admitting defeat?
4. As a business man, I suspect he has always got his own way, anybody argues with me...your out. etc. Will we see some of these aides sue for unfair dismissal? or is that just an Aussie thing?
5. Has a president ever been forced out before in US history?
Has there ever been so much public anger/debate over an election?
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Well....
1. Pretty difficult. I would offer that any news outlet owned (or controlled ) by Murdoch will have a right wing bias. Plenty of rabid right wing bias cable services out of the USA - easy to search for. The New York Times (NYT) and the Washington Post (WP) seem to try for a neutral stance, but I can see some left wing bias in both, especially among the opinion columnists. In Australia the ABC tries to keep neutral as does The Guardian, and have the advantage of being funded from the public rather than vested interests. (That's going to get a howl of protest from right wingers and I'll accept that both the latter two tend towards left of centre articles). Overseas the BBC and the Times try for neutrality in my view.
2. Not in terms of the post election period, mainly because this one is the first in recent memory where the winner has not been congratulated by the loser, nor has a loser failed to acknowledge defeat until now in modern times.
3. Possibly, because at the end of his term he may face State based legal suits involving corporate and tax financial fraud. He isn't able to pardon himself from those whilst in office, or out of it for that matter. The jury seems out on whether he can extend to himself a future effective pardon for any (or all) Federal law suits.
4. Probably not, mainly because they are, for the most part rusted on adherents to the Trump cause, and do not want to incur his wrath. In any event their appointments were made by the President, and in many instances confirmed by the Senate. Presidential powers in the USA seem to be quite extensive. (It would fall under "serving at the pleasure of the President" tradition)
5. Depends on what you mean by "forced", Lincoln and Kennedy among others were assassinated whilst in office. In my view that is a kind of permanent "forcing out of office". Nixon resigned rather that get impeached - it also allowed his Vice president, (Ford, I think) to pardon him for the crimes that were alleged he had committed over the Watergate affair.
Public anger and debate? Not that I can remember - Clinton conceded the day following the MSM call of the election - and the public vote margin there was much smaller than for the current election. The electoral college margin was the same as is being given to Biden. Back in the Bush v Gore election where the result was determined by less than 1000 votes in Florida, if I recall accurately, but public outrage wasn't anything like as bad. Even with Nixon, his resignation calmed things down.
What we seem to have here is a deep polarisation of the Republic, and the split is very close to 50/50 with no one who is very vocal being ready to listen to the other point of view. And their Second Amendment right to "bear arms" results in many citizens wandering about the streets carrying loaded assault weapons.
Like others here have commented - This isn't going to end well unless some one with a high degree of public authority convinces D.J. Trump to concede the election to Biden. Given Trump's history that does not seem likely.
Cheers