If the only solution Democrats have to, every attack on our elections is ‘lawyers’ then we got a big fucking problem. We need a detailed plan of action and a security apparatus to prevent federal interference. What people don’t understand about bullies is they usually back down when they think they’re gonna get a punch in the mouth. That’s what we have to show them that we’re willing to punch back. Lawyers ain’t gonna cut it.
This article was very depressing. I thought there would be real examples of real "war game theory" actually creating scenarios with real proactive solutions. While the lawyers with legal solutions are essential, they are not sufficient. Where are the cybersecurity experts? Are they modeling what interference might be tried and putting systems in place in advance to detect them AT THE TIME. Not after the fact! Are governors passing laws prohibiting armed federal agents near polling places. Is the seizure of Fulton County ballots being stopped in Court NOW so it's harder to do again? Etc. I did not hear anything proactive in this article.
Just read a post by an old West Point Prof who was calling for specific actions and not just a general outcry. National guards in the 15 states Trump is threatening to steal ballots from need to prepare to be at polls to deter violence. It was nice to hear someone say exactly what was strategically necessary right now for the governors to be doing. This prof is an imperfect man, but maybe his background in fraud and deception is the right foil for Trump.
It sounds like there is no plan. What can be done to stop ICE from prowling neighbors around polling centers, arresting persons of color as hoc? We must stop ICE and any other “law enforcement” operations near polling stations that consist of anything other than protecting voters. Democratic legislatures need to get on this now.
Whatever the Dems do at the nat'l, state, and local levels to combat Trump's election interference efforts, it won't be enough.
It could take everything the Dems have plus a march on DC in the millions to deter Trump's electoral fascism. Our 250 yr democratic experiment is over if Trump has his way, as he's at his most unhinged when it comes to elections.
A viable and defensible action that local and state election officers can take is to tell federal officials to take a hike (but not as nicely). The feds have no legal or moral right to interfere with elections as they are being conducted. If Trump uses ICE to patrol polling places or processing centers, I’m sure we can come up with far more civilians to form a human shield around those locations. These out *our* elections, and they can learn the easy way or the hard way to stay out of them.
Blue state governors should make ready to call out their national guards to protect, pre-emptively, polling places and vote-tabulating facilities in their larger cities against Trump's stormtroopers -- otherwise known as ICE/CBP -- making it clear that YOUR national guard will be there to protect YOUR right to vote.
Be prepared was the slogan we had as a Boy Scout. It is a good one now for the party. What is happening in the GOP represents an aftershock and remember, what will bring down these low life republicans is Epstein. The felon stepped in shit long ago and has not the boots to deal with it.
I appreciate this article so much, especially for the info on ways to counter the election rigging scheming. It sparked a lot of thoughts for me.
First want to say, as a Dem who came to the Bulwark trying to understand the anti-Trump view from a Republican mindset, I appreciate Lauren's analysis - it helps me to still keep tabs on what the Dems are doing to meet the moment (or to hear when they may be falling short).
Regarding the Dem elected leaders and those seeking office - I feel the response of the folk in MN is a good example for how to be in this moment - I'm inspired by their courage and how they've unified - I can only imagine what it takes to do - I hope it will be a source of encouragement and guidance for our leaders too. Some infighting is perhaps natural but hopefully it gets kept to a minimum to not overshadow the larger mission, especially as we get closer to the election.
Regarding ways to counter Trump's election scheming - I've heard of a proposal to make polling places a protected space that DHS agents can't enter - that seems good. I could totally see Trump trying to position ICE/CBP in areas where Dems have a chance to make gains, on the allegation that illegals are voting (knowing full well our system prevents that from happening already). Hopefully there will be a way to disallow and deter the seizure of ballots if DHS officers were to try and storm a polling place midway thru the counting.
Winning in a landslide is an important goal to send a message - I agree with the others it's not a viable long term strategy. I can see Trump attempting more collusion this time with Republicans who oversee elections (like he tried in GA before, but maybe even ahead of the election), to tilt the playing field further and make a landslide Dem victory less likely. Election integrity requires guardrails - in red districts this means principled Republicans who uphold the law to respect the will of the people. Trump has ways to filter principled people out of his party - I worry we're in a weaker position now than in 2020 - there's more incentive and opportunity for him to try and rig things.
One more concern to add, because Tulsi Gabbard was ordered to get involved in election related matters and I'm not sure why - Trump has a tendency to accuse the Dems of perpetrating underhanded schemes at the same time he's benefitted from those schemes, as a type of cover - every accusation is a confession. Russian interference aided him in the 2016 election, and probably the subsequent ones as well. He made the issue into a rallying cry by repeatedly calling it a hoax, and Tulsi bought into this lie. Now that he's put her in charge of national intelligence he might go even farther to weaponize the lie against Dems.
What might that look like? Trump could actively (behind the scenes) encourage some kind of foreign interference on his behalf, like from Russia and Venezuela let's say, to both help himself get extra votes and form a pretext for Tulsi to intervene and seize ballots to "protect against the interference", if and when the scheme came to light. He might meanwhile conveniently accuse the interference of occurring only in the swing districts that voted blue over red, based on some other pretext or conspiracy theory he's thrown out there, to maybe use Tulsi to disrupt and invalidate outcomes he doesn't like.
I'm hoping there is a visible effort to protect our elections from federal intrusion altogether but especially on false pretext, and enough Congressional oversight to ensure the government does it's job to protect us from foreign adversaries and not collude with them.
The reason this moment is fraught is we need to guarantee the election outcomes are free and fair even when we have an adversary with the power and reach of the federal government, who is not trying hard to hide the fact he's actively trying to undermine them.
The most at risk areas for voter suppression and ballot stealing are the democratic cities in the red states (Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Columbus, St Louis, etc). Their red governors wont help protect the vote and will likely actively collude with suppressing it. So it will be up to local officials and citizens to block suppression and attempts to seize and discredit ballots.
Thinking that a large margin of victory would deter republican attempts to question or block the victory is unbelievable naive. The republicans would simply declare the margin of victory too large to be real.
Unfortunately, the next ten months may be THE inflection point for humanity. Worldwide cooperation is at a low, democracy in decline, massive wealth inequality all mixing with our collapsing biosphere. Now the world's giant is sick with fever stumbling around punching and stomping spasmodically. Just not sure any political party is equipped for what's coming
If the only solution Democrats have to, every attack on our elections is ‘lawyers’ then we got a big fucking problem. We need a detailed plan of action and a security apparatus to prevent federal interference. What people don’t understand about bullies is they usually back down when they think they’re gonna get a punch in the mouth. That’s what we have to show them that we’re willing to punch back. Lawyers ain’t gonna cut it.
This article was very depressing. I thought there would be real examples of real "war game theory" actually creating scenarios with real proactive solutions. While the lawyers with legal solutions are essential, they are not sufficient. Where are the cybersecurity experts? Are they modeling what interference might be tried and putting systems in place in advance to detect them AT THE TIME. Not after the fact! Are governors passing laws prohibiting armed federal agents near polling places. Is the seizure of Fulton County ballots being stopped in Court NOW so it's harder to do again? Etc. I did not hear anything proactive in this article.
Just read a post by an old West Point Prof who was calling for specific actions and not just a general outcry. National guards in the 15 states Trump is threatening to steal ballots from need to prepare to be at polls to deter violence. It was nice to hear someone say exactly what was strategically necessary right now for the governors to be doing. This prof is an imperfect man, but maybe his background in fraud and deception is the right foil for Trump.
Autocorrect overrides my corrections. What’s the deal with that? Legislators and ad hoc
It sounds like there is no plan. What can be done to stop ICE from prowling neighbors around polling centers, arresting persons of color as hoc? We must stop ICE and any other “law enforcement” operations near polling stations that consist of anything other than protecting voters. Democratic legislatures need to get on this now.
Whatever the Dems do at the nat'l, state, and local levels to combat Trump's election interference efforts, it won't be enough.
It could take everything the Dems have plus a march on DC in the millions to deter Trump's electoral fascism. Our 250 yr democratic experiment is over if Trump has his way, as he's at his most unhinged when it comes to elections.
https://lucid.substack.com/
A viable and defensible action that local and state election officers can take is to tell federal officials to take a hike (but not as nicely). The feds have no legal or moral right to interfere with elections as they are being conducted. If Trump uses ICE to patrol polling places or processing centers, I’m sure we can come up with far more civilians to form a human shield around those locations. These out *our* elections, and they can learn the easy way or the hard way to stay out of them.
Blue state governors should make ready to call out their national guards to protect, pre-emptively, polling places and vote-tabulating facilities in their larger cities against Trump's stormtroopers -- otherwise known as ICE/CBP -- making it clear that YOUR national guard will be there to protect YOUR right to vote.
.... to protect YOUR right to vote from those who want to take it away!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0p9ExvB9Ahzubm6XeUziLcEadxbCniEkgxTPwVoaobosR2AY7xNsm6Fbu5Tv7aJmil&id=510145602&mibextid=wwXIfr
Also this:☝🏻
Be prepared was the slogan we had as a Boy Scout. It is a good one now for the party. What is happening in the GOP represents an aftershock and remember, what will bring down these low life republicans is Epstein. The felon stepped in shit long ago and has not the boots to deal with it.
I appreciate this article so much, especially for the info on ways to counter the election rigging scheming. It sparked a lot of thoughts for me.
First want to say, as a Dem who came to the Bulwark trying to understand the anti-Trump view from a Republican mindset, I appreciate Lauren's analysis - it helps me to still keep tabs on what the Dems are doing to meet the moment (or to hear when they may be falling short).
Regarding the Dem elected leaders and those seeking office - I feel the response of the folk in MN is a good example for how to be in this moment - I'm inspired by their courage and how they've unified - I can only imagine what it takes to do - I hope it will be a source of encouragement and guidance for our leaders too. Some infighting is perhaps natural but hopefully it gets kept to a minimum to not overshadow the larger mission, especially as we get closer to the election.
Regarding ways to counter Trump's election scheming - I've heard of a proposal to make polling places a protected space that DHS agents can't enter - that seems good. I could totally see Trump trying to position ICE/CBP in areas where Dems have a chance to make gains, on the allegation that illegals are voting (knowing full well our system prevents that from happening already). Hopefully there will be a way to disallow and deter the seizure of ballots if DHS officers were to try and storm a polling place midway thru the counting.
Winning in a landslide is an important goal to send a message - I agree with the others it's not a viable long term strategy. I can see Trump attempting more collusion this time with Republicans who oversee elections (like he tried in GA before, but maybe even ahead of the election), to tilt the playing field further and make a landslide Dem victory less likely. Election integrity requires guardrails - in red districts this means principled Republicans who uphold the law to respect the will of the people. Trump has ways to filter principled people out of his party - I worry we're in a weaker position now than in 2020 - there's more incentive and opportunity for him to try and rig things.
One more concern to add, because Tulsi Gabbard was ordered to get involved in election related matters and I'm not sure why - Trump has a tendency to accuse the Dems of perpetrating underhanded schemes at the same time he's benefitted from those schemes, as a type of cover - every accusation is a confession. Russian interference aided him in the 2016 election, and probably the subsequent ones as well. He made the issue into a rallying cry by repeatedly calling it a hoax, and Tulsi bought into this lie. Now that he's put her in charge of national intelligence he might go even farther to weaponize the lie against Dems.
What might that look like? Trump could actively (behind the scenes) encourage some kind of foreign interference on his behalf, like from Russia and Venezuela let's say, to both help himself get extra votes and form a pretext for Tulsi to intervene and seize ballots to "protect against the interference", if and when the scheme came to light. He might meanwhile conveniently accuse the interference of occurring only in the swing districts that voted blue over red, based on some other pretext or conspiracy theory he's thrown out there, to maybe use Tulsi to disrupt and invalidate outcomes he doesn't like.
I'm hoping there is a visible effort to protect our elections from federal intrusion altogether but especially on false pretext, and enough Congressional oversight to ensure the government does it's job to protect us from foreign adversaries and not collude with them.
The reason this moment is fraught is we need to guarantee the election outcomes are free and fair even when we have an adversary with the power and reach of the federal government, who is not trying hard to hide the fact he's actively trying to undermine them.
The most at risk areas for voter suppression and ballot stealing are the democratic cities in the red states (Houston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Columbus, St Louis, etc). Their red governors wont help protect the vote and will likely actively collude with suppressing it. So it will be up to local officials and citizens to block suppression and attempts to seize and discredit ballots.
Thinking that a large margin of victory would deter republican attempts to question or block the victory is unbelievable naive. The republicans would simply declare the margin of victory too large to be real.
One way to prevent ICE from harassing voters at the polls is give out MAGA Hats to voters. I think I'll wear one.
Shhhh!
Unfortunately, the next ten months may be THE inflection point for humanity. Worldwide cooperation is at a low, democracy in decline, massive wealth inequality all mixing with our collapsing biosphere. Now the world's giant is sick with fever stumbling around punching and stomping spasmodically. Just not sure any political party is equipped for what's coming