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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — May 11, 2022

By May 11, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Trumpery Returns To The Ballot In 2022 

  • CNN (Norm Eisen and Colby Galliher): Once Defeated, ‘Trumpery’ Returns To The Ballot In 2022: We see that in primaries across the nation where candidates such as Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Herschel Walker in Georgia and dozens of others are running on a platform of Trumpery. It poses a clear and present danger to the American republic. The book analyzes the Trump years, looking in detail at his and his appointees’ actions, and extracting seven defining characteristics — what we term the “seven deadly sins of Trumpery.” Perhaps the most lethal of these is the one that dominated the end of Trump’s presidency: the outright “big lie” assault on democracy. Walker, Oz and dozens of other federal, state and local officials have enthusiastically embraced it; in many ways it appears to be the gateway to Trump’s endorsement.

Trumpery On The Ballot:  Split Decision In West Virginia And Nebraska Primaries 

  • Daily Beast: Trump-Backed Lawmaker Ousts GOP Colleague in West Virginia: In a bitterly personal primary duel between two West Virginia GOP congressmen, voters in this MAGA-wild state stayed true to form: They voted for the one Donald Trump endorsed. On Tuesday night, Rep. Alex Mooney, the Trump-backed Republican, defeated Rep. David McKinley, leading by a comfortable margin as the Associated Press called the primary election a little after 9 p.m. EDT. The head-to-head between the Republican incumbents was the result of the once-a-decade redistricting process, in which West Virginia lost a congressional seat due to its shrinking population. Mooney and McKinley were drawn into the same consolidated district in the north of the state. While both lawmakers have been staunch Republicans, Trumpworld mobilized to take McKinley out because he committed the heresy of voting in favor of a bipartisan infrastructure bill that—despite its massive investments in the Mountain State’s crumbling roadways—was supported by President Joe Biden. Beyond that, McKinley was one of 35 House Republicans who voted for an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.
  • Politico: Trump Gets Knocked Down In Nebraska: Trumpworld was bracing to take some hits this month. But they weren’t planning on it coming so soon — or looking this ugly. Charles Herbster, Trump’s endorsed candidate for Nebraska governor, was running for an open seat, not challenging an entrenched incumbent, as is the case for some of Trump’s favored candidates competing in primaries later this month. Candidates don’t get any more MAGA than Herbster, a Trump megadonor who all but stapled himself to the former president during the primary. Trump repaid the favor by traveling to Nebraska last week to campaign for his longtime ally, even after eight women accused Herbster of sexual assault. It was a risk that looks foolish now. Herbster lost to Jim Pillen, a more establishment-oriented Republican, in the primary.

New Batch Of John Eastman E-Mails Reveal Suggestions For How State Legislatures Could Have Overturned The 2020 Election

  • Politico: ‘Provide Some Cover’: Batch Of Eastman Emails Sheds Light On Contacts With State Legislatures: Attorney John Eastman urged Republican legislators in Pennsylvania to retabulate the state’s popular vote — and throw out tens of thousands of absentee ballots — in order to show Donald Trump with a lead, according to newly unearthed emails sent in December 2020, as Trump pressured GOP lawmakers to subvert his defeat. This recalculation, he posited in an exchange with one GOP state lawmaker, “would help provide some cover” for Republicans to replace Joe Biden’s electors from the state with a slate of pro-Trump electors, part of a last-ditch bid to overturn the election results.

Multiple Fake Electors Cooperating In Georgia Criminal Investigation Of Trump’s Attempt To Oveturn The Election 

  • CNN: Multiple Fake Electors Cooperating In Georgia Criminal Probe Of Trump’s Efforts To Overturn 2020 Election: Prosecutors in Georgia investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election have interviewed several individuals who served as fake GOP electors from the state, according to two sources familiar with the ongoing criminal probe. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office appears to be trying to determine whether the pro-Trump electors in Georgia had any knowledge that their actions may have been a component of a broader and potentially illegal plot to pressure election officials and overturn Joe Biden’s victory, a source told CNN. […] The pro-Trump electors who have met with prosecutors in Georgia, including the state’s Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, were reassured that they are currently considered witnesses, rather than subjects or targets, in the investigation — a notable distinction that suggests the Atlanta-area district attorney does not view their actions as criminal at this time, two of the sources told CNN.

What Experts Are Saying

Celinda Lake, Democratic Pollster: “‘Americans always think of us going forward not reversals, not taking away rights, not losing things, not losing freedoms” and second,..‘There is an interesting overlap with the Jan. 6 hearings. The Trump Republicans are showing the lengths they will go to overrule the will of the people and fundamentally change our system in ways voters never thought possible. These are fundamental attacks on our country. And voters believe this is the start not the end.’” The New York Times 

Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University: “This is a great piece by @perrybaconjr, which addresses so many central points. That members of minority groups can join a fascist movement with people who wish to dominate them; that fascist politics is effective in countries with entrenched racism. LINK” TWEET  

Katherine Stewart, author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism”: “The court’s apparent decision to deprive women of a constitutional right to control their bodies, health, and destiny is the direct consequence of the pact between the Republican Party and American’s religious nationalists. Tellingly, the authoritarian origins of the decision are written into the draft opinion itself, which, should it end up being the majority holding in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, will serve as a model and platform for advancing a wider assault on individual rights and American democracy for the benefit of a privileged few. Women of childbearing age are among the first victims of the authoritarian movement that brought us a radicalized Supreme Court. They won’t be the last.” The New Republic 

Headlines

The Ongoing Threat To Elections 

Politico: Pennsylvania GOP panics over possible Mastriano nomination

Washington Post (Analysis): One Chain Of Fraud Falsehoods Extends Back To A Gop Senate Candidate: 

January 6 Trials

Buzzfeed: A Jan. 6 Defendant Is Going To Jail For Having A Loaded Shotgun And A Sword As Others Push To Get Their Guns Back

Opinion

Washington Post (Greg Sargent): A crazy GOP primary displays Trump’s contempt for MAGA voters

In The States 

Associated Press: Wisconsin Republicans seek to make Dairy State the latest to shift responsibility for election oversight