In four of the swing states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada — Republicans have now selected candidates for governor or secretary of state who don’t accept the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
So let’s do the math. Those four states all went for Biden in 2020 as he amassed 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump.They accounted for 53 of Biden’s total; without them the result would have swung to Trump by a 285-253 margin.
Should these GOP candidates prevail in this November’s midterm elections, the scenario most feared by those who value democracy over autocracy could well come to pass in 2024. They could throw the election to Trump or whoever the Republican candidate happens to be.
That’s where we are in the United States as of August 2022. Our future as a viable democracy is teetering, potentially dependent now on whether voters in those states elect or reject those four election deniers.
There’s nothing new about the mathematical fact that a handful of swing states determine presidential elections. It’s been like that for quite a while. Nor is it any surprise that the electorate is deeply divided between the two parties. It’s as bad as it’s ever been.
What is frightening and brand new is the willingness of so many Republican voters to buy the conspiratorial lies advanced by Trump and his acolytes that the 2020 election was stolen. I wonder how many of them realize that they are playing with fire.
There is one ray of hope against this dire scenario — the bipartisan effort in the Senate to tighten up loopholes in the Electoral Count Act that Trump tried to exploit in 2020. That might offer some degree of protection should it pass both houses of Congress before November.
Then again, looming over all of this is the hyper-conservative Supreme Court stacked with Trump appointees who could ultimately decide any contested election. And it’s almost guaranteed to be contested in 2024.
If it came down to it, would the six right-wing justices preserve democracy? Or do more like what they did to a woman’s right to choose.
LATEST LINKS:
In 4 Swing States, G.O.P. Election Deniers Could Oversee Voting (NYT)
In the GOP, the paranoid fringe is becoming the establishment (WP)
Viktor Orban alone in Europe but among friends in Texas (BBC)
VIDEO: Lawmakers Urge Bipartisan Overhaul of Electoral Count Rules — enators from both parties pressed for legislation that would update the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, closing loopholes that former President Trump and his allies tried to exploit to reverse the 2020 election results. (FedNet)
‘Your Bedroom Is on the Ballot’: How Democrats See Abortion Politics After Kansas (NYT)
Threats against election workers continue to grow. More than 1,000 have been reported to the Justice Department over the past year, an official testified yesterday. Experts said many threats go unreported, so the real number is probably higher. (WP)
VIDEO: Voters in Kansas Celebrate Preservation of Abortion Rights (Associated Press)
'Kansas will not be our last fight': Abortion rights victory gives Democrats new hope for midterms (CNN)
Republican senators were surprised by the huge win for abortion rights in Kansas, of all places, even as they sought to downplay the electoral implications for their party ahead of November’s midterm elections. The vote soundly rejecting a constitutional ban on abortion rights is likely to make Republicans in swing districts nervous, especially if they’re on the ballot with a similar referendum on abortion, like in California. [HuffPost]
Kansas voters sent a message. Will Congress listen? (Edit Bd/WP)
In Kansas, Support for Abortion Rights Didn’t Just Come From the Usual Places — Rural Republicans joined suburban Democrats to create huge turnout and a broad coalition that voted to preserve abortion rights by a fat margin. (NYT)
How abortion rights organizers won in Kansas: Horse parades and canvassing (WP)
What Kansas Means for the Midterms (Atlantic)
The Justice Department sued Peter Navarro, claiming the former adviser to Donald Trump used an unofficial email account while working in the White House and wrongfully retained presidential records. The legal action comes just weeks after Navarro was indicted on criminal charges for failing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. [AP]
President Joe Biden urged the Senate to take action on gun control, marking the third anniversary of the massacre in El Paso, Texas. In a letter, Biden called on Senate Republicans to pass a bill banning assault weapons nationwide and reflected on the hate-fueled shooting at a Walmart that left 22 dead. The legislation has already passed the House. [HuffPost]
China fired multiple missiles around Taiwan Thursday as it launched unprecedented military drills a day after a visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory. (Reuters)
As China Plans Drills Circling Taiwan, U.S. Officials Fear a Squeeze Play (NYT)
China launches ballistic missiles during Taiwan drills (BBC)
China launches military exercises around Taiwan after Pelosi visit (WP)
Ukraine said Russia had started creating a military strike force aimed at President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih. (Reuters)
Russians shell city near Europe’s largest nuclear plant (AP)
Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison on drug charges (WP)
Statement by President Joe Biden on the Sentencing of Wrongfully Detained American Brittney Griner (White House)
Senate Overwhelmingly Votes to Add Sweden and Finland to NATO (NYT)
The Jan. 6 committee is asking for data from Alex Jones' phone, a lawyer says (NPR)
China's average ground temperatures have risen much more quickly than the global average over the past 70 yearsand will remain "significantly higher" in the future as the challenges of climate change mount, a government official said. (Reuters)
Undercover journalist in Afghanistan finds Taliban are abducting, imprisoning women (NPR)
Federal Officials Charge Four Officers in Breonna Taylor Raid (NYT)
Great white sharks are thriving in Monterey Bay thanks to warming waters. (Los Angeles Times)
Plastic pollution: Birds all over the world are living in our rubbish (BBC)
What is BA.4.6? The CDC is tracking a new COVID ‘variant of concern’ that’s overtaking earlier Omicron strains in at least 4 U.S. states (Fortune)
Single Voice Emerges From Whirlwind Of Chaos In Man’s Head To Suggest He Eat Oatmeal Raisin Cookie (The Onion)
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