Cawthorne sees 5 lights

[Andiron]

https://fox8.com/news/gop-rep-madison-cawthorn-who-contested-election-results-admits-biden-victory-wasnt-fraudulent/

From vocal critic of fraud to “Yes, I think I would say that the election was not fraudulent”.  Wonder what they threatened him with?

[MechAg94]

https://fox8.com/news/gop-rep-madison-cawthorn-who-contested-election-results-admits-biden-victory-wasnt-fraudulent/

From vocal critic of fraud to “Yes, I think I would say that the election was not fraudulent”.  Wonder what they threatened him with?

Or what they offered.  Or probably both.

[HankB]

Or what they offered.  Or probably both.

Some variation of the infamous Columbian plata o plomo - silver or lead. Accept a bribe (silver) or lose your life (a lead bullet.)

Maybe not so final or severe, but something along the same lines, I would say.

[MechAg94]

Some variation of the infamous Columbian plata o plomo - silver or lead. Accept a bribe (silver) or lose your life (a lead bullet.)

Maybe not so final or severe, but something along the same lines, I would say.

Even if the negative wasn't bad, the amount of money being thrown around in D.C. has to stagger even those that are honest.  I also imagine there is lots of other stuff going on.  I think Pence had a very sober view of that.

[Ben]

I've been somewhat surprised at just how many Rs turned a 180 from "Obviously there was election fraud" to, "Only white supremacists think there was something fishy."

Maybe paranoid, but there must be someone/something putting pressure on them in the background. This kind of about face can't sit well with their voter base. My own thoughts are that the embedded, "deep state" Rs are putting on the pressure. They're happy that Trump is gone and they can go back to hanging out in the "secret room", playing poker and drinking Pappy Van Winkle, and laughing at the rubes, with their buddies, the deep state dems.

[Ben]

Oh, slight tangent related to what I wrote above. I just read an article containing this:

As part of their talks on a power-sharing arrangement, Schumer and McConnell eyed a similar deal struck two decades ago when the Senate also had a 50-50 split.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/durbin-says-senate-should-consider-scrapping-filibuster_3670048.html

It's the same Rs and Ds from 20 years ago, still hanging out in the club now.

[cordex]

I believe the following are all true:

 It was not a particularly close election in terms of overall voters.
 It was a very close election in terms of the electoral college and a few battleground states.
 It was close enough in those battleground states that an achievable measure of fraud could easily have tipped the balance one way or another.
 There was plenty of fishy stuff seen to be going on.
 There has been no incontrovertible proof offered of fraud sufficient to tip the election.
 It is absolutely clear that there was massive corporate collusion on the part of major news organizations and tech companies to bend the narrative strongly in favor of Biden using all tools at their disposal.  I believe that was more than sufficient to sway the vote.
 At this point, there is nothing anyone can do about it, and Biden is President.
 If Trump or his supporters play the HRC card and spend the next four years bemoaning the stolen election (true or not) it will be a net loss.
 If Trump attempts to start a new political party or similar venture, that will be a Democrat wet dream.
 I'm not sure what I want Trump to do, but I'm not sure him constantly being on the front page is a good thing.
 The GOP needs more people who are willing to fight as hard as Trump, while not being Trump.

[230RN]

I've been somewhat surprised at just how many Rs turned a 180 from "Obviously there was election fraud" to, "Only white supremacists think there was something fishy."

Maybe paranoid, but there must be someone/something putting pressure on them in the background. This kind of about face can't sit well with their voter base. My own thoughts are that the embedded, "deep state" Rs are putting on the pressure. They're happy that Trump is gone and they can go back to hanging out in the "secret room", playing poker and drinking Pappy Van Winkle, and laughing at the rubes, with their buddies, the deep state dems.

I've been smelling the same stuff on my shoes, Ben.

[Ben]

I believe the following are all true:

 It was not a particularly close election in terms of overall voters.
 It was a very close election in terms of the electoral college and a few battleground states.
 It was close enough in those battleground states that an achievable measure of fraud could easily have tipped the balance one way or another.
 There was plenty of fishy stuff seen to be going on.
 There has been no incontrovertible proof offered of fraud sufficient to tip the election.
 It is absolutely clear that there was massive corporate collusion on the part of major news organizations and tech companies to bend the narrative strongly in favor of Biden using all tools at their disposal.  I believe that was more than sufficient to sway the vote.
 At this point, there is nothing anyone can do about it, and Biden is President.
 If Trump or his supporters play the HRC card and spend the next four years bemoaning the stolen election (true or not) it will be a net loss.
 If Trump attempts to start a new political party or similar venture, that will be a Democrat wet dream.
 I'm not sure what I want Trump to do, but I'm not sure him constantly being on the front page is a good thing.
 The GOP needs more people who are willing to fight as hard as Trump, while not being Trump.

I kinda sorta agree with most of this.

While the popular vote was not close, I still believe there was a large amount of fraud in that. I won't suggest millions of fake ballots, but, because of my California history, I have no doubt millions of illegal aliens and otherwise non-qualified voters were sent official ballots, and they voted. We know which way most of these people vote.

Because of the above, electoral votes were likely swayed in several close states. Arizona seems to be a good example. Obviously it doesn't make a difference in a state like California, where blue wins by a large margin regardless.

Big tech, MSM, etc. absolutely swayed the election. There is no way they didn't sway "the average schmuck" who just gets the headline news and uses the social media sites. We already have seen that a large portion of voters went to Biden because he would save us from the covid on day one. That didn't come out of the blue, that was these organizations pushing that narrative, plus the one where Trump is killing everyone.

I agree that at this point there is nothing anyone can do about this election. I don't expect these reps in question to continue digging into the last election like bulldogs, but I don't expect them to do a 180 either. They could still say that we dealt with much fraud that needs to be addressed before 2024. Especially regarding voter ID and mail-in ballots. I repeat that it is a sad state of affairs that the UN minimum recommendations for free and fair elections are much stricter than what the US is currently doing.