While the GOP's attack on voting rights extends back decades (and was helped along by Chief Justice John Robert's decision to gut the Voting Rights Act), one place to start when looking at the GOP's 2020 plan to undermine democracy is in PA, WI, and MI in the summer of this year.
-
-
These are all places were Trump did slightly better than he did in 2016. Yes, he was still roundly defeated but he actually improved on his margins from 2016 in these cities. Where Trump lost ground was in the suburbs outside the cities. So why claim this is where the fraud was?
Näytä tämä ketju -
The short answer is that it was pure unadulterated racism. Trump used these cities as dog whistles. Every time he brought up imaginary voter fraud the subtext was "Black people voting is inherently illegitimate." That's a view shared by much of the GOP.
Näytä tämä ketju -
By now it's clear that these efforts failed. All the votes were counted and Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, will be President of the United States come January 20, 2020. No amount of complaining or tweeting by Trump will change that. But that's only the first half of the story...
Näytä tämä ketju -
Trump & GOP's efforts to subvert democracy and overturn the results of the election failed but they're not letting their efforts go to waste. After making completely baseless allegations of voter fraud, Republicans began pointing out that faith in the election was pretty low.
Näytä tämä ketju -
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said "a large percentage of the American public does not view the 2020 election result as legitimate because of apparent irregularities." Well duh! People view the election as illegitimate because you kept lying and telling them it was illegitimate!pic.twitter.com/7tBhQIe2A7
Näytä tämä ketju -
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) took the same approach and said "the integrity of elections must be self-evident ... where no one can plausibly question results." Yet the only reason people questioned the results is because his party continuously lied & made baseless claim about fraud.pic.twitter.com/huqxhsvEQ5
Näytä tämä ketju -
Even after Trump's hand-picked far-right Attorney General, William Barr announced that there was no evidence of voter fraud, Republican lawmakers kept the charade up. Even after Trump lost 50+ lawsuits, the lies continued to flow.
Näytä tämä ketju -
"U.S. Sen. Rand Paul continues to falsely claim — without proof — voter fraud played a role in the election of President-elect Joe Biden. The Kentucky Republican said during a Wednesday congressional hearing the election 'In many ways was stolen.'"https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/16/sen-rand-paul-falsely-claims-presidential-election-stolen/3923681001/ …
Näytä tämä ketju -
Now that it's clear that the efforts to overturn the election will fail it's worth asking why GOP lawmakers continue to peddle lies. Part of the answer is they want to undermine a Biden presidency before he even takes office. But there's something even more sinister going on...
Näytä tämä ketju -
Let's return to the thread posted by Rep. Crenshaw in which he rehashes the lie that there were election integrity issues. What does he propose in response to that? You guessed it! New voter suppression laws that would disenfranchise voters, predominantly Black voters.pic.twitter.com/3K9tZoboQl
Näytä tämä ketju -
Crenshaw isn't alone. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's Secretary of State who has praised for refusing to overturn the election, is also calling for restrictive new voter suppression measures. This month he called for an end to no-excuse mail-in voting and new photo ID laws.pic.twitter.com/5EzQKG8sMu
Näytä tämä ketju -
Raffensperger also set up a "bipartisan election task force" to improve voting policies. Today, the president of the Georgia chapter of the NAACP announced he is resigning from the task force, calling it a “farce.”https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/head-of-georgia-naacp-resigns-from-raffenspergers-election-task-force/YUOBHQAGXRCVRNIDW6UY6OQMIE/ …
Näytä tämä ketju -
Last week Raffensperger told the House Government Affairs Committee that GA should end no-excuse absentee voting. Yet by his own admission, there was no widespread fraud or evidence of irregularities. What we're seeing is anti-democratic solutions to problems that don't exist.
Näytä tämä ketju -
And so that's where we're at now. An entirely engineered problem, followed up my baseless accusations of fraud or irregularity, and voter disenfranchisement proposed as the solution. There's simply no denying what is obvious: The GOP does not believe in democracy.
Näytä tämä ketju
Keskustelun loppu
Uusi keskustelu -
Lataaminen näyttää kestävän hetken.
Twitter saattaa olla ruuhkautunut tai ongelma on muuten hetkellinen. Yritä uudelleen tai käy Twitterin tilasivulla saadaksesi lisätietoja.