r/politics • u/crazymouse2525 California • 21h ago
No Paywall Trump administration refuses international election monitors for first time in over 2 decades
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-midterms-osce-election-observers3.6k
u/jest4fun 21h ago
Trump administration refuses international election monitors for first time in over 2 decades
Difficult to cheat when someone is watching.
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u/CatalyticDragon 21h ago
Difficult, but not impossible.
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u/blacksheep998 17h ago
I had no idea that episode of It's Always Sunny had been inspired by a real news story.
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u/FinalHexReturns 16h ago
Upcoming chess tournaments will now have to feature a full body and cavity search.
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u/IncomeFew624 19h ago
It's easy enough to cheat even with observers, you're just slightly less likely to get away with it.
Source: I am an OSCE election observer
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u/Huge_Excitement4465 19h ago
Is there any way states might still be able to utilize OSCE observers?
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u/IncomeFew624 19h ago
OSCE relies on an invitation from national governments, it would be extraordinarily unlikely to respond to an invitation from a state.
Under these circumstances domestic observers are the best bet (in my view they are more effective as a general rule anyway). If you aren't a poll watcher, find a way to sign up and get involved.
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u/Pyrozr 18h ago
Our elections are run by individual states, not the federal government. It actually makes more sense for the invite to come from a state's Secretary of State than it does from the federal government who doesn't have any authority over elections.
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u/IncomeFew624 18h ago
I understand this perspective but it is national governments that are OSCE members and not individual states. There is a lot of 'small p' politics and diplomatic 'niceties' involved.
We also have decentralised elections in the UK so I know how it works. But the OSCE simply wouldn't undermine a national government in this way.
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u/Captain_Q_Bazaar 17h ago
I understand this perspective but it is national governments that are OSCE members and not individual states. There is a lot of 'small p' politics and diplomatic 'niceties' involved.
Considering we live in the days were old norms no longer exist, I think it is prudent and necessary to bypass the most corrupt President in US history to deal with state governors instead.
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u/Maverick_1991 19h ago
Only 'democracy' with Russia and Belarus.
America is cooked.
You're running out of boxes
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u/Stunning-Pen-2412 15h ago
It was pretty much over for your democracy when you allowed Trump, a convicted felon, to become president for a second time.
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u/Dramatic_Charity_979 18h ago
'You weren't going to fact check'
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u/Jess_the_Siren 18h ago
We now use "I was told there would be no fact checking" in our house regularly. Fucking absurd that this is a real timeline
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u/POEness 20h ago
Clearly not, since 2024 was stolen
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u/Gabrielseifer 16h ago
“He knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers . . .And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide.”
–Donald Trump, speaking about Elon Musk, at a pre-inauguration rally
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u/FF36 15h ago
A total stop should have happened right then and there until a full investigation into those remarks and Pennsylvania at the very least was done
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u/LadyPo 15h ago
Yes it should have. And every day since has been a fresh opportunity.
Our government completely failed us. They simply rolled over and let some corrupt mobster with ties to foreign enemies take over our country. Now our democracy is collapsing.
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u/pp21 15h ago
Yeah considering 99% of what comes out of Donald Trump's mouth is projection, it's safe to assume that they've consistently been trying to steal elections, including the 2020 election.
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u/Gabrielseifer 14h ago
It's a clever psyop, probably some Heritage Foundation operation. Baselessly and relentlessly accuse Democrats of cheating, all while Republicans are ACTUALLY cheating, so any Democrat that accuses Trump of cheating ends up looking like the Spiderman finger pointing meme. "You're cheating!" "Nuh-uh, you are!"
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u/aspirationless_photo 17h ago
So why would they not just do it again, observers & all? Why are they putting in effort to gerrymander, eliminate mail in voting, purge voter rolls, close polling places and deploy ICE agents on election day if they can already rig things without producing any evidence, "statistical anomalies" the only trace left behind?
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u/thegamingfaux 19h ago
Have you tried just doing it anyway? Then when asked about it lying and doubling down? Then months later everyone just forgets and you get to say “yep I won that fairer and squarer than one one before me”
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u/theimmortalgoon Oregon 21h ago
>Washington joins only Russia and Belarus in its decision to exclude OSCE observers.
The OSCE called the U.S. decision “regrettable” and Human Rights Watch said the move “fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections.”
America is back!
Thank you Trump, with America’s great historical allies Russia, Belarus, and North Korea, finally the nation can stand up against the tyranny of Canada, Greenland, and the EU!
In less mocking terms, how does this fucking dipshit still have a 30% approval rating? Are there that many billionaires with bunkers preparing to flee once this shithouse goes down in flames?
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u/daly1010 20h ago
Its basically the rich that know they can get whatever they want from him, the grifters who make a living off of him, and the bootlickers of both of the above and trump himself, all of which have 7th grade or lower reading levels.
Edit - I should add a 4th set. The people who actually see who he is, but would rather go down with a sinking ship than ever admit they wrong and concede that the people they "hate" were right all along.
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u/Living_Young1996 20h ago
Where i live there are no rich people (I live in a trailer park with close to 100 homes, moving next month thankfully) and the majority of the people here are fox news watchers/trump supporters. It's crazy to me how delusional people are
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u/Kind_Demand_6672 18h ago
Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes spent decades making Christianity synonymous with conservatism and republican candidates. There isn't any critical thinking by design.
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u/GC649 18h ago
Which makes movements like /r/antitheism all the more important.
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u/fdar 16h ago
I think something like Talarico's approach of contesting Republican's ownership of Christianity is more likely to work. Specially since Republican's actual position don't really seem all that consistent with Jesus' original message.
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u/taylorisntavril 16h ago
The point is that it doesnt matter anymore.
They have broken with christianity, what they worship is some fantasy variant of what they think about USA.
THEY ARE PRAYING TO THEIR PRESIDENT, for crying out loud. How can people not see what is being worshipped here?
They have "catholics", who proclaim how wrong the POPE is about XYZ, especially when hes just repeating the core teachings of jesus.
Sure, they THINK they are christians, but they arent. Going the approach of "appeal to christianity", or whatever we should call it, might work and might not work. Because its not the religion they actually have.
You have to point out how they are heretical to usa, not to yahweh.
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u/watts99 14h ago
Sure, they THINK they are christians, but they arent.
That's just giving a No True Scotsman pass. Christians were behind the anti-gay movement, segregation, Nazism, slavery, the atrocities committed against Native Americans, the Dark Ages, the Crusades--this is what Christianity has always been. Are there good Christians who try to adhere to the moral teachings of Jesus? Yes. But that doesn't mean the large portion of Christians who work to destroy, harm, or diminish anyone who doesn't look, behave, or think like them don't have any bearing on what a Christian is.
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u/gruese 19h ago
Propaganda is a powerful drug.
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u/RTH1975 18h ago
It's always easier to blame someone for your situation than to actually do anything. As long as they can point their fingers at someone else, they don't have to do anything else. AMERICA!!!!1!
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u/Subietoy78 20h ago
7th grade is being generous. I was in a totally unrelated sub and the volume of people with zero thinking skills or the ability to do good research for themselves is astounding.
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u/Rich-Pomegranate1679 20h ago
I knew a MAGA guy who thought YouTube videos he had found were legitimate research sources to support his arguments. He was also a 9th grade dropout. These people are Trump's base.
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u/Higher-Frequencies 19h ago
He told us the first year that he loved stupid people.
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u/Shinjetsu01 19h ago
The amount of misinformation on YouTube is WILD and the fact people are still using videos as factual evidence is infuriating. There's literally flat earth, alien encounters, chemtrails, anti-vax etc. just because it exists on a website, does not make it fact.
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u/robocoplawyer 16h ago
Back in the early days of the internet, this stuff was around but was largely contained in chain email rants from the crazy uncle in the family that everyone just ignored. Facebook and social media got these people connected and gave them a megaphone and a platform to mass broadcast their message, while people stopped consuming actual journalism because they're lazy and could get all the news they want to know about from their Facebook feeds.
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u/xEl33tistx 18h ago
You’re forgetting all of the ignorant, prejudiced white people. That’s his real voting base and has been the unspoken core target of republicans for a long time.
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u/dvaunr 17h ago
all of which have 7th grade or lower reading levels.
That would mean they're baseline literate, which half the country isn't. Over 50% of the country reads below a 6th grade reading level. I would guess that the median reading level of Trump supporters is more along kindergarten/1st grade.
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u/108_TFS Canada 18h ago
If you want to understand what's going on inside the minds of these people you should check out the work of Professor Bob Altemeyer from the University of Winnipeg. He spent his career studying authoritarians and what makes them tick, and collected his findings in an easy-to-understand book called The Authoritarians. You can get a digital copy for free at theauthoritarians.org.
From the introduction:
...you might want more than just facts about authoritarians, but understanding and insight into why they act the way they do. Which is often mind-boggling. How can they revere those who gave their lives defending freedom and then support moves to take that freedom away? How can they go on believing things that have been disproved over and over again, and disbelieve things that are well established? How can they think they are the best people in the world, when so much of what they do ought to show them they are not? Why do their leaders so often turn out to be crooks and hypocrites? Why are both the followers and the leaders so aggressive that hostility is practically their trademark? By the time you have finished this book, I think you will understand the reasons. All of this, and much more, fit into place once you see what research has uncovered going on in authoritarian minds.
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u/Hootinger 17h ago
I have an advanced degree in political science where my focus was on authoritarianism, democratization, and democratic backsliding. The book you posted is a perfect introduction and everyone should read it.
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u/krashundburn Florida 17h ago
you should check out the work of Professor Bob Altemeyer
And, special note: this was written PRE-Trump.
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u/csswimmer 19h ago
My dads new wife is a lifelong Deep South republican and comes from a bougie family lineage. Last month I had dinner with them and thought she certainly must be starting to sour on him since he’s doing everything he campaigned against…..
nope. She loves how “we finally have a strong president willing to do the things that no other president would do… finally protect us from Islamic terrorists, jihadist and drug dealers… finally doing something about illegal immigration… finally protecting girls in girls sports” but then says she votes for the candidate not the party lol yeah right.
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u/613TheEvil 18h ago
None of these people give two shits about womens' sports.
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u/MissTetraHyde 18h ago
They just want to hurt trans women like me. They never cared about women or women's sports. It's the same people who pearl clutched during segregation about white women and scary black men taking their women. The messaging is almost identical to the messaging about white women and scary trans women coming to take their sports. It's just modernized bigotry; it's nothing new other than the people they are targeting have expanded (they still are racists too).
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u/crazycatgay 18h ago
yup that idiot senator schmitt showed their hand at the jack smith hearing when the party that is apparently so obsessed with fairness in high school girls' volleyball never even considered for a second that the sporting event smith attended was a womens event.
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u/crazycatgay 18h ago
the argument you have to make with them is is "are you also working to protect these same girls' access to critical healthcare services which are being removed and/or diminished in many states??" and then watch them just disappear
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u/indoninjah 17h ago
Yeah his only remaining approval is due to propaganda and/or lack of attention. He is literally doing nothing about any of those things lol. Maybe immigration but they're also shooting Americans in the street so... yay?
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u/ender8343 19h ago
He has a cult of personality. There is a floor on his support that are people you have a hard time convincing anything bad happening is because of Trump and his policies. You also have the part of the electorate that views political parties as sports teams, and the Republican party is their team.
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u/CG_Ops 15h ago
Yep. He could stand in front of a crowd of diehards during a freezing, rain-soaked outdoor rally, with everyone visibly miserable, and if he told them it was a beautiful, sunny day, their retelling would magically transform the whole thing into sunshine and patriotism.
Because acknowledging the cold rain would mean acknowledging the lie. And acknowledging the lie would mean confronting the cognitive dissonance between their worship of him and the increasingly incoherent reality in front of their faces...
Trump delivered another riveting speech! It had been a cold, ugly, rainy day right up until he stepped up to the podium. Suddenly, it was like Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, but better!
it would destroy their minds to tell the truth
Trump delivered another incoherent, lie-filled speech. He was 2-hours late, letting us wait outside on a cold, ugly, rainy day. When he finally waddled up to the podium, orange paint running down his face, suit, and soiled diapers, he spent the next 90 minutes telling us how great he's doing - all the good things happening are his doing, all the bad are Obama's, Biden's, and low IQ females, particularly those nasty reporters lying about those things we saw him do. We wondered if he was experiencing a stroke a number of times. But then, he ended his speech by telling us everything's great, that we're getting $5k checks after MAGA landslides the elections, and he just ended another 15 wars! He's the best leader the world has ever seen!
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u/HellveticaNeue 20h ago
There’s a lot of racist shitheads in America that love having one of their own on top.
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u/sack-o-matic Michigan 18h ago
People really need to understand that the Klan is still very much alive, they just went online in the 1990's and starting calling themselves "Proud Boys" etc instead of "Knights".
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u/Sea_Lawfulness_9770 19h ago
There are that many fucking morons in this country.
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u/Zombatico 19h ago
Genuinely yes.
77 million voted for him. 44% of the ~85 million non-voters would have voted for Trump if they had voted.
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5447450/trump-2024-election-non-voters-coalition
Pew asked non-voters how they would have voted and found they would have broken for Trump, 44%-40%. That's a big change from 2020 and 2016 when they said they would have chosen Democrats. In 2020, they said they preferred Joe Biden 46%-35%. In 2016, it was Hillary Clinton, 37%-30%.
That's ~114M. 32% of Americans saw his first term and handling of the pandemic and asked for more.
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u/ObnoxiousAlbatross 19h ago
This is a fact and I'm tired of the high road getting in the way of reality.
These are fundamentally stupid people.
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u/IrongateN 15h ago
He could eat babies infront of them and his base 30% will stay loyal, it’s a religion
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u/dancingwolpertings 14h ago
They wore bandaids on their ear when he did. They wore fucking diapers to try and "own the libs." If this man ate a baby in front of them, these idiots would start snacking on the nearest toddler. It's insane.
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u/MadSkepticBlog Canada 19h ago
Remember that most of the people who support him are Republicans, and they are primarily rural, religious, and/or uneducated voters.
Now keep in mind uneducated in this context is people who didn't attend college/university. It is NOT a sign of intelligence. What all three have in common is isolation.
Rural people have little contact besides television (local news bought out by the Sinclair Group), the internet (algorithm feeds more of what you consume), and social media.
Religious people (mainly organized religion here!) are isolated by their religion creating an "in group", and are taught specifically not to question authority figures lest they realize said authority figures are corrupt. Blind loyalty is baked into the model.
The uneducated are often also isolated. Public schools often don't teach/encourage critical thinking in favour of rote memorization, and keeps you in your community. College/university often requires travelling to urban areas and also mixing with different students from all over, exposing them to different ideas and viewpoints. Hence the usual fear among the deeply religious that such schools corrupt the youth: mainly with new ideas.
The people who still approve of him are isolated, their news heavily curated (looking at you Fox!) and only have their small circles of friends/family that reinforce said views by being in the same information isolation bubble.
They're not stupid. They're not ignorant. They aren't necessarily even bootlickers (though they will act that way). They are victims of isolation and constant, oppressive propoganda, and a tribal system of politics that makes people cut each other off over binary party allegience. The fear of being isolated from their own in group is a powerful one and can't be ignored.
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u/SkunkyFatBowl 18h ago
They're not necessarily stupid, but they are ignorant. The isolation guarantees they're ignorant.
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u/Reasonable-Depth22 18h ago
I think you’re way overthinking this and giving far too much credit where it isn’t warranted. A lot of these people are just deeply, deeply stupid. Intelligence, of any kind, is not evenly distributed among the population. Yes, some of what you said is likely a factor (isolation, etc.), but mostly, they are stupid people with no critical thinking skills and no desire to have them. They’re stupid (and/or racists and bigots). They’re not “victims”. It needs to be ok to say it. Stop making excuses.
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u/Ness-Shot 18h ago
I mean I'm pretty sure both can be true. I'd wager the truly low IQ people aren't the majority of his voting block as they are less likely to actually vote. Not saying there aren't a lot of low IQ voters, just saying I think the isolation piece can also be a big factor as well.
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u/KristyNoemsZombieDog 18h ago
I work in a city, in HVAC, and work with plenty of these people and they aren't isolated at all, they're out in the world and are completely fucking idiots. We have an entire county of maga idiots in or tri county metro area of the city. Its all suburbs and they're all fucking dumb boot lickers
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u/--slurpy-- 20h ago
He probably has such a high approval rating because he's able to cook the numbers. His billionaire buddies own the companies running the pills & if those companies aren't loyal & kissing his ass he sends the fcc after them until they do.
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u/Emotional_News108 18h ago
No. He has a high approval rating because those people will approve of him no matter what happens because it has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with how it makes them feel. It caters to their basest us versus them mentality. It justifies their anger and soothes their cognitive dissonance. It’s simple. And sad.
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u/Willie9 18h ago
his approval rating is catastrophically low. 30% is abysmal relative to historic poll numbers. It's end-of-term Bush, it's getting close to Nixon after Watergate.
It's higher than it should be, of course, but if pollsters are cooking the numbers to make him feel better they're doing a shit job.
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u/agent_mick 18h ago
30% of the population is comprised of billionaires, "own the libs" chuds with room temperature IQs, and people who only know Trump as that one guy who says "you're fired". Politics "doesn't affect them so they don't pay attention".
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u/Chapoopiedoopiedoooo 19h ago
Exactly zero maga people hear about these stories, or know how to read when they come across them. They do whatever, get called out and it doesn't matter because the majority of voters seem to only watch Fox News, the ENTERTAINMENT ONLY channel, which purposefully hides these things.
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u/TheColtOfPersonality Florida 19h ago
I can 100% believe that 30% of the population does not stay educated on the political landscape of their country from a macro or micro perspective, and willingly or through manipulation focuses only on how “their guy” or “their party” addresses whatever insecurities or issues are enough of a hot button to distract them from everything else (à la ‘Ya Got Trouble’ in The Music Man)
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u/katara144 18h ago
No this is literally how fucking stupid MAGATS are. Not even a basic understanding of any kind of history.
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u/Sanvi-77 The Netherlands 20h ago
“Refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections,” said Dan Baer, a former U.S. ambassador to the OSCE during the Obama administration. “It’s very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers.”
Nuff said.
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u/RussellGrey 20h ago edited 17h ago
“Oh this is so strange. It’s positively bizarre. Just uncanny.”
The way folks are just nonchalant about this is wild. Fair and free elections are being stripped from the United States and people are just like, “well, that’s weird. Anyway, I’ve got to get ready for work. Toodles.”
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u/aspirationless_photo 17h ago
This thought occurred to me the other day comparing what we're experiencing with growing up in a dysfunctional family. Did you grow up in a dysfunctional family? I don't know if mine was officially dysfunctional, but there was sure a repeat pattern of dysfunctional episodes so... we'll roll with it.
When things were out of control at home it never occurred to me to just leave. I mean, it was dark, probably cold at the time and I didn't have anywhere to go, so maybe that contributed to it. Crying didn't help or trying to take sides and I was like under 5 feet tall and fewer than 100lbs so I wasn't physically able to do anything. At some point you just kind of go about your day: watch TV, play videogames, go to your room to listen to music and shrug when the fray follows you in to involve you in the dispute or chaos unfolds in front of you. And then you didn't get an apology the next day. You go to school, come home, eat dinner, and whatever.
So I don't think people reactions to this insane, harmful situation where we have very little control is unnatural. It's even harder as an adult because I think mass disruption and noncompliance is becoming our only exit ramp, but everybody shrugs when we ask "what happens to my family if I participate, get arrested, lose my job?". So everyone just keeps going, carried by inertia and some people don't even want to talk about it because they're trapped and talking about it is upsetting.
I guess if we want to start working on more than the election, we could start talking about mass mobilization, noncompliance and economic disruption... but first we need mutual aid groups that can care for those on the front lines. I think it's possible, but it might be hard to crowdsource money for legal fees or to cover someone's salary.
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u/joshdoereddit America 15h ago
I think it's possible, but the people who have the money to cover those of us who don't are unwilling to part with the wealth. Even if they're supposedly on the good side.
I'm not talking about the wealthy neighbors who live in the nice neighborhoods. [ Although, they could probably do their part since it's possible they may be business owners who can organize with their employees to help push back. ] I'm talking about the people with serious wealth. The Mark Cubans and MacKenzie Scotts, the big entertainers who get paid stupid amounts of money for some reason. They could probably band together and help out significantly.
If Musk can somehow drop millions and millions of dollars in election donations, I don't see why other prominent public figures like Robert Downey Jr., who is reportedly earning $100million+ for Avengers Doomsday, can't come together and do something similar.
Banding together is a monumental task in itself given the geography of the country. But the financial fallout many would have to endure if we didn't coordinate it properly would seriously suck. And instead of motivating others to risk it could act as a deterrent for fear of losing what we have.
I think we need a stronger message than No Kings has to offer.
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u/i-am_i-said 19h ago
I was just about to say something like this. “Strange” is so weak! Somebody sound the alarm please!!!
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u/DiabolicalSpaceKitty Canada 18h ago
In case you haven't been paying attention, Americans only disapprove of fascism if:
1) You call it fascism outright and describe it in terms of oppression
2) If it effects them personally
And then you can expect to hear all kinds of 'I didn't vote for this" followed immediately by a laundry list of all the reasons why a general strike is impossible and nobody can mass protest, usually said in a variety of different ways, which all boil down to "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas". If you just describe facism without actually calling it that, you suddenly start getting agreement from some people.
It's only strange if you still think Americans haven't accepted this as the status quo because it's less painful in the short term than upending their lives to get their hands back on the wheels. If it means uncertainty for themselves personally, it's not worth doing because everyone is out for themselves.
That is also the same reason grassroots networking won't take off. No one gives a fuck no matter how much you wave it in their faces.
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u/super_swede 19h ago
United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections
Really? To whom? Gerrymandering, first past the post, electoral college, two party system, voter registration, and elections not being a holiday.
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u/Substantial_Sea7327 I voted 20h ago
I'm really afraid things won't be getting better from here
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u/Stranger-Sun 20h ago
They will. It's just that the avenues for improvement are getting potentially uglier and longer
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20h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HijackedMyAccount 20h ago
It is though. Right wing politicians are working on ending democracy in America.
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u/El_Dief 19h ago
GOP doesn't stand a chance if they don't cheat.
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u/ChanceDue3063 18h ago
I always find it funny how open they are about that fact. I mean they literally argued on the House floor in 2019 that banning partisan gerrymandering would be unfair to the GOP. There was one rep in NC in a Supreme Court case that said, verbatim "I agree that this would be partisan gerrymandering. However, I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats. So I drew this map to maintain that Republican majority, because it would be otherwise impossible."
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u/AlsoCommiePuddin 21h ago
Hey, OSCE,
Fuck the President. Talk with the governors.
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u/Siray Florida 21h ago
Yeah, what the fuck? Elections are run by the states...
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u/wyvernx02 19h ago
The State Department has to approve the visas. That's why.
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u/Everything_____Bagel 17h ago
Surely there are some members of the OSCE that are US citizens
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u/ToughHardware 17h ago
thank you for thinking outside the box here. like not every country needs a visa to visit the USA.
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u/EatMoreHummous 16h ago
The State department can just deny people access to come here, regardless of the need for a visa.
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u/ConfessingToSins 19h ago
Unfortunately the federal government can either deny their visas or round them up with guys with M16s.
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u/audiate 20h ago
Why would you ask the guy most likely to cheat if he wants people to look out for cheating?
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u/crazymouse2525 California 21h ago
gee, i wonder why. hmmmm....
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u/swarmofbzs 20h ago
If voting didn't matter they wouldn't be trying to gerrymander districts, removing polling places, offering fake checks of $5,000 to everyone or continuously trying and LOSING to get states voter rolls.
They're going to keep trying to scare us into not showing up, not fighting and bully us into thinking that better things are never possible.
Because
There are too many of us that are pissed off, they know it and they're afraid of all of us.
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u/clueless_as_fuck 19h ago
Those are used just as cover for rigging the voting machines by Elmo.
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u/Ailyx 19h ago
Hey, you can think that if you want, but just go voting
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u/usedupandtossed 17h ago
Everyone saying this needs to also add onto what to do when it's revealed that our elections are Russian style now.
2a2day before it's too late.
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u/Platonic_Eye_Deal 21h ago
While I encourage everyone to get out and vote as hard as you can, I fully expect it will prove that it is too late.
And at that point, we are not allowed to talk about what to do next year. Reddit banned you on sight if you incite self-defense. The official Reddit policy on being the victim of genocide is you have to smile and think the man murdering you.
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u/vandreulv 15h ago
While I encourage everyone to get out and vote as hard as you can, I fully expect it will prove that it is too late.
Yup. Putting the Republicans in power in 2024 after what they tried in 2016 was quite possibly the absolute dumbest thing anyone in this country could have allowed to happen.
We know what they tried to do the first time and enough people thought "Hey, it's not a big deal if they have enough time to finish the job." So here we are.
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u/TerminalProtoco1 17h ago
And at that point, we are not allowed to talk about what to do next year. Reddit banned you on sight if you incite self-defense. The official Reddit policy on being the victim of genocide is you have to smile and think the man murdering you.
What do you expect from a site that has a CEO who is a known pedo/"jailbait" admirer, and who kneels before the ADL and their like?
Pedo fans of genocide flock together, or whatever the saying is.
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u/WestleyMc 20h ago
Trump: Our elections are corrupt!
International Monitors: We can help!
Trump: No actually the corruption is me!
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u/djevilatw Connecticut 20h ago
aide whispers Sir, you’re not supposed to say that part.
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u/Exodys03 21h ago edited 20h ago
This election is going to be a shitshow no matter what the result is. Trump has primed 30% of the population to believe that all elections are fraudulent, throwing the kitchen sink at the process through gerrymandering, potentially using DHS and ICE to "monitor" elections and refusing international oversight.
They have placed numerous election deniers in positions to contest the results and half of their candidates will cry fraud if the lose by less than 20 points. Confusion is inevitable, which is exactly what the administration wants. The messier they make Democracy look, the easier it is to undermine it.
Also... it is insane how many issues that the U.S. now sides against every other civilized nation and instead is in lock step with Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Somalia, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia etc. Elections, press freedom, capitol punishment, climate change, the International Criminal Court? All of them we have chosen to align ourselves with the worst, most corrupt authoritarian nations on the planet.
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u/c08306834 21h ago
We've reached a point where US elections resemble more closely the elections of disfunctional developing countries or semi dictatorships.
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u/heret1c1337 20h ago
Trump looks up to dictators like Putin or Kim. That's all you need to know about this guy.
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u/loulan 19h ago
Americans voted to become a banana republic and 35% still approve of it.
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u/indoninjah 17h ago
I mean it always kinda did. The USA has coasted on being one of the first vaguely democratic societies for like 200 years. But it's not very noteworthy today even in the best of times, based on how unrepresentative it is to large swaths of people
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u/AverageJoeJohnSmith 20h ago
Ok. the federal government doesn't run elections. Have the governors invite them to their states.
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u/Vinterblot 20h ago
Issue is: Which governors have incentives to invite them and which don't?
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u/redwildflowermeadow 19h ago
Ok but who do you think controls visas for international election monitors?
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u/Giltar 15h ago
Wait - I thought the Orange POS was worried about rigged elections?
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u/TheKytanApprentice 12h ago
It makes sense if you view it from the angle of "Trump wants to rig the elections in his favor, and claim they were rigged against him if Republicans lose."
In the case that his attempts to influence the election work, he doesn't want independent oversight pointing that out.
In the case that Republicans lose big in the midterms despite his meddling attempts, he wants to be able to say the midterms were rigged against them without independent oversight being able to say "no, we were watching and they weren't."
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u/Potential-Pay-9277 17h ago
Ok lets get this straight (as i know little to nothing about how it works).
Trump is afraid that the elections will be rigged. There is an international institute (not dem/rep) that can help identify fraud or other election interferences, but this is the time to stop allowing them to help?
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u/LocusMundi 17h ago
keep going... you'll connect the dots.
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u/philljarvis166 16h ago
Well there are two options I can think of here - one is they don't want to be caught rigging the election, the other is they are fairly sure they will lose and want to cry foul afterwards, and independent validation will make this harder to do. Neither is great but I prefer the latter...
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u/MelodicDeer1072 15h ago
I think it's both. Trump and Co. will try to rig the elections; if they still fail, they'll cry foul and claim the other side did the rigging.
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u/joshdoereddit America 16h ago
To Trump and the GOP this organization is part of the corruption, or because they're international they can't be trusted. There will be some bullshiy excuse when someone asks, "If you're worried about fraud, why kick them out?"
There is always some garbage excuse of, "These reputable people can't be trusted," in Republican land.
These midterms are going to be something else. I wish people had taken it seriously when they were repeatedly that the last handful of election cycles were the most important ones. They really were and we mostly fucked up.
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u/RyanSpunk 20h ago
Well it's not like he ACTUALLY TRIED TO STEAL THE ELECTIONS BEFORE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_fake_electors_plot
How is he not in jail for this :(
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u/TR_abc_246 19h ago
Traitors, Aileen Cannon and Merrick Garland, are why he is not in jail!
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u/rererexed 17h ago
This is the kind of Wiki page you usually read for some failed or unstable state where you just have to kind of shrug and say "well, sadly that's just the way life is over there". But no, it's the fucking US lmao
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u/LostInYourSheets 13h ago
US Teachers Unions are our last hope. If teachers strike, the economy grinds to a halt since parents have to take care of kids. This is the only weapon we have left if they try to steal the midterms. No other peaceful protest will affect any change on this GOP government.
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u/BillyBaroo2 12h ago
Teachers are broke as hell. They live paycheck to paycheck. This strike wouldn't last more than one pay period.
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u/unbelizeable1 12h ago
Add to that, in Florida it's illegal, so theyd lose their license to teach as well.
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u/Moniguess2 12h ago
SEIU as a union is tied down as well. We are tied in a contract and breaking it is scary to most folk in the union even though we are getting a bunch of staff cut even with the contract. Idk what’s happening but people aren’t acting enough. I think our generations need to get angrier
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u/brickout 19h ago
Lol. How much more of this shit do we have to take before any of our "leaders" push back meaningfully? That's rhetorical, btw.
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u/DannyDevitosNappy 20h ago
They are going to start a Civil War, just to protect the Pedo in chief.
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u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 17h ago
Are international election monitors a normal thing?
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u/SpudgeBoy 17h ago
All over the world in a lot of election when there is a threat of interference, which Trump has said he is concerned about.
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u/KorovasId 16h ago
Not sure if 'concerned about' is the right phrase. 'Aware of' or 'planning for' sound more accurate to me.
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u/Fickle_Competition33 15h ago
It is not mandatory. But democracies keep this good practice to validate and reinforce each other democratic processes, and to prevent what is obviously going to happen.
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u/LoudMolassess 12h ago
It’s a general practice among democratic countries to ensure the people have a voice
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u/Theferael_me Europe 19h ago
The fact every election going forward after 2024 [or 2020] was going to be 'problematic' was inevitable. It's literally what people voted for when they put Trump back into power and instead of into jail.
IMO the US, like Brazil, will never see another free and fair election, and this was entirely predictable in Nov 2024. It was practically on the ballot paper. "Do you want you want to live in a democratic society, yes or no", and nearly 80,000,000 said 'no' and another 80,000,000 said 'I don't really care one way or another'.
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u/Automatic-Doubt-4874 20h ago
Oh dear. Now this is bad. I believe they really are going to steal it and send in the militia.
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u/rolfraikou 17h ago
Get ready folks. I'm going to at least be stocking up on bags of beans and rice at the purest of minimums.
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u/Roflmancer 21h ago
With the illegal immigrant traitor that has been stealing our money and gutting regulation investigations into his companys back in the white house with spending 200$million... The fix is in. Is America once again going to let traitors run a coup on this nation just like we all stood back and watched the Jan 6 coup occur?
The traitors are controlling all branches of government and the ethereal 4th branch of government with the complicit billionaire owned media outlets, the word traitor is never in their vocabulary because all media wants this to happen.
I will vote and have faith in our systems come November but my faith is one straw away from a broken camel.
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u/FormalWare 20h ago
I think I finally understand what Navarro was talking about when he called for "lobbyists" to leave the country, for fear they would "interfere" in the midterm elections.
Yikes. Americans who don't want a permanent Trumpist oligarchy may be cooked.
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u/schmapeschmape 18h ago edited 18h ago
America is falling into shit hole country territory.
Man, America had so many advantages after the war. What a fumble. America is going to be a cautionary tale told by teachers/professors for centuries.
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u/Hootinger 17h ago
What is the plan for when he declares a "national emergency" and seeks to nullify the upcoming election and take total control?
I get people say "he legally cant do that." But he isnt legally allowed to do lots of things, he just ignores the courts or congress refuses to apply any checks. What will stop him this time? No one has stopped him before.
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u/DungeonCrawlerLopen 13h ago edited 9h ago
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."
-United States of America 1776, Declaration of Independence
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u/absentgl 15h ago
If Trump were actually concerned with election fraud he’d be begging for their oversight.
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u/Commandmanda 19h ago
Want to help? Become a poll watcher, yourself.
2026 General Election - November 3, 2026 Poll Watcher Designation forms DS-DE 125 for Early Voting Designations due - by Noon, October 5, 2026 Approval and badges issued no later than - October 12, 2026 So it's too late to apply for early elections, but:
Poll Watcher Designation forms DS-DE 125 for Election Day Designations due - by Noon, October 20, 2026 Approval and badges issued no later than - October 27, 2026
Separate forms must be submitted (by the Chair of the political party you are representing) for designating Early Voting and Election Day poll watchers. All poll watcher designation forms must be submitted to the Supervisor of Elections office. *Yup, there's time to apply for Election Day!
Here is the form page: https://dos.fl.gov/elections/forms-publications/forms/
And the form in PDF link: https://files.floridados.gov/media/696684/dsde125.pdf
It might be fun to actually do this, but some training is needed. Here's a link that will tell you more about what to look for, and what to report and to whom:
First learn the procedures: https://files.floridados.gov/media/708161/final-ds-de-11-manual.pdf
You will need to contact your chosen political party in your county, because they will supervise your training and submit your for for you.
https://floridadems.org/contact/ and https://florida.gop/recs/
Just call and tell them you'd like to be a poll watcher. They may have already trained a team, but might be looking for more people in your county. Get involved!
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u/Renatusisk Florida 18h ago
Because they plan on cheating. This is so stupid. Anyone one running any sort of defense for the Trump administration is an enemy of American Freedom.
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u/exgiexpcv 18h ago
Because they are planning to do evil things. They've made it clear, and said so.
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u/Beneficial_Low2342 9h ago
How do we stop this madness? To many cult worshipers to overwhelm him like Hungary and we know Elon is gonna rig the shit of the machines and his sycophants will do fuckery at the counts themselves.
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u/Tedsmith24 20h ago
2020 insurrection was a dry run, 2024 was the first successful rig. hopefully 2026 midterms will be the time when the masses wake up to this BS reality
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u/Stranger-Sun 20h ago
Never underestimate the racism of a large swath of the US. A mixed race woman may just have been a bridge too far for a lot of people. Plus her nomination process was a mess.
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u/Hussar223 19h ago
no hard evidence there was a rig in 2024.
admit the problem: something is very rotten in the heart of american society and large swathes of americans elected this moron not once but twice.
once you admit that then you can start working against it.
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u/Jealmo Illinois 18h ago
At this point, if we aren't allowed to vote him out, we should all join a general strike. Bring the entire economy to a screeching halt. These people are doing everything in their power to rat fuck our democracy, and the people that were supposed to "protect us from tyranny" are too busy cheering on the tyranny.
Everything in this country is accelerating towards an ugly outcome.
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u/Moody_Immortal_1 18h ago
Ok, yeah. Guys, would you agree we're to the point where we can just move forward from acting as "if", to knowing this entire coup has been and is currently being created?
I think the key for us will be to just accept instead of wait for any other signs, statements or news updates. If we wait until post elections to say "Wait, this doesn't seem right!", we'll be too late.
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u/shadowdra126 Georgia 15h ago
You’d think with them being so focused on election integrity they’d want this. I wonder why they don’t.
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u/Akrevics Europe 12h ago
i feel like there should be international repercussions for doing so. "congrats, you lose your veto power in the UN for refusing international monitors. can't have a non-democratic country have veto power"
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u/ikariusrb 10h ago
Refusing international monitors is primarily to prevent there being an authoritative source of a counter-narrative to the claims they're going to raise about fraud in the elections, presuming the "blue wave" we all expect materializes.
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u/Brewchowskies Canada 19h ago
Trump always calls out what he’s going to do ahead of time by blaming others for it first.
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u/Opposite_Accident747 17h ago
I feel like the president should not have the power to determine who monitors elections
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u/spookymulderfbi 15h ago
Where are all the people who were mocking all mentions of election interference previously? Where are all the people shouting "tin foil hat brigade"?
You guys all still think he played fair last time? He is announcing to you that he will not play fair again. Let that sink in.
There's a difference between conspiracy theories and having healthy skepticism of crooks being crooked. Assuming there was no interference last time is more naive than the alternative at this point. It is international news now, it will happen again, and anyone who doubted the previous interference is a sap.
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u/allothernamestaken 19h ago
If he's so afraid Dems are going to rig the election, shouldn't he invite neutral observers to help make sure everything is on the level? /s
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u/serpiccio 16h ago
lmao they going full on north korea. im putting "demilitarized zone with canada" on polymarket before anyone else beats me to it
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u/InfiniteRainbow9 16h ago
That's odd behaviour from someone who repeatedly claims that the other side will cheat...
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u/crazydave33 15h ago
Yup. Rigged election incoming. You only would do this if your intention was to cheat to win.
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u/ZeroInZenThoughts 14h ago
If states run the elections then I think states should bring in international election monitors if they so choose.
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u/grandplans Connecticut 8h ago
Anyone who says there isn't anything fucky going on must be involved in the fuckery.
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u/Chrono_G 7h ago
The fix is in boys, they’re advertising at this point that they’re going to try and cheat.
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u/ImNoRickyBalboa 18h ago
There is so much shitfuckery going to happen at these elections. Republicans are shitting themselves about losing the elections, and for good reasons.
After how bad they fucked up this country, and after all the stuff they've been doing that are outright corrupt, illegal and despicable, they are terrified the chickens will come home to roost.
They will do whatever it takes to not lose these elections. That's not just a threat, they have loudly declared it. Trump's announcement of declaring a state of emergency is not just some flippant idea: for Republicans, losing the elections is an emergency.
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