How Alarmed Should We Be?

Meet Your 2022 GOP House Candidates

GOP nominee J.R. Majewski, who is seeking to unseat Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in November, doesn’t just advance Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election: He was also in D.C. on Jan. 6 for the pro-Trump protests that preceded the Capitol attack (though he denies being involved in the violence), claims that the violence that unfolded that day was “driven” by the FBI and was “a stage show,” and has sympathized and rubbed shoulders with QAnon believers.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morni...scotus-justice-samuel-alito-roe-opinion-draft

Very alarmed.

 

Far-right election denier Mastriano wins GOP race for governor in Pennsylvania

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a far-right Republican who built a large following seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, is the GOP nominee for governor, NBC News projected Tuesday. After 10:30 p.m. ET, Mastriano led his rivals by more than 20 points. He'll face Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, the state attorney general, who ran unopposed, in November.

Should Mastriano, who received former President Donald Trump's last-minute backing Saturday, prevail in the general election, he would be able to appoint a secretary of state to oversee elections. He has pledged that his choice would “reset” the state’s voter rolls so everyone would “have to re-register.”

Mastriano's winning campaign message wove together Christian nationalism, election denialism and a rejection of Covid mitigation policies. A number of Republicans have expressed concern that he is too extreme to beat Shapiro in November, with some state GOP leaders working behind the scenes in the past week to consolidate a large field around another candidate in hope of uniting the non-Mastriano vote.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/20...-wins-gop-race-governor-pennsylvani-rcna29136

This is as close as a delusional, Trump loving bag of shyte has gotten to being able to rig a state's elections for the Orange Messiah.

 

One Colorado Race Will Be About Voters’ Faith in Elections. It’s Not Looking Good.

After secretaries of state nationwide stood up to defend the election results, death threats against them and county clerks who directly administer elections multiplied. Colorado, transitioning from a purple to a blue state and widely considered a model for its universal mail ballot system, quickly became a target for election deniers.

Griswold in particular made a name for herself as a no-holds-barred administrator in 2020, when she pushed back on election disinformation on national TV and challenged Trump on Twitter about assertions that mail ballots were less secure.

In a September 2020 appearance on Anderson Cooper’s prime time CNN show, she pushed back on allegations by Trump that mail ballots were ripe for voter fraud because several were found in the trash in a few states. “I really do believe this is a political stunt,” she added. “I want to underline how dangerous this is for the nation — we have a president who is not committing to respect the outcomes of our elections.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/18/jena-griswold-profile-colorado-00032741

Trump is not connected to the real world. But he's essentially running the POT.

 

Having actively supported Trump's efforts to defraud America voters and overthrow the government is a plus for POT candidates running for office.

GOP candidates and leaders subpoenaed as Jan. 6 panel dives into fake electors scheme

The Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expanding its probe into false electors tied to the 2020 election, issuing six new subpoenas, including to two Republicans currently running for statewide offices.

The new wave of subpoena targets includes Kelli Ward, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, in addition to two GOP political candidates in swing states. State Sen. Doug Mastriano is a candidate for Pennsylvania governor, and state Rep. Mark Finchem is running to be the next secretary of state in Arizona.

The subpoenas issued Tuesday mark the panel's growing look into an effort to put forth false electors for former President Donald Trump as he sought to stay in office after losing the 2020 election. Last month, the committee issued a first wave of 14 subpoenas tied to the scheme.
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/15/1080...ed-as-jan-6-panel-dives-into-fake-electors-sc

 

After Quitting, Election Official Has Grim Warning About A Future Of More Big Lies

“We built this great community in Arizona, like never before,” said Matta. “We felt so good. A week before the election, we’re looking at each other going like, ‘Alright, what else can we do?’ It’s not very often when we get a chance to say, ‘You know what, we’re sitting pretty.’”

Then, the President of the United States appeared on television. As he started to speak, Matta’s heart sank. The election, Donald Trump said, was a fraud on the American people.

That speech by Trump, falsely claiming victory just after 2 a.m. in Washington, marked the beginning of months of attacks on election workers, like Matta, that continue today. Matta had worked in government for two decades after being bitten by the election security bug during the 2000 Bush v. Gore recount. He had never seen anything like it.

“Instantly, our lives changed,” he recalled in an interview with TPM. “None of us in the whole industry at that moment felt safe and secure. That’s the good name of elections thrown under the bus. And we had worked harder up to that point than we ever had before to make sure the elections were secure.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/...f-state-election-security-trump-big-lie-audit

Repubs continue to hammer away at democracy's foundation.

 

It was only a matter of time. A candidate for Governor in Colorado has a proposal: create an in-state electoral college that will systematically over-weight rural votes and thus make it almost impossible for a Republican not to win the governorship as well as other statewide offices. Basically, counties take the place of states and Colorado has a ton of rural counties where very few people live. From what I can tell, he’s not the most likely nominee. But he won the top spot on the primary ballot at the state convention. So he’s not some random gadfly either. In any case, Gov. Jared Polis is popular and seems like a shoe-in for reelection. But this seems like the leading edge of the broader trend.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/three-for-me-one-for-you

The broader trend being Repubs undemocratically trying to stack the deck in their favor.

 

Voter 'subversion': Trump Republicans push laws to make it easier to change elections, per report

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump-style Republicans in more than 30 states are pushing new laws that basically would make it easier for them to steal future elections, according to a new report provided to USA TODAY by a group of voting rights organizations.

"This trend increases the risk of a crisis in which the outcome of an election could be decided contrary to the will of the people," said the report compiled by three organizations: States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, and Law Forward.

Victoria Bassetti, a senior adviser with the States United Democracy Center and one of the authors of the report, described the efforts as "election subversion," and called the idea a "new and dangerous attack on democracy."

With 50 proposals passed since the organizations started tracking them at the start of 2021, Bassetti said that "systematic election subversion like we have found is really new."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...licans-push-laws-change-elections/9824186002/

Cheating is the Repub MO.

 

A DEMOCRACY CRISIS IN THE MAKING

One year ago, we published A Democracy Crisis in the Making: How State Legislatures are Politicizing, Criminalizing, and Interfering with Election Administration. We warned that state legislatures were considering a range of bills that would increase the risk of election subversion—that is, the risk that the purported outcome of the election does not reflect the choice of the voters. State by state, legislatures had moved to seize power from professional, non-partisan election administrators and to needlessly expose the running of elections to partisan influence and disruption. As we explained in our initial Report, this trend increases the risk of a crisis in which the outcome of an election could be decided contrary to the will of the people. Since our first Report, this effort by state legislatures has not receded. In fact, it has accelerated.
https://statesuniteddemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DCITM_2022.pdf

The anti-democracy movement inside the POT is gaining momentum.

 

Three Floridians were charged Tuesday in relation to an alleged 2020 scheme to run sham candidates in local elections, part of a convoluted plot with murky links to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

State prosecutors said in a press release that they charged political consultants Eric Foglesong and Benjamin Paris in relation to the scheme, as well as alleged sham candidate Jestine Iannotti, one of a series of no-namers to run in multiple state elections in Florida in 2020.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/charges-filed-in-gaetz-linked-florida-ghost-candidate-scheme

......................................................................................................................................................
The crowded race for Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial nomination might thin out quite a bit by the end of the week.

On Monday, the state’s Bureau of Elections released a stunning report stating that 5 out of 10 candidates for the GOP nomination had in fact submitted so many invalid signatures, they might not be eligible to appear on the Aug. 2 primary ballot. Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers will vote Thursday on whether or not the candidates’ qualify to appear on the ballot.

Here’s what you need to know:

1
A Seemingly Organized Signature Fraud Ring Has Totally Reoriented The Michigan Governor’s Race
Candidates for governor need to submit 15,000 valid signatures to appear on the primary ballot. To reach that number, it’s common practice for candidates in Michigan and elsewhere to hire individuals, called petition circulators, to collect signatures in addition to their own volunteers.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/fivep...or-candidates-signature-forgery-shawn-wilmoth

Are there any elections Repubs don't cheat in?

 

Fake Trump Elector Now On Track To Take Over Wisconsin Elections Commission

Republican Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) member Robert Spindell, who was one of the fake Trump electors in the MAGA scheme to overturn the 2020 election, now appears poised to become the chair of the six-member board after a fellow GOP commissioner abruptly resigned on Wednesday.

The departing Republican commissioner, Dean Knudson, announced his resignation during a meeting with the declaration that “I cannot be effective in my role representing Republicans on the commission,” per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The WEC is tasked with administering elections in the state, and has become a target of those who falsely claim Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Knudson, who has pushed back against the lie that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump, said it was “clear” to him that there was a “deep desire” among Wisconsin GOP leaders that he not be the chair of the WEC.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/spindell-trump-elector-wisconsin-elections-commission

The fair administration of elections will be in jeopardy if The Following get their hands on the levers of power.

 

Sorry, but "this stuff" is indeed alarmist BS. The "punks on parade" of 6 January were never a real threat. Anyone who thinks they were on the way to a coup d'etat has never seen the real thing.

 

Never a real threat to democracy? Not by themselves. To Pence? His security detail thought so. But the collective effort of Trumpleton's, both leading up to the inauguration and since, is obviously a threat to the republic. Anyone who doesn't think so may also be a climate change denier.

 

Trump is a small time con man and coward, puffed up by media chasing ratings. Anyone who thinks he's a threat to the Republic is probably a chronic alarmist.

 

Trump is a small time con man.........he was until he got himself elected prez by your fellow Repubs. He's still in charge of the party, and that makes him a threat. I wish it weren't so, just as I wish the globe wasn't warming, but both are the reality we are living through.

 

Not being affiliated with any party, I have no fellow Repubs.

 

I'm a Republican and Donald Trump is not in charge of me or anyone I know in the party.

 

So what? https://thehill.com/news/campaign/3...still-strong-in-key-battleground-states-poll/

 

Lawyer Who Plotted to Overturn Trump Loss Recruits Election Deniers to Watch Over the Vote

In a hotel conference center outside Harrisburg, Pa., Cleta Mitchell, one of the key figures in a failed scheme to overturn Donald J. Trump’s defeat, was leading a seminar on “election integrity.”

“We are taking the lessons we learned in 2020 and we are going forward to make sure they never happen again,” Ms. Mitchell told the crowd of about 150 activists-in-training.

She would be “putting you to work,” she told them.

In the days after the 2020 election, Ms. Mitchell was among a cadre of Republican lawyers who frantically compiled unsubstantiated accusations, debunked claims and an array of confusing and inconclusive eyewitness reports to build the case that the election was marred by fraud. Courts rejected the cases and election officials were unconvinced, thwarting a stunning assault on the transfer of power.

Now Ms. Mitchell is prepping for the next election. Working with a well-funded network of organizations on the right, including the Republican National Committee, she is recruiting election conspiracists into an organized cavalry of activists monitoring elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/...3780&user_id=fecdfdffdaaa11107b72f0f4f6e429cc

There is a faction in the POT that is relentlessly trying to corrupt elections.

 

Trump is a narcissistic moron. He's a terrible human being, a truly embarrassing chapter in our country's history. Biden may be worse but for different reasons. When will we realize that our two party system is destroying us?

 

Sorry, as I've said a hundred times, I'm not in to false equivalences.

 

‘It’s going to be an army’: Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections

Separately, POLITICO obtained Zoom tapings of Tim Griffin, legal counsel to The Amistad Project, a self-described election-integrity group that Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani once portrayed as a “partner” in the Trump campaign’s legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election, meeting with activists from multiple states and discussing plans for identifying friendly district attorneys who could stage real-time interventions in local election disputes.

On the recording, Griffin speaks of building a nationwide network of district attorney allies and how to create a legal “trap” for Winfrey.

“Remember, guys, we’re trying to build out a nationwide district attorney network. Your local district attorney, as we always say, is more powerful than your congressman,” Griffin said during a Sept. 21 meeting. “They’re the ones that can seat a grand jury. They’re the ones that can start an investigation, issue subpoenas, make sure that records are retained, etc.,” he said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/01/gop-contest-elections-tapes-00035758

This is what Trumpery has inspired.

 

Actually, it's just regular electioneering, and pretty mild by historical standards. You realize that our poll practices are fundamentally adversarial don't you? Each party watches the other.

 

Bullpucky.

The plan, as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan, includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establishing a network of party-friendly district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.

 

What's wrong with any of that?