In many ways I rather suspect that Trump cannot believe his luck this morning.
He's won enough big states as I write before 9am to say that Biden has not, as yet, got an outright electoral victory, although he leads. And in the States left to call the delays are likely to be significant. That's been enough for him to begin the rollout of what he always planned, which is the claim that the election will now be taken from him by fraud, which he will call upon his supporters to challenge.
Trumps claims are, of course, nonsense. We knew some states, where counting was not permitted until voting ended, would be delayed. We knew there would be significant numbers of postal votes. We knew they would be predominantly Democrat votes. We knew the rules required that they be counted. We knew there was nothing untoward in this.
But Republicans are neoliberal to the core. And neoliberals long ago learned that playing by rules was not for them.
On tax they used tax havens, and other mechanisms of tax abuse.
In business they have leveraged companies for their gain at cost to everyone else, and ultimately society at large.
Electorally, every gerrymander possible has been exploited.
They don't play by the rules, which fair competition requires and which the left still expects. Instead they play by abusing the rules any which way they can. And the left is still surprised by that.
I have no idea why. Years ago I realised that the whole offshore world was a game of pretence. No one who uses offshore really believes there is anything that really happens in tax havens. Everyone knows that supposed offshore activity is just a charade to hide what is, in effect, a giant con-trick that is maintained solely because so many apparently credible people go along with it.
The trouble is, if you can persuade yourself that something really happens in a tax haven then eventually you can persuade yourself that almost any other attempt to arbitrage the law in your favour is legitimate. And then you believe that arbitrage itself is legitimate.
And we end up with Trump claiming victory when he quite possibly hasn't won, and he knows that, which is why the diversionary plan - the ‘make believe' that he will arbitrage - is put in place.
We just have to hope that this time he may be rumbled.
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You may be right but history shows us all the same traits for power and much worse by socialist totalitarian regimes…for heavens sake the world wants the centre ground to be managed by half capable people. Not far right or hard left regimes.
I am utterly opposed to socialist totalitarian regimes
‘Centre Ground’?
Where?
‘Much worse’?
How?
Instead of making excuses why don’t you look at ‘liberal’ America’s record when it comes to murdering the people of other nations and its own? It interference in those countries who wish to have a Government of their own choice. It wiped out and subjugated the native Indians in order to be what it is today. And now it is treating its middle class like it treated the Sioux and other tribes. It’s got a long history of this stuff – right up to Iraq.
The real truth of the matter is that Right and Left totalitarianism is reprehensible in equal measure – this is not a contest for who is worse.
And as for ‘centre ground’ – well for your information its as much as a reality as the sunny uplands of post BREXIT Britain. There is no centre ground as both Left and Right essentially believe in the same fundamental bullshit.
The only thing to get us out of this is ‘heterodox ground’.
Understood?
You really must try harder.
If you knew that the Republicans had spent $6.9bn on the election and the Democrats $3.8bn, would you accuse the Republics of having tried to buy the election?
You think the purpose of that spending was not to win the lection?
American political funding is a basket case, no matter who is doing it and the sums involved.
It is an amoral waste ground.
‘The truth is what I say it is’.
That is part of the appeal – the bigger the lie the more it will be believed – especially if it’s something people wish to be true.
Not sure it is just ‘neoliberal’, or ‘republican’…seems part of the wider populist/authoritorian trend across the world. ‘Strong leaders’ have realised how shallow rooted and susceptible ‘democracy’/ ‘rule of law’/ ‘ free media’ /’ freedom of speech’ is to manipulation and takeover. Orban/Modi…Poland..Erdogan…etc etc
Trump seems instinctively very skilled at exploiting this.
Isn’t the reason Tax Havens have not been shut down is that powerful people of all political persuasions are using/benefiting from them?
Is there any head of state that isn’t using one in some way or another?
It’s probably the only thing they can all agree on!!!!