2020 South Carolina Primary Results Thread

[FORD]

So the corporate mediawhores IMMEDIATELY call it for Biden with 0% of the precincts reporting. Joe apparently has finally won his FIRST state in his third time running for President (out after Iowa both of the other times), but he should enjoy it while he can. It's not going to help him on Tuesday.

Bernie is in 2nd place. Not really a surprise there, as he gained considerably in the state polls in recent weeks, and remains the leader everywhere else.

Only real surprise here so far is Tom Steyer running in third place. Obviously his best showing yet. But again, probably not enough to help him on Super Tuesday.

[Seshmeister]

Does it worry you at all how enthusiastic Republican commentators and Trump himself are about facing Bernie?

Do you think they are bluffing or just wrong?

[FORD]

I think they're making assumptions based on their own bigotry... just like when they couldn't wait to run against "the Kenyan Muslim" in 2008.

Of course the Democrats are guilty of the same thing.... they thought the washed up B Movie actor (1980) and serial failure reality TV star (2016) would be easy to beat.

[FORD]

Meanwhile, Tom Steyer is finally giving up....

I guess coming in third in South Carolina wasn’t the results he thought he paid for?

Of the two billionaires who had no business running for President, he was by far the least offensive of the two. I’d really rather see Bloomberg drop out. (He still doesn’t have a single vote or delegate)

At least this will lower the number of ad onslaughts on TV considerably.

[twonabomber]

I have not seen a Steyer ad yet and I guess I won't now.

[Nickdfresh]

I have not seen a Steyer ad yet and I guess I won't now.

They've played a few here, but I never took him seriously as a candidate...

[ZahZoo]

Congrats to Biden for finally winning one primary on his 3rd time running for POTUS... I got this feeling it's one and done for him though.

Super Tuesday is gonna be a mess...

I seriously don't think the Democratic mainstream will let Bernie win the nomination.

[FORD]

[FORD]

[Terry]

Congrats to Biden for finally winning one primary on his 3rd time running for POTUS... I got this feeling it's one and done for him though.

Super Tuesday is gonna be a mess...

I seriously don't think the Democratic mainstream will let Bernie win the nomination.

Biden's primary win, for a variety of reasons, brought the expression 'dead cat bounce' to my mind.

But, as you say, I find it hard to believe if the mainstream Dems (mistakenly or not) think they have a reasonable shot at beating Trump with Biden that they're gonna just let Bernie win the nomination with a slim plurality...because the Dem Establishment think Bernie will get trounced by Trump. Luckily for those Dem Centrists, I assume the DNC still has those byzantine primary rules put in place in the wake of the 1968 and 1972 elections to prevent another McGovern-style ass whomping, so doubtless the superdelegates and megadonors will flex their muscles and attempt to insert Biden in there even if [Biden] gets his ass handed to him Tuesday and beyond in the remaining primaries and caucuses.

[Terry]

Does it worry you at all how enthusiastic Republican commentators and Trump himself are about facing Bernie?

Do you think they are bluffing or just wrong?

I think those folks have a general belief that if the economy, jobs numbers and the stock market hold and Trump manages not to blunder a response to any potential big events on the world stage in the next 9 months, Trump will end up prevailing in November regardless of who the opposition candidate is.

I'm not so sure they're wrong about that, either.

[FORD]

Well, the "potential big event on the world stage" might be the one we're seeing in real time right now, the coronavirus. And Cheeto has already blundered the response to it, actually calling it a "hoax". It's already making the stock market nervous, and odds are good that it's gonna cause the summer Olympics to be cancelled, which will ripple through travel, tourism, retail, media, clothing manufacturing, and fuck knows how many other industries. The Olympics cash cow is so profitable that they split up the winter & summer games so they can cash in on the shit every 2 years instead of 4. And this is all on top of the doom & gloom predictions of the coming recession that existed long before the pandemic hysteria.

Then there's the cost of the virus itself. With a $3200 price tag on the testing kit to find out if you have this shit or not, let alone the treatment if you find out that you DO, it puts the case for Medicare For All front and center again. Bernie Sanders sure as Hell would never have asked to get a campaign boost that way, but it might end up helping him make his case regardless. People in the US will die from this shit because they can't afford to go to the doctor to do anything about it. And a lot of that is going to happen in red states - especially the ones with the ALEC payroll governors who refused Obama's Medicaid expansion - which in turn, might provide a wakeup call to some voters who otherwise might vote a right wing ticket.

[Nickdfresh]

Ford's right, if the economy begins to go into recession because of Shittybeervirus, then the whole "socialist Bernie" thing backfires on Trump...

Actually pretty much anything backfires on Drumpf, the whole "Hey! Yeah I'm a fucking asshole dumbsumofabitch, but hey the economy's great so so what?!" thing backfires, which is why drumpf and his band of dumbshit petties are already melting down...

[FORD]

[Terry]

Well, the "potential big event on the world stage" might be the one we're seeing in real time right now, the coronavirus. And Cheeto has already blundered the response to it, actually calling it a "hoax". It's already making the stock market nervous, and odds are good that it's gonna cause the summer Olympics to be cancelled, which will ripple through travel, tourism, retail, media, clothing manufacturing, and fuck knows how many other industries. The Olympics cash cow is so profitable that they split up the winter & summer games so they can cash in on the shit every 2 years instead of 4. And this is all on top of the doom & gloom predictions of the coming recession that existed long before the pandemic hysteria.

Then there's the cost of the virus itself. With a $3200 price tag on the testing kit to find out if you have this shit or not, let alone the treatment if you find out that you DO, it puts the case for Medicare For All front and center again. Bernie Sanders sure as Hell would never have asked to get a campaign boost that way, but it might end up helping him make his case regardless. People in the US will die from this shit because they can't afford to go to the doctor to do anything about it. And a lot of that is going to happen in red states - especially the ones with the ALEC payroll governors who refused Obama's Medicaid expansion - which in turn, might provide a wakeup call to some voters who otherwise might vote a right wing ticket.

It may well turn out that the coronavirus ends up undoing Trump, specifically in terms of how his administration responds to it. Doubtless, the continual attempted and actual defunding by the Trump Administration (and like-minded individuals in Congress) of health care programs which provide access to health services for middle and lower class citizens won't be something Trump, his staffers and media spokespeople will be able to square the circle on merely by chanting "USA! USA! USA!" at a rally. At least, one hopes that will be true in terms of those who voted for Trump in 2016 vs. potential repeat Trump 2020 voters re: the ability to distinguish between rhetoric and what has actually been done in terms of health care in the last 3 years.

I must say, Trump putting Mike Pence in charge of the Administration's handling of the coronavirus doesn't exactly mean much of anything to me, other than perhaps a person for Trump to lay blame on later should the virus situation in this country turn out to be mismanaged: Pence has never exactly reeked of any particular competence in terms of a practical administrative skillset.

Indeed, the coronavirus and the containment of it may well end up being the "potential big event on the world stage" that Trump won't be able to walk between the raindrops on, or sidestep with a rude tweet. It doesn't strain credulity to posit that something is going to happen at some point which is going to require any president to demonstrate leadership as opposed to showmanship. I'm hoping this viral outbreak ends up not being a calamitous pandemic in terms of containment and treatment, because I don't have a great deal of competence in our president in terms of either his intellect or his leadership qualities: that he was publicly pissing and moaning about HIS political prospects in the face of the virus entering this country doesn't leave me with the impression that President Trump has the ability to put his own self-interests aside and deal with this situation in a rational, informed manner that will put the interests of the nation above his own. In the end, as ever, EVERYTHING is ALWAYS ONLY about Donald Trump to Donald Trump.

I sure as shit hope the federal, state and local health agencies have competent officials and resources in place. The economy will do what it will do: sometimes stable, sometimes panic-driven.