2020 – The Year of Two Presidents
In year 69 of the Common Era (CE) there were four emperors of the Roman Empire. After Nero committed “suicide,” four provincial governors, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian took their turns as emperor during that fateful year. Each was successfully overthrown by the next in line, until only Vespasian was left. He died in his sleep, still emperor, ten years later.
Of course, things work differently in our Empire. Ordinary generals can’t go around murdering rivals, only the CIA can do that. In other respects, there wasn’t that much difference in statecraft between their empire and ours.
Our new emperor, or rather, president, was proclaimed by the power of the media, particularly the Associated Press, which is owned collectively by a number of media outlets. But this “media circus” was put on for the pleasure of the masses. Donald Trump still sits in the White House and is officially the President of the United States. Joe Biden is now the pretender.
All that will probably change on Dec. 14, when a peculiar institution called the Electoral College holds its quadrennial meeting, as it casts its ballots for president and vice-president. We all elected the Electoral College delegates on Nov. 3, when we thought we were voting for the presidential candidates.
The Electoral College certifies its choices to Mike Pence, as the President of the Senate, who presides over a joint session of Congress at 1pm, Jan. 6, 2021. If no member of Congress objects to the certifications in writing, the winning candidates (Biden-Harris) will be deemed elected. It may be hard to believe that Trump fanatics would not object.
Lastly, and anti-climatically, the new president and VP are formally inaugurated and sworn into office at noon on Jan. 20, by Chief Justice John Glover Roberts, Jr. (The VP can pick someone else to swear her in if she so chooses. If all goes well, Biden will be the new president and Donald Trump will be the ex-president.
What If Something Bad Happens?
I’m sure we all wish Joe Biden a long and happy life in the White House. But what if he were to die in this period of transition?
If Biden died before the Electoral College meets, the electors would be free to choose another person for whom to vote. That would be fine if they all picked the same person, but if some of the Democratic electors voted for Hillary Clinton and others voted for Bernie Sanders (just to settle political differences), then if Republican electors stuck with Trump, he would be reelected.
If Biden died after the Electoral College met, but before the Senate receives the certified report, then the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. Sounds good for Dems, but not necessarily. The House is required to vote with one vote per state, no matter how big or little is the state. In states where there are more Republican House members, they would outvote the Democrats. Unfortunately, there are 26 states, a majority, where this would happen. Trump would win.
If Biden died after the Senate heard from the Electoral College, then Kamala Harris would become president. If something also happened to her, then Nancy Pelosi would become president.
It would be the Year of Four Presidents!
How Did Biden-Harris Carry the Popular Vote?
Well, you can thank the Left Coast for that. In California, the registrar reports 9,163,725 counted ballots for Biden, but only 4,741,191 counted ballots for Trump. That’s a margin of 4,422,534 for Biden.
Add to that, 1,164,697, which is the margin supplied by Washington and Oregon combined, and you have 5,587,231 more votes for Biden than Trump.
But wait. After all this time, there are still 3,569,164 not yet processed California votes to be counted. That probably means another two million margin for Biden.
Since Biden leads Trump nationwide by 4,288,057, that means that outside the Left Coast, Trump won the popular vote by 1,299,174. Thank you California, Oregon and Washington, aka the Left Coast, for making Biden look good in the other 47 states!
Meanwhile, Free Speech Takes Some Hits
On Oct. 29, filmmaker Michael Moore appeared on the morning news show, Rising, which is owned by The Hill, a daily newspaper that covers Congress. In the course of his discourse on why Democrats should not trust the polls, he was interrupted repeatedly by co-hosts and Krystal Ball, particularly when he tried to warn of a plot by Republicans that he was privy to, in which Justice Department agents would seize ballots in Philadelphia. The erstwhile journalists-hosts told Moore “he couldn’t put out anything we don’t have the facts on.” In fact, journalists often interview people they don’t agree with or don’t believe. They just have to make the attribution clear, as it was in this televised program.
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Journalist Glenn Greenwald resigned last month from The Intercept, a news website he co-founded. The reason he quit was because of political interference in a story he was writing about Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
While Greenwald initiated The Intercept, it is owned by billionaire Pierre Omidyar, who founded eBay. Omidyar has been accused by journalist Douglas Valentine of working closely with CIA-affiliated organizations in foreign regime-change capers, including the Ukraine.
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In my experience in being part of the media, I’ve encountered numerous cases, and heard of many more, of the CIA infiltrating newspapers, TV, and now, presumably, social media news sites. While this is by no means an indictment of Greenwald, it’s time for him and others who have information to spill it to their trusting readers.
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