The Rude Pundit: Democrats Should Be Having a Five-Alarm Freak Out Over Voting Rights

[babylonsister]

The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
9/22/2021
Democrats Should Be Having a Five-Alarm Freak Out Over Voting Rights


snip//

Why freak the fuck out now? Well, we should have been freaking the fuck out for a long while now, but we're seeing a general escalation of anti-voting rights rhetoric and actions, from the racist and completely fucking idiotic assertion that Democrats want to let refugees and asylum seekers into the country so they can be made instant citizens and vote Democratic (which implies that Republicans have nothing to offer immigrants, which, well, if the white hood fits...) to the fact that over 75% of the GOP believe that President Biden was not legitimately elected. The fake allegations of voter fraud and the deeply-held belief that Democrats are not really legit, true-blue Americans are held as gospel with the idiot hordes of the right and, even though most elected Republicans know this is utter twaddle, they are going to use it to solidify power through the exclusion of anyone who might challenge that power.

Even more directly alarming is the fact that Trump's goddamned lawyer, John Eastman, had laid out a six-part plan for how then-Vice President Mike Pence could shitcan some Electoral College votes and allow the House to vote Trump back into the presidency. You can look at that and say, "Well, that's ridiculous. Too many Republicans in Congress would have protested," and I'd respond, "Where the fuck have you been living for the last 40 years?" and then some of you would say, "I'm only 20, old man" and I'd say, "Fuck you. Then get me the good Molly" before explaining how this has all been part of a GOP project to disenfranchise Americans since Reagan shat the White House bed. And, as Eastman wrote, fuck permission. Let those who don't like installing King Trump's lumpy ass into the presidential throne try their luck in court. Fortunately, multiple people advised Pence to not go down that destructive path, even though Pence was trying to have someone he trusted give him the high sign to do it. The crisis was averted because Pence decided to listen to the angel lovingly caressing his right ear, not the devil savagely humping his left one. That's it. That's how close it all came to coming apart.

You want to hear that in scary scholar-speak? Trump "pursued a political and legal strategy aimed not just at sowing doubt but at subverting the outcome of the presidential election. This strategy, which has no precedent at any point in American history, had many parts, but the best evidence now available showed that this was less about saving face and more about reversing election outcomes," writes Richard L. Hasen, Co-Director of Fair Elections and Free Speech Center at the UC-Irvine School of Law. That "no precedent" part is the giant "Freak the fuck out already!" sign.

That's not only how fucked things were or are. On top of that, now we know that Trump's campaign knew that allegations about hacked or fucked-with voting machines were hot garbage being sold out of the back Sidney Powell's limo, but they did almost nothing to stop her from embarrassing herself, Rudy Giuliani, and humanity in general because it kept the rubes all het up. On top of that, just last week, Trump sent a letter to Georgia's Secretary of State asking him and Governor Brian Kemp to overturn the election results there in hopes of overturning the whole thing now, nearly a year later. These aren't red flags. They're motherfucking bright lights, bells, and sirens with packs of howler monkeys on top screaming into the void to fucking do something.

I can't help, think, though: How much shit don't we know? That's the part that keeps me the fuck up. God, can you imagine the phone calls where Stephen Miller screeched his demands at Arizona officials? Or Pennsylvania? I want to know how close we came to the coup before the coup attempt on January 6.

more...

https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/09/democrats-should-be-having-five-alarm.html

[Hortensis]

1. "These aren't red flags. They're motherfucking bright lights, bells, and sirens

with packs of howler monkeys on top screaming into the void to fucking do something."

Professional observers are now saying the Republicans came much closer to pulling off a coup on/around January 6 than we realized then.

A poll posted here the other day indicated something like 46% or 56% (whatever, around half or less) of Democrats believed we had a problem.

[lagomorph777]

3. The coup attempt is not over.

And we seem to have no concerted effort to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.

[Hortensis]

7. Yes. I believe there's big, ongoing effort to stop them.

A lot of people in and out of government are extremely devoted to our democracy. The big weakness is with the people, and inadequate "anti-coup" laws, not with all those who've made government their lives.

Geez. You're making me again think about how immediately personal it must also be for them. Many Democratic officials, and other hated liberals, are at real risk of being murdered in a coup d'etat, or imprisoned by their Republican ex-colleagues as traitors to carry out their lies, and very possibly executed. As it is, many ordinary Democratic officials are now being accompanied by armed protective details.

Imagine being a senator and wondering if any of the Republican colleagues you see each day would come witness your execution, or not bother.

As you said.

[UCmeNdc]

2. K&R

[DeeNice]

4. That last paragraph...

It should keep everyone awake at night. Seriously how much hasn't been revealed yet? It's clear that many would prefer it be kept hidden.

[ananda]

5. I did, but now I'm a cynical doomer.

Just so doomy.

[StarfishSaver]

6. And "Democrats" should include ALL Democrats, not just Senators and Members of Congress

Many of us have been ringing this alarm for years, only to have our fellow Democrats shrug and look the other way because they didn't think THEIR right to vote was in any jeopardy.

Now that it's obvious this is about more than just a few Black and brown people having their rights curtailed, folks should be up in arms and fighting like hell - and not just demanding that other people do something about it.