The Election is Rigged (I'm Going To Lose)

[Jenny A]

Trump has begun to explain his ultimate loss (or at least I hope and he fears it is his ultimate loss) with complaints that the election is "rigged." http://time.com/4433984/donald-trump-gen...on-rigged/ This comes on the heels of what looks like the beginnings of excuses for not debating Clinton. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arch...es/493889/ I sure hope his fears of losing are right.

[Tiberius]

What's stupid about this is:

1) He claimed the RNC primaries were rigged against him, and he won anyway. Now, perhaps the RNC did some dirty tricks behind the scenes like the DNC did with Sanders, but unless actual evidence emerges, that's only going to be rumor. The point is, he won the primaries pretty easily. If it was rigged, it was an awful attempt.

2) Whilst the DNC helped to rig the primaries for Clinton, ultimately the DNC and the RNC are private organizations that aren't exactly accountable to anyone other than their members. It is an entirely different story for the actual election, which is run by the government. All in all, I would like to think it's harder to rig a general election than it is to rig a primary, so I don't see how his complaint holds any merit.

[Tiberius]

Having said that, I do wonder what will happen if Trump skips the debates. Would it hurt him less than if he actually debated (I think Clinton would destroy him on the debate stage)? Or would it hurt him more, as it would be see by most as chickening out.

[vorlon13]

A significant oversight, IMO, of the founding fathers, was their not penciling in some draconian if not lurid punishments in the constitution for those nefarious bastards inclined to fuck with election results.

[Jenny A]

Having said that, I do wonder what will happen if Trump skips the debates. Would it hurt him less than if he actually debated (I think Clinton would destroy him on the debate stage)? Or would it hurt him more, as it would be see by most as chickening out.

I don't think anything can hurt him with his hard core supporters. Nothing can help him with hard core Hillary supporters. So we are evaluating undecideds reactions. Debating would surely kill him with any undecideds watching. I doubt avoiding the debates would hurt that much if he can spin them as unfair. So if he's rational (a silly assumption) he will avoid them. I'm sure his reasoning for not releasing his taxes is similar. What is in his taxes is worse than the backlash for not releasing them.

[Minimalist]

What's stupid about this is:

1) He claimed the RNC primaries were rigged against him, and he won anyway. Now, perhaps the RNC did some dirty tricks behind the scenes like the DNC did with Sanders, but unless actual evidence emerges, that's only going to be rumor. The point is, he won the primaries pretty easily. If it was rigged, it was an awful attempt.

2) Whilst the DNC helped to rig the primaries for Clinton, ultimately the DNC and the RNC are private organizations that aren't exactly accountable to anyone other than their members. It is an entirely different story for the actual election, which is run by the government. All in all, I would like to think it's harder to rig a general election than it is to rig a primary, so I don't see how his complaint holds any merit.

One slight quibble.  The states run the elections and the republicunts have been trying to rig them through voter suppression laws except the courts keep striking them down.

[Minimalist]

Having said that, I do wonder what will happen if Trump skips the debates. Would it hurt him less than if he actually debated (I think Clinton would destroy him on the debate stage)? Or would it hurt him more, as it would be see by most as chickening out.

Your basic premise is correct.  His fans will not care. 

But his fans cannot elect him.  He has to win over independent voters and skipping the debates with some cockamamie excuse like he has come up with so far will not fool anyone.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I think Trump skipping/engaging in the debates is a lose/lose proposition for him. He's given too many hostages to fortune, too many rash words, to answer for them, but he will look unaccountable if he doesn't.

[Minimalist]

BTW, the fucker still needs to release his tax returns.

After 33 years in the IRS I can tell you that there is no rule that precludes the release because you are under "audit."  For one thing, only one year is audited at a time but a taxpayer is free to release his own information.  Of course, perhaps he is not a "taxpayer" and that is what he is hiding?

[Minimalist]

Ha!  Timing is amazing.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/warren-b...x-returns/

Warren Buffett calls Trump out: ‘I’m under audit too’ — let’s both release our tax returns

“Now I’ve got news for him, I’m under audit too and I would be delighted to meet him anyplace, anytime, before the election,” said Buffett, the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway . “I’ll bring my tax return, he can bring his tax return … and let people ask us questions about the items that are on there.”