One year on: 9 things you need to know about the 2019 General Election

1. The Conservatives won a big majority… despite only increasing their vote share by 1.3% on 2017

2. Smaller parties got crushed – as usual. Nearly 900,000 votes for the Green Party across the UK equated to exactly one Green MP.

In contrast, it took just 25,000 or so votes to elect an SNP MP (thankfully, both parties back proportional representation!)

3. The ERS predicted with 100% accuracy the result in the majority (56%) of England’s seats – 300 of them – before polling day

For the 16 million-plus voters in these seats, it may have felt like there was barely an election happening at all

4. Around 14.5 million voters are unrepresented across the UK (they didn’t pick the one winner in each seat)

That’s a marked contrast to proportional representation, where we'd end one-party-takes-all results at last

CANADA and the CHINESE CONNECTION. There are many facets to this, and we’re seeing how it’s all playing out right before our eyes. I lost my thread earlier, so I will be doing some quotes as opposed to writing it all out.
China in late 2019. In January 2020, the Canadian

If Biden sticks by Trump's U.S.-Taliban withdrawal deal, then he owns very little of the results, some of which won't be immaculate. Post-withdrawal, can talk about "concern" for any events as they unfold, reiterate commitment to hit terrorist groups with intent/capability... 1/

to harm U.S. and its interests, but generally practice benign distancing from internal politics of AFG. Can also say that he was fulfilling Trump's deal and the die was cast, even criticize it (and people like me) as needed for political reasons - but stick to plan knowing... 2/

...that he doesn't want to have to own an endless war he should know will remain a headache for US and a suck on resources better used elsewhere. 3/

4/ But if he reneges on the deal, the conflict becomes Biden's War. Whether based on some "conditions" or a "spirit" of the deal that isn't in the text for all to see, he'd have to make an active choice to return to what we've been doing - and not doing well at - for years.

5/ Then Biden owns the results. This will include continued violence, but this time with US/coalition forces in crosshairs. Deciding to remain won't wave magic wand & make things better than they were before the deal; conditions on ground still only "modicum of success" at best.

Did you know Biden wants to get rid of something called "stepped up basis"??? How does this affect you! When your parents pass and leave you the family house normally you would inherit that property at what it is worth today.

Good afternoon! Today, @JakeLahut and I will be live-blogging the joint session of Congress to count slates of presidential electors, led by @VP Pence, where we expect GOP lawmakers to object to multiple states presidential electors for the first time

In addition to my explainer on the Electoral Count Act process for objecting to electors from yesterday, which you should go check out, here’s a little thread rundown of what we can expect to see today

As a quick terminology note, you may see some places refer to today’s events as “certification,” but Congress isn’t really certifying anything — they’re just counting slates of electors that have already been certified in the states

Pence’s role is purely procedural. There will be four tellers, two from each party, who will read out every state’s certificate of their electoral votes out of a special box. Unless one member from each chamber raises an objection, the states’ slate of electors is accepted

Per reporting from @poliitco and other outlets, it seems like the GOP has enough support from representatives and senators to object to slates of Biden electors from Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania (could be more or fewer depending on how the day goes)

The greatest tools we still have at our disposal are the US Constitution, our State Constitutions, the separation of powers, division of state and federal powers, the long list of judges appointed by @realDonaldTrump, and more important then anything our faith in God. All hope...

After voting in 2008, sat in my car and sobbed because I had the opportunity to vote for someone who looked like me.

Me, the granddaughter of folks who survived Jim Crow, who paid poll taxes in order to vote, who made the decision to send my mother to integrate her HS.

I thought about my grandmothers, who were living at the time and how stunned they were that this option would be available in *their* lifetimes.

I thought about the work I do and how it contributes to a larger ecosystem of work that led to that moment.

I sobbed. It was joy, sadness, pride, worry, indebtedness to the ancestors...It was more than a moment.

I sobbed again at both of the subsequent Obama inaugurations because #representationmatters.

To see my country respond with Trump was a stark reminder that many in the country expect BIPOC folks to mind our social status as less than. The last 4 years has been painful to watch for many of us--certainly not all--but it has been devastating...#400Klost

Last fall, I helped my own daughter complete her voting ballot that included a Black/SE Asian woman on the top ticket. Yep, I sobbed, because I imagine that I felt a little of what my parents & grands felt in 2008. That sense of inclusion, of being seen, of being valued.

“Unity” cannot mean that Democrats agree not to hold anyone responsible for what happened last week and over the last four years and Republicans agree to keep doing exactly what they’ve been doing.

I mean it can and Republicans would certainly prefer that it did, but that path just brings us right back here.

Pretty cynical effort by Trumpists to turn criticism of Trump and other Republican leaders whose lies incited the crowd into an attack on all 75 million who voted for him.

Good plan for avoiding accountability; bad plan for avoiding more violence from their supporters.

In my head I've been breaking down the people involved with Wednesday's events into sevenish groups. Each group had a different level of engagement, perhaps understood what was happening differently, and requires a different level of social and legal sanction.

1. Protesters

They were lied to, they came, they protested, they never got near the Capitol, they left.

Protected First Amendment activity, they shouldn't feel proud that they participated but not much to be done here.

Republican List challenging Electoral College results:
Rep. Brian Babin
Rep. Andy Biggs
Rep.-elect Lauren Boebert
Rep. Mo Brooks
Rep. Ted Budd
Rep.-elect Jerry Carl
Rep.-elect Madison Cawthorn
Rep.-elect Andrew Clyde
Rep. Jeff Duncan
Rep. Matt Gaetz

HOW IT ENDS: The heated partisan politics of Capitol Hill will jump to scorching today, when TRUMP’s staunchest GOP allies will launch a formal, public and futile effort to keep him in power by overturning the results of the Nov election. w/⁦Lillis⁩

The extraordinary gambit has convulsed the Capitol in the final days of Trump's reign and cleaved the GOP into warring factions - divisions that will bear long-lasting implications for both the future direction of the GOP and the success of ambitious 2024 hopefuls.

Such challenges have been tried before, but not on this scale: At least 13 Senate Republicans and more than 100 House Republicans are expected to vote to reject certification of Joe Biden’s EC victory

With Trump agitating his base and threatening to recruit primary challengers to run against disloyal lawmakers, many Republicans, particularly in the House, feel that it would be political suicide to defy him.

“We don’t have a choice,” said one.

What you need to know about today’s Electoral College challenges @alexanderbolton & @juliegraceb

Alright, so let's do a thread on what the fuck just happened in Georgia tonight. Unless something changes, it sure looks like Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff will be Georgia's senators in the 117th Congress. With that in mind, let's litigate this disaster.

Before saying anything else, we should state that Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff, David Perdue, and Kelly Loeffler are all horrendous candidates. I will explain below.

Raphael Warnock is a radical leftist and a vicious antisemite. A healthy body politic would never let him get near the levers of power.

Jon Ossoff is a trust-fund bozo who has never accomplished anything in his 33 years of life and is not remotely qualified to be a senator.

I clearly & categorically condem the violence that we witnessed in the Capitol building in Washington yesterday during the meeting of the Electors. I believe that the election was rigged& Trump was robbed but violence in any shape or form has no place in a democratic setting.1/

..All matters concerning the American Presidency ought to be resolved in a peaceful manner & I am glad that President Donald Trump had the presence of mind to tell the protesters to disperse and go home. As much as I love @realDonaldTrump and believe that he was cheated out..2/

..of the election I will not support any action from his supporters that would disturb the peace, jeopardise life & property or lead to a civil war in America. Those of us that love & believe in him fought a good fight & stood firm, regardless of the odds& the insults, right..3/

..to the end. It is time to accept the reality of a Biden presidency and move on. We must not let this matter divide and destroy America and indeed the world any further. This is the time to build bridges and come together. This is the time to emulate great men like..4/

...Nigeria's @GEJonathan, let things go & maintain the peace for the sake of all. In 2015 he was robbed & rigged out of the election too but he refused to urge his supporters to indulge in violence, he conceeded his right to fight till the end & he put the peace, safety and..5/

Thread.

@hughhewitt has this to say about those of us who believe the president should be impeached.

"Whatever the impeachment chorus is, it isn’t principled, it isn’t concerned with justice and it isn’t concerned with the future."

Some thoughts

Hewitt writes that many impeachment proponents have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and the claims to know what motivates them – and what doesn’t.

“Of concern for the country, well, concern for that part of the country they don’t inhabit, there is none.”

2/

On Thursday morning, The Dispatch published our first-ever editorial calling for the impeachment & removal of President Trump.

It's a principled case, driven by a desire for justice & w/concerns for the future (immediate and distant) at its core.

3/

People can disagree with our case. Some folks we respect surely do. We’ve lost some members over it – including of the Founding Lifetime variety at $1500 a pop.

We’d gladly publish the same editorial again today. It’s become more urgent – not less – that Trump is removed.

4/

Hewitt chose not to engage our arguments, opting instead to claim it’s all “a punitive mission based on cable talking heads ‘hot takes.’” He insists, w/o evidence, that to those who favor impeachment the views of Trump’s 74 million voters “do not matter.”

Well then.

5/

64 PA legislators want to ignore the results of the election. Here are their names in a single thread. I made the thread when I noticed people following a link to this document, and confusing the recipients with the aforementioned 64 PA

Sincerely,
Seth Grove
Representative, 196th District
Kristin Phillips-Hill
Senator, 28th District
Judy Ward
Senator, 30th District
Mike Regan
District Senator, 31st District
Dave Arnold
Senator, 48th District
2/14

Doug Mastriano
Senator, 33rd District
Joe Pittman
Senator, 41st District
Pat Stefano
Senator, 32nd District
Kerry Benninghoff
Representative, 171st District
3/14

Bryan Cutler
Representative, 100th District
Jim Cox
Representative, 129th District
Kate Klunk
Representative, 169th District
Torren Ecker
Representative, 193rd District
Bud Cook
Representative, 49th District
4/14

Frank Ryan
Representative, 101st District
Tina Pickett
Representative, 110th District
David Rowe
Representative, 85th District
Clint Owlett
Representative, 68th District
Ryan Warner
Representative, 52nd District
5/14

OK. India's External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar is about to speak to @mfullilove at @LowyInstitute and I'm going to live tweet. Please mute if you don't care about India's foreign policy (you should though you numpties, it's stupendously interesting) 1/

Jaishankar was previously the head of MEA (comparable to @dfat Secretary) before becoming Minister. Fullilove asks which job is more satisfying. Jaishankar doesn't quite answer but says the ministerial role gave him a "broader" view of both domestic and international politics 2/

Now to Jaishankar's new book "The India Way." He says the core ideas he's exploring in the book are "multi-polarity and re-balancing." A "new architecture" is being built as power shifts. But countries are now far more interdependent. This creates "constrained competition" 3/

Jaishankar also says a new "more expanded" view of national security is emerging, which includes things like "health, food, trade, data and energy" 4/

The Minister says he also "indirectly" broaches the argument over US decline in his book. He says he's "not a great believer" in US declinism, but adds that as relative power shifts "it creates an argument for a different relationship between the West and India" 5/

This is getting wild:

"Today, the electoral college votes will be sealed and sent by special carrier to Washington where they will remain sealed until January 6th when the House and Senate will come into a joint session to open the votes..