ELECTION 2020: Payback For Russiagate

After trying to undermine Donald Trump with Russiagate, Democrats are now facing a reprisal from Republicans trying to undermine Joe Biden’s election, writes Joe Lauria.

Nov. 11, 2017 protest outside the White House, dubbed the ‘Kremlin Annex.’ (Wikimedia Commons/Ted Eytan)

By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News

Republicans must know that Joe Biden received more votes, in too many states, and by too wide a margin, for the 2020 election results to be overturned. Nevertheless, many Republican leaders are still backing Donald Trump’s claim that Biden’s election was not legitimate.

After the Democrats played the fabulist Russiagate card to undermine Trump’s legitimacy, they should not be surprised by Republican efforts to undermine Biden’s. This is U.S. politics in a downward spiral.

The same way Trump laid the groundwork during the campaign by questioning the validity of mail-in voting (which goes back to the American Revolution), Hillary Clinton laid the groundwork during the 2016 campaign to undermine Trump by recklessly branding him a “Putin puppet.” 

That blossomed into four years of full-blown Russiagate, which was meant to question the validity of Trump’s election,  undermine his legitimacy and hamper his ability to act as president. 

Now the Republicans are questioning the validity of Biden’s election, undermining his legitimacy and hampering his ability to act as president-elect, and later as president.

This is tit-for-tat for the Russiagate gambit.  Put bluntly, this is what the Democrats get for starting all this. 

Don’t be surprised if Fox and other Republican outlets gear up to question Biden’s legitimacy for the next four years, the way Democratic media stirred up Russiagate madness the previous four years. Russiagate may morph into Chinagate following stories of Hunter and Joe Biden’s business deals in China, which partisan, liberal media suppressed.

All this is destabilizing the country and further delegitimizing the two major parties. It has set the stage for Trump to stir up the violent element of his supporters leading to clashes beyond what we have already seen in the streets.

Creating Myths

Meanwhile, the Democrats have begun mythologizing Biden and Kamala Harris to cement their victory against both the Republican strategy and the extreme displeasure from the leftwing of its own party, which has already emerged just days after it backed Biden.

The other day my phone buzzed with a notification from The New York Times.   Was there an earthquake in Chile? A coup in Africa? Trump conceded? I reached for the phone. It read: 

 

It would be astounding that Times editors would promulgate such pap if it weren’t already clear that the newspaper had shed credibility with its Russiagate coverage and unbridled Democratic partisanship (though not nearly so bad as CNN’s on-air crying and jubilation.)

This was bolstered by a series of stomach-churning newspaper illustrations transforming Harris literally overnight from a checkered prosecutor and politician into a goddess. Little girls across America will be helped by the prospect of debt-free, free university education and Medicare4All, not by the election of an opportunistic politician who has rejected those advances. 

Let me state it clearly:   

Answering Our Critics

Our unwavering commitment to journalism, that is, non-partisanship, has brought us our fair share of criticism from both Democratic and Republican readers for our coverage of both Biden and Trump.

One Democratic reader called our coverage of the election “cynical” because we did not back Biden. It is not Consortium News‘ role to support any candidate. Journalism’s role is to critique both major candidates, pointing out their flaws. It is up to the voters then to decide.  

Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former UN correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and numerous other newspapers. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London and began his professional career as a stringer for The New York Times.  He can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @unjoe . 

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57 comments for “ELECTION 2020: Payback For Russiagate

  1. November 13, 2020 at 12:42

    For the sake of argument, let’s agree for a moment that stealing U.S. presidential elections is common, and those who successfully carry out such stealth make sure all sophistication is applied to prevent exposure of the grandest of all anti-democratic political crimes.

    If “the steal” is in for the 2020 election, what explains the same sophisticated covert election operatives’ failing to carry out the same highly-complex “steal” of the 2016 election away from Donald Trump? Perhaps Consortium News readers from around the world can help provide that difficult-to-discern explanation for the public’s benefit, or, conversely, relevant commentary on the current 2020 election mess if perceived that no credible explanation exists..

    Peace.

    • Me my self
      November 13, 2020 at 14:47

      I would consider broken campaign promises like promising transparency, healthcare, non prosecution of whistle blowers etc. … to be considered stealing an election.

      It is about the lack of truth and honesty, if you lied to win isn’t that the same as stealing? I think so.

      Common place absolutely and undisputed.

      I think that is why it is called politics sums it up in one word (The Art of Lying)

  2. Susan
    November 13, 2020 at 04:22

    I have a visceral dislike of Trump. In four short years, at the behest of his donors, he has killed all hope for the Palestinians. Just prior to the election, Trump secretly signed an executive order to pledge taxpayers’ money for scientific research in the illegal settlements. The cruelty of it is unbearable, as is Trump’s vengeful prosecution of Assange, again at the behest of his donors.

    hXXps://mondoweiss.net/2020/10/in-pre-election-rush-trump-oks-u-s-funding-of-science-projects-in-illegal-israeli-settlements/

    Having said that, however, I believe the election process and the outcome was fraudulent. It started with the FBI apprehending the Biden laptop in December 2019, and suppressing the release of the information, which would undoubtedly have scuppered Biden’s candidacy. So, we are dealing with a deep state that has the extraordinary power to subvert the FBI for election purposes.

    Next came the extraordinarily brazen censorship by Big Media of the contents of Hunter’s laptop, and shuttering the Twitter account of the New York Post for 14 days. So, again we are dealing with a deep state that has the extraordinary power to subvert the MSM and social media companies for election purposes.

    So, I knew the ‘fix’ was in way before the election results. When the numbers switched from Trump on Tuesday night to Biden on Wednesday morning, for me it was just more validation of the continuum of the fraud.

    I’m sorry Consortium News, but accepting the vote count as evidence Biden won the election, in the face of the extraordinarily brazen subversion of the FBI and MSM and social media, is in my opinion sadly lacking as objective, investigative journalism. Unless, of course, you’re trying to argue that the “ends justify the means” (which I believe to be intellectually dishonest and dangerous).

    • Consortiumnews.com
      November 13, 2020 at 10:03

      “When the numbers switched from Trump on Tuesday night to Biden on Wednesday morning..” were the counting after polls closed of the unusually large mail-in vote (because of the pandemic), something that was long known beforehand would happen, thus no surprise. It is indeed the role of journalism to impartially report the facts as they are. Unlike in Florida in 2000, there is not just one state with a slim margin between the candidates, but multiple states with sizable Biden leads that will be almost impossible for the Republicans, who have every right to challenge the results. to overcome.

      • RomeoCharlie29
        November 13, 2020 at 18:04

        I don’t think I misread the article at all, “this is tit for tat for the Democrats starting all this”. My contention is that the Democrats didn’t ‘start’ this, the Republicans have, for decades, been subverting the democratic systems, and Trump’s so-called right to challenge the results is, to my mind, just a continuation of that continuous subversion. He can produce no evidence of fraud, anywhere. Russiagate, so called, was the Democrats using the same underhanded tactics Republicans are past masters at, and the fact it didn’t work is just further demonstration of their inability to match Reps when it comes to dirty tricks.

        • Consortiumnews.com
          November 14, 2020 at 02:29

          You are incorrect. There is no casual link between GOP efforts to undermine Obama and Russiagate, which was an operation to respond specifically to the election of the unorthodox Trump. This is a totally new cycle unrelated to past efforts of the parties to discredit each other.

  3. RomeoCharlie29
    November 13, 2020 at 04:15

    I am a relative newcomer to CN, and a foreigner to boot. Some of the writing I agree with and some I don’t. Regarding this article, I see it as one of false equivalence, that Trump’s position is payback for Russiagate, or whatever.

    As I read it, including on this site, the Republican Party has a long and very deliberate history of attempting to distort the voting system and prevent large proportions of legitimate voters from being able to exercise that right.

    I am not aware of the Democratic Party having any such history. Yes, as many have pointed out, the Dems have corrupted, and I use that word deliberately, the pre-selection processes to ensure that their corporate choices get up and it comes no surprise to me that the Biden/Harris lead is as narrow as it is because, much as they are preferable to Trump, neither is a stirring or charismatic candidate.

    What does surprise me is the level of support for a President who, by almost any definition, was unfit for the job and made the US a laughing stock. Trump laid the groundwork for his current recalcitrance by, firstly de-legitimising the media with his untruths about ‘fake news’ then by constantly ‘predicting’ the election would be stolen by some mysterious alliance of… insert your own demons here. No surprise then that he’s saying “see, I told you so”except that there never was any justification for his allegations except the truth that Democrats and indeed some disaffected Republicans, would do their darndest to beat him. And did. Fairly.

    Finally, as a journalist of some 48 years, but now retired. I would take issue with one aspect of your contention of what journalism is, namely “Journalism’s role is to critique both major candidates, pointing out their flaws. It is up to the voters then to decide”.

    I would argue that this is too negative. I would argue that journalism is publicising, comparing and critiquing the policies of candidates or, in the absence of policies, noting that fact, so that voters can make an informed decision on the candidates based on their policies. Yes, if they have flaws, report them, but if they also have virtues, publicise them too.

    I do agree that good journalism is not partisan but fact-based.

    • Consortiumnews.com
      November 13, 2020 at 10:09

      You appear to have misunderstood the article. It is not about equivalence, but about the fact that the Republicans know they have lost but are seeking to undermine Biden’s legitimacy the way the Democrats undermined Trump’s with the phony Russiagate scandal. We’ve covered Republican voter suppression tactics, but that had nothing to do with the point of this article.

    • evelync
      November 13, 2020 at 13:41

      You write like a journalist with clarity and a skill for honestly teasing out the ambiguities of the subject at hand!

      I would argue that it would also be nice for someone/anyone to investigate and write about the fitness of a political candidate to serve based on their mental frame of mind.

      Norman Mailer in his fictional account of Adolph Hitler’s youth, “The Castle in the Forest” gave some (possible) background to Herr Hitler’s dangerously bizarre personality and vicious behavior. The source of his rage from his childhood….

      We seem more interested in paying attention…. err allowing ourselves to be distracted by…. the coiffure of our ambitious presidential candidates (Trump, Clinton, et al) than to whether or not they are committed to serving the public interest and the policy complex they believe will accomplish it….

      The current version of our MSM is to lazily fan the flames of politically fabricated hot topics that distract us from focusing on solutions.
      For example the angry divide over abortion rights.
      A few years ago a woman at Harvard who studied the issue pointed out that one of the Scandinavian countries had the fewest restrictions on abortion compared to other developed countries and yet had the fewest abortions.
      That country, apparenlty, offered all women the financial support for the pregnancy, housing, medical care and a job after the baby was born. And women were thus provided an option that is not available here.

  4. JOHN CHUCKMAN
    November 12, 2020 at 18:53

    Just excellent.

  5. Zalamander
    November 12, 2020 at 18:34

    The Steele dossier alone was a fake document just like the Hitler Diaries and the the Protacols of the Elders of Zion.

  6. PEG
    November 12, 2020 at 17:44

    Agreed – Trump’s contesting the election is indeed a payback for Russiagate, but a very mild payback, as it isn’t likely either to succeed or to go on for another four years. Rather a way to achieve “peace with honor” as opposed to acknowledging defeat.

    À propos of all this: There have been a couple of interesting coincidences relevant to the outcome of the election – one being the announcement this week by Pfizer/BioNTech of a Covid vaccine with reportedly 90% effectiveness (which caused the stock market to soar mightily), the other being the failure of the Durham investigation to issue its report prior to the election. If the Durham report and/or the Pfizer announcement had been issued a couple of weeks earlier, conceivably the election result would have been different. Any monkey business here?

  7. November 12, 2020 at 16:24

    I see no way out of the “doom loop” (see Lee Drutman’s, “Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop”) than to bust up the power of the parties and to empower independent (non-aligned) voters by UNsuppressing their votes. If I understand Drutman, there is a strong case now following this election, to increase the options for voters as is done in most other industrialized democracies. Some systems are better than others, but the real question is how do we get there.

    We need now a “shark tank for democracy” that supports the development of start up projects that helps Americans get out of the doom loop and start solving our problems.

    PS I live in Texas. It’s hard to know here which party is more toxic. The Rs run state govt., the Ds, most large cities. It’s one-party rule that’s killing us.

    • Me my self
      November 12, 2020 at 19:31

      I believe that you are on to something. Where do I sign up?

  8. Cord
    November 12, 2020 at 16:17

    Great statement. Thank you, Joe.

  9. Deniz
    November 12, 2020 at 15:28

    I hope CN readership is too intelligent to go along with election fraud Trump purity tests, one way or another. While I find it entirely plausible that the same groups that cooked up Russiagate and Ukrainegate would have no problem orchestrating election fraud against Trump, I also don’t see the man who resurrected John Bolton and Elliot Abrahams as well as introducing us to Mike Pompeo and Sheldon Addelson as particularly deserving our sympathies. He had 4 years to drain the swamp, but he chose to display his Art of the Deal skills instead with the swamp. His most consequent accomplishment will be stuffing big corporations with even more cash through the TCJA so they can buy back shares and reap the joys of trickle down economics.

    So, sad you are leaving, thanks for calling off the CIA clandestine operations in Syria, but dont let the door hit you on the way out.

    • November 12, 2020 at 16:33

      Well – what you say is EXACTLY why we need Article V. You know, from a document when the country started.

      Trump still has some time to do what he said he would do.

      The CIA and all stupid “intelligence” agencies can shove it up their ass.

      Some of us are willing to take this to the end for the sake of truth and the sake of justice. Some of us think those things still matter.

      Not complaining just saying

      BK

    • Litchfield
      November 13, 2020 at 10:07

      ” I also don’t see the man who resurrected John Bolton and Elliot Abrahams as well as introducing us to Mike Pompeo and Sheldon Addelson as particularly deserving our sympathies. ”

      Deniz, it is not a question of “deserving sympathies.”

      This is the core of the ad hominem argumetn: That poeple whom we don’t like or disagree with are not worthy of justice.
      Justice is “blind,” remember?
      People who think like youi have created the crisis by setting aside the primacy of the pursuit of truth and justice in favor of making and “exception” of Donald Trump. He is so bad and mean that the normal rules do not apply.

      For shame. And, for stupid.

      • Deniz
        November 13, 2020 at 17:48

        So, arguably the most powerful man in the most powerful country in the world is actually a victim? Let’s agree to disagree.

  10. November 12, 2020 at 15:27

    Good piece… but there is nothing tit for tat about evidence rich and media suppressed Biden corruption which in the Ukranian case is overtly a payoff for funding and promoting a violent coup witch included an attempt to suck Russia into a war with Ukraine and the evidence free Russiagate, a Goebellesque big lie that has as a primary intent not to illegitimize a (add your own descriptive words) president but condition the American people into the coming aggressive stance with Russia.

  11. Jeff Harrison
    November 12, 2020 at 15:07

    @unjoe? Shouldn’t that be Uncle Joe : )

    I think you’re being too kind, Mr. Lauria. The Republicans tried to delegitimize Clinton for 8 years. Nobody tried to delegitimize Shrub although he deserved it. Then the Republicans spent 8 years trying to delegitimize Obama. Then the Democrats went about delegitimizing Donnie Murdo. Whilst overall I agree with you, as far as I’m concerned the Republicans started it with Clinton and made it worse with the likes of McConnell saying that their role was to make Obama a one term president.

    There’s nothing United about the States anymore and frankly, I blame the Republicans.

    • Consortiumnews.com
      November 12, 2020 at 15:32

      Democrats started this round with the active participants of Trump and these Democrats, not what happened starting 30 years ago.
      unjoe stands for United Nations Joe, as Joe was a correspondent based at UN Headquarters for 25 years.

  12. rosemerry
    November 12, 2020 at 15:04

    I am not an American but even I was astounded that Biden was even considered a candidate, let alone chosen, to be Democratic choice to defeat Trump. He has shown NO decent policies or contributions for all his decades in politics, and has always gone against the workers, the poor, the environment, peace, yet he is the one out of millions to offer as an alternative to Trump. Surely 2016 showed that two terrible candidates leads to a disastrous “choice”, so here we go again!!

    • evelync
      November 13, 2020 at 11:08

      Yes, it was astounding that the DNC machine rallied round Joe at the end…..an act of desperation? lest Bernie Sanders get the opportunity to right the ship and serve the vast majority of people in this country. …that was terrifying apparently – a “betrayal” of their sugar daddy oligarchs that this national security state serves….
      The sugar daddies must think they’re immune to nuclear war and an uninhabitable planet as long as the money keeps rolling in….

      A pleasant mindless face to put on the throne so they could continue pulling the strings for their benefactors? While they and their more evil twin use the pretence of hot button social issues to feed the social wars that distract us from being fleeced by unfair trade, reckless bank deregulation, endless regime change wars and the rest?
      Joe as chair of the Judiciary Cttee was willing to silence Anita Hill to get Thomas on the court and continued pandering to the #MICIMATT and the for profit wrong doing including the wars to get ahead for his whole political career….maybe he believed in trickle down.
      However it seems like there might be a glimmer of hope that he – certainly more than Trump – can be pushed forward on climate policy….during the debate he lectured Trump on the existential threat of climate change and the need to get off the fossil fuel addiction – hmmmm….is there a real person hiding in there after all ???

      With the democratizing influence of the internet and the strength of progressive ideas like Medicare4All, a focus on economic and social justice, recognition that climate disruptions and nuclear war threaten to end life on the planet… a courageous movement of young people and progressive newly elected visionaries see what policy changes are needed to stabilize the country and follow a sustainable path.
      We’ve been heading to the edge of a cliff where climate disruption and nuclear war might end it all and the “best and the brightest” have proven once again their own incompetence and failures…we’ll see where this all goes….we’re 2 minutes to midnight on the doomsday clock….

  13. Rob
    November 12, 2020 at 13:44

    For the record, Republicans sought to delegitimize a Democratic President before the Russiagate fraud. That would be Barack Obama, who, they said, was not born in the USA. One could even argue that they did the same to Bill Clinton with the asinine impeachment over sex in the Oval Office, but putting Clinton aside, delegitimization seems to be the thing to do in U.S. politics these days. Surely, it’s a sign of a failing empire.

    • November 12, 2020 at 16:02

      For the Record, Obama was gifted his state senate seat by the Cook County Courts and his U.S. senate seat by the Cook County Courts. I suggest the the racist but ridiculous birther story was concocted so that no one would look too closely in how he won his two prior elections

      • Rondon
        November 12, 2020 at 18:34

        Can you explain exactly what you are referring to with “was gifted his state senate seat by the Cook County Courts and his U.S. senate seat by the Cook County Courts.”

        Per the article I think we are dealing with only recent memory. There was a question of whether James Garfield was born in Canada? Are there other examples of US presidents legitimacy being questioned? Is this just the norm in US politics? Has it changed somehow?

        • Litchfield
          November 13, 2020 at 10:24

          Certainly corruption goes back generations. Truman was the creature of the Pendergast machine. LBJ rose to power leaving a trail of at least one body and mountains of dirt behind him in Texas.
          He may also have engineered Dallas ’63.

          Nevertheless we have a special situation with Obama.
          Because he was our “first black president,” there was a lot of pressure not to criticize him or look too closely at his political origins.
          Instead he was regarded as some kind of de facto saint, coming after the reviled Bush and raising hope for genuine change that were grounded in his presumed priorities and checking all the “savior” boxes. The horrible historical irony is that Obama could have worked wonders if he had been The Real Thing. He entered office with a genuinely powerful mandate and the Dims controlled all branched of govt.
          Obama blew it big.
          It was the failures of the Obama administration that ushered in Trump. This is not an original observation so I don’t know why it has to be explained to you. The Dims’ consistent refusal to look in the mirror for the answer to the 2016 debacle has also driven the dynamic of the past four years. They are really sick puppies. Biden is a boil on the face of the Dim party.

          Back to Obama: He “came up” in the cesspool of Chicago politics, which is run by the inheritors of the Chicago mob (Jewish and Italian branches). Obama was sponsored by the Pritzker family. Check out their history in Gus Russo’s Supermob. Obama was a pretty boy whose faction fought a bruising behind-the-scenes battle to get him the starring spot at the 2004 Dem Convention in Boston and introduce him as the next Dem. candidate. Yeah, Hill raised a bit of a stink but they went to posh watering spots off the coast of northeastern blue states to work things out.

          Obama then sealed his image as an infighter—not a real leader—with his (illegal, not above-board) machinations to screw Trump before, during, and after the 2016 election. The black Iago Obama still parades as a moral and ethical leader and seems to be accepted as such by many both here and abroad.

          Ripping back that curtain on the reality of where and how Obama “arrived” and what he actually stands for is a necessary act for the Dims. But don’t count on that happening, of course. Just saying.

        • November 13, 2020 at 15:19

          I am not going to re research the facts of Obama’s state senate and U.S senate elections for you. Frankly, you can do your own research. However in the first election he was able to successfully challenge the signatures of the nominating petitions of the two term incumbent, Alice Palmer. Ms. Palmer describes a rather perfunctory hearing removing her from the ballot. She contends she subsequently checked her signatures and they were valid. Illinois has a unique system whereby incumbents have the same burden as challengers to collect a substantial number of nominating signatures. One could contend that this procedure permits the courts to intervene if the “people had made a mistake.” In the Senate election a California (my mistake, Jack Ryan, his opponent, was an Illinois native, but had a California divorce) court unsealed child custody records against the wishes of both parties in which allegations were made that Ryan wanted his wife to engage in sex with him in public places, even though no sex occurred. After the release he withdrew. Ryan contends this was unique to this election, and of course, highly unusual to say the least. I stand by my contention that in both case Obama won because of “unique” judicial intervention on his behalf.

  14. Me my self
    November 12, 2020 at 13:20

    DNC to court: we are a private corporation with no obligation to follow our rules.

    Super-delegates representing the DNC to choose the Party’s Presidential Candidate – NOT US – NOT VOTERS

    How can this be called a democracy?

    Stifling 3rd party inclusion or even recognition

    Deception from a primary political corporation to deceive the very public for which it stands! How could this be legal or at least be called democratic?

    Joseph Biden was anointed by the DNC the peoples choice was clearly Sanders prior to the anointment.

    No one speaks of anointmentGate.
    WHY?

    • rosemerry
      November 12, 2020 at 15:07

      Even the fact that the wonderful “free USA” example to the globe only allows two Parties to provide the two candidates who fight it out to be POTUS shows what a sham is freedom, US style.

      • Me my self
        November 12, 2020 at 18:23

        When all you have to work with is shams? I guess we can only make shamenade! :-}

    • Rondon
      November 12, 2020 at 18:52

      Could you please stop adding “gate” to scandalous actions? It is counterproductive. The entire media is still doing this.

      • Me my self
        November 13, 2020 at 00:39

        I truly believe “scandalous actions” will not end until we go through the pearly gates. (oops sorry)

  15. DH Fabian
    November 12, 2020 at 12:02

    In social media, I’ve personally made comments along the lines of, “How else could a solid conserva-Dem insider, long criticized by liberals, have thwarted a seemingly all-powerful Donald Trump — especially ‘by a landslide?’ Our job now is to determine just how Russia stole 2020 for Biden.” My comments were made with well-deserved sarcasm, reflecting my disgust with the Russiagate scheme. (After four years of intensive media fear-mongering, millions would have voted for a salt shaker rather than Trump.) That said, I’m not surprised that so many question the 2020 outcome, nor am I surprised at the sudden “outrage” of Dem Party loyalists, that people would be so unpatriotic as to use the election to “divide the country” and “cast doubt on our sacred election process.” (Is it possible to have a country legally committed to some nice, safe institution where it can;t harm itself or others?)

  16. Generalfeldmaschall von Hindenburg
    November 12, 2020 at 11:55

    I don’t think it’s a surety that Joe Biden of all people got way more votes in way more states. You make a ton of great points but assuming that Trump was so universally hated was not the best jump off point. Your audience is not Woke-a-teers here.
    It looks a lot like, contrary to NPR’s spin that Trump either won or it was a sqeaker, but as Stalin is supposed to have said, it’s who counts the votes that matters. Trump has to know that the Cheat that giveth can also become the cheat that taketh away. Once you become a factotum of private military and intelligence power mongers, they can toss you aside when better tools are at hand.

    • Consortiumnews.com
      November 12, 2020 at 13:34

      E.V. MARGIN
      Mich. › 16 Winner Biden +3 +148,645
      >98%
      Minn. › 10 Winner Biden +7 +233,394
      >98%
      Nev. › 6 Winner Biden +3 +36,866
      98%
      Pa. › 20 Winner Biden +0.79 +53,825
      >98%
      Wis. › 10 Winner Biden +0.62 +20,546
      >98%
      Ariz. › 11 Biden +0.34 +11,537
      >98%
      Ga. › 16 Biden +0.28 +14,057
      >98%

      • Garry Compton
        November 12, 2020 at 13:54

        It has nothing to do with the candidates – but Cheating is a national federal felony and since Russia was denied a trial for election manipulation – any American should be charged and brought to justice for cheating a presidential election. Of course that will never happen – the place belongs to the NWO because there is No Peoples Government left. So — we are all voting for Ghosts. Ghosts from the past , that now belong to the Neo Con NWO . Thanks Consortium been along time.

  17. vinnieoh
    November 12, 2020 at 11:25

    Mr. Lauria:

    Your editorial is well taken, and CN has maintained objective integrity over this long nightmare of our nation.

    Even though I personally thought that Trump could be impeached on various charges, the charges that the D’s decided to pursue were actually preposterous. This, together with the fact that there was no chance that the R majority Senate was ever going to vote to convict, one must ask – what was the real purpose of doing this?

    My conclusion is that the D leadership has been much more concerned with the growing progressive insurgency growing within its own ranks than with anything that Trump was doing. This (Russiagate) was distraction and misdirection away from all those things wrong with and growing increasingly worse in the US. Things which D leadership has no intention of changing or fixing and which they are completely embedded with. That makes them no different than the R leadership.

    Anyone and everyone of a “progressive” bent knows that “we” lost this election during the D primaries. There is only one Party in DC and it is the Party of big money, big power and an ideology and belief system that can only be described as ultimately suicidal.

    I will be overjoyed at the departure of the very sick individual know as Donald J. Trump, but I have no hopeful belief in any policies of the incoming administration trending toward progressive reform, a reduction of militarism and armed aggression, universal health care, reduction of fossil fuel use, or the much-needed overturning of the fact and the idea represented by “Citizens United.”

    Thank you – and everyone at CN – for everything that you do.

    • rosemerry
      November 12, 2020 at 15:12

      I heartily agree with all your points.

    • Daniel
      November 13, 2020 at 09:10

      Hear, hear.

    • ML
      November 13, 2020 at 10:45

      Hear, hear! Excellent comment, vinnieoh. I would like to add something on a different but related topic. The U.S. government, including the agencies charged with overseeing our health like the NIH, CDC, FDA, NIAID, have not done a good job with pandemic response. It is so painfully obvious to people like me who are medical professionals, that early treatment on day one of symptoms of Covid19, is absolutely critical to preventing morbidity and subsequent mortality that this disease can cause. “Go home, rest, and take Tylenol” is not an option for anyone high risk for complications and yet that is what is told continually to people with a positive Covid test. I am asking all Consortium News readers to look up Dr. Paul Marik’s MATH+protocol for Covid19. He is Chief of Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical and has also now devised at protocol for prophylaxis and early treatment of Covid19, the I-MASK+ protocol. Readers, please read these documents. Easy to google. Easy to understand. Easy to follow. And most certainly are life-saving measures. Thank you all CN readers, staff, editors and hosts. I will continue to support CN for their stellar reporting! Good health to all.

  18. Sanford Kelson
    November 12, 2020 at 11:21

    Our elected representatives, their appointees, the media and blind faith supporters are children. Spanking is not a strong enough corrective. I fear the only change will be sparked by a major economic crash.

  19. November 12, 2020 at 11:08

    No, Joe. IMO the Republicans didn’t need Russiagate, nor any other excuse to refuse to acknowledge Biden. Whether or not they accept/support Trump as leader of their party, Trump is very much a result of a long standing Republican policy to create themselves as a permanent majority party, and they are simply happy to add Trump’s tactic of creating chaos to their others: voting suppression, for example.

  20. November 12, 2020 at 10:25

    We’ve been surrounded by so much PAP lately – it has literally been in our faces. My face at least has seen its share of PAP (Merriam Webster – Entry 2, Definition #3) and I’m sick of it like most of the readers here I’m sure. But, just a little digression, give me some of that other pap any day of the week (Merriam Webster – Entry 1, Definition #1) under the proper circumstances of course.

    Stream of conscious talking here, but I think the two are related – I just read another article by this fellow named Ray McGovern….something about “biting fingernails”……look it up.

    Too much PAP (as defined initially) leads to trouble! The trouble is upon US directly seems to me just now, and as I’ve said before: “hold onto your hats!”

    BK

  21. Darel
    November 12, 2020 at 10:19

    Are you kidding me? Vote, fraud is rampant. Biden received a greater number of votes due to cheating Trump.

    I’ve been a loyal visitor of Consortium News and sometimes agree and other times disagree with the news from your site.

    The MSM, failed to report on Trumps recent wins in Alaska and North Carolina,

    By the way, my friend, who is a lawyer located in Michigan was a certified poll watcher and has been at various times over was refused by the local election officials to conduct his duty.. He also reported his rejection and is now on record. His friend, whom I’ve meet once was also rejected in Michigan as a official poll watcher located in a small town.

    No doubt the left made an attempt to steal the election. A huge data dump with election fraud is one it’s way and the democrats’ are going to jail over this outrageous attempt.

    In closing, my friend didn’t vote for Trump or Biden.

    • Litchfield
      November 12, 2020 at 16:53

      Agree.
      Here is a useful site:

      see: //everylegalvote.com/country

      with detailed info on each race and the current status of confirmed electoral votes.

  22. Nathan Mulcahy
    November 12, 2020 at 10:00

    Consortium News: Please stay the course. If you are not nonpartisan then, as you yourself say, you are not a journalist anymore. Then you might as well be a stenographer, a propagandist or a presstitute.

  23. Nathan Mulcahy
    November 12, 2020 at 09:38

    With the fake Russiagate they had targeted Trump but ended up damaging the country.

  24. Ian
    November 12, 2020 at 09:02

    There are reports of many thousands of consecutive votes for Biden, an indication of massive fraud.
    Is this not a case for investigative journalism?

    • Consortiumnews.com
      November 12, 2020 at 13:48

      No. At this point it is a matter for the courts and the county election officials.

  25. Anna
    November 12, 2020 at 07:47

    Until the perpetrators of the color revolution coded Russiagate brought to justice, Biden remains illegitimate.
    It is painfully obvious that the Obama/Clinton regime has intensified the Cheney/Bush frontal attack on the American Consitution.
    Russigate has been a treasonous enterprise of regime change in the US. It does not matter what color is Trump’s hair and how much Bidens made in China and Ukraine. What does matter is the irreparable harm to the US Constitution inflicted by the US’s real owners — mega war profiteers and financial Squid. The intelligence services and MSM have collided with Obama/Clinton plotters against POTUS. This is Treason.

    • Randal Marlin
      November 12, 2020 at 10:01

      Don’t you mean “colluded” rather than “collided”?

    • Litchfield
      November 12, 2020 at 10:45

      ” The intelligence services and MSM have collided with Obama/Clinton plotters against POTUS. This is Treason.”

      I think you meant “colluded.”

    • November 12, 2020 at 10:56

      Well said, Anna. It’s treason with a capitol T.

    • Garry Compton
      November 12, 2020 at 13:56

      WEll written and said Anya.

    • Rondon
      November 12, 2020 at 19:33

      Do you favor breaking up the media? Any ideas on how to do that? How to reform it? Social, traditional, how will we do it?

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