Democrats Will Avoid Challenging Election Results on January 6, 2025

[Frodo]

Wise move:

Democrats say they’ll avoid election challenges on Jan. 6

[Mr. Smith]

Wise move, but only because it's not a 2016-like result.

Heck, if MI/PA were a bit closer, then it'd be utterly cowardly.

[LBJer]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

[RBH]

also the threshold for challenging went up by a bit so

[LBJer]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

There was never even the slightest bit of evidence Biden's victory was illegitimate.

[Rhode Islander First, American Second]

Classy over trashy.

[LBJer]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

[Rhode Islander First, American Second]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

It's not about what "works", it's about doing what's right. And doing what's right is conceding an election, not spreading lies about fraud, and not siccing a violent mob on the Capitol to try to stop the counting of electoral votes.

[LBJer]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

It's not about what "works", it's about doing what's right. And doing what's right is conceding an election, not spreading lies about fraud, and not siccing a violent mob on the Capitol to try to stop the counting of electoral votes.

But that's not the type of "challenging" Democrats have done in recent elections anyway.  And honestly this seems weak to me.  There's no equivalence between this type of protest and what Trump did, and it's cowardly to say they won't do it to avoid charges of hypocrisy when those charges would be transparently ridiculous anyway.  With limited exceptions, you don't let the possibility of accusations govern your behavior when those accusations would be false.  You do what you want and if you're falsely accused of something, you answer back and say why your accuser has no case.

Democrats should protest like they have in recent years, and if Republicans play the "hypocrisy" card, they should blast them for being the shameless liars they are.

[Pericles]

Republicans would effectively turn Democratic election denial into a personal attack on Trump voters like "deplorables" and "garbage". Democrats made a mistake by making 1/6 a norms issue, rather than attacking Republicans for trying to throw out "your" Biden vote in the "biggest mandate in history".

[SWE]

Unwise play. The last party that did this was rewarded by the voters four years later

[Raccoon]

unfortunate.. the 2024 election was rigged in favor of trump

[Bush did 311]

Unwise play. The last party that did this was rewarded by the voters four years later

They're okay with losing forever. Get used to your new overlords.

[New World Man]

They should legit do another Jan 6 and try to go after MTG,Jordan and gang. It worked for the R's.

[GAinDC]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

[Just Some Guy]

I mean great, but they don't really have a choice. Now with the Electoral College Reform Act of 2022 after J6 in effect, instead of needing 1 senator & 1 house rep it is now changed so that a member needs 1/5 of the house(87 members) and 1/5 of the senate(20 members) in order to contest a states result.


That doesn't sound doable at all. Atm, maybe you could get 15-20 house members but thats about it.

[Crane]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

You can't fix stupid.

[VALibertarian]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

I mean, as long as you insist on your fantasyland idea that Harris should proceed down a path that probably throws the country into violent turmoil, why not?

[Crane]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

I mean, as long as you insist on your fantasyland idea that Harris should proceed down a path that probably throws the country into violent turmoil, why not?

Oh, I see, you can't defend the indefensible so you'll try to deflect to some weird made up grievance in your mind. Bold play.

[CentristRepublican]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

And the 2004 objections to Ohio turned out so well for us, didn't they?

Trump did win, fair and square. I agree that IN GENERAL there's nothing inherently to be gained from taking the high road, but here it's a question of taking the only road there is to take. Any claims that 2024 was stolen would somehow fall even flatter than those re 2020, if that's possible. Trump won, and he had the most convincing victory since 2012 (in terms of both tipping-point state and EV margin). He won the popular vote, the key states weren't all extremely close like usual, and there wasn't evidence of Russian interference - so it's not like 2016.

[CentristRepublican]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

It's not about what "works", it's about doing what's right. And doing what's right is conceding an election, not spreading lies about fraud, and not siccing a violent mob on the Capitol to try to stop the counting of electoral votes.

But that's not the type of "challenging" Democrats have done in recent elections anyway.  And honestly this seems weak to me.  There's no equivalence between this type of protest and what Trump did, and it's cowardly to say they won't do it to avoid charges of hypocrisy when those charges would be transparently ridiculous anyway.  With limited exceptions, you don't let the possibility of accusations govern your behavior when those accusations would be false.  You do what you want and if you're falsely accused of something, you answer back and say why your accuser has no case.

Democrats should protest like they have in recent years, and if Republicans play the "hypocrisy" card, they should blast them for being the shameless liars they are.

Is there any reason AT ALL to challenge the results aside from "GOP did it last time?" We aren't saying the election was stolen, are we? Because that really would negate from our ability to attack the GOP for that in the future, and it would be far less successful than 2016/2020 or hell, even 2004.

What is there for us to protest? Trump won, and unlike 2016, he even won the NPV.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Well yeah, we accept democracy even when it infuriates us and makes us want to die.

However, what is there to lose by challenging the results based on bulls*** these days? Clearly Americans don't care about their own republic functioning properly or will forget and reward you for stomping sacred norms into the dust.

[GAinDC]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

I mean, as long as you insist on your fantasyland idea that Harris should proceed down a path that probably throws the country into violent turmoil, why not?

Oh, I see, you can't defend the indefensible so you'll try to deflect to some weird made up grievance in your mind. Bold play.

I have no idea what they are talking about. I didn’t start this thread and wouldn’t support Harris if she tried to contest the election, and there are no serious calls from her supporters to do that.

Causing chaos and violence because you can’t admit you lost would be crazy, right?

[Crane]

It is interesting to think what would happen if Harris followed the Trump playbook.  

What if she refused to concede on the basis that Americans would never be stupid enough to reelect Trump after what he did following the 2020 election, therefore the results must be fraudulent?  And what if she took that to the bitter end, not only filing dozens of frivolous lawsuits and trying to intimidate election officials, but as vice-president, ultimately refusing to accept the Trump electoral votes from the battleground states on January 6--the very thing Trump urged Pence to do?

Such a scenario would bring to mind Shylock's line from The Merchant of Venice--"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The 2020 election had legitimate concerns like the Fulton water leak, Milwaukee 4AM ballot dump, etc. Dems used the courts to push mass VBM and then the votes weren't counted for days after the election. I don't think that means it was stolen but you can't blame people for getting upset over it or suspicious.

Are we seriously still doing this?

I mean, as long as you insist on your fantasyland idea that Harris should proceed down a path that probably throws the country into violent turmoil, why not?

Oh, I see, you can't defend the indefensible so you'll try to deflect to some weird made up grievance in your mind. Bold play.

I have no idea what they are talking about. I didn’t start this thread and wouldn’t support Harris if she tried to contest the election, and there are no serious calls from her supporters to do that.

Causing chaos and violence because you can’t admit you lost would be crazy, right?

He's a Trump supporter. Bad faith attacks and false equivalencies are all he has.

[LBJer]

Classy over trashy.

That's never worked for Democrats before.

It's not about what "works", it's about doing what's right. And doing what's right is conceding an election, not spreading lies about fraud, and not siccing a violent mob on the Capitol to try to stop the counting of electoral votes.

But that's not the type of "challenging" Democrats have done in recent elections anyway.  And honestly this seems weak to me.  There's no equivalence between this type of protest and what Trump did, and it's cowardly to say they won't do it to avoid charges of hypocrisy when those charges would be transparently ridiculous anyway.  With limited exceptions, you don't let the possibility of accusations govern your behavior when those accusations would be false.  You do what you want and if you're falsely accused of something, you answer back and say why your accuser has no case.

Democrats should protest like they have in recent years, and if Republicans play the "hypocrisy" card, they should blast them for being the shameless liars they are.

Is there any reason AT ALL to challenge the results aside from "GOP did it last time?" We aren't saying the election was stolen, are we? Because that really would negate from our ability to attack the GOP for that in the future, and it would be far less successful than 2016/2020 or hell, even 2004.

What is there for us to protest? Trump won, and unlike 2016, he even won the NPV.

From the linked article, it seemed to me that Democrats in recent elections haven't actually argued that the Republican candidate didn't win--rather, it was more technical issues about the counting they had a problem with.