Skip to main content
Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — October 18, 2022

By October 18, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Right Wing Leaders Are Mobilizing An Army Of Poll Watchers To Challenge Election Results 

  • New York Times: Right-Wing Leaders Mobilize Corps of Election Activists: On the eve of a primary runoff election in June, a Republican candidate for secretary of state of South Carolina sent out a message to his supporters. “For all of you on the team tomorrow observing the polls, Good Hunting,” Keith Blandford, a candidate who promoted the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald J. Trump, wrote on the social media app Telegram. “You know what you are looking for. We have the enemy on their back foot, press the attack.” The next day, activists fanned out to polling places in Charleston, S.C., demanding to inspect election equipment and to take photographs and video. When election workers denied their requests, some returned with police officers to file reports about broken or missing seals on the machines, according to emails from local officials to the state election commission. There were no broken or missing seals. After Mr. Blandford lost, the activists posted online a list of more than 60 “anomalies” they observed, enough to have changed the outcome of races, they said. They called the operation a “pilot program.” The episode is one of many that have election officials on alert as voting begins for midterm elections, the biggest test of the American election system since Mr. Trump’s lies about the 2020 results launched an assault on the democratic process. In the two years since, groups of right-wing activists have banded together, spreading false claims of widespread election fraud and misconduct. Now those activists are inserting themselves in the vote count, with a broad and aggressive effort to monitor voting in search of evidence that confirms their theories. Many activists have been mobilized by some of the same people who tried to overturn Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020. Their tactics in primary elections have officials braced for a range of new challenges, including disruptive poll watchers and workers, aggressive litigation strategies, voter and ballot challenges and vigilante searches for fraud.
  • Associated Press: How Michael Flynn Goes Local To Spread Christian Nationalism: [Michael] Flynn, who just eight years ago under President Barack Obama led the U.S. military’s intelligence agency, now is at the center of a far-right Christian nationalist movement that has a growing influence in the Republican Party. In speeches across the U.S., he urges his supporters to get involved in local politics as a way to change the country from the bottom up. “Local action equals national impact,” Flynn says at nearly every stop. In Sarasota County, Flynn and his allies have created a kind of laboratory for his approach, energizing local conservative activists through social media and public appearances, and gatherings at a venue called The Hollow that has become a meeting place for the far right. He questions American democratic institutions, repeats lies about the 2020 election, attacks the news media and embraces conspiracy theories about COVID-19. One of the groups he’s welcomed into the fold is the violent extremist group the Proud Boys. […] During the event, Flynn got a standing ovation before telling the crowd that Republicans need to improve their election tactics. “I can tell you exactly how the Democratic Party does precinct training and then who they put in charge,” Flynn said. “They know exactly where to put people, where to put the thugs.” He suggested those in the audience should register to be precinct volunteers and poll watchers.

Polls Show Voters View Democracy In Danger 

  • Associated Press: Most Say Voting Vital Despite Dour Us Outlook: AP-NORC Poll: A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center of Public Affairs Research finds 71% of registered voters think the very future of the U.S. is at stake when they vote this year. That’s true of voters who prefer Republicans win majorities in Congress, and those who want to see Democrats remain in control, though likely for different reasons. While about two-thirds of voters say they are pessimistic about politics, overwhelming majorities across party lines — about 8 in 10 — say casting their ballot this year is extremely or very important.
  • New York Times: Voters See Democracy in Peril, but Saving It Isn’t a Priority: Voters overwhelmingly believe American democracy is under threat, but seem remarkably apathetic about that danger, with few calling it the nation’s most pressing problem, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll. In fact, more than a third of independent voters and a smaller but noteworthy contingent of Democrats said they were open to supporting candidates who reject the legitimacy of the 2020 election, as they assigned greater urgency to their concerns about the economy than to fears about the fate of the country’s political system. The doubts about elections that have infected American politics since the 2020 contest show every sign of persisting well into the future, the poll suggested: Twenty-eight percent of all voters, including 41 percent of Republicans, said they had little to no faith in the accuracy of this year’s midterm elections. Political disagreements appear to be seeping into the fabric of everyday life. Fourteen percent of voters said political views revealed a lot about whether someone is a good person, while 34 percent said it revealed a little. Nearly one in five said political disagreements had hurt relationships with friends or family.

Department Of Justice Calls For Six Months Jail Time For Steve Bannon

  • Politico: DOJ Recommends 6-Month Jail Term For Bannon: The Justice Department is recommending a six-month jail sentence and $200,000 fine for Steve Bannon, the longtime adviser to Donald Trump who defied a subpoena to the Jan. 6 select committee. Prosecutors said Bannon, from the moment he received the select committee subpoena on Sept. 2021, “has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt.” A jury found Bannon guilty in July on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify and provide documents to the select committee. Bannon is due to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols on Friday.

Trump Deepens His Relationship With Extremists 

  • Rolling Stone: Trump Says He Wants Marjorie Taylor Greene in His Next Administration: If you’re wondering what a second term of Donald Trump would look like, look no further than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. As he lays the groundwork for a 2024 presidential run, Trump has talked to close associates about who he’d tap for top government positions should he win back the White House, and Greene has repeatedly made his list, two sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. “Wouldn’t she be great?” Trump privately said earlier this year to a confidant, one of the two people says. It is unclear what specifically Trump has in mind for the severely MAGAfied Georgia Republican, be it a White House staff position, cabinet post, or agency appointment, the sources say. But, “he loves MTG and would want her very close in a second term, that much was clear,” one source says.  The second source recalls that over the past year, the ex-president had briefly mentioned Greene’s name as someone who could be in the running to be a senior official at the Justice Department during a second Trump administration. The former president’s comment confused the source, because “I don’t think she’s a lawyer,” this person says.
  • Politico: Trump And Kanye West Speak Amid Rapper’s Antisemitic Rants, Acquisition Of Parler: Former President Donald Trump spoke with Kanye West over the phone following the rapper’s decision to buy his own social media platform, a person familiar with the call told POLITICO. West placed the call, during which the two confirmed plans to have dinner though nothing is currently scheduled. The call comes shortly after it was announced that West would be buying Parler, the social media app that is dominated by conservatives, and as the rapper faces criticism for a round of highly antisemitic comments, including from Trump-allied conservatives. “With so many problems in society blaming Jews for exploiting media or people of color is not one of them,” wrote Matt Schlapp, who runs the influential CPAC conference. “Jews and other minorities should find common cause in crushing BDS/CRT. I admire Kanye is many mays but his harsh comments of Jews are offensive and wrong. Unite and Fight.” Trump himself commented over the weekend that American Jews were ungrateful for his support of Israel, warning they needed to reassess their political viewpoints “before it is too late.”

In The States 

NEW YORK:  Gov. Hochul Slams Lee Zeldin’s Texts With Trump About Discrediting The 2020 Election 

  • AM NY: Hochul Slams Zeldin’s Pre-2020 Election Texts To Trump White House With His Ideas On Discrediting Voting Results:  The campaign of Governor Kathy Hochul hit her Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin, hard on Monday for text messages the Long Island Congress member sent to a Trump administration official nearly three years ago regarding plans to discredit the 2020 presidential election.  The texts between Zeldin and former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, obtained from the House January 6 Committee, consist of two comprehensive plans or ideas sent from Zeldin to Meadows, indicating intentions to discredit the 2020 presidential election results ahead of the contest. “Mark, [two] ideas: 1) upload vetted voting irregularities (videos, etc) onto one narrowly focused, credible microsite with a donation link for the President’s legal fund for all of us to reference,” according to the text sent from Zeldin to Meadows sometime in November of 2020. “Needs to be done instantly. 2) The President should have one lead spokesperson organizing daily public press briefings that credibly lays out the facts communicated in an effective way to separate it from the opinions which also need to be shared. That person needs to give an update of the state of play state by state, including a top line summary of where each battleground state stands with the count, projections possible recounts, legal actions, vetted voting irregularities, unvetted alleged voting irregularities, (make clear that the campaign is intensively reviewing those claims for vetting purposes).”

PENNSYLVANIA: Donald Trump’s Ongoing Plot To Kill Mail Ballots In Pennsylvania 

  • Semafor: Donald Trump’s Plan To Kill Mail Ballots In Pennsylvania: Former President Donald Trump is increasingly focused on changing voting rules in Pennsylvania, joining efforts to whip Republicans against a bipartisan mail-in voting law that’s become a Trump world obsession since he lost the state by over 80,000 votes. Trump has spoken in recent weeks with allies who are leading a campaign to overturn the law, known as Act 77. Most recently, on September 6, he met with former Trump official Michael Caputo, Sam Faddis, a former CIA operations officer who ran for Congress in Maryland in 2016, and Pennsylvania county commissioner Doug McLinko at Trump Tower. Trump pledged to lend his support to their efforts, Faddis told Semafor. Over the same period, he’s woven talking points from anti-Act 77 activists into campaign speeches in the state, where he’s demanded a return to in-person, same-day voting.
  • Talking Points Memo: RNC Seizes On Supreme Court’s Order In Attempt To Toss Some Pennsylvania Ballots: The Republican National Committee and other major campaign organs of the party on Monday seized on a recent Supreme Court order in an attempt to get undated and incorrectly dated Pennsylvania absentee ballots invalidated for the upcoming elections.  The Supreme Court last week rendered moot a March decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that undated ballots should be counted, as the date or lack thereof has no bearing on whether the individual is qualified to vote. The appeals court found that requiring the date is a technicality that violates the “materiality provision” of the Civil Rights Act. That decision came from a dispute over the ballots in a 2021 race for a spot on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. The Republican candidate, who lost by a handful of votes, asked the Supreme Court to nullify the appellate court’s decision. Last week, the Court complied. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, had written previously that the Third Circuit’s decision was “very likely wrong” and invited an involved party to file a petition for certiorari so the justices could correct it. The RNC, joined by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, heeded the conservative justice’s advice and went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Republicans are asking that the court uphold the date requirement for the upcoming midterms, invalidate the acting Secretary of State’s guidance that undated ballots should be counted and order that all county boards of election segregate undated or incorrectly dated ballots from the rest.

UTAH:  Mike Lee Confronted Over January 6 Plot In Senate Debate

  • HuffPost: ‘How Dare You’: Mike Lee Confronted Over January 6 Scheme In Senate Debate:  Evan McMullin, the independent candidate for Senate in Utah, confronted incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Monday over his role in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the rivals’ Senate debate. Text messages from Lee to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows revealed how Lee helped push legally dubious schemes to keep then-President Donald Trump in power before shifting course and voting to certify the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021. Lee also encouraged top Trump advisers to embrace Sidney Powell, a Republican lawyer who spread baseless claims of a rigged election. “That was the most egregious betrayal of our constitution in our nation’s history and it will be your legacy,” McMullin said in Monday’s debate. “When the barbarians were at the gate, you were happy to let them in,” McMullin added, referring to texts Lee sent to Meadows, urging him to listen to people like Powell and John Eastman, a right-wing attorney who authored “coup memos” on overturning the election.

WISCONSIN:  Ron Johnson Is Paying The Law Firm Of An Attorney Connected To The Fake Elector Plot 

  • NBC: Johnson’s Campaign Is Paying The Law Firm Of A Trump Attorney Allegedly Connected To Jan. 6 Fake Elector Plot:  Sen. Ron Johnson recently made two payments to a law firm led by a Wisconsin attorney embroiled in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation, in part to assist in a possible recount, according to financial disclosure forms filed Friday. Johnson, R-Wis., made the payments to the law firm led by James Troupis, who is alleged to have played a role in a plan to reverse the 2020 election results through the use of “fake electors” that is under scrutiny by the federal government. Troupis, a lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign, led Trump’s unsuccessful recount efforts in Wisconsin.  Johnson’s public explanations about whether he had a role in the plan — including what he has said about his interactions with Troupis in the hours before the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — are drawing scrutiny. Johnson, locked in one of the closest Senate races in the country against Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, has paid a little over $20,000 in recent months to the Troupis Law Office in Cross Plains, Wis., according to new financial disclosure forms filed with the Federal Election Commission. Troupis is the firm’s principal.

What Experts Are Saying

Harry Litman, former US attorney: “Whether or not Trump faces federal charges for his Jan. 6 conduct, the aggressive pursuit of all the president’s people, as with Watergate, will be crucial to society’s and history’s assessment of the outrageous offenses against democracy that took place after the 2020 election. The sooner it begins, the better.” LA Times Column: Are Jan. 6 investigators hot on the trail of ‘all the president’s people’?

Barbara McQuade, former US attorney, re: DOJ’s sentencing memo for Steve Bannon: “Although DOJ could seek  2 years in prison for Bannon, it requests 6 months, which is top of sentencing guidelines range. Anything less would be inadequate deterrence. Anything more would invite accusations of political bias from the extremists. Seems like the measured choice.” Tweet

Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law professor emeritus: “In a Sunday interview on CNN, Arizona Republican nominee for governor Kari Lake refused to say she would accept the results of the upcoming election — unless she wins. Playing that lethal anti-democracy Trump card should disqualify whoever stoops that low from public office.” Tweet 

Joyce Vance, former US attorney, re: Lake’s refusal to accept results of upcoming election unless she wins: “This is the future of our Republic if Trump is not held accountable” Tweet 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

Associated Press: Groups mobilize to help voters confronting new election laws

Axios: Congress braces for new members who were at Capitol on Jan. 6

Daily Beast: MAGA Duo Who Smeared Election Worker Now Holding Training Courses for ‘Poll Watchers’

Washington Post: How the ‘Never Trump’ movement became ‘Never Trumpism’

January 6 And The 2020 Election

CNN: Oath Keepers spent thousands of dollars to build arsenal before January 6, prosecutors allege

New York Times (Analysis): The House Jan. 6 Panel Has Set a High Bar: Showing Criminality

Politico: Sex, guns and sedition: Prosecutors describe Oath Keeper road trip to D.C.

Other Trump Investigations 

New York Times: Trump Hotels Charged Secret Service Exorbitant Rates, House Inquiry Finds

Politico: Boris Epshteyn rises in Trump land

Opinion

Washington Post (Eric Wemple): Election denier Kari Lake pleads with CNN: ‘Can we talk about issues?’

In The States 

Associated Press: In Wisconsin, voters shrug off GOP candidate’s Jan. 6 tie

Washington Monthly: Vote by Mail (Not to Mention Democracy) At Stake in Arizona Secretary of State Race