Do we have any read on whether these miscreants have any realistic shot at the offices in question?
The most tiresome aspect of all this to me is the utter inability of so many people to admit the Occam’s Razor solution: call me crazy, but maybe, just maybe, not everyone loves a guy who got into office with fewer votes than his opponent, and never once had net positive favorability numbers. Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to have to steal it to win?
The historical similarities between what’s going on here and the rise of Hitler’s fascist regime is obvious. Including the failed coup. A part of history, I thought up until now, could not possibly be repeated. What made America great at that time needs to step forward again and stomp this maga bs out of existence for good.
A crop of election deniers — some hand-picked by former President Donald Trump — are gunning to control elections in key battlegrounds as secretaries of state.
This is kinda tangential, but the idea of That Guy actually picking crops is beyond hilarious.
Half an hour of field work would kill him stone cold dead.
No yet. but we’re getting there. I mean, what happens when a corrupt SoS for MI throws out a higher tally of votes for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2024 in favor of the Republican contender and claims “fraud”? What do we do? There’s no recourse. Certainly not the SCOTUS which is more corrupt than it’s ever been. So, what do we do?
More important than pointing out the looming disaster is taking it seriously and planning for it. What do we do if faced with corrupt slates of delegates from 3 or 4 states? No one can seriously believe that once that line is crossed they will ever allow a free election ever again.
Make good trouble.
Christamitey! Does Barron know?
That’s clearly not Trump.
Donald has way bigger breasts.
And much smaller hands!
This fascist shit happens more or less every 80 years or so, after the last generation that went through it has died off.
1861 was 74 years after 1787
1941 was 76 years after 1865
2021 was 76 years after 1945
We apparently have to have this fight on a regular basis. And we will have this fight in 2024. The question is, are we prepared and can we win? I’m not sure anyone even cares at this point.
Look at those forearms!
Suddenly the 2nd Amendment has appeal, though I’d expect a fascist America to repeal that amendment within hours.
It’s like the Star Trek alternate Spock or something. Only in this case, I’d rather have the alternate for president.
There are two things that might prevent it. One is that this will matter more if it’s a swing state, and swing states usually have mixed legislatures. The Dem legislators (and in some cases Governors) in those states are not just going to sit quietly and let it happen without a fight.
The other issue is what SCOTUS might do when a challenge inevitably arrives there. While there is a conservative majority, that’s not a guarantee that the majority would allow a blatantly illegal power grab to succeed. The court’s legitimacy would be at stake. The majority might support another marginal, sketchy power grab like Bush v Gore if the election was very close and limited to one state, but two or three State AG’s just ignoring the vote tally and saying the other guy won? I don’t think so.
ETA: Our job as Democrats is to make sure the next Presidential election isn’t that close, that it doesn’t come down to just one swing state determining the results.
Ukraine update:
First, on Josh’s editorial and the views expressed by some observers that Russia appears to be looking to a massive escalation (at least thematically) of the war. Putin may use May Day as a time to repurpose the war from the goal of taking Ukraine, or ‘liberating Donbas’, to a fight against NATO for Russia’s survival. My own take is that Putin doesn’t have the army to undertake any lengthy campaign of war, conquest and occupation, nor to expand it into pro-NATO Europe. I also think that most Russians, including those in the military and the elite, know that Russia is not as strong as NATO.
If there’s anything that could result in a coup to remove Putin from power, it would be the notion of Putin mobilizing Russia on a global war footing to take on NATO. I think any sane Russian would quickly understand the implications of that to the Russian Federation. Russia would lose said conflict and the country would break apart and be involved in Balkanized struggles for a long while.
Second, the battlefield update:
I think this thread…
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1519268192589340672?s=20&t=jnBgGQQ20L4f7GvHE-JIzQ
and this one… really explain things well in terms of the big picture.
https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1518886763548319744?s=20&t=jnBgGQQ20L4f7GvHE-JIzQ
In short, what’s happening is that in Donbas and in Donbas adjacent South Kharkiv Oblast is that the Ukrainians are playing a game of rope a dope against a very massive Russian military presence. The Ukrainians fight, cede some territory, and then sneak behind enemy lines to hit them, partially encircle them and then reclaim said territory. In some cases the Russian forces are large enough to push the Ukrainians back despite this activity, but the cost to them is high and the Ukrainians are protecting the major cities.
There has been a major increase in Russian tank and equipment loss, which is pushing them to the point of being unable to continue major offensive operations.
This quote from a western official sums it up:
“Even when the Russians take a village or town the Ukrainians frequently counter attack immediately. So Russians have no time to bed down or control the situation. And they’re immediately on the back foot again”
In Kherson, the Russians are being lured into attacking Ukrainian targets to the west of the city while Ukraine has now deployed solid artillery to challenge them and retake areas that the Russians project force. These are not particularly strategic areas and it’s not stopping Ukraine from moving down the M-14 to where they can approach the City.
In addition to bombing the TV tower, the Ukrainians seem to have drones flying all around the city of Kherson and they know where the Russians are. If Ukraine can geolocate you with a drone, you’re in trouble.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_map/status/1519702378630557697?s=20&t=7aUGmRoKjzy8DQTSNFgCgw
https://twitter.com/CanadianUkrain1/status/1519742922844999685?s=20&t=PnGVCUwKAzz1NaPu_6tZZQ
In the vicinity of Izyum (South Kharkiv Oblast), UKR successfully repelled attacks in the towns of Dovhen’ke, Nova Dmytrivka, and Virnopillya and they’ve tied up the Russians in the area.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_map/status/1519563561835671553?s=20&t=7aUGmRoKjzy8DQTSNFgCgw
In Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainians have stopped the Russian advance on the city of Lyman while ceding some villages (most of these places have a population of under 1k and most have evacuated b/c the bombing and shooting have turned these places into rubble).
https://twitter.com/ukraine_map/status/1519646335829520384?s=20&t=7aUGmRoKjzy8DQTSNFgCgw
In Luhansk, despite being an obsession of the Russians for 8 years, somehow the cities of Severodonetsk, Borivske and Rubizhne remain in UKR control, though the Russians have advanced closer to Rubizhne. Also in Western Luhansk, the Ukrainians still remain in control of Popasna and Zolote, while UKR repelled a number of attacks in the region.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_map/status/1519596301406593026?s=20&t=7aUGmRoKjzy8DQTSNFgCgw
Ukraine is effectively buying time to get the howitzers and other heavy equipment deployed to take on the Russians, but they have enough there to drain the Russians of military assets and bog them down.
The Russian attempts to advance in Zaporizhia seem to have fallen apart, as well as attempts to move into Mykolaiv (again).
In addition, the Ukrainians successfully blew up the rail link that Russia has been using to move equipment and personnel from Crimea into the South. This rail link was destroyed near Melitopol. x.com
With the targeting of the Moskva, ammo depots, the TV tower in Kherson and the rail link, you’re seeing Ukraine stepping up the campaign of targeting infrastructure, comms and supply lines. What I think we might see over the next few weeks is UKR continuing to improve its capabilities to do large tank and artillery battles while taking out more military infrastructure assets. I would expect the Ukrainians to be able to make a real push in Kherson to take that city and also to repel the Russians in Kharkiv Oblast. I think Donbas will remain a longer war of attrition, but I do see the Ukrainians reaching a turning point where the Russians can no longer effectively wage an offensive war and may be back on their heels. There’s a lot that will happen between now and over the next 4 weeks but the longer Ukraine is able to hold positions and buy time, the more likely the Russians will start to experience the type of collapse we saw in Kyiv.
IIRC, corrupt slates of delegates can be contested during the certification of the election, just as the Repubs did in 2021. Would that work? IDK, but that is the current solution stipulated in law.
You don’t sound completely convinced. You cannot believe that SCOTUS cares about it’s “legitimacy.” After all, history is written by the winners and if the six wholly corrupt members of the court side with the coup plotters, it’s game over. They get to write their history as a straight faced “Murica rescues democracy from the libs” and paints any fight we’d bring as treason. Simple.
I appreciate your analysis and the links you’ve provided.
Of course it wouldn’t work because as we proved, once the electors are chosen, the states have spoken. The Reich has been playing a bottom-up game for 40 years, while we’ve been focused on federal policy they’ve been chipping away at the foundation within the states and winning. If we’re banking on a law from 1870 that barely held in 2021, we’re well and truly fucked.
