On today’s BradCast, Team Trump takes a page from the George W. Bush 2000 playbook by attempting to stop the “recounts” in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, just as his margin over Hillary Clinton plummets in PA. [Audio link to show follows below.]
Over the past 24 hours, Donald Trump or his surrogates have filed multiple legal complaints in three different states in an effort to stop the “recounts” (hand-counts, machine counts and/or forensic analyses of computerized voting and tabulation systems) as lawfully sought by Green Party Presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein. As the Stein camp noted today, the sudden interest by Team Trump comes as Trump’s margin over Hillary Clinton has dropped from about almost 70,000 votes to about 46,000 votes (out of some 6 million tallied) as PA counties finally complete their initial tallies. The Stein camp notes today: “With his margin of victory in the state nearly halved as of last night, and now within 0.2% of triggering an automatic statewide recount, Donald Trump is desperately fighting to stop the recount in Pennsylvania.” His attorneys filed a suit [PDF] late Thursday to dismiss her filings in the Keystone State.
He is also attempting, somewhat successfully, to stop hand-counting from moving forward in MI, where he reportedly leads Clinton by just over 10,000 votes out of about 5 million tallied, including more than 75,000 ballots with no vote reported for President at all, many of those cast in or near Detroit. That figure, Stein charges, “is double the number [of undervotes] from 2012.” After Trump filed an objection to the “recount” request in MI last night — claiming that a count would “risk having the Electoral College door knocked off its hinges” and delaying the start of counting for as many as five days — the state Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Trump supporter, filed a separate complaint [PDF] today on behalf of the state in federal court, seeking to prevent votes from being counted as well. His claim supports Trump’s objection filed yesterday and argues that counting ballots is “frivilous” and is meant by Stein to delay final certification of the results. She describes his action as “nothing more than party politics that needlessly delays what should be a routine verification of the democratic process.”
In Wisconsin, pro-Trump outfits calling themselves the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC filed a complaint [PDF] in federal court to immediately stop the counting of ballots, which is now in its second day in the Badger State. That complaint, citing Bush v. Gore from 2000, argues that counting ballots violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution and “may cast an unjustified pall over the election of President-Elect Trump, undermining public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.” Sounds familiar, ironic and, yes, hypocritical.
Just before airtime today, a federal Judge in Wisconsin denied the plaintiffs’ motion in that case seeking an immediate restraining order to halt the ongoing counts, but has set a hearing on the matter for December 9th. For her part, Stein, pushing back, has announced a press conference for Monday, December 3, across from Trump Tower in Manhattan.
So, why are Trump and the GOP against verifying election results? We discuss that, the ongoing and not-ironic-at-all fight of the GOP Governor in North Carolina to verify his own election results(!) and much more, including Desi Doyen and her latest Green News Report, on today’s BradCast!…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_TrumpChallengesMIWIPARecounts_120216.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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In retrospect, the 2016 election was like a round of hearts, with trump shooting the moon in the end, derp. Queen of spades I guess was the pussy gate thing. Derp!
How in hell can Great America PAC and Stop Hillary PAC cite Bush v Gore, when Bush v Gore said that the per curiam opinion’s applicability was “limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities.” citation
Bradford, my mainest of dude-o-philes, thank you thank you thank you so much for your ongoing coverage of all this. You gotta be the most under-the-radar-incredible-national-treasure we got. I’m so happy to hear what seems to be an expanding audience list for your Bradcasts. You’ve really got a talent for this medium. And you and Desi both have such wonderful and engaging radio voices. Just a pleasure to listen to. Keep it up, my Dude and Dudess!!!
Roger Fulton:
Excellent point! That’s what I was wondering. Plus the fact that it was one of the most bizarre arguments of all time in any court.
They are desperate.
I’m starting to worry about the recount coffers. Either the GOFUNDME site has been hacked, the lies that Jill Stein was trying to get rich have been accepted, or people don’t know the cost has gone up due to Scott Walker’s hatred of democracy.
Having the recount called off for lack of funds would be a monumental goof for the 1%.
I just threw in another $20.00, along with a $20.00 to BradBlog.
You know what they say: ‘democracy isn’t free anymore’.
… Larry Bergan said…
Too late. A PA judge just killed the PA statewide recount by demanding even more money.
Statewide PA recount dropped after judge demands an additional $1,000,000 bond.
MI and WI are still being fought.
Some recounts that were already underway in scattered precincts will continue.
Correction to my comment at # 6
Some recounts that were already underway in scattered PA precincts will continue.
I can’t say this enough…
Where is our great hero Soros!
Couldn’t Clinton chip in a mill?
HOLD ON A SEC…
Here’s a different take from http://www.palmerreport.com
Picked up this link from user Seashells over at the Great Orange Ostrich Haven… where all too many of the dkosian regulars have been spending the evening since getting the original (heavily slanted) news screaming about Jill Stein being a fraud.
Okay, here’s the little booklet I want.
It’s entitled “Not My President”.
It lists all the Republican voter disenfranchisement that effected voter turnout in this election.
It has the final national vote totals for Clinton vs T-Rump.
It lists all the red flags that election integrity activists caught with appropriate commentary by them and computer security experts.
It describes our “recount” efforts.
It lists all the obstacles thrown in our way.
It describes how the vote totals were changing from the beginning of the “recount” till the end.
It lists all the straightforward fixes to our epidemic of electile dysfunction that are only waiting for us to have the political will and energy to make them happen.
Not My President.
I said “hold on a sec” and it turns out to have been worth the wait 🙂
Not only are the precinct recounts still on but Stein & company are still pursuing the statewide recount.
Again from the Palmer Report:
So… from shrill reports of “It’s over!” to “The battle’s going to federal court.”
zapkitty:
Boy, did I ever need that piece of hope. I had heard about a Trump Tower announcement, but no details.
I’ve been on Facebook all night watching people, or whatever falling all over themselves, gloating like there’s no tomorrow.
I don’t think I’ll put this link up there tonight. They are SO happy that money is controlling our elections, I just don’t have the heart to bring them down.
David Lasagna:
I could read a book like that!
If nothing else comes of Stein’s effort, at least we’re going to have a great record of the electoral depravity that set our democracy on fire for future generations to study, but if Stein DOES succeed, we’ll have a perfect document to get rid of these machines and all the other suppression methods that have allowed this to happen.
Voting the bastards out, will mean something again. I’ve really HATED that phrase for a long time.
Honest elections are extinct?
Plan B is no better it seems (Will Elections Cure The Disease? – 3).
How encouraging would it be if one goes to their shrink for counselling about a mental problem and the shrink says “have an election” ?
Zapkitty–Thanks for the links to the Palmer Report with which I was unfamiliar. I hope he’s as good as he appears to be at first glance. I’d love to trust someone else besides Brad as much as I trust Brad.
Larry Bergen @13–Thanks for the kind words and yeah, that’s what I was thinking/hoping, too.
So many serious issues to deal with——-And only one BradBlog to help us deal with them!!
In Michigan, Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Trump supporter, filed a separate complaint today on behalf of the state in federal court, seeking to prevent votes from being counted as well. His claim supports Trump’s objection filed yesterday and argues that counting ballots is “frivolous”….
You cannot make this stuff up.
In Wisconsin, pro-Trump outfits calling themselves the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC filed a complaint in federal court to immediately stop the counting of ballots, which is now in its second day in the Badger State. That complaint, citing Bush v. Gore from 2000, argues that counting ballots violates the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution….
Wow! Self-styled “conservatives” want to stop counting ballots. Boy, this is tough. If self-styled “conservatives” want to stop counting ballots, surely they do so because of their regard for history. But wait! Alexander Hamilton said, “The President of the United States would be an officer elected by the people for FOUR years….” (The Federalist Papers, No. 69) Well, this is tough, but I am going along with the man was an aide-de-camp to the Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces, a delegate to the Federal Convention, and the first Secretary of the Treasury.
Can’t wait for Brad’s coverage of the great news from Michigan today!
Who left the italics on this time? 🙂
Would the crooked Don count his money the same way votes are counted? Would anybody trust the voting system to count their money? That’s another gold standard.