A great column from Will that discusses the deliberate misdirection of our director of national intelligence. Maybe she just got mixed up. Here is something I wrote a few months back about election manipulation in Georgia - the country of Georgia.
I hate to have to say this but Kristi Noem and Tulsi Gabbard exist to dry hump old MAGA dudes on Fox News, just like Pete Hegseth is presented as the ultimate American kill you with my bare hands macho, macho man. Trump and the MAGA movements forward facing reality is a literal TV show and that morphs into policy
Some days I really wonder what this administration hitting rock bottom will look like since like in this instance where you told a great story of misplaced investigating and concern. It's awful, but somehow I know it will get even worse. Thanks for the article, it was a great way to put the whole "Georgia" thing in to context. Sigh.
Since she has decided to completely whitewash Russia, and apparently knows next to nothing about anything else going on in the world, she needed something to do, so why not help trump steal the midterms.
Thank you for keeping an eye on Tulsi Gabbard - I don't know yet how, but since she has a national scope of authority I think Trump has a plan for using her to discredit election results that go negatively for him. She might give him a way to intervene in the election on a national scale, across many states, at once.
I'm worried about protecting the chain of custody of the ballots before they've all been counted, if ICE/CBP intrude. Also of ways Trump can use information gleaned from the seizure of the 2020 Fulton County ballots, combined with his attempts to get access to state voter roll data, to cause maximal disruption of the 2026 elections in his favor.
Part of our strategy to combat this might be that voters need to ensure they vote early enough by mail, or in person, such that their vote is counted immediately on election day. Trump has tried to leverage any cases where a Republican is ahead early in the polls but then loses when the final vote comes in, as evidence of voter fraud. The early perception of the outcome seems like a vulnerability he can exploit to sow doubt. In places where the election board is controlled by a MAGA supporter, there's an extra level of vulnerability.
And hopefully Trump does not find a way to disrupt the vote count en masse thru some kind of federal action, that could let him target districts favoring the Democrats, like to cast doubt on all voting machines of a certain type.
I'm worried too he's going to make some kind of shady deal with any state led by a Republican governor, to limit the gains Dems can achieve in red areas. He might get the Red states to geabt the federal government power to tamper with their own election, in the name of preserving election integrity. I'd worry if there are resolutions passed by the local county election boards and state oversight boards that give the federal government a way to intrude and interfere.
Maybe they give the power to retroactively discount votes by Democrats, on the basis of some made up conspiracy theory. Or the power to render close contests null by breaking the chain of custody of the ballots, whereby the Republican legislature then decides the election outcome themselves (based on an authority they might have given themselves ahead of time).
If in the best case all of Trump's attempts to bias the midterm elections fall short, as an ultimate fallback he still could get rewarded by his base for trying to cheat, in that he will have thoroughly discredited, in their eyes, the election outcomes that don't go his way. That might serve as pretext to act unilaterally, such as to apply the force of ICE/CBP against blue states indiscriminately, or to normalize use of force by the federal government to oppose oversight/accountability efforts by Congress.
I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea what are the most likely schemes Trump will try and how well they can be prevented. He seems to try everything to find the weak points. I appreciate the Bulwark for keeping us apprised of the warning signs and of any vulnerabilities to election integrity that are spotted. I also will try to check out Democracy Docket. The more we can keep the activity of Trump's admin. under a microscope the more they are hopefully kept in check.
I want to know what is in the Gabbard whistleblower complaint . Cant be handled the usual way . It could go to the intelligence committee if security was the issue . I doubt security is the issue
The so-called America First movement looks more and more like a highly successful intelligence operation by one of America's biggest adversaries.
Meanwhile, the "Christian nationalists" have elevated hypocrisy to a core principle and have promoted blatant moral impunity at the highest levels of power.
Will, you, Bill Kristol, and Sarah Longwell are my go-to people on the Bulwark. I’ll read anything you write. Thanks for your precise, succinct and well-researched takes on that which matters about this “Ship of Fools” so called “administration.”
We should all take our cue from the Republic of Georgia where the anti-government demonstrations have been active and ongoing for over a year now. It's a fascinating country with a fascinating history. გამარჯვება ქართველ ხალხს!
Surprised Tulsi didn't go to Georgia the country to take notes on how to rig elections. Sure, she met with some ppl at a conference, but there's nothing like hands-on experience.
It's so interesting to me, in a heavily schadenfreude heavy way, to remember all the cosplay communists I knew, from 2015-2024, talking about Tulsi Gabbard. Their...hero. Every Presidential Primary, over and over. How she was so very great.
So interesting to see how quiet many are. Oh sure, a few still try to defend her, but even that is tepid at best.
Once again, I thank the 77 million people who voted for this incompetent, corrupt administration, and Putin's patsies, Trump and Gabbard.
Every day we sink lower because it was more important to racists that a corrupt, mentally unfit White man be president.
A great column from Will that discusses the deliberate misdirection of our director of national intelligence. Maybe she just got mixed up. Here is something I wrote a few months back about election manipulation in Georgia - the country of Georgia.
I hate to have to say this but Kristi Noem and Tulsi Gabbard exist to dry hump old MAGA dudes on Fox News, just like Pete Hegseth is presented as the ultimate American kill you with my bare hands macho, macho man. Trump and the MAGA movements forward facing reality is a literal TV show and that morphs into policy
Skunk hairdo reveals all...
Some days I really wonder what this administration hitting rock bottom will look like since like in this instance where you told a great story of misplaced investigating and concern. It's awful, but somehow I know it will get even worse. Thanks for the article, it was a great way to put the whole "Georgia" thing in to context. Sigh.
She’s a fuckup extraordinaire in her own right. If all goes well, she’ll leave a paper trail of chads that will land her in federal prison.
Since she has decided to completely whitewash Russia, and apparently knows next to nothing about anything else going on in the world, she needed something to do, so why not help trump steal the midterms.
I wondered what Tulsi Gabbard was up too. She’s not often in the news.
Up to nothing good. What a surprise/s
Thank you for keeping an eye on Tulsi Gabbard - I don't know yet how, but since she has a national scope of authority I think Trump has a plan for using her to discredit election results that go negatively for him. She might give him a way to intervene in the election on a national scale, across many states, at once.
I'm worried about protecting the chain of custody of the ballots before they've all been counted, if ICE/CBP intrude. Also of ways Trump can use information gleaned from the seizure of the 2020 Fulton County ballots, combined with his attempts to get access to state voter roll data, to cause maximal disruption of the 2026 elections in his favor.
Part of our strategy to combat this might be that voters need to ensure they vote early enough by mail, or in person, such that their vote is counted immediately on election day. Trump has tried to leverage any cases where a Republican is ahead early in the polls but then loses when the final vote comes in, as evidence of voter fraud. The early perception of the outcome seems like a vulnerability he can exploit to sow doubt. In places where the election board is controlled by a MAGA supporter, there's an extra level of vulnerability.
And hopefully Trump does not find a way to disrupt the vote count en masse thru some kind of federal action, that could let him target districts favoring the Democrats, like to cast doubt on all voting machines of a certain type.
I'm worried too he's going to make some kind of shady deal with any state led by a Republican governor, to limit the gains Dems can achieve in red areas. He might get the Red states to geabt the federal government power to tamper with their own election, in the name of preserving election integrity. I'd worry if there are resolutions passed by the local county election boards and state oversight boards that give the federal government a way to intrude and interfere.
Maybe they give the power to retroactively discount votes by Democrats, on the basis of some made up conspiracy theory. Or the power to render close contests null by breaking the chain of custody of the ballots, whereby the Republican legislature then decides the election outcome themselves (based on an authority they might have given themselves ahead of time).
If in the best case all of Trump's attempts to bias the midterm elections fall short, as an ultimate fallback he still could get rewarded by his base for trying to cheat, in that he will have thoroughly discredited, in their eyes, the election outcomes that don't go his way. That might serve as pretext to act unilaterally, such as to apply the force of ICE/CBP against blue states indiscriminately, or to normalize use of force by the federal government to oppose oversight/accountability efforts by Congress.
I'm not a lawyer and I have no idea what are the most likely schemes Trump will try and how well they can be prevented. He seems to try everything to find the weak points. I appreciate the Bulwark for keeping us apprised of the warning signs and of any vulnerabilities to election integrity that are spotted. I also will try to check out Democracy Docket. The more we can keep the activity of Trump's admin. under a microscope the more they are hopefully kept in check.
I want to know what is in the Gabbard whistleblower complaint . Cant be handled the usual way . It could go to the intelligence committee if security was the issue . I doubt security is the issue
The so-called America First movement looks more and more like a highly successful intelligence operation by one of America's biggest adversaries.
Meanwhile, the "Christian nationalists" have elevated hypocrisy to a core principle and have promoted blatant moral impunity at the highest levels of power.
Will, you, Bill Kristol, and Sarah Longwell are my go-to people on the Bulwark. I’ll read anything you write. Thanks for your precise, succinct and well-researched takes on that which matters about this “Ship of Fools” so called “administration.”
Me, too. If I see Will Sal (as opposed to Will Som, though I like him too lol) as an author, or on a podcast, I'm there.
Thanks so much! ❤️
I guess this is what happens when you put a Russian asset into such a high level position. Who knew?
We should all take our cue from the Republic of Georgia where the anti-government demonstrations have been active and ongoing for over a year now. It's a fascinating country with a fascinating history. გამარჯვება ქართველ ხალხს!
The Georgian protesters are so inspiring! It's sad how little attention they've gotten due to the dysfunction that is the U.S.
Surprised Tulsi didn't go to Georgia the country to take notes on how to rig elections. Sure, she met with some ppl at a conference, but there's nothing like hands-on experience.
It's so interesting to me, in a heavily schadenfreude heavy way, to remember all the cosplay communists I knew, from 2015-2024, talking about Tulsi Gabbard. Their...hero. Every Presidential Primary, over and over. How she was so very great.
So interesting to see how quiet many are. Oh sure, a few still try to defend her, but even that is tepid at best.