Trump's biggest CPAC lie unmasks a vile truth. Democrats ignore it at their peril.

[Nevilledog]

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Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
·
Mar 1, 2021
This is getting overlooked. But at CPAC, Trump declared plainly that the GOP's future depends on voter suppression and anti-majoritarian tactics. This obligates Dems to pass pro-democracy reforms and be ready to nix the filibuster if necessary. New piece:

Opinion | Trump’s biggest CPAC lie unmasks a vile truth. Democrats ignore it at their peril.
Trump just told us exactly what Republicans will do to retake power.
washingtonpost.com

Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
It's been widely noted that at CPAC, Trump doubled down on his big lie about the election.

But Trump also effectively called on the GOP to redouble its commitment to being an anti-democracy party.

His meaning on this point was plain and unambiguous:

https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/01/trumps-biggest-cpac-lie-unmasks-vile-truth-democrats-ignore-it-their-peril/…
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/01/trumps-biggest-cpac-lie-unmasks-vile-truth-democrats-ignore-it-their-peril/

Amid the stream of delusion, depravity, malevolence and megalomania that characterized Donald Trump’s speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday, one message should be regarded as arguably more important than all the others combined.

It’s this: The former president told his audience that the Republican Party’s success in coming years depends in no small part on its commitment to being an anti-democracy party.

Trump didn’t say this in precisely those words, of course. But that message blared through all the background noise like a loud, clanging alarm bell.

This will require Democrats to redouble their focus on passing their big package of pro-democracy reforms as soon as possible — and to be prepared to nix the legislative filibuster to get it into law. It may be tempting to dismiss or ignore Trump’s deranged rantings, but Democrats should see this one message as an actionable one.

Trump reveals an important truth

As expected, Trump’s CPAC speech doubled down on the big lie that the election was stolen from him — and then some. Aaron Rupar tallies up at least five different ways he told this lie, which drew at least one standing ovation.

But embedded in that big lie was an unintentional truth. It was revealed when Trump uncorked an extended riff suggesting that the GOP’s future prospects depend on what he called “election reforms.”

*snip*

[dalton99a]

1. 1. Don't let Democrats vote. 2. If they vote, don't count them.

[OMGWTF]

9. Just like the GQP's healthcare plan: 1. Don't get sick. 2. If you get sick, die quickly.

[KS Toronado]

13. You got that right!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. This has been their game plan since, well, forever.

It's nice of them to give us the plans.

Their ideas on "election reform" are anything but democratic. We must not let them decide who can and who cannot vote, and under what circumstances.

[usaf-vet]

15. The game plan since this guy spelled it out clearly in the 1980's

?list=PLCKGScV8HZ1PgIUU5v2K9rBqWELZxcXc_

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Thanks for that illuminating clip! It really spells the situation out very clearly. n/t

[Botany]

3. The republicans have known the #s and the demographics for years

Voter suppression and manipulation of the vote itself has been in their playbook for a long time.
William Rheinquest made his bones long before he was on the Supreme Court by trying to remove
people of color, blacks and Hispanics, from lines trying to register and or vote in Arizona in the 1960s
by asking questions about the law and the Constitution and then telling them they couldn't vote if
they couldn't answer the questions.

[TwilightZone]

4. "Democrats ignore it at their peril."

This is such an idiotic statement. Democrats do not and will not ignore voter suppression, nor have they ever. Unlike, apparently, Sargent, it didn't take Democrats hearing yet another bloviating Trump speech to figure out that the GOP's plan is voter suppression.

Welcome to the last 40 years, Greg.

I know that this is in-fashion opinion and headline writing in today's media, but I find it remarkably simplistic and obnoxious.

[JI7]

6. I guessed he missed what Stacey Abrams and Marc Elias were doing

[Politicub]

16. +1 - We don't ignore it in Georgia. Fair Fight Action is already working on getting out the vote

in 2022. We finally have a fighting chance to exert power in statewide elections. Local elections will be difficult to win because of gerrymandering, but we know this.

The GOP majority in the state legislature is making it harder and more onerous to vote. We know this, too, and are not backing down.

Sargent's attitude is arrogant and parochial; he believes that he and only he can awaken the unwashed masses to the reality of the GOP's tactics. In this case, he is part of the problem.

[jorgevlorgan]

5. Could the new bill just be called the voting rights act of 2021

Which would essentially be a replacement of the gutted 1965 voting rights act?

[AwakeAtLast]

7. So can Democrats take over the phrase "Stop The Steal"?

That is what he is calling for, right?

[Politicub]

19. No. We can't. Better to focus on something attainable than trying to rebrand a GOP

rallying cry to mean something else.

What we can do is give context about it, and use it as a wedge to open spaces to provide an alternative view. It can also be used as a signal to shine a light on races where the GOP is focusing its energy.

Anyway, I wouldn't want "stop the steal" even if it were possible to redefine it. It's toxic, just like the party who created it.

[OMGWTF]

10. Passing HR 1 (the For the People Act) will go a long way to thwarting their evil plans.

[dalton99a]

11. Absolutely.

[Jon King]

12. No, we won't ignore it....

We will fight against it every step of the way. If the day ever comes where they actually overturn a state's vote, we will bring this entire country to its knees through strikes and boycotts.

A whole lot of Republican power brokers make a ton of money with the current system. They can either continue to make money like they do now....or they and their kids and grand kids can live in a country paralyzed by strikes where no one makes money.

[Caliman73]

14. Media ignore this at your...Shit, the media just ignores this all the time.

When you guys get all giddy and report every stupid utterance out of the orange idiot's mouth, you keep him in the spot light. You have been wondering what he was going to say, reporting that you were wondering. Reporting that you were thinking when is Trump going to say something, do something. What is he up to? Why is he not saying anything, when is he going to break his silence?

As another poster said, and as some journalists have been reporting, the GOP has already been trying to make voting more difficult since the election. They are trying to empower conservative lead states to ignore the actual voting outcomes. Where have you been the last 6 weeks Sargent?

Trump's speech was just like any of the other speeches he has given in the last 5 years. Full of lies and full of shit. There is nothing new in there. It isn't an "unintentional truth". Democrats have known for decades that the only way Republicans win is by cheating. Their policies only serve the wealthy, so they cobbled together a coalition of bigots and worked to suppress voter turnout, and voting by legal and illegal means. Trump didn't reveal any hidden agenda.

[LiberalLovinLug]

18. Democrats should be first calling their bluff. Say, yes, there needs to be reform.

........to make it EASIER to vote in the "World's Greatest Democracy"

They could create a national holiday for federal elections
They could automatically register citizens who have voted previously, so all you have to do is show up, or mail it in.
They could make a federal law requiring States to have a polling station available for every so many thousands of voters, a minimum per square mile or county.

Edit: Oh, and the obvious...demand verifiable paper ballot systems. Again, be smart and use their own bull shit conspiracy theories against them. (machines can't be trusted) Although I'm sure their would be problems with contracts signed with co. like Dominion.

With all of these suggestions, I don't know how much authority the federal government has over States rights to organize their own voting process. Can they use the good old "national security" excuse? Because there really is nothing more threatening to America's national security of their democracy than hindering voters.

[badboy67]

20. Der Fuhrer to GOP:

This ain’t the Party of Lincoln no more.

This is now the Party of the Trump Organization.

All IMHO only.

[disndat]

21. not to worry.

There's a good chance to see the orange one in a matching jump suit soon.