Luttig: Big Lie In 2020 Election Was A ‘Dry Run’ For 2024

I don’t have any. It just a statement of fact.

Uh oh. Someone’s about to get canceled by his former clerks.

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Sounds like New York Dems need to pull an Ohio and just keep resubmitting the same map until time runs out.

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There are also at least two versions of the “independent state legislatures” idea. The weaker version is that legislatures can vest the authority to appoint electors in themselves. The stronger version is that legislatures can vest that authority in themselves after the election they don’t like has already taken place. The weak version is basically uncontroversial, but the strong version sure seems like a prohibited ex post facto law to me.

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Court appointed a special master to draw the map.

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I think there’s only one thing that makes sense: the Democrats should (and who knows, maybe have/will?) game out all the worst-case scenarios and be as ready as possible to fight back. Expect shenanigans, and carry a big shillelagh. Half this stuff depends on a shocked and ineffective scramble in response.

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I don’t see how it is possible for a legislature to take an election that has been resolved away from the voters who just resolved it and change it. Even if they did that somehow legally and I don’t see how, I think they would run a real risk for people rising up in righteous anger - not the bullshit kind, the majority of Americans on the warpath kind. So to me the strong version looks like a prohibited ex post facto law, a violation of the constitution and a cause for a real rebellion. Not a shaman rebellion.

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Yep, that’s real heads on pikes material.

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I’d sure want that if they tried it with my vote.

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Yes, it seems to be the Underpants Gnome/Swiss Cheese plan.

  1. File frivolous lawsuits
  2. ???
  3. Presidency

Alternately, take all the slices of swiss cheese and align the holes just so, such that the “right” guy finally comes out on top in the end. But if any of those holes ends up misaligned, no GQP joy. I guess that’s what you get when you have a party led by people who are driven by “magical” thinking; people who believe they can “make” it happen just by wanting it badly enough.

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…to draw a map that the Ohio lege would then vote on. They did vote, and voted it down.

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Right. That’s why it’s important to have the supreme court do it, under the veneer and majesty of law.

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And that’s true - they are. Certainly their voters are. I was just reading a piece at fivethirtyeight about that, and what it takes to get those people to believe in science. It’s ridiculous what you have to do - get personal, treat them like babies, feed them - then try to persuade them that viruses are bad, vaccines are good.

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Item 2 in your list there is “Supreme Court.” Trump and his Team of Misfit Toys really thought SCOTUS was going to save him.

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Becomes a lot more plausible in close elections, where a state’s true outcome is plausibly in doubt. And where the electoral college majority may be swung by just that state. We had that scenario in year 2000. We did not in year 2020.

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I’m still baffled, racism, xenophobia and cultural wars notwithstanding, by how many voters could willingly and knowingly vote for openly corrupt and treasonous GOP candidates. I understand the tribalism, the fear of the other, the fear of loss of privilege, but at some point, the tribal benefit/cost has to fall below one. Even with voter suppression and gerrymandering, the GOP still requires willing participants and it seems that, so far their constituents, are mostly all in on the perfidies. I’m genuinely worried about these folks because I’m beginning to believe that they’ll go to their graves accepting* the “big lie.” I can think of no worse condemnation than to be cursed with forever hiding the truth from oneself.

*I’m avoiding “believing” here because I think many don’t really believe it.

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I went to a Dem meeting here in my county where the oft-made point was made again that the GOP has attacked and defunded public education over the past few decades in an effort to privatize it. While that is certainly part of the goal, they have also been purposefully dumbing down the voting population, chipping away at critical thinking, history, civics and science education, while sneaking more and more religion (i.e. “Teach the Controversy!”) into the curriculum. These voters are not dumb by choice. They are dumb by design.

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But do you believe enough Americans care about it? Won’t it interfere with NASCAR, the Kardashians and the playoffs?

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Trump needed a minimum of 37 electors in states Biden won to swing his way. But the only two swing states where Republicans held the trifecta were Georgia and Arizona, which only added up to 27. Democratic governors would have vetoed any legislation appointing Trump electors in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. So the whole thing is delusional.

Note: There are versions of the independent state legislature doctrine that would cut governors out of their veto power, but they wouldn’t have to veto electors, just the legislation giving the legislature power to make the appointment. And lots of states have voting rights provisions in their constitutions, so it might not even be possible for the legislatures to take the electoral power back.

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I agree – there were background folks like Young Roger Stone already operating for Nixon. In my opinion, the roots are back then but the “ruthless drive” really got its engine running under Newt Gingrich then Tom DeLay. From there it spread to the Senate and it never looked back, really. Trump merely broadcast the Id of the republican base, and boy did they ever hear it and respond.

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