January 12, 2024

Election - 2024

They tell me there will be an election later this year. They also tell me that Donald Trump is likely to be the Republican Candidate.

I am just gathering "facts" - insofar as that is possible, that I may want to ponder later as I decide how to vote.

The constitution

In early 2024, Donald Trump made the following statement on Twitter:
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,”
See: This seems like a surprising statment given that the president must swear to uphold the constitution.

Around August 20, 2024, Judge J. Michael Luttig made some interesting statements. He is a conservative republican, but he is endorsing Kamela Harris. He is the judge that persuaded VP Mike Pance to certify the 2020 election despite Trump asking him not to. His views coincide with mine at this time, as he says:

“In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own,” Luttig writes, “but I am indifferent in this election as to her policy views on any issues other than America’s Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be.”

...

“Because of the former president’s continued, knowingly false claims that he won the 2020 election, millions of Americans no longer have faith and confidence in our national elections, and many never will again,”

Election Fraud

Was the election stollen? This seems like a succcint summary of what has gone on in various courtrooms before both Democratic and Republican appointed judges. The article says most were elected state judges.

Out of 62 cases, 61 failed. For more details, read the article.
The following claim seems accurate:

In more than 60 cases, judges “looked at the allegations that Trump was making and determined they were without any merit.”
An Arizona recount of 2020 election ballots found nothing amiss.
Jan 5, 2022 (Reuters) - Election officials in Arizona's most populous county found nearly every conclusion in a partisan "audit" of Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election to be misleading or false, according to an official rebuttal released on Wednesday.

Social Security - the third rail of American politics

While Trump said things about cutting Social Security funding during his presidential term, he is now saying quite the opposite, claiming "he has no plans to touch Social Security." Last year (2023) Trump said that “under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.” He backed that claim up a month ago, saying that “you don’t have to touch Social Security,”

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Money pages / tom@mmto.org