Post debate NYT Op Ed - Friedman! "Trump Sent a Warning. Let's Take It Seriously."

[NRaleighLiberal]

Our democracy is in terrible danger — more than since the Civil War, more than after Pearl Harbor, more than during the Cuban missile crisis.

Thomas L. Friedman
By Thomas L. Friedman
Opinion Columnist

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/opinion/trump-election-fraud-2020.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

President Trump has made it unmistakably clear in recent weeks — and even more crystal clear at the Tuesday debate — that there are only two choices before voters on Nov. 3 — and electing Joe Biden is not one of them.

The president has told us in innumerable ways that either he will be re-elected or he will delegitimize the vote by claiming that all mail-in ballots — a time-honored tradition that has ushered Republicans and Democrats into office and has been used by Trump himself — are invalid.

Trump’s motives could not be more transparent. If he does not win the Electoral College, he’ll muddy the results so that the outcome can be decided only by the Supreme Court or the House of Representatives (where each state delegation gets one vote). Trump has advantages in both right now, which he has boasted about for the past week.

I can’t say this any more clearly: Our democracy is in terrible danger — more danger than it has been since the Civil War, more danger than after Pearl Harbor, more danger than during the Cuban missile crisis and more danger than during Watergate.

snip

To get back a semblance of unity and sanity, Biden has to win. And that is why I have only one answer to every question now: Vote for Biden — do it by mail early if you must, but if you can, please, put on a mask and do it in person. If enough of us do that, Biden can win outright with the votes cast on Election Day, instead of waiting for all the mail-in ballots to be counted, thereby giving time for Trump and Fox News to muddy the outcome.

So help register someone to vote for Joe Biden. Phone bank for Joe Biden. Talk to your neighbor about Joe Biden. Volunteer for Joe Biden. Drive someone to the polls to vote for Joe Biden.

Do it as if your country’s democracy depends on it, because it does.

[cwydro]

1. Rec.

This.

[GusBob]

2. Because it happened at the end it seems as if everyone missed the most important

Part

Wallace asked Trump the same question from last week:
Will you respect the outcome of the election?

Again he declined

His exact words "This will not end well"
" It will take months"

This after the stand by comments

[Mr.Bill]

22. Then Nancy Pelosi

will be sworn in as President on January 20th.

[LisaL]

3. Again with this vote in person so you vote counts on election day nonsense.

Many states, including mine, start counting absentee ballots before the election.
As long as the ballot arrives before the election day, those numbers will be among the first ones released on election day.

[thesquanderer]

10. It's not that simple...

14 states don't even *begin* to count ballots until election day, and it can be a multi-day process. Moreover, 20 states continue to accept and count ballots for some amount of days after election day, as long as they were postmarked by election day.

The more overwhelming Biden's victory is with the numbers available ON election day (both electorally and in popular vote), the more untenable any possible Trump shenanigans become.

[wnylib]

4. Trump not only refused to accept

the outcome, but also told his racist militias to stand by.

Not sure that in-person voting would guarantee your vote will be counted. I suspect that part of the reason Trump opposes mail in ballots is that he already had hacking or machine interference plans in place.

[C Moon]

8. There are a lot more of us than those wimps who think this is a video game.

And when Biden takes office, when our new Congress and Senate take hold, slowly but surely they will all begin doing time in prison—big federal time.

So those wimps better think twice about breaking the law for their nazi.

[scipan]

11. Yes. Don't trust electronic ballots without a paper backup.

And good rules for recounting. If it's easy to recount that's a red flag for those who may try to hack the vote.

But the most important is paper ballots. That's why Trump doesn't want you to vote absentee.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Protect the Results

https://protecttheresults.com/

FIGHTING TO PROTECT THE RESULTS OF THE 2020 ELECTION
We are building a coalition of voters ready to mobilize if Donald Trump refuses to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election...

Go to the link to get involved.

Indivisible and Stand Up America are committed to strengthening our democracy and supporting progressives and progressive causes. All Americans—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents—must be prepared to protect and defend the valid results of the election whether their preferred candidate wins or loses.

If Trump loses, he must accept those results.

[Duppers]

6. K & R

[Cha]

7. Yeah, it's a WARNING.. It "Won't End Well" for trump.

he's huge Abusive BULLSHIT BULLY & will say Anything to make others FEAR him.

[Poiuyt]

9. I thought the warning would be about how he told the Proud Boys to stand by.

[NNadir]

12. I actually have no use whatsoever for Tom Freidman.

It's fear mongering, something Freidman does regularly.

[edhopper]

13. You can shout "fire" in a crowded theater

when the theater is on fire.

[NNadir]

15. I don't think the theater is burning. We have a senile...

...old bastard making wild threats.

The best and most appropriate response would normally be a psychiatric evaluation, but under the circumstances ridicule and/or disgust are all that's required.

[edhopper]

16. the families of 200,000 Americans

disagree.

[NNadir]

17. You do not speak for them.

If, like me, you were close to someone who died from Covid, you can speak for yourself but not for me.

The real reason that 200,000 Americans died is that this awful human being was taken seriously.

[edhopper]

18. He runs the fucking government

ignore him at our own peril.
And yes, I have.

[NNadir]

19. I think we all know that.

You and I disagree as to whether the American people will stand for a 200+ year old democracy being overturned for a senile old fool in brain diapers.

Unlike Tom Freidman, I'm a Roosevelt type Democrat, you know, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" type Democrat.

Fearing a fool empowers the fool. There's no upside to cowardice.

I don't actually care about this intellectual Lilliputian's threats.

[edhopper]

24. Cowardice?

That is insulting.
How about seeing a threat and preparing for it. That is what FDR would do.

[NNadir]

25. Whatever.

I don't see anything fruitful is this conversation. You take Trump's abilities seriously; I don't.

FDR made the statement to which i referred in 1933, not 1940, and he was no more prepared for anything other than an experimental approach to address the exigencies of events than he was to do brain surgery.

I think Trump is a blithering incompetent fool incapable of anything more than bluster. You seem to feel he has all kind of sinister power.

If you find the fact that we disagree on the level of danger insulting, that is not actually my problem.

I refuse to be terrified by this guy's drivel.

I still believe in the power of the American people who are clearly in "fool me once territory..."

You know, in 1940, France was prepared to confront Germany on their common border. All that preparation was useless and actually left them unprepared for what actually happened.

Another excellent example from history would be General Grant's remonstrance to the army of the Potamac's Generals in the Wilderness Campaign to stop worrying about what "Bobby Lee" was going to do to them and start thinking about what they were going to do to him.

We have much better things for which to devote our preparation. How about preparing to govern?

[Stinky The Clown]

14. "but if you can, please, put on a mask and do it in person"

I said this a week or so ago and the DU cerebral chorus told me to shut it and stop spewing right wing talking points.

I STILL think voting in person is the best course of action for this cycle. And yes, I know the risks and the hurdles it take to do that.

[Squidly]

23. I am undergoing chemotherapy

and I AM VOTING IN PERSON! Getting rid of the AO in chief and saving our country is more important than me catching covid and losing my life. I WILL NOT let anyone discount my vote if they try to pull some BS with mail ins.

When I was 18 I took an oath to defend this country and I will gladly still lay down my life to do so. So Im masking up, standing in line and casting my vote IN PERSON. That POS I listened to last night has to go!!

[Stuart G]

20. I would honestly argue that Trump cannot win. Here is why: The emperor has no clothes ..

...One of the toons that JHB put up shows that "The emperor has no clothes"...and the emperor is
Donald Trump with no clothes.......

......The debate last night allowed and made it possible for a lot of people who had not seen the ....
...emperor without any clothes................... TO.................................................

..Actually see, totally live, that ...INDEED THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!!!!!!!......................

yes, Trump showed it all, and it wasn't pretty...Stupid, Disrespectful, Unbalanced, Bizarre, Insane,
............................etc, etc, etc...

but most important....Trump showed us all that he does not deserve another 4 years.....!!!!!!

In the end, many people who voted for Trump in 2016, ...will not vote for him again because of last
nights debate. Donald Trump couldn't shut up and even be respectful in his most important appearance
in this entire campaign....

So last night, Trump showed us all ........that he, mr. emperor......."HAS NO CLOTHES"...and also
he has no mind of any kind...

[Mr.Bill]

21. The writer of this op-ed

suggests that we have to vote in person for our vote to count and we can win on election night by counting only in-person votes.

That's more dangerous for our democracy than anything Trump said last night.

[Stinky The Clown]

27. That is simply NOT true.

Here is a quote from the OP. The emphasis is mine:

do it by mail early if you must, but if you can, please, put on a mask and do it in person. If enough of us do that, Biden can win outright with the votes cast on Election Day, instead of waiting for all the mail-in ballots to be counted, thereby giving time for Trump and Fox News to muddy the outcome.

He did NOT say in person is the only way our votes would count. Period. He didn't say that.

He DID say that if enough of us choose to vote in person the election night count would show Biden the winner and render moot the argument that mail ballots were suspect.