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In reply to the discussion: To Win Virginia: HOLD the TRAITORS ACCOUNTABLE [View all]Kid Berwyn
(14,897 posts)7. They monopolized the media and the messaging.
The Big Money Behind the Big Lie
Donald Trumps attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.
By Jane Mayer
The New Yorker, August 2, 2021
Excerpt
Many experts on democratic governance, however, believe that efforts to upend long-settled election practices are what truly threaten to rip the country apart. Chad Campbell, a Democrat who was the minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives until 2014, when he left to become a consultant in Phoenix, has been shocked by the states anti-democratic turn. For several years, he sat next to Karen Fann when she was a member of the House, and in his view shes gone from being a traditional Republican lawmaker to being a member of Trumps cult of personality. He said, I dont know if she believes it or not, or which would be worse. Arizona, he added, is in the midst of a nonviolent overthrow in some waysits subtle, and not in peoples face because its not happening with weapons. But its still a complete overthrow of democracy. Theyre trying to disenfranchise everyone who is not older white guys.
Arizona is hardly the only place where attacks on the electoral process are under way: a well-funded national movement has been exploiting Trumps claims of fraud in order to promote alterations to the way that ballots are cast and counted in forty-nine states, eighteen of which have passed new voting laws in the past six months. Republican-dominated legislatures have also stripped secretaries of state and other independent election officials of their power. The chair of Arizonas Republican Party, Kelli Ward, has referred to the states audit as a domino, and has expressed hope that it will inspire similar challenges elsewhere.
Ralph Neas has been involved in voting-rights battles since the nineteen-eighties, when, as a Republican, he served as the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He has overseen a study of the Arizona audit for the nonpartisan Century Foundation, and he told me that, though the audit is a farce, it may nonetheless have extraordinary consequences. He said, The Maricopa County audit exposes exactly what the Big Lie is all about. If they come up with an analysis that discredits the 2020 election results in Arizona, it will be replicated in other states, furthering more chaos. That will enable new legislation. Millions of Americans could be disenfranchised, helping Donald Trump to be elected again in 2024. Thats the bottom line. Maricopa County is the prism through which to view everything. Its not so much about 2020its about 2022 and 2024. This is a coördinated national effort to distort not just what happened in 2020 but to regain the House of Representatives and the Presidency.
Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and one of the countrys foremost election-law experts, told me, Im scared shitless. Referring to the array of new laws passed by Republican state legislatures since the 2020 election, he said, Its not just about voter suppression. What Im really worried about is election subversion. Election officials are being put in place who will mess with the count.
Continues
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie
Donald Trumps attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.
By Jane Mayer
The New Yorker, August 2, 2021
Excerpt
Many experts on democratic governance, however, believe that efforts to upend long-settled election practices are what truly threaten to rip the country apart. Chad Campbell, a Democrat who was the minority leader in the Arizona House of Representatives until 2014, when he left to become a consultant in Phoenix, has been shocked by the states anti-democratic turn. For several years, he sat next to Karen Fann when she was a member of the House, and in his view shes gone from being a traditional Republican lawmaker to being a member of Trumps cult of personality. He said, I dont know if she believes it or not, or which would be worse. Arizona, he added, is in the midst of a nonviolent overthrow in some waysits subtle, and not in peoples face because its not happening with weapons. But its still a complete overthrow of democracy. Theyre trying to disenfranchise everyone who is not older white guys.
Arizona is hardly the only place where attacks on the electoral process are under way: a well-funded national movement has been exploiting Trumps claims of fraud in order to promote alterations to the way that ballots are cast and counted in forty-nine states, eighteen of which have passed new voting laws in the past six months. Republican-dominated legislatures have also stripped secretaries of state and other independent election officials of their power. The chair of Arizonas Republican Party, Kelli Ward, has referred to the states audit as a domino, and has expressed hope that it will inspire similar challenges elsewhere.
Ralph Neas has been involved in voting-rights battles since the nineteen-eighties, when, as a Republican, he served as the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He has overseen a study of the Arizona audit for the nonpartisan Century Foundation, and he told me that, though the audit is a farce, it may nonetheless have extraordinary consequences. He said, The Maricopa County audit exposes exactly what the Big Lie is all about. If they come up with an analysis that discredits the 2020 election results in Arizona, it will be replicated in other states, furthering more chaos. That will enable new legislation. Millions of Americans could be disenfranchised, helping Donald Trump to be elected again in 2024. Thats the bottom line. Maricopa County is the prism through which to view everything. Its not so much about 2020its about 2022 and 2024. This is a coördinated national effort to distort not just what happened in 2020 but to regain the House of Representatives and the Presidency.
Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and one of the countrys foremost election-law experts, told me, Im scared shitless. Referring to the array of new laws passed by Republican state legislatures since the 2020 election, he said, Its not just about voter suppression. What Im really worried about is election subversion. Election officials are being put in place who will mess with the count.
Continues
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie
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Does that leave us with racism and white supremacy as the only winning issues?
Irish_Dem
Oct 2021
#14
the outlook might be much better had not saboteurs hijacked the biden agenda approved by
msongs
Oct 2021
#6
indeed... it's hard for us to compete in the advertising and propaganda war
LymphocyteLover
Nov 2021
#20
I just don't think it is a voting issue for most folks who are not hard core like us...they want
Demsrule86
Nov 2021
#22