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- Disgraced former president Trump…making a public admission of guilt at his own rally???
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Are we trying our hardest to remain cool, calm, and collected in the waning hours before midterm-election polls close nationwide tomorrow? Yes; but that’s a tall order.
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The Big Lie has created a nightmare scenario for America’s voting-machine suppliers. Dominion Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software have gone on the offensive to beat back threats to their state- and local-government contracts fomented by the Big Lie. Dominion has filed eight defamation lawsuits against disgraced former president Donald Trump’s allies and media outlets like Fox News. About two-thirds of Republicans now say they believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Dominion faces the most intense opposition because Trump and his allies repeatedly named it in their conspiracy theories about machines “flipping” votes, and now anti-voting-machine activists are trying to sever statewide contracts with Dominion in places like Louisiana, despite the fact that Trump won there by a large margin.
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The assault on voting machines is one essential part of a broader offensive on the American electoral system by a network of right-wing activists with deep pockets. Threats of violence against election officials have been off-the-charts since the 2020 election, as have security breaches by pro-Trump officials and civilian supporters. Republican mega-donors have thrown their support behind Trump-back candidates who must peddle the Big Lie as a condition of Trump’s endorsement. There’s also a coordinated right-wing push for hand-counting ballots, despite numerous studies and experts of every political stripe confirming that hand-counting ballots is a logistical nightmare and more prone to error and fraud than machine counting. But wait, there’s more! Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail-in ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, an overt attempt at partisan election subversion.
- But wait, there’s even more! For years, Arizona’s Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward (the one who led the charge to censure members of her own Party if they don’t endorse the Big Lie) railed against the battleground state’s early voting system, making spurious claims that mail-in voting and ballot drop boxes are insecure and unreliable. But last Tuesday, she posted a photo of herself in front of a ballot drop box. The abrupt change of heart comes as some Republican officials realize that by discouraging early voting, they may be cutting themselves off at the knees, and could unintentionally cede ground to Democrats. Over 40 million votes have been cast already, but early voting turnout is down in Arizona and other battleground states from 2018. Early voting is not at all new, and it’s been used in Arizona for decades, but Republicans have shot themselves in the foot eroding their own lead there by calling the practice into question as an essential element of their Trump propaganda.
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The fight ahead does not end tomorrow, not by a long shot. Sorry!
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We try not to be alarmist or pessimistic, but it’s worth knowing what we’re up against should the GOP win tomorrow. Republicans dropped their, “let states decide” position on many social issues and switched to, “We want a national abortion ban and nullification of all state gun-control laws” in about 10 seconds flat. One-hundred sixty-seven House Republicans have already cosponsored a national abortion ban proposal, similar to the one Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced back in September. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has proposed legislation that would expand voter-suppression laws used in red states nationwide. No doubt they are also planning to take “Don’t Say Gay” laws championed= by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to the federal level as well. These proposals would not become law so long as president Biden remains in office to veto them, but they speak to a larger strategy of how the GOP wants to use power if and when they regain it. So much for the party that “hates federalism.”
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Of course, all of this will be made exponentially more politically feasible for Republicans should they regain the White House in 2024. And with all other possible GOP contenders already appearing to bow-out in deference to or fear of disgraced former president Trump, it’s easy to envision just how bad things could get. But Trump’s expected indictment (Merrick Garland, we need you pal) looms large, with Republicans in both chambers of Congress vowing to put up a staunch defense of their guy, should DOJ move forward. One day before the election, Twitter CEO and world’s-richest-person Elon Musk told his 115 million followers on the site to vote for Republicans in congressional elections in the interest of “shared power” which I’m sure has nothing to do with Republican economic policy solely benefiting the wealthy.
Tomorrow’s elections will have a profound impact on the next two years of president Biden’s term, and the trajectory of the country thereafter. Difficult as it may be, we have to stay focused, keep organizing, and maintain some semblance of hope regardless of the outcome.
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On Wednesday the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the most significant challenge to federal Native American-protection laws since their enactment. The case centers on the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, a law passed in response to the alarming rate at which Native American and Alaska Native children were taken from their homes by public and private agencies in the 19th and 20th centuries as a way to erase their cultural and tribal identities, a recognized form of genocide. ICWA requires states to notify tribes and seek placement with a child’s extended family, members of the child’s tribe, or other Native American families if a child enters the foster care system. The case, Brackeen v. Haaland, has come to the Supreme Court after three White families and a small group of conservative states, including Texas, claim that the law is based on race and therefore unconstitutional under the equal protection clause. But almost two dozen state attorneys general across the political spectrum have filed a brief joining the more than three-quarters of the 574 federally recognized native tribes to uphold ICWA in full. Native activists (and federal Native American law scholars) argue that ICWA is not about race, it is about tribal sovereignty based on the political relationship between tribes and the United States government. More nefarious parties challenging ICWA know that the latter is true, and support overturning it precisely because it would adversely impact tribal self-governance, thereby making the tribes easier to exploit for land, oil, and money. If you’re in the market for a more in-depth primer on the Brackeen case, listen to Season 2 of Crooked Media’s This Land hosted by journalist Rebecca Nagle, citizen of Cherokee Nation.
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The head of the far-right Oath Keepers told jurors during his seditious-conspiracy trial today that there was no plan to attack the Capitol on January 6. He knows you’re not supposed to lie under oath, right?
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, acknowledged he has interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so in the future.
One of France’s highest-ranking prelates in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, admitted that he had abused a 14 year-old girl 35 years ago, and is resigning from his religious duties.
The Supreme Court appeared inclined to make it easier to challenge the regulatory power of federal agencies in disputes involving the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could significantly hinder enforcement of antitrust laws.
Pencil-necked ghoul/Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) has said that he will not run for president in 2024, further fueling speculation that the Republican Party is clearing the path for disgraced former president Trump.
Speaking of the Don, he appealed a judge’s order today to install a watchdog at the Trump Organization before a civil-fraud case by the New York State Attorney General goes to trial.
The Biden administration announced today that federal aid to Florida for recovery from Hurricane Ian has topped $2 billion. Very good “I guess Democrats are actually pretty helpful, aren’t they?” messaging to Florida voters.
Turkey’s water cuts downstream to Syria have worsened the water crisis there that’s believed to have increased the spread of cholera.
The Houston Astros won the World Series and celebrated today with a victory parade where Ted Cruz was booed and also hit with a beer can. We don’t necessarily advocate throwing things at politicians, but we do applaud booing Ted Cruz everywhere he goes.
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President Biden’s top national security adviser has reportedly been engaging in confidential conversations with top aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin for months in an effort to reduce the risk of a broader conflict spilling over from the country’s war on Ukraine, and in the hopes of discouraging Moscow from using nuclear weapons. National security adviser Jake Sullivan has been in contact with Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov (perfect names to represent each country) as well as his direct counterpart at the Kremlin, Nikolai Patrushev (another 10/10 scary guy name). National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson declined to confirm or deny the report, but news of the discussions come as traditional diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow have disintegrated, particularly since Putin and his aides have indicated he is open to using nuclear weapons to protect illegitimately-annexed Russian territory in Ukraine. Officials who disclosed the existence of the talks did not provide precise dates and numbers, nor did they elaborate on whether or not the discussions were productive.
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