msnbc--2020-11-02--Remember when Trump mocked a disabled reporter in 2016? These first-time voters with disabilities do

Remember when Trump mocked a disabled reporter in 2016? These first-time voters with disabilities do, too.

`` I simply held and wrapped my arm around their shoulders as I let them cry and told them I was there for them and we are all going to be OK , '' he told me .
`` I explained that this is just currently how our democracy works and they will get their chance to make change and vote when they are 18 . ''
Fast-forward four years to the 2020 election .
It has been 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed .
It will also be the first time many of Catalano 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Once feeling hopeless and helpless , these young adults are claiming their power by speaking up at the ballot box against a president who bullied them .
A 2016 study by the Government Accountability Office found that 60 percent of polling places had at least one accessibility issue .
And with a global pandemic , the country 's largest minority group will face even greater barriers to voting this year .
And it 's not getting better .
Just a last month , the Supreme Court struck down a decision that would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would have accommodated voters with disabilities to vote without entering crowded polling places during a pandemic .
`` Unfortunately Donald Trump won in 2016 , '' Sydney Sinatra , a former student of Catalano 's who recently turned 19 , told me .
`` I was so sad and not happy , and now it turns out that Donald Trump is being the worst president on Earth . ''
Sinatra ca n't work at her job at the New York Public Library because of the pandemic , and she is frustrated by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes her more vulnerable , given her developmental disability .
`` I am excited to vote for Joe Biden because he will listen to scientists , '' she said .
`` He listens and is kind .
... Donald Trump bullies everyone and is mean to everyone . ''
Sinatra is passionate about climate change and a woman 's right to choose .
And just like any Gen Zer , she 's also worried about the president 's threats to her favorite social media app .
`` Donald Trump wants to ban my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mad that TikTokers make fun of him , '' she said .
For Jared Bazemore , an extroverted young man who just turned 18 , voting is n't something he has to do , it 's something he gets to do .
`` This is my first time voting , and I 'm so excited , '' he said .
`` I 'm looking forward to voting ... and I hope Joe Biden wins the election . ''
His friend Hadah Medford , 19 , seems equally as jubilant about voting for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Medford usually works collecting garbage and planting flowers in Battery Park , and he feels frustrated that Trump 's handling of the virus is still forcing him to stay home and miss out on valuable work training .
Medford joined the 1 million other workers with disabilities who lost their jobs because of the pandemic .
`` I miss hugging people , '' he said .
He expressed frustration at seeing Trump campaign maskless when masks are what protect people like him in particular , as someone who is 10 times more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked what he thought about Biden 's wearing a mask , he answered , `` That means he 's on our side . ''
Mahliek Benjamin , 21 , echoed a deep frustration that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting his life .
`` Trump 's got to go , '' he said .
`` He does n't care about poor people .
He just cares about rich people . ''
His regular shifts at Tao Restaurant in Manhattan were part of his work training program , which allowed him to continually work on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his dream job of becoming a firefighter .
But the pandemic has put all those plans on hold .
`` I 'm struggling right now .
...
It 's delaying my career . ''
But it goes deeper than just Trump 's handling of the pandemic : `` He does n't care about any of us , '' Benjamin said .
As it did many other voters , the Black Lives Matter movement helped activate Bazemore , Medford and Benjamin .
As young Black men with disabilities , they are the most at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America .
Up to half of people killed by the police have disabilities , researchers found in 2015 , with chilling cases like the one of Daniel Prude , 41 , a Black autistic man who was killed by police in March in Rochester , New York .
`` It 's not safe to be around the police , '' Medford said .
When asked what he would like the police to do differently , he simply said : `` Stop killing us . ''
Bazemore said that he wanted to participate in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City over the summer but that his parents were too worried to let him join .
`` I was really shocked and very devastated when I found out Breonna Taylor was killed , '' he said .
`` I was shocked about that .
I could n't believe it with my own eyes . ''
When I asked what he would say to Biden , he replied : `` Please save us , and tell the police ... tell them not to kill us anymore .
Tell them to be easy on us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters with disabilities , Sinatra , Bazemore , Medford and Benjamin are members of no small voting bloc .
While their demographic typically has lower voter turnout than other groups because of barriers of access to voting , the fact that , according to 2016 data , disabled people make up 1 in 6 eligible voters means they have the potential power to sway an election .
But while people with disabilities face some of the most regressive and outrageously overt forms of voter suppression , they have also turned society 's systemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as a new nonpartisan app designed to help people with disabilities vote .
Founded by Dylan Bulkeley-Krane , the disability rights policy coordinator for Hillary Clinton 's 2016 presidential campaign , it is one of the first accessible voting apps — most of the existing ones are n't — an entrepreneurial pursuit endorsed by Sens .
Cory Booker and Tammy Duckworth .
The app , called Brink Election Guide , offers ballot information , polling locations and resources for voters who face discrimination or other hurdles at the polls .
Bulkeley-Krane said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more activated than ever , especially during the Trump administration .
`` This election will see the highest level of participation by disabled voters than any in the past , building on historical gains in 2016 and 2018 , '' he said .
`` We will see this record high turnout , despite the global pandemic and historically long lines , because the disability community is determined to have their voices heard and rights protected . ''
And if the enthusiasm and determination of the disabled voters I spoke to is any indication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House may be numbered .
CORRECTION ( Nov. 2 , 4:44 p.m .
ET ) : A previous version of this article misstated Alabama 's position on mask wearing .
A statewide mandate that masks be worn in public expires on Sunday , Nov. 8 .
It is not a state that does n't require masks .

The day after Donald Trump was elected in 2016, I rushed to Union Square in New York City in the freezing rain to capture people's reactions. There was one man I spoke to whom I never forgot: Jack Catalano, a special education teacher at PS 226 in Manhattan, who told me he had spent all day comforting his inconsolable students with disabilities. He told me they had come into school that morning in tears after watching the person who mocked people like them on the national stage become the most powerful leader in the world.
The fact that, according to 2016 data, disabled people make up 1 in 6 eligible voters means they have the potential power to sway an election.
"I simply held and wrapped my arm around their shoulders as I let them cry and told them I was there for them and we are all going to be OK," he told me. "I explained that this is just currently how our democracy works and they will get their chance to make change and vote when they are 18."
Fast-forward four years to the 2020 election. It has been 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed. It will also be the first time many of Catalano's students will be able to vote. Once feeling hopeless and helpless, these young adults are claiming their power by speaking up at the ballot box against a president who bullied them.
A 2016 study by the Government Accountability Office found that 60 percent of polling places had at least one accessibility issue. And with a global pandemic, the country's largest minority group will face even greater barriers to voting this year.
BREAKING: We are fighting back against the 11th hour attempt to disqualify over 127,000 ballots cast curbside by fully eligible voters in Harris County, TX. This is a desperate attempt to disenfranchise largely Black and Latino voters, and voters with disabilities. @LawyersComm pic.twitter.com/duhUgWZruH — Kristen Clarke 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) November 2, 2020
And it's not getting better. Just a last month, the Supreme Court struck down a decision that would have allowed curbside voting in Alabama, which would have accommodated voters with disabilities to vote without entering crowded polling places during a pandemic.
Sydney Sinatra. Courtesy Jack Catalano
"Unfortunately Donald Trump won in 2016," Sydney Sinatra, a former student of Catalano's who recently turned 19, told me. "I was so sad and not happy, and now it turns out that Donald Trump is being the worst president on Earth." Sinatra can't work at her job at the New York Public Library because of the pandemic, and she is frustrated by the president's response to a virus that makes her more vulnerable, given her developmental disability.
"I am excited to vote for Joe Biden because he will listen to scientists," she said. "He listens and is kind. ... Donald Trump bullies everyone and is mean to everyone."
Sinatra is passionate about climate change and a woman's right to choose. And just like any Gen Zer, she's also worried about the president's threats to her favorite social media app. "Donald Trump wants to ban my TikTok because he hates China and is mad that TikTokers make fun of him," she said.
Jared Bazemore. Courtesy Jack Catalano
For Jared Bazemore, an extroverted young man who just turned 18, voting isn't something he has to do, it's something he gets to do. "This is my first time voting, and I'm so excited," he said. "I'm looking forward to voting ... and I hope Joe Biden wins the election."
His friend Hadah Medford, 19, seems equally as jubilant about voting for the first time in such a crucial election. Medford usually works collecting garbage and planting flowers in Battery Park, and he feels frustrated that Trump's handling of the virus is still forcing him to stay home and miss out on valuable work training. Medford joined the 1 million other workers with disabilities who lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
Hadah Medford. Courtesy Jack Catalano
"I miss hugging people," he said. He expressed frustration at seeing Trump campaign maskless when masks are what protect people like him in particular, as someone who is 10 times more likely to die from Covid-19. When asked what he thought about Biden's wearing a mask, he answered, "That means he's on our side."
Mahliek Benjamin, 21, echoed a deep frustration that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting his life. "Trump's got to go," he said. "He doesn't care about poor people. He just cares about rich people." His regular shifts at Tao Restaurant in Manhattan were part of his work training program, which allowed him to continually work on the skills he needs to apply for his dream job of becoming a firefighter. But the pandemic has put all those plans on hold. "I'm struggling right now. ... It's delaying my career."
Mahliek Benjamin. Courtesy Jack Catalano
But it goes deeper than just Trump's handling of the pandemic: "He doesn't care about any of us," Benjamin said. As it did many other voters, the Black Lives Matter movement helped activate Bazemore, Medford and Benjamin. As young Black men with disabilities, they are the most at risk of police brutality in Trump's America. Up to half of people killed by the police have disabilities, researchers found in 2015, with chilling cases like the one of Daniel Prude, 41, a Black autistic man who was killed by police in March in Rochester, New York. "It's not safe to be around the police," Medford said. When asked what he would like the police to do differently, he simply said: "Stop killing us."
Young Black men with disabilities are the most at risk of police brutality in Trump’s America. Up to half of people killed by the police have a disabilities.
Bazemore said that he wanted to participate in the racial justice protests in New York City over the summer but that his parents were too worried to let him join. "I was really shocked and very devastated when I found out Breonna Taylor was killed," he said. "I was shocked about that. I couldn't believe it with my own eyes." When I asked what he would say to Biden, he replied: "Please save us, and tell the police ... tell them not to kill us anymore. Tell them to be easy on us."
With an estimated 38 million voters with disabilities, Sinatra, Bazemore, Medford and Benjamin are members of no small voting bloc. While their demographic typically has lower voter turnout than other groups because of barriers of access to voting, the fact that, according to 2016 data, disabled people make up 1 in 6 eligible voters means they have the potential power to sway an election.
But while people with disabilities face some of the most regressive and outrageously overt forms of voter suppression, they have also turned society's systemic ableism into creative forms of resistance, such as a new nonpartisan app designed to help people with disabilities vote. Founded by Dylan Bulkeley-Krane, the disability rights policy coordinator for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, it is one of the first accessible voting apps — most of the existing ones aren't — an entrepreneurial pursuit endorsed by Sens. Cory Booker and Tammy Duckworth. The app, called Brink Election Guide, offers ballot information, polling locations and resources for voters who face discrimination or other hurdles at the polls.
Bulkeley-Krane said voters with disabilities like him have been more activated than ever, especially during the Trump administration. "This election will see the highest level of participation by disabled voters than any in the past, building on historical gains in 2016 and 2018," he said. "We will see this record high turnout, despite the global pandemic and historically long lines, because the disability community is determined to have their voices heard and rights protected."
And if the enthusiasm and determination of the disabled voters I spoke to is any indication, Trump's days in the White House may be numbered.
CORRECTION (Nov. 2, 4:44 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Alabama's position on mask wearing. A statewide mandate that masks be worn in public expires on Sunday, Nov. 8. It is not a state that doesn't require masks.


msnbc--2020-11-03--Chris Hayes: Biden doesn’t have to win in a landslide. He just has to win

Chris Hayes : Biden doesn ’ t have to win in a landslide .
He just has to win

“No one should succumb to this idea that if Biden doesn't win by a huge margin tomorrow … then Trump just gets to stay in power. The winner is the person who gets more votes—when all the votes are counted in states that add up to 270," says Chris Hayes.Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--David Plouffe says Trump threatening to send in lawyers is ‘quite a loser message’

In the closing days and hours of the campaign, Donald Trump spins falsehoods and threatens litigation, which former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says will hurt Republicans down the ballotNov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Trump adviser claims Dems would try and steal electoral votes

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller on Sunday claimed Democrats would try to steal electoral votes after election night if the president appears to be ahead. The Morning Joe panel reacts to these remarks.Nov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Cornell Belcher: ‘2016 was a phenomenon. Can it happen again? Yes’

Rick Wilson, the co-founder of The Lincoln Project, and Cornell Belcher, a pollster on both of President Obama's campaigns, join MSNBC’s Craig Melvin to discuss new reporting from the Miami Herald on undelivered ballots, President Trump’s comments on Dr. Fauci, and Democrats ‘crippling fear’ of a 2016 redux.Nov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Rather than condemn, Trump praises supporters for bus incident

Vehicles showing support for the president held up traffic in both New Jersey and New York two days before Election Day and Trump supporters also surrounded a Biden bus in Texas. The Morning Joe panel discusses.Nov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--Eric Holder says GOP voter suppression efforts are ‘anti-democratic, anti-American’

Fmr. Attorney General Eric Holder calls voter suppression efforts by the Trump Administration and the Republican efforts ‘anti-democratic’ and that ‘they need to be called out as such.’Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Could Texas, Arizona and Georgia turn blue?

Democrats are eyeing demographic shifts in states like Texas, Arizona and Georgia as an opportunity to turn those traditionally red states blue. But Republicans are not giving up without a fight. They are engaging in a widespread legal effort to combat the surge of young, Black and Latino voters. Creator, Executive Producer and co-host of Showtime's "The Circus," Mark McKinnon, joins Katy Tur to discuss.Nov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--Cook Political Report predicts Democratic control of the Senate

Heilemann : Texas could very well go Blue tonight

Charlie Cook joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss his predictions that Democrats will win back the Senate, potentially gaining as many as seven seats, which Republican Senators are the most vulnerable to losing their seats, and how trends he’s seeing with voters “either just voting red or they’re voting blue” could impact the race.Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--Election Day is here. Brace yourself for Trump's screaming.

See , counting ballots is a long , tedious process .
That 's the case when there is n't a pandemic ravaging the country , prompting more early votes to be cast than in any previous year .
It 's also the case when voter turnout is n't predicted to reach record highs .
But , as we have had drilled into us through four years of constant repetition , Donald Trump is n't a patient man .
States often do n't fully verify their tallies until days — or weeks — after the election , and this year is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reminded its readers Monday that in most presidential contests , that does n't really matter .
This was true in 2008 , when Barack Obama had already won the election but two weeks passed before Missouri was called for John McCain .
The same happened in 2012 , when Obama had already won re-election even though it took four more days to call Florida for him .
And so , with the threat that an actual vote count might come up short , the Trump campaign — from the president on down — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his first-debate strategy against former Vice President Joe Biden : make as much noise as humanly possible and hope you can take advantage of the confusion .
This is n't just an assumption or speculation about what they might do .
It 's been clear for weeks now how Trump 's Republican Party plans to flood the zone .
`` Trump advisers said their best hope was if the president wins Ohio and Florida is too close to call early in the night , depriving Mr. Biden a swift victory and giving Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after , '' The New York Times ' Astead Herndon and Annie Karni wrote Saturday .
That means we should be prepared for tweets , emails , text messages to supporters , cable news appearances — maybe even a phoner from Trump himself in to Fox News ' Sean Hannity — demanding that the votes stop being counted immediately if it looks like he just might be ahead .
Or Trump may just skip straight to saying he won .
`` Trump has privately talked through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last few weeks , describing plans to walk up to a podium on election night and declare he has won , '' Axios reporter Jonathan Swan wrote .
Honestly , the degree to which the Trump campaign is announcing its plans ahead of time is enough to make a Bond villain roll his eyes .
`` We believe that we 'll be over 290 electoral votes on election night , '' senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday during an interview on ABC News ' `` This Week . ''
`` So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , what kind of hijinks or lawsuits or whatever kind of nonsense they try to pull off , we 're still going to have enough electoral votes to get President Trump re-elected . ''
The `` hijinks '' Miller is referring to are states that , for some weird reason , think it 's important to count the votes their residents have cast .
These are states like Pennsylvania , whose 20 electoral votes could be vital to winning the presidency .
Biden and Trump have both appeared in the Keystone State — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this year — multiple times in the last week .
The state 's election officials are allowed to process mail-in ballots until Friday , as long as they 're postmarked by Election Day .
But be prepared for there to be an outcry from team Trump if there 's any hint that those late-arriving ballots could swing the race away from him .
As Swan reported , `` Trump 's team is preparing to claim baselessly that if that process changes the outcome in Pennsylvania from the picture on election night , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Trump himself is raring to take the fight for his presidency to the courts , where he seems to feel he has a good chance of success .
`` You 're going to have one or two or three states , depending on how it ends up , and they 're tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find out , '' Trump told reporters after landing in North Carolina on Sunday .
`` And I think there 's great danger to it .
And I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take place , '' he lied .
The president then slammed the Supreme Court 's decision to allow Pennsylvania 's vote counting to go until Friday , but he added : `` Now , I do n't know if that 's going to be changed , because we 're going to go in the night of — as soon as that election 's over — we 're going in with our lawyers . ''
Half of the conservative members of the Supreme Court have already said they 're ready and willing to look @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Day .
So between that little matter and the dozens of other cases that Trump attorneys Giuliani and Jay Sekulow will likely file , yeah , the lawyers are going to be busy .
All together , these are the notes in the multilayer cacophony that Trump hopes to deafen us with beginning in a few hours .
But like Odysseus ' crew plugging their ears with wax before they sailed before the Sirens — or , for a more modern example , Lisa Simpson 's plan for defeating rampaging ad mascots — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Election officials in Pennsylvania — like Armstrong County 's Marybeth Kuznik — have made it clear that they intend to keep counting no matter how long it takes : And while Justices Samuel Alito , Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch seem eager to revisit Pennsylvania 's mail-in ballots after the election , it 's not entirely clear that their fellow conservatives on the Supreme Court will join them .
Chief Justice John Roberts in particular has seemed uneasy with the idea of intervening in state-run elections , voting with the liberal wing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And as for the — if we 're going to be honest here — skittish among the media class , always worried about being behind the curve , The Washington Post 's Greg Sargent had some helpful advice : It would have been nice this year , of all years , to have been able to have a quiet , tranquil moment at the end of this frantic election cycle .
But since we apparently ca n't have nice things , we should be prepared to filter out the president 's noisemaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are being tallied and let the numbers speak for themselves .
While you 're beginning your marathon of stress eating , here are some links for you to chew on : • The Wall Street Journal : Bad news , people who like voting AND getting free stuff — corporations are starting to realize that giveaways based on proof of voting may not be , well , legal .
• VICE : 4chan is one of the literal worst places on the internet .
VICE has traced its racist toxicity back to one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has become one of the hottest of coronavirus hot spots , and it happened fast .
Here 's why .
• BuzzFeed News : And while white Mississippi residents are the primary spreaders of Covid-19 in the state , thanks to the lack of early voting , Black Mississippians are bracing themselves for possible exposure in the name of democracy .

Election Day is normally a waiting game. After millions of dollars and thousands of hours of effort, once you hit the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November it more or less comes down to a matter of passing the time until we have something concrete to go on.
As Dallas Woodhouse, a former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, told The Associated Press, "At some point, you put it in the hands of voters." That's been especially true in this year's presidential race, as the campaigns have cruised into the homestretch without much movement in the polls. No last-minute surprises so far, despite the best efforts of Rudy Giuliani, no sudden tightening in the swing states. Within hours, this tipping point in U.S. history, the 2020 presidential campaign, will be behind us — it is, in effect, all over.
All over, that is, but the shouting. That's what President Donald Trump has promised us in the face of possible defeat: shouting. A deafening, all-consuming roar, a primal scream — amplified and multiplied through Twitter and his campaign and cable news and the Republican Party and the courts — that he hopes will bend the nation to his will and force an early verdict on the election.
That’s what President Donald Trump has promised us in the face of possible defeat: shouting. A deafening, all-consuming roar, a primal scream.
See, counting ballots is a long, tedious process. That's the case when there isn't a pandemic ravaging the country, prompting more early votes to be cast than in any previous year. It's also the case when voter turnout isn't predicted to reach record highs. But, as we have had drilled into us through four years of constant repetition, Donald Trump isn't a patient man.
States often don't fully verify their tallies until days — or weeks — after the election, and this year is no exception. The New York Times reminded its readers Monday that in most presidential contests, that doesn't really matter. This was true in 2008, when Barack Obama had already won the election but two weeks passed before Missouri was called for John McCain. The same happened in 2012, when Obama had already won re-election even though it took four more days to call Florida for him.
And so, with the threat that an actual vote count might come up short, the Trump campaign — from the president on down — has decided to pull a version of his first-debate strategy against former Vice President Joe Biden: make as much noise as humanly possible and hope you can take advantage of the confusion.
This isn't just an assumption or speculation about what they might do. It's been clear for weeks now how Trump's Republican Party plans to flood the zone. "Trump advisers said their best hope was if the president wins Ohio and Florida is too close to call early in the night, depriving Mr. Biden a swift victory and giving Mr. Trump the room to undermine the validity of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after," The New York Times' Astead Herndon and Annie Karni wrote Saturday.
That means we should be prepared for tweets, emails, text messages to supporters, cable news appearances — maybe even a phoner from Trump himself in to Fox News' Sean Hannity — demanding that the votes stop being counted immediately if it looks like he just might be ahead.
Or Trump may just skip straight to saying he won. "Trump has privately talked through this scenario in some detail in the last few weeks, describing plans to walk up to a podium on election night and declare he has won," Axios reporter Jonathan Swan wrote.
Honestly, the degree to which the Trump campaign is announcing its plans ahead of time is enough to make a Bond villain roll his eyes. "We believe that we'll be over 290 electoral votes on election night," senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday during an interview on ABC News' "This Week." "So no matter what they try to do, what kind of hijinks or lawsuits or whatever kind of nonsense they try to pull off, we're still going to have enough electoral votes to get President Trump re-elected."
The "hijinks" Miller is referring to are states that, for some weird reason, think it's important to count the votes their residents have cast. These are states like Pennsylvania, whose 20 electoral votes could be vital to winning the presidency. Biden and Trump have both appeared in the Keystone State — a nickname that takes on new life this year — multiple times in the last week.
The state's election officials are allowed to process mail-in ballots until Friday, as long as they're postmarked by Election Day. But be prepared for there to be an outcry from team Trump if there's any hint that those late-arriving ballots could swing the race away from him. As Swan reported, "Trump's team is preparing to claim baselessly that if that process changes the outcome in Pennsylvania from the picture on election night, then Democrats would have 'stolen' the election."
Trump himself is raring to take the fight for his presidency to the courts, where he seems to feel he has a good chance of success. "You're going to have one or two or three states, depending on how it ends up, and they're tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find out," Trump told reporters after landing in North Carolina on Sunday. "And I think there's great danger to it. And I think a lot of fraud and misuse can take place," he lied.
The president then slammed the Supreme Court's decision to allow Pennsylvania's vote counting to go until Friday, but he added: "Now, I don't know if that's going to be changed, because we're going to go in the night of — as soon as that election's over — we're going in with our lawyers."
Half of the conservative members of the Supreme Court have already said they're ready and willing to look at Pennsylvania's mail-in ballots after Election Day. So between that little matter and the dozens of other cases that Trump attorneys Giuliani and Jay Sekulow will likely file, yeah, the lawyers are going to be busy.
All together, these are the notes in the multilayer cacophony that Trump hopes to deafen us with beginning in a few hours. But like Odysseus' crew plugging their ears with wax before they sailed before the Sirens — or, for a more modern example, Lisa Simpson's plan for defeating rampaging ad mascots — we don't have to listen. Election officials in Pennsylvania — like Armstrong County's Marybeth Kuznik — have made it clear that they intend to keep counting no matter how long it takes:
“No way,” was how Ms. Kuznik responded when asked whether Armstrong County would have all of its votes counted in the hours after polls close at 8 p.m. “We’ll go as quickly as we can, but we’re not going to rush it,” she said. “It’s not the Super Bowl. Nobody’s going to hoist a trophy on election night.”
And while Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch seem eager to revisit Pennsylvania's mail-in ballots after the election, it's not entirely clear that their fellow conservatives on the Supreme Court will join them. Chief Justice John Roberts in particular has seemed uneasy with the idea of intervening in state-run elections, voting with the liberal wing in cases out of Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
And as for the — if we're going to be honest here — skittish among the media class, always worried about being behind the curve, The Washington Post's Greg Sargent had some helpful advice:
Ordinarily, as votes are counted, you are mainly told the percentages of precincts that have reported, and you extrapolate how many are remaining. This time, media figures should convey clearly how many votes, and what percentages of votes, remain to be counted. This small adjustment could go a long way: When Trump declares himself ahead (or even the victor), pointing out how many votes are outstanding will expose this as the farce it is.
It would have been nice this year, of all years, to have been able to have a quiet, tranquil moment at the end of this frantic election cycle. But since we apparently can't have nice things, we should be prepared to filter out the president's noisemaking as best we can as the votes are being tallied and let the numbers speak for themselves.
While you're beginning your marathon of stress eating, here are some links for you to chew on:


msnbc--2020-11-03--The 2020 election is (almost) over. What comes next will be just as hard.

Here 's the hard truth : No matter what happens with tonight 's election — whether it 's a landslide or contested , whether Joe Biden wins or Donald Trump is re-elected — one thing is clear : We 're not going back to normal .
We will still be living in a pandemic , people will still be working from home , many will still be without jobs , schools will still be remote or operating on hybrid models , masks will still be necessary everywhere .
And if Trump loses , he 's not going to leave the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ease .
There will be no catharsis .
If Biden wins , and even if Democrats also take the House and the Senate , there might be initial joy and relief , but it wo n't feel like you want it to feel .
If Trump wins , there will be despair and disbelief , but this time around , people have had time to emotionally prepare themselves .
There is also the fact that the Trump administration has spent four years dismantling already broken societal and governmental institutions .
Trust in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the news media — all of it is in tatters .
Congress does n't seem to work for anything or anyone .
People all over are still trying to apply for and receive unemployment benefits .
The immigration system , policing , health care , housing — all of it 's broken .
The pandemic clarified the level of wreckage , but the decline , which , when you zoom out , is really the decline of the nation as a whole , has been happening for years .
Last week , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , broadly speaking , they were hopeful about .
Hope , as prison abolitionist and activist Mariame Kaba puts it , is a discipline — which means it 's important to actively practice it , model it and talk about it .
The answers I received spanned the personal and the political .
They also manifested in the form of plans .
In Facebook groups , local community groups , get-out-the-vote groups , questions were asked : Have you made a plan for the day after , the week after , the month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and continue to show up , no matter what happens ?
There are two types of plans , of course .
Protect the Results has dozens of events planned all over the country , ready to mobilize if Trump tries to undermine election results .
The Working Families Party , The Frontline , the Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project and United We Dream Action have already organized a virtual town hall for the day after election night .
Josh Silver , a co-founder of Represent.US , a nonpartisan group that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me that like so many other groups , it has email blasts , social media posts and a `` long litany of plans '' prepared if Trump tries to declare victory before absentee votes are counted in a number of key states .
If Trump does try to prematurely declare himself the winner , `` that 's unprecedented in American history , '' Silver said .
`` It leaves the domain of precedent .
It leaves the domain of partisanship .
Suddenly we have a president who 's declaring war on democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a cacophony of progressive and conservative and nonpartisan groups who are calling foul . ''
And while they can prepare for some of what might happen , there 's a lot that 's going to have to be , in Silver 's words , `` triaged . ''
`` You triage car crashes , '' he said .
`` And if Trump declares victory before millions of votes are counted , that 's a car crash for democracy .
So we 're going to respond in kind . ''
This sort of organizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways .
In September , Chi Nguyễn and a group of more than a hundred textile artists worked to raise $ 50,000 to support grassroots organizing efforts in battleground states led by young people and people of color .
They 're meeting the day after the election to make their plan for the future — which already includes focusing on smaller , down-ballot races in their communities .
A member of an LGBTQ and allies group in rural Oregon told me that the group is resuming its regular Zoom meetings the day after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and will begin to plan accordingly .
I also spoke to Ken Sofer , who lives in Brooklyn , New York , and is hesitant to call himself an organizer in any capacity .
He 's just a guy who 's been emailing and texting his friends .
`` I 've seen enough of 2020 to know that the actual worst-case scenario is often much worse than my envisioned worst-case scenario , '' he told me .
`` And my great anxiety is that if we are shellshocked by a close election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to put significant public pressure on legislatures and courts to count all the ballots . ''
Sofer 's been seeding the idea with friends across the country that there might be a need to demonstrate on Wednesday and guiding them in how to find a demonstration through Protect the Results .
He and his partner have been planning for the potential to support protesters if and when they are jailed .
He thinks the chances for the need for this sort of response are slim — but that does n't mean that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place for if or when it does .
`` I think the protest networks and personal experiences developed over the summer , via the Black Lives Matter protests , will provide potentially critical 'muscle memory , ' '' he said .
`` We know how to mobilize , where to go , what to bring and how to act when antagonized by police . ''
But let 's say there 's no need to protest .
Let 's say Biden wins and Trump decides to pass over power with minimal resistance .
Let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the House .
Let 's say you do n't have to wake up every morning wondering what the president has tweeted now , what Mitch McConnell has schemed up , what basic human right Stephen Miller is trying to take away , what you 're going to have to explain to your children or your parents about what the administration has done now and why it 's important to stay mad about it .
Imagine the sheer amount of energy and mental space that will be freed by not playing defense all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , regaining that energy will feel like relief — and provide a moment , however brief , of respite .
But again : The pandemic is still raging .
Its effects are still distributed with horrifying inequity .
People are still getting evicted and struggling to get their families enough food and dealing with increased rates of domestic violence and child abuse .
If Biden wins , everything that was bad before is still bad .
The fires are still burning .
It 's just that the accelerant has been removed from office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has cleared , that 's when it 's time to reactivate and re-energize the thousands of networks that have formed and grown over the course of the Trump administration — and orient them toward change .
The people who 've joined the thousands of organizations that popped up after Trump 's election are n't just wine moms posting # Resist memes .
Over the last four years , they 've become highly organized , incredibly competent activists , shifting their energy from the Women 's March to the 2018 midterms , from facilitating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against ICE .
That energy does n't go away .
But it does need to be actively cultivated and directed .
Maybe that looks like continued change and reform on the local level , whether in the form of cultivating and running diverse , quality candidates or advocating for police and housing reform .
But it also means change on the federal level .
In the short term : a national testing network that works .
In the long term : prison abolition .
Universal , affordable child care .
Expansive , concerted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maternity and paternity leave .
Shoring up LGBTQ rights .
Expansive affordable housing programs .
Student debt cancellation .
Universal health care .
Reinstating reproductive rights .
Meaningful regulation of the finance industry .
Universal basic income .
Massive immigration reform .
Statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington , D.C. Reparations .
Expanding the Supreme Court .
Restoring faith in the government systems .
Substantively rebuilding social safety nets .
Making policy that just generally reflects care for others , even people who do n't look or vote or act like you .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ your priority — and you might have more of your own .
What matters is that it 's on the table and worthy of our consideration and imagination .
The status quo has failed us .
Norms have failed us .
And if we can agree that it does n't have to be this way , what way would we like it to be ?
It is time to think big , think utopian , think provocatively .
Because if not now , when ?
As Silver put it : `` This is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democrats may finally see that fixing our democratic system is central to the survival of our country , much less their party .
This is the first time they may finally understand that fixing these arcane laws about elections , campaign finance , conflict of interest — that this is the future of the American experiment . ''
When you focus on disaster mitigation for this long , it can feel profoundly weird to shift gears to hope .
But as you 're preparing for the possibility of a Trump win , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory , needs to start expanding within you .
It is possible , if exhausting , to hold them both at once — and ready yourself for whichever fight it is that awaits us .

Here's the hard truth: No matter what happens with tonight's election — whether it's a landslide or contested, whether Joe Biden wins or Donald Trump is re-elected — one thing is clear: We're not going back to normal. We will still be living in a pandemic, people will still be working from home, many will still be without jobs, schools will still be remote or operating on hybrid models, masks will still be necessary everywhere. And if Trump loses, he's not going to leave the White House with anything approximating grace or ease.
If Biden wins, and even if Democrats also take the House and the Senate, there might be initial joy and relief, but it won't feel like you want it to feel.
There will be no catharsis. If Biden wins, and even if Democrats also take the House and the Senate, there might be initial joy and relief, but it won't feel like you want it to feel. If Trump wins, there will be despair and disbelief, but this time around, people have had time to emotionally prepare themselves.
There is also the fact that the Trump administration has spent four years dismantling already broken societal and governmental institutions. Trust in the government, in scientific knowledge and authority, the news media — all of it is in tatters. Congress doesn't seem to work for anything or anyone. People all over are still trying to apply for and receive unemployment benefits. The immigration system, policing, health care, housing — all of it's broken. The pandemic clarified the level of wreckage, but the decline, which, when you zoom out, is really the decline of the nation as a whole, has been happening for years.
Last week, I asked readers to tell me what, broadly speaking, they were hopeful about. Hope, as prison abolitionist and activist Mariame Kaba puts it, is a discipline — which means it's important to actively practice it, model it and talk about it. The answers I received spanned the personal and the political. They also manifested in the form of plans. In Facebook groups, local community groups, get-out-the-vote groups, questions were asked: Have you made a plan for the day after, the week after, the month after? Where will you show up, and continue to show up, no matter what happens?
Trust in the government, in scientific knowledge and authority, the news media — all of it is in tatters.
There are two types of plans, of course. Protect the Results has dozens of events planned all over the country, ready to mobilize if Trump tries to undermine election results. The Working Families Party, The Frontline, the Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project and United We Dream Action have already organized a virtual town hall for the day after election night. Josh Silver, a co-founder of Represent.US, a nonpartisan group that works to fight corruption in politics, told me that like so many other groups, it has email blasts, social media posts and a "long litany of plans" prepared if Trump tries to declare victory before absentee votes are counted in a number of key states.
If Trump does try to prematurely declare himself the winner, "that's unprecedented in American history," Silver said. "It leaves the domain of precedent. It leaves the domain of partisanship. Suddenly we have a president who's declaring war on democracy itself. There's going to be a cacophony of progressive and conservative and nonpartisan groups who are calling foul." And while they can prepare for some of what might happen, there's a lot that's going to have to be, in Silver's words, "triaged." "You triage car crashes," he said. "And if Trump declares victory before millions of votes are counted, that's a car crash for democracy. So we're going to respond in kind."
This sort of organizing is also happening in far less formal ways. In September, Chi Nguyễn and a group of more than a hundred textile artists worked to raise $50,000 to support grassroots organizing efforts in battleground states led by young people and people of color. They're meeting the day after the election to make their plan for the future — which already includes focusing on smaller, down-ballot races in their communities. A member of an LGBTQ and allies group in rural Oregon told me that the group is resuming its regular Zoom meetings the day after the election, no matter what happens, and will begin to plan accordingly.
I also spoke to Ken Sofer, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is hesitant to call himself an organizer in any capacity. He's just a guy who's been emailing and texting his friends. "I've seen enough of 2020 to know that the actual worst-case scenario is often much worse than my envisioned worst-case scenario," he told me. "And my great anxiety is that if we are shellshocked by a close election, we might not mobilize fast enough to put significant public pressure on legislatures and courts to count all the ballots."
Sofer's been seeding the idea with friends across the country that there might be a need to demonstrate on Wednesday and guiding them in how to find a demonstration through Protect the Results. He and his partner have been planning for the potential to support protesters if and when they are jailed. He thinks the chances for the need for this sort of response are slim — but that doesn't mean that the mental infrastructure shouldn't be put in place for if or when it does. "I think the protest networks and personal experiences developed over the summer, via the Black Lives Matter protests, will provide potentially critical 'muscle memory,'" he said. "We know how to mobilize, where to go, what to bring and how to act when antagonized by police."
"I've seen enough of 2020 to know that the actual worst-case scenario is often much worse than my envisioned worst-case scenario."
But let's say there's no need to protest. Let's say Biden wins and Trump decides to pass over power with minimal resistance. Let's say the Democrats take the Senate and the House. Let's say you don't have to wake up every morning wondering what the president has tweeted now, what Mitch McConnell has schemed up, what basic human right Stephen Miller is trying to take away, what you're going to have to explain to your children or your parents about what the administration has done now and why it's important to stay mad about it. Imagine the sheer amount of energy and mental space that will be freed by not playing defense all the time.
In the short term, regaining that energy will feel like relief — and provide a moment, however brief, of respite. But again: The pandemic is still raging. Its effects are still distributed with horrifying inequity. People are still getting evicted and struggling to get their families enough food and dealing with increased rates of domestic violence and child abuse. If Biden wins, everything that was bad before is still bad. The fires are still burning. It's just that the accelerant has been removed from office.
When the haze of the election has cleared, that's when it's time to reactivate and re-energize the thousands of networks that have formed and grown over the course of the Trump administration — and orient them toward change. The people who've joined the thousands of organizations that popped up after Trump's election aren't just wine moms posting #Resist memes. Over the last four years, they've become highly organized, incredibly competent activists, shifting their energy from the Women's March to the 2018 midterms, from facilitating and supporting Black Lives Matter to protesting against ICE. That energy doesn't go away. But it does need to be actively cultivated and directed.
Maybe that looks like continued change and reform on the local level, whether in the form of cultivating and running diverse, quality candidates or advocating for police and housing reform. But it also means change on the federal level. In the short term: a national testing network that works. In the long term: prison abolition. Universal, affordable child care. Expansive, concerted attempts to combat climate change. Mandatory maternity and paternity leave. Shoring up LGBTQ rights. Expansive affordable housing programs. Student debt cancellation. Universal health care. Reinstating reproductive rights. Meaningful regulation of the finance industry. Universal basic income. Massive immigration reform. Statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Reparations. Expanding the Supreme Court. Restoring faith in the government systems. Substantively rebuilding social safety nets. Making policy that just generally reflects care for others, even people who don't look or vote or act like you.
Some or all of these might be your priority — and you might have more of your own. What matters is that it's on the table and worthy of our consideration and imagination. The status quo has failed us. Norms have failed us. And if we can agree that it doesn't have to be this way, what way would we like it to be? It is time to think big, think utopian, think provocatively. Because if not now, when? As Silver put it: "This is the first time in American history where the Democrats may finally see that fixing our democratic system is central to the survival of our country, much less their party. This is the first time they may finally understand that fixing these arcane laws about elections, campaign finance, conflict of interest — that this is the future of the American experiment."
When you focus on disaster mitigation for this long, it can feel profoundly weird to shift gears to hope. But as you're preparing for the possibility of a Trump win, that second plan, for a Biden victory, needs to start expanding within you. It is possible, if exhausting, to hold them both at once — and ready yourself for whichever fight it is that awaits us.


msnbc--2020-11-03--Trump reportedly expects scrutiny from prosecutors if he loses

There was a point early last year in which the political world questioned whether Donald Trump would seek a second term as president .
The New York Times reported in March 2019 that people close to the Republican incumbent assumed he 'd run again , if for no other reason than `` because of his legal exposure if he is not president . ''
In other words , Trump had to seek a second term , because the alternative raised the specter of possible indictments .
The president 's 2020 plans would n't simply be about pride or ego ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal-defense strategy .
Twenty months later , the issue 's relevance still lingers .
The New York Times reported overnight : At a campaign rally last night , Trump told supporters that Special Counsel Robert Mueller 's investigation exonerated him -- reality tells a fundamentally different story -- and the results of the probe make him `` perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States . ''
That 's obviously ridiculous , and if the Times ' new reporting is correct , even the president himself does n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available information , he should n't .
New York 's Jon Chait recently noted , `` [ Trump ] faces serious legal jeopardy by prosecutors in Manhattan and New York State for what seems to be , on its face , fairly cut-and-dried criminal fraud in his private business dealings .
It is also possible that , having left office , prosecutors may turn over some rocks and discover more criminal behavior as president of the United States .
( The Department of Justice has a policy of not charging the president with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaves office . )
'' Trump may win a second term , at which point all of this speculation would become moot .
Though the legal principle is controversial , Justice Department policy has been interpreted to mean that a sitting president can not be indicted while in office .
But if the Republican falls short , it 's not too surprising that `` intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors '' would be on his mind .
Most former presidents think about memoirs and libraries ; Trump would have to think about subpoenas and depositions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has twice made categorical commitments not to pull a Gerald Ford : which is to say , if he wins , the Delaware Democrat will not pardon his predecessor .

There was a point early last year in which the political world questioned whether Donald Trump would seek a second term as president. The New York Times reported in March 2019 that people close to the Republican incumbent assumed he'd run again, if for no other reason than "because of his legal exposure if he is not president."
In other words, Trump had to seek a second term, because the alternative raised the specter of possible indictments. The president's 2020 plans wouldn't simply be about pride or ego; it's effectively be part of a criminal-defense strategy.
Twenty months later, the issue's relevance still lingers. The New York Times reported overnight:
Seldom far from Mr. Trump's thoughts ... is the possibility of defeat — and the potential consequences of being ejected from the White House. In unguarded moments, Mr. Trump has for weeks told advisers that he expects to face intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors if he loses. He is concerned not only about existing investigations in New York, but the potential for new federal probes as well, according to people who have spoken with him.
At a campaign rally last night, Trump told supporters that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation exonerated him -- reality tells a fundamentally different story -- and the results of the probe make him "perhaps the most innocent man anywhere in the history of the United States."
That's obviously ridiculous, and if the Times' new reporting is correct, even the president himself doesn't believe it.
And given the publicly available information, he shouldn't. New York's Jon Chait recently noted, "[Trump] faces serious legal jeopardy by prosecutors in Manhattan and New York State for what seems to be, on its face, fairly cut-and-dried criminal fraud in his private business dealings. It is also possible that, having left office, prosecutors may turn over some rocks and discover more criminal behavior as president of the United States. (The Department of Justice has a policy of not charging the president with crimes, but that expires if he leaves office.)"
Trump may win a second term, at which point all of this speculation would become moot. Though the legal principle is controversial, Justice Department policy has been interpreted to mean that a sitting president cannot be indicted while in office.
But if the Republican falls short, it's not too surprising that "intensifying scrutiny from prosecutors" would be on his mind. Most former presidents think about memoirs and libraries; Trump would have to think about subpoenas and depositions.
For his part, Joe Biden has twice made categorical commitments not to pull a Gerald Ford: which is to say, if he wins, the Delaware Democrat will not pardon his predecessor.


msnbc--2020-11-03--Biden puts combative Trump on defense in campaign's last day

With just hours left in the 2020 race, Biden focused on Pennsylvania and Ohio with his surrogates in other battleground states while Trump hit a flurry of final events with polls showing him trailing in key states.Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--Election Protection Hotline staffed up and engaging 2020's challenges

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the Election Protection Hotline is handling the large volume of calls that have come with an especially complicated 2020 election year.Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--'Those votes will be counted': Biden legal team uncowed by Trump election threats

Meacham: Pence probably saved the republic, but I don't always want to count on one person to do it


msnbc--2020-11-03--Stacey Abrams: Don’t panic and don’t leave the polling lines

“We know that one of the opportunities the Trump campaign sees is scaring people out of line, convincing them that it’s not worth it,” says Stacey Abrams. “Our message: don’t panic, don’t leave.”Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-06--Watch MSNBC live election night coverage

Joe : It 's time for us to take a deep breath and move forward

Meacham: Pence probably saved the republic, but I don't always want to count on one person to do it 08:18


msnbc--2020-11-05--Trump supporters demonstrate as votes are counted in key Arizona county

NBC News correspondent Gadi Schwartz reports from Maricopa County, Arizona, where a crowd of Trump supporters has gathered outside the county elections department building in Phoenix. Schwartz says the crowd has been chanting "Count that vote" and "Fox News sucks" to protest that network's decision to call the state for Joe Biden. Schwartz says law enforcement has been escorting poll workers to their cars at the end of their shifts to prevent harassment by the crowd.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Biden cuts into Trump's lead in Pennsylvania


msnbc--2020-11-05--Kornacki explains exactly what we’re waiting to learn about Pennsylvania’s vote tallies

MSNBC political analyst Steve Kornacki drills down into what we do and do not know about the results in Pennsylvania, and what it could mean for the narrowing gap between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Buckle up: The next two months are going to be terrible

There are now 2½ months left in the first — and possibly only — term of the Trump administration .
This post-election lame duck period is normally uneventful , mostly focused on keeping the lights on between Congresses and occupants of the White House .
But because 2020 refuses to give us the least bit of comfort or time to breathe , these next months are much more likely to be among the worst of the last four years .
President Donald Trump shows no sign of conceding even as former Vice President Joe Biden 's performance in key states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough electoral votes to win .
Instead , Trump is , as expected , grasping for any chance that he can remain in office .
While he blatantly lies on Twitter about Biden 's attempting to steal the election , his campaign is launching a scattershot legal effort across the battleground states to heighten distrust of the official results .
Trump 's campaign has already said it plans to file for a recount in Wisconsin , because Biden 's reported 20,000-vote lead .
Under state law , though , that challenge ca n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Even former Wisconsin Gov .
Scott Walker — no stranger to recounts — seems pragmatic about the chances of success here .
Trump 's campaign is also eyeing both getting the courts to ensure that every single solitary vote is counted — because , democracy — and halting the evil , terrible , deeply horrible practice of counting every vote .
A meme swept through the Trumpsphere on Twitter that said ballots that Arizona Republicans filled out in Sharpie were at risk of being tossed .
They 're absolutely not , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but the Trump campaign is keeping an eye out for any way to potentially flip the state back to red .
In Michigan , Georgia and Pennsylvania , though , Trump 's lawyers are demanding that vote-counting be stopped entirely , so ballots can be `` reviewed . ''
Campaign officials in Michigan are n't able to access `` numerous counting locations , '' the Trump team said in a statement , prompting a lawsuit seeking to `` halt counting until meaningful access has been granted .
We also demand to review those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we did not have meaningful access . ''
In Georgia , the Trump campaign and state GOP 's filing is limited to the count in Chatham County , home to the city of Savannah , alleging that late ballots are being illegally mixed in with the rest .
Meanwhile , in Pennsylvania — the prima donna of this election cycle — Trump is also looking for a temporary halt in counting because of `` transparency . ''
He 's also keeping his eye on the Supreme Court as a potential ace in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail-in ballots , which , as of Wednesday afternoon , were breaking hard toward Biden .
The campaign filed a motion to intervene in a case the state 's Republican Party had filed , asking the court to block potentially thousands of ballots that could arrive by the deadline Friday .
And in case you thought this legal battle was set to be boring and not an absolute trash fire , do n't worry — it will definitely be a trash fire .
With all the misinformation flowing out there , heightened and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot more moments like this one in Nevada on Wednesday : Speaking of misinformation , Trump 's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is on the case , making this entire process that much more awful .
He showed up in Philadelphia to join Trump 's legal team and gave a presser that was almost impressively devoid of facts .
His rambling was so intense that Fox News opted to cut away to project that Biden would win Michigan .
As that havoc is playing out in the judicial branch , the executive branch is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump 's wrath .
These coming weeks could see a historic wave of terminations coming out of the Oval Office .
He may or may not be president after January , but that does n't mean he ca n't get rid of some of the officials who have been lacking in the debasing-level of servitude that he demands .
FBI Director Christopher Wray is reportedly near the top of that list .
Even after the firing of James Comey prompted Robert Mueller 's investigation , Trump still has n't accepted that the FBI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He 's spent months now wondering with increasing volume why the FBI is being a bunch of dummies and focusing on right-wing agitators instead of his political enemies .
Joining Wray on the possible chopping block are Defense Secretary Mark Esper and CIA Director Gina Haspel .
Esper earned Trump 's ire for publicly disagreeing with him over deploying military units into `` Democrat-run '' cities as Trump wanted over the summer when Black Lives Matter protests were at their peak .
Trump has shown little concern about installing appointees without Senate approval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the Pentagon more likely to agree with him on turning armed forces against protesters .
Haspel , meanwhile , has n't gone along with National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe 's plans to declassify unverified materials that would help sow doubt about the Russia investigation .
A new CIA chief and a new FBI director in lockstep with Ratcliffe could direct the intelligence services more directly at political enemies in a backslide to the days of President Richard Nixon .
Getting rid of all three would be considered a proverbial bloodbath in any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serious repercussions for the resilience of any remaining guardrails against Trump 's further abusing the state security services .
But that wipeout pales in comparison to the absolute massacre that Trump laid the groundwork for in October .
An executive order he signed would `` reclassify thousands of professional civil service jobs as 'political , ' thus permitting the president to replace professionals and experts throughout the federal government — who swear an oath to the Constitution , not to any president — with sycophants , '' as MSNBC Daily columnist Brett McGurk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire all of these officials in one fell swoop , either immediately filling some of their positions with loyalists or leaving the government 's ranks depleted for a Biden administration to scramble to fill .
All in all , it 's a situation set to make the Midnight Judges at the center of the landmark legal case Marbury v. Madison look like a thunderstorm compared to a hurricane in terms of damage .
As all this high drama is playing out , Covid-19 is n't going to take a break just because our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaos .
It was somehow only on Monday that The Washington Post reported that Dr. Deborah Birx , coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force , has been issuing increasingly dire warnings that the country is , in so many words , absolutely screwed this winter .
But Birx 's calls for `` much more aggressive action from messaging , to testing , to surging personnel around the country before the crisis point '' are likely to fall on deaf ears .
If the president did n't care about managing the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to suddenly start caring now .
Instead , we 're likely due two months in which the federal government spins its wheels in the face of upward of 90,000 new Covid-19 cases per day , as there were on Election Day .
Democrats look like they might have fallen just short of their bid to capture control of the Senate — Georgia 's two Senate races are too close to call , possibly prompting runoffs in each of them in January that would decide the majority .
Either way , Senate Majority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's seat for what 's left of the 116th Congress .
McConnell had dangled the prospect of coronavirus relief after the election , but without Trump as a north star to guide their voting bloc , it 's back to basics for Senate Republicans .
A possible Biden administration waiting in the wings means now is not the time for big spending .
Not when there 's at least two years of obstructing Biden and the House 's progressive plans still to come if the Senate does n't flip .
The Senate 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House 's proposals will mean at least two more months of suffering for people whose unemployment insurance has run out , two more months of hospital systems ' coming to the brink of collapse , two more months in the depths of winter in which people are struggling to keep roofs over their families ' heads and pay the heating bills .
With any luck , we 'll have the election fully decided in the coming weeks , far ahead of the deadline for the Electoral College to cast its votes .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the table , even if it would do little to improve what lies ahead .
It still would mean a long , dark winter for most Americans — one full of death , disorder and despair — in a fitting , tragic finale to Trump 's first term .

There are now 2½ months left in the first — and possibly only — term of the Trump administration. This post-election lame duck period is normally uneventful, mostly focused on keeping the lights on between Congresses and occupants of the White House. But because 2020 refuses to give us the least bit of comfort or time to breathe, these next months are much more likely to be among the worst of the last four years.
President Donald Trump shows no sign of conceding even as former Vice President Joe Biden's performance in key states looks like it just may net him enough electoral votes to win. Instead, Trump is, as expected, grasping for any chance that he can remain in office. While he blatantly lies on Twitter about Biden's attempting to steal the election, his campaign is launching a scattershot legal effort across the battleground states to heighten distrust of the official results.
Trump's campaign has already said it plans to file for a recount in Wisconsin, because of Biden's reported 20,000-vote lead. Under state law, though, that challenge can't be filed until the beginning of December. Even former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — no stranger to recounts — seems pragmatic about the chances of success here.
Trump's campaign is also eyeing both getting the courts to ensure that every single solitary vote is counted — because, democracy — and halting the evil, terrible, deeply horrible practice of counting every vote. A meme swept through the Trumpsphere on Twitter that said ballots that Arizona Republicans filled out in Sharpie were at risk of being tossed. They're absolutely not, the Arizona secretary of state has said, but the Trump campaign is keeping an eye out for any way to potentially flip the state back to red.
In Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, though, Trump's lawyers are demanding that vote-counting be stopped entirely, so ballots can be "reviewed." Campaign officials in Michigan aren't able to access "numerous counting locations," the Trump team said in a statement, prompting a lawsuit seeking to "halt counting until meaningful access has been granted. We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access."
In Georgia, the Trump campaign and state GOP's filing is limited to the count in Chatham County, home to the city of Savannah, alleging that late ballots are being illegally mixed in with the rest. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania — the prima donna of this election cycle — Trump is also looking for a temporary halt in counting because of "transparency." He's also keeping his eye on the Supreme Court as a potential ace in the hole to get rid of the pesky mail-in ballots, which, as of Wednesday afternoon, were breaking hard toward Biden. The campaign filed a motion to intervene in a case the state's Republican Party had filed, asking the court to block potentially thousands of ballots that could arrive by the deadline Friday.
And in case you thought this legal battle was set to be boring and not an absolute trash fire, don't worry — it will definitely be a trash fire. With all the misinformation flowing out there, heightened and boosted by the president, expect a lot more moments like this one in Nevada on Wednesday:
Let's check in on Nevada pic.twitter.com/Vm8LEKLdJC — Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) November 4, 2020
Speaking of misinformation, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is on the case, making this entire process that much more awful. He showed up in Philadelphia to join Trump's legal team and gave a presser that was almost impressively devoid of facts. His rambling was so intense that Fox News opted to cut away to project that Biden would win Michigan.
Absolute rubbish here by @RudyGiuliani.
The rate of voting fraud in the US is less than 0.0009% according to the @BrennanCenter. pic.twitter.com/RlByuis4Ev — Nina Schick (@NinaDSchick) November 4, 2020
As that havoc is playing out in the judicial branch, the executive branch is much more at risk of directly feeling Trump's wrath. These coming weeks could see a historic wave of terminations coming out of the Oval Office. He may or may not be president after January, but that doesn't mean he can't get rid of some of the officials who have been lacking in the debasing-level of servitude that he demands.
FBI Director Christopher Wray is reportedly near the top of that list. Even after the firing of James Comey prompted Robert Mueller's investigation, Trump still hasn't accepted that the FBI isn't his personal goon squad. He's spent months now wondering with increasing volume why the FBI is being a bunch of dummies and focusing on right-wing agitators instead of his political enemies.
Joining Wray on the possible chopping block are Defense Secretary Mark Esper and CIA Director Gina Haspel. Esper earned Trump's ire for publicly disagreeing with him over deploying military units into "Democrat-run" cities as Trump wanted over the summer when Black Lives Matter protests were at their peak. Trump has shown little concern about installing appointees without Senate approval, making whoever he chooses to sit at the Pentagon more likely to agree with him on turning armed forces against protesters.
Haspel, meanwhile, hasn't gone along with National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe's plans to declassify unverified materials that would help sow doubt about the Russia investigation. A new CIA chief and a new FBI director in lockstep with Ratcliffe could direct the intelligence services more directly at political enemies in a backslide to the days of President Richard Nixon.
Getting rid of all three would be considered a proverbial bloodbath in any other administration, one that could have serious repercussions for the resilience of any remaining guardrails against Trump's further abusing the state security services. But that wipeout pales in comparison to the absolute massacre that Trump laid the groundwork for in October.
An executive order he signed would "reclassify thousands of professional civil service jobs as 'political,' thus permitting the president to replace professionals and experts throughout the federal government — who swear an oath to the Constitution, not to any president — with sycophants," as MSNBC Daily columnist Brett McGurk explained.
In theory, Trump could fire all of these officials in one fell swoop, either immediately filling some of their positions with loyalists or leaving the government's ranks depleted for a Biden administration to scramble to fill. All in all, it's a situation set to make the Midnight Judges at the center of the landmark legal case Marbury v. Madison look like a thunderstorm compared to a hurricane in terms of damage.
As all this high drama is playing out, Covid-19 isn't going to take a break just because our political system is in a state of chaos. It was somehow only on Monday that The Washington Post reported that Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, has been issuing increasingly dire warnings that the country is, in so many words, absolutely screwed this winter.
But Birx's calls for "much more aggressive action from messaging, to testing, to surging personnel around the country before the crisis point" are likely to fall on deaf ears. If the president didn't care about managing the pandemic before the election, he's not going to suddenly start caring now.
Instead, we're likely due two months in which the federal government spins its wheels in the face of upward of 90,000 new Covid-19 cases per day, as there were on Election Day. Democrats look like they might have fallen just short of their bid to capture control of the Senate — Georgia's two Senate races are too close to call, possibly prompting runoffs in each of them in January that would decide the majority. Either way, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is in the driver's seat for what's left of the 116th Congress. McConnell had dangled the prospect of coronavirus relief after the election, but without Trump as a north star to guide their voting bloc, it's back to basics for Senate Republicans. A possible Biden administration waiting in the wings means now is not the time for big spending. Not when there's at least two years of obstructing Biden and the House's progressive plans still to come if the Senate doesn't flip.
The Senate's failure to take up any of the House's proposals will mean at least two more months of suffering for people whose unemployment insurance has run out, two more months of hospital systems' coming to the brink of collapse, two more months in the depths of winter in which people are struggling to keep roofs over their families' heads and pay the heating bills.
With any luck, we'll have the election fully decided in the coming weeks, far ahead of the deadline for the Electoral College to cast its votes. That would take at least one uncertainty off the table, even if it would do little to improve what lies ahead. It still would mean a long, dark winter for most Americans — one full of death, disorder and despair — in a fitting, tragic finale to Trump's first term.


msnbc--2020-11-05--Official says Pennsylvania vote tally ahead of schedule, most could be counted by Thursday

Official says Pennsylvania vote tally ahead of schedule, most could be counted by Thursday
Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar talks about the timeline for counting remaining votes. She also discusses the security measures in place to protect election workers counting votes.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Counting continues as both Biden and Trump eye a Georgia win

Results in the critical battleground state of Georgia could be decisive for the presidential race between Biden and Trump, and officials in the state's largest county that includes Atlanta are still counting ballots. NBC News Correspondent Priscilla Thompson joins with the latest.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-04--With a few states outstanding, Kornacki breaks down a path to 270 for Biden

With a few states outstanding, Kornacki breaks down a path to 270 for Biden
With only a few battleground states still counting votes, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki explains the paths available for Joe Biden to reach 270 electoral votes and win the presidency.Nov. 4, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Sherrilyn Ifill on USPS ballot delays: ‘We’re still fighting get every ballot delivered’

With thousands of mail-in ballots in several states stuck in the postal system, groups like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund are fighting in the courts to make sure they’re counted. The Fund’s Sherrilyn Ifill explains what the court has ordered USPS to do to ensure mailed ballots are delivered in time.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Gary Peters expected to hold Michigan Senate seat, NBC News projects

NBC News projects that in the Senate race in Michigan, Gary Peters has held on to his seat against challenger John James.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-04--Self-proclaimed 'poll-watchers' overwhelm Detroit vote counting facility, demand access to building

Self-proclaimed poll watchers in Detroit have gathered outside the TCF Center in a “mob like scene” demanding access to the building. There is a police presence and some official Democratic poll watchers that are supposed to have access to the building have been shut out.Nov. 4, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-04--Eddie Glaude: ‘What are these people voting for when they vote for Donald Trump?’

Eddie Glaude: ‘What are these people voting for when they vote for Donald Trump?’
Eddie Glaude, the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton, joins MSNBC’s Craig Melvin to discuss election anxiety and Glaude’s one big question after Election Day: ‘What are these people voting for when they vote for Donald Trump?’Nov. 4, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Trump suits unlikely to change outcome, says election analyst


msnbc--2020-11-05--What happened with the polling?

What happened with the polling?

“So much of the experience of watching returns,” says Chris Hayes, “was anchored by the polling going into it. And it was a bad night for polling—an enormous polling miss.”Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Joy Reid: If Joe Biden wins, he will owe his victory to voters of color

Joy Reid: If Joe Biden wins, he will owe his victory to voters of color
Joy Reid talks with Rachel Maddow about the racial math of the Joe Biden campaign's strategy and why Biden will have Black and brown voters to thank if he wins the election.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--‘Ignore the polls’: Wisconsin Democratic Chair on party's election strategy

“We’ve been saying for this entire time: that you have to basically fight as though you’re two points behind even if the polls show you’re six points up. Thank goodness everybody did,” says Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Cautious Biden eyes 270 as Team Trump falsely claims 'fraud'

With many paths to 270 in the Electoral College before him, Joe Biden is showing cautious optimism as the Trump campaign falsely alleges 'fraud' and 'cheating' as votes continue to be counted.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--Trump brings dubious legal talent to ballot count fight

Nicolle Wallace relays an observation from a Donald Trump advisor that unlike George W. Bush in 2000, the legal firepower Trump is assigning to his post-election legal fights is not of a very distinguished caliber.Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--'Candidates who are losing sue': Ari Melber on Trump's efforts to stop vote counting

MSNBC's Chief Legal Correspondent analyzes the Trump campaign's tactics after it filed lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia in a bid to halt ballot counting before either presidential candidate hit 270 electoral votes. Melber argues "they are suing in places where they would hurt themselves."Nov. 5, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-05--State Rep. Kenyatta: 'We cannot, in this moment, allow Donald Trump to have our joy'

Meacham: Pence probably saved the republic, but I don't always want to count on one person to do it


msnbc--2020-11-02--See full results from the race for presidency

More to the Story in 2020 The coronavirus pandemic and devastating economic fallout are two major issues impacting the election @ @ @ @ @ which candidate is best suited to handle and combat the crisis .
NBC News is @ @ @ @ @ number of coronavirus related deaths in each state and U.S. territory , as well as @ @ @ @ @ reported weekly by the Department of Labor .

Joe Biden became president-elect Nov. 7 after winning Pennsylvania, NBC News projected. His running mate, Kamala Harris, made history as the first woman and first Black and South Asian American elected vice president.
Biden will become the 46th president on Jan. 20.


msnbc--2020-11-02--See full results from Senate races around the country

Hover over the map for details

The expected vote is the total number of votes that are expected in a given race once all votes are counted. This number is an estimate and is based on several different factors, including information on the number of votes cast early as well as information provided to our vote reporters on Election Day from county election officials. The figure can change as NBC News gathers new information.
Source: National Election Pool (NEP)


msnbc--2020-11-02--See full results from House races around the country

Hover over the map for details

Democrats held the majority of seats — 232 — going into the election and keep control of the chamber, NBC News projects.


msnbc--2020-11-02--See real-time exit polling data from around the country

Exit polls are surveys of voters taken as they exit their polling place .
The exit poll also includes interviews @ @ @ @ @ a telephone poll is conducted for absentee voters .
The results are used to explain @ @ @ @ @ .

Gender Male ( 48% ) 45% 53% Female ( 52% ) 57% 42%
Race White ( 67% ) 41% 58% Black ( 13% ) 87% 12% Hispanic/Latino ( 13% ) 65% 32% Asian ( 4% ) 61% 34% Other ( 4% ) 55% 41%
Race White ( 67% ) 41% 58% Non-White ( 33% ) 71% 26%
Sex by race White men ( 35% ) 38% 61% White women ( 32% ) 44% 55% Black men ( 4% ) 79% 19% Black women ( 8% ) 90% 9% Latino men ( 5% ) 59% 36% Latino women ( 8% ) 69% 30% All other races ( 8% ) 58% 38%
Age 18-29 ( 17% ) 60% 36% 30-44 ( 23% ) 52% 46% 45-64 ( 38% ) 49% 50% 65 or over ( 22% ) 47% 52%
Age 18-44 ( 40% ) 56% 42% 45+ ( 60% ) 48% 51%
Age 18-24 ( 9% ) 65% 31% 25-29 ( 7% ) 54% 43% 30-39 ( 16% ) 51% 46% 40-49 ( 16% ) 54% 44% 50-64 ( 30% ) 47% 52% 65 or over ( 22% ) 47% 52%
Age by race White 18-29 ( 8% ) 44% 53% White 30-44 ( 14% ) 41% 57% White 45-59 ( 19% ) 38% 61% White 60+ ( 26% ) 42% 57% Black 18-29 ( 3% ) 89% 10% Black 30-44 ( 4% ) 78% 19% Black 45-59 ( 3% ) 89% 10% Black 60+ ( 3% ) 92% 7% Latino 18-29 ( 4% ) 69% 28% Latino 30-44 ( 4% ) 62% 34% Latino 45-59 ( 3% ) 68% 30% Latino 60+ ( 2% ) 58% 40% All other ( 8% ) 57% 38%
Which best describes your education? You have: Never attended college ( 19% ) 46% 54% Attended college but received no degree ( 23% ) 51% 47% Associate's degree (AA or AS) ( 16% ) 47% 50% Bachelor's degree (BA or BS) ( 27% ) 51% 47% An advanced degree after a bachelor's degree (such as JD, MA, MBA, MD, PhD) ( 15% ) 62% 37%
Education College graduate ( 41% ) 55% 43% No college degree ( 59% ) 48% 50%
Education and race White college graduates ( 32% ) 51% 48% White non-college graduates ( 35% ) 32% 67% Non White college graduates ( 10% ) 70% 27% Non White non-college graduates ( 24% ) 72% 26%
Education among Whites by Sex White women college graduates ( 14% ) 54% 45% White women non-college graduates ( 17% ) 36% 63% White men college graduates ( 17% ) 48% 51% White men non-college graduates ( 18% ) 28% 70% Non-whites ( 33% ) 71% 26%
No matter how you voted today, do you usually think of yourself as a: Democrat ( 37% ) 94% 5% Republican ( 36% ) 6% 94% Independent or something else ( 26% ) 54% 41%
On most political matters, do you consider yourself: Liberal ( 24% ) 89% 10% Moderate ( 38% ) 64% 34% Conservative ( 38% ) 14% 85%
2019 total family income: Under $30,000 ( 15% ) 54% 46% $30,000 - $49,999 ( 20% ) 56% 43% $50,000 - $99,999 ( 39% ) 57% 42% $100,000 - $199,999 ( 20% ) 41% 58% $200,000 or more ( 7% ) 44% 44%
2019 total family income: Under $50,000 ( 35% ) 55% 44% $50,000 or more ( 65% ) 51% 47%
2019 total family income: Under $100,000 ( 74% ) 56% 43% $100,000 or more ( 26% ) 42% 54%
2019 total family income: Under $50,000 ( 35% ) 55% 44% $50,000-$99,999 ( 39% ) 57% 42% $100,000 or more ( 26% ) 42% 54%
Do you have any children under 18 living in your home? Yes ( 33% ) 52% 46% No ( 67% ) 51% 48%
Parents Men with children ( 17% ) 48% 49% Women with children ( 17% ) 56% 43% Men without children ( 34% ) 47% 51% Women without children ( 33% ) 55% 44%
Are you currently married? Yes ( 56% ) 46% 53% No ( 44% ) 58% 40%
Gender by marital status Married men ( 30% ) 44% 55% Married women ( 26% ) 47% 51% Non-married men ( 20% ) 52% 45% Non-married women ( 23% ) 63% 36%
Do you work full-time for pay? Yes ( 58% ) 47% 51% No ( 42% ) 57% 42%
Does anyone in your household belong to a labor union? Yes ( 20% ) 56% 40% No ( 80% ) 50% 49%
Are you: Protestant ( 23% ) 40% 59% Catholic ( 25% ) 52% 47% Other Christian ( 20% ) 37% 62% Jewish ( 2% ) Not enough data Muslim ( 0% ) Not enough data Other ( 8% ) 69% 29% None ( 22% ) 65% 31%
Religion, combined Protestant and other Christian Protestant or other Christian ( 43% ) 39% 60% Catholic ( 25% ) 52% 47% Jewish ( 2% ) Not enough data Something else ( 8% ) 69% 29% None ( 22% ) 65% 31%
Religion, combined Protestant and Other Christian, among Whites. Protestant/Other Christian ( 31% ) 27% 72% Catholic ( 17% ) 44% 56% Jewish ( 2% ) Not enough data Something else ( 4% ) 65% 33% None ( 14% ) 61% 37%
White born-again or evangelical Christians Yes ( 28% ) 24% 76% No ( 72% ) 62% 36%
Are you gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender? Yes ( 7% ) 64% 27% No ( 93% ) 51% 48%
Have you ever served in the U.S. military? Yes ( 15% ) 44% 54% No ( 85% ) 53% 45%
Is this the first year you have ever voted? Yes ( 14% ) 64% 32% No ( 86% ) 49% 49%
When did you finally decide for whom to vote in the presidential election? In the last few days ( 3% ) 49% 47% In the last week ( 2% ) 31% 64% In October ( 8% ) 48% 49% In September ( 11% ) 52% 45% Before that ( 73% ) 51% 48%
Time of Decision In the last month ( 13% ) 46% 51% Before that ( 83% ) 51% 47%
Time of Decision In the last week ( 5% ) 42% 54% Before that ( 91% ) 51% 47%
Do you think the condition of the nation's economy is: Excellent ( 13% ) 16% 84% Good ( 36% ) 24% 75% Not so good ( 31% ) 76% 22% Poor ( 19% ) 87% 10%
Do you think the condition of the nation's economy is: Excellent or good ( 49% ) 22% 78% Not so good or poor ( 50% ) 80% 17%
Compared to four years ago, is your family's financial situation: Better today ( 41% ) 26% 72% Worse today ( 20% ) 77% 20% About the same ( 39% ) 65% 34%
Do you expect life for the next generation of Americans to be: Better than life today ( 54% ) 55% 44% Worse than life today ( 20% ) 52% 45% About the same ( 21% ) 40% 58%
Which ONE of these five issues mattered most in deciding how you voted for president? Racial inequality ( 20% ) 92% 7% The coronavirus pandemic ( 17% ) 81% 15% The economy ( 35% ) 17% 83% Crime and safety ( 11% ) 27% 71% Health care policy ( 11% ) 62% 37%
Which ONE of these four candidate qualities mattered most in deciding how you voted for president? Can unite the country ( 19% ) 75% 24% Is a strong leader ( 33% ) 28% 72% Cares about people like me ( 21% ) 49% 50% Has good judgment ( 24% ) 68% 26%
Which was more important in your vote for president today? My candidate's positions on the issues ( 74% ) 47% 53% My candidate's personal qualities ( 23% ) 64% 31%
Which comes closest to your position? Abortion should be: Legal in all cases ( 25% ) 80% 18% Legal in most cases ( 26% ) 68% 30% Illegal in most cases ( 25% ) 27% 72% Illegal in all cases ( 17% ) 18% 81%
Which comes closest to your position? Abortion should be: Legal ( 51% ) 74% 24% Illegal ( 42% ) 23% 76%
Who would better handle the economy? Joe Biden ( 49% ) 96% 2% Donald Trump ( 49% ) 6% 92%
Who would better handle the coronavirus pandemic? Joe Biden ( 53% ) 92% 6% Donald Trump ( 43% ) 4% 95%
Which is more important? Containing the coronavirus now, even if it hurts the economy ( 52% ) 79% 19% Rebuilding the economy now, even if it hurts efforts to contain the coronavirus ( 42% ) 20% 78%
Do you think U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going: Very well ( 18% ) 13% 86% Somewhat well ( 33% ) 21% 78% Somewhat badly ( 15% ) 74% 24% Very badly ( 32% ) 94% 4%
Do you think U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going: Very well or somewhat well ( 51% ) 18% 81% Very badly or somewhat badly ( 48% ) 87% 11%
Has the coronavirus pandemic caused you: A severe financial hardship ( 16% ) 69% 29% A moderate financial hardship ( 39% ) 59% 39% No financial hardship at all ( 44% ) 38% 60%
Has the coronavirus pandemic caused you: A severe financial hardship or a moderate financial hardship ( 55% ) 62% 36% No financial hardship at all ( 44% ) 38% 60%
Do you consider wearing a face mask in public more of a: Personal choice ( 30% ) 24% 73% Public health responsibility ( 67% ) 64% 35%
How confident are you that votes in your state will be counted accurately? Very confident ( 47% ) 52% 47% Somewhat confident ( 40% ) 56% 42% Not very confident ( 8% ) 34% 61% Not at all confident ( 4% ) 31% 66%
How confident are you that votes in your state will be counted accurately? Very/Somewhat confident ( 86% ) 54% 45% Not very/Not at all confident ( 12% ) 33% 63%
Do you think your state makes it easy or difficult for you to vote? Very easy ( 69% ) 48% 50% Somewhat easy ( 25% ) 60% 39% Somewhat difficult ( 4% ) 52% 46% Very difficult ( 2% ) Not enough data
Do you think your state makes it easy or difficult for you to vote? Very easy or somewhat easy ( 94% ) 51% 47% Very difficult or somewhat difficult ( 6% ) 52% 45%
What should the Supreme Court do about Obamacare, the 2010 health care law? Keep it as is ( 51% ) 80% 18% Overturn it ( 44% ) 21% 78%
In deciding your vote for president, were appointments to the Supreme Court: The most important factor ( 13% ) 47% 51% An important factor ( 47% ) 54% 45% A minor factor ( 18% ) 51% 48% Not a factor at all ( 19% ) 49% 49%
In deciding your vote for president, were appointments to the Supreme Court: Most important or an important factor ( 60% ) 52% 46% A minor factor or not a factor at all ( 37% ) 50% 48%
Do you think climate change, also known as global warming, is a serious problem? Yes ( 67% ) 69% 29% No ( 30% ) 15% 84%
Do you think the country's criminal justice system: Treats all people fairly ( 40% ) 14% 84% Treats Black people unfairly ( 53% ) 82% 17%
Is racism in the U.S.: The most important problem ( 18% ) 87% 11% One of many important problems ( 51% ) 61% 37% A minor problem ( 18% ) 18% 81% Not a problem at all ( 10% ) 8% 91%
Is racism in the U.S.: Most important problem or one of many important problems ( 69% ) 68% 30% A minor problem or not a problem at all ( 28% ) 14% 84%
Is your opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement: Favorable ( 57% ) 78% 20% Unfavorable ( 37% ) 14% 86%
Was your vote for president mainly: For your candidate ( 71% ) 46% 53% Against his opponent ( 24% ) 68% 30%
How do you feel about the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? Strongly approve ( 38% ) 4% 96% Somewhat approve ( 12% ) 20% 75% Somewhat disapprove ( 10% ) 89% 7% Strongly disapprove ( 39% ) 97% 1%
How do you feel about the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president? Approve ( 50% ) 8% 91% Disapprove ( 49% ) 96% 3%
Is your opinion of Joe Biden: Favorable ( 52% ) 94% 4% Unfavorable ( 46% ) 4% 95%
Is your opinion of Donald Trump: Favorable ( 46% ) 4% 95% Unfavorable ( 52% ) 93% 5%
Do you have a favorable opinion of ... Both ( 3% ) 43% 49% Only Biden ( 49% ) 97% 2% Only Trump ( 43% ) 1% 98% Neither ( 3% ) 35% 52%
Do you think Joe Biden has the temperament to serve effectively as president? Yes ( 54% ) 92% 7% No ( 44% ) 3% 94%
Do you think Donald Trump has the temperament to serve effectively as president? Yes ( 44% ) 4% 95% No ( 53% ) 89% 9%
Do you think the presidential candidates have the temperament to serve effectively as president? Both ( 5% ) 36% 63% Only Biden ( 49% ) 97% 2% Only Trump ( 39% ) 1% 98% Neither ( 6% ) 20% 66%
If Joe Biden is elected president, would you feel: Excited ( 22% ) 97% 3% Optimistic ( 28% ) 91% 7% Concerned ( 23% ) 5% 92% Scared ( 23% ) 6% 93%
If Joe Biden is elected president, would you feel: Excited or optimistic ( 50% ) 94% 5% Concerned or scared ( 46% ) 5% 93%
If Donald Trump is re-elected president, would you feel: Excited ( 24% ) 1% 99% Optimistic ( 21% ) 12% 86% Concerned ( 17% ) 78% 20% Scared ( 33% ) 96% 2%
If Donald Trump is re-elected president, would you feel: Excited or optimistic ( 45% ) 6% 93% Concerned or scared ( 50% ) 90% 8%
Which candidate has the physical and mental health needed to serve effectively as president? Only Joe Biden ( 41% ) 98% 2% Only Donald Trump ( 41% ) 1% 98% Both of them ( 8% ) 54% 46% Neither of them ( 8% ) 62% 27%
Which candidate has the physical and mental health needed to serve effectively as president? Joe Biden does ( 49% ) 90% 9% Joe Biden does not ( 49% ) 11% 86%
Which candidate has the physical and mental health needed to serve effectively as president? Donald Trump does ( 49% ) 10% 89% Donald Trump does not ( 49% ) 92% 6%
Is your opinion of Kamala Harris: Favorable ( 48% ) 91% 8% Unfavorable ( 47% ) 9% 89%
Is your opinion of Mike Pence: Favorable ( 46% ) 8% 91% Unfavorable ( 48% ) 91% 8%
Do you have a favorable opinion of ... Both ( 6% ) 46% 50% Only Harris ( 43% ) 97% 2% Only Pence ( 40% ) 2% 97% Neither ( 7% ) 53% 40%
In the 2016 election for president, did you vote for: Hillary Clinton (Dem) ( 40% ) 95% 4% Donald Trump (Rep) ( 43% ) 7% 92% Other ( 5% ) 60% 25% Did not vote ( 11% ) 58% 39%
Which best describes your feelings about the way the federal government is working? Enthusiastic ( 13% ) 18% 81% Satisfied, but not enthusiastic ( 27% ) 29% 70% Dissatisfied, but not angry ( 32% ) 67% 31% Angry ( 26% ) 74% 24%
Which best describes your feelings about the way the federal government is working? Enthusiastic or satisfied ( 40% ) 25% 74% Dissatisfied or angry ( 57% ) 70% 28%
In your vote for president, how would you rate the importance of recent rising COVID-19 cases? The most important factor ( 23% ) 61% 38% An important factor ( 37% ) 47% 51% A minor factor ( 18% ) 13% 86% Not a factor at all ( 16% ) 7% 91%
In your vote for president, how would you rate the importance of recent rising COVID-19 cases? Important ( 61% ) 52% 46% Not important ( 34% ) 10% 88%
In your vote for president, how would you rate the importance of recent rising COVID-19 cases? Factor ( 79% ) 43% 56% Not a factor ( 16% ) 7% 91%
In today's election for U.S. House of Representatives, did you just vote for: The Democratic candidate ( 51% ) 95% 4% The Republican candidate ( 48% ) 4% 95%
Area type Urban ( 29% ) 60% 38% Suburban ( 51% ) 50% 48% Rural ( 19% ) 42% 57%


msnbc--2020-11-02--See results on ballot measures from states from around the country

NBC News will project whether voters approve or reject a number of ballot initiatives in 2020 .
Those include Prop @ @ @ @ @ asks voters to determine whether or not app-based drivers should be defined as independent contractors @ @ @ @ @ decide on redistricting reform , and in Mississippi , voters will choose a new state @ @ @ @ @ Arizona , Montana , New Jersey and South Dakota — will consider the legalization of @ @

NBC News will project whether voters approve or reject a number of ballot initiatives in 2020. Those include Prop 22 in California, which asks voters to determine whether or not app-based drivers should be defined as independent contractors. Voters in Virginia will decide on redistricting reform, and in Mississippi, voters will choose a new state flag. Four states — Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota — will consider the legalization of marijuana.


msnbc--2020-11-06--Kornacki: Trump ‘remains in contention to win’ Arizona

Nicolle Wallace watched Trump ’ s latest speech so you didn ’ t have to .
Here ’ s why @ @ @ @ @ of his most dangerous yet .
’

Steve Kornacki breaks down the latest batch of votes coming from Maricopa County in Arizona. Kornacki says with the new tally, “The headline from Arizona is that Trump remains in contention to win that state.”Nov. 6, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-06--Nicolle Wallace watched Trump’s latest speech so you didn’t have to. Here’s why it’s ‘one of his mos

Nicolle Wallace watched Trump’s latest speech so you didn’t have to. Here’s why it’s ‘one of his most dangerous yet.’
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace briefs Brian Williams on President Donald Trump's latest remarks and explains why they represent "one of the more dangerous acts that Donald Trump has undertaken as president."Nov. 6, 2020