This week, Trump Republicans are continuing their attack on Americans who disagree with them. They echo his baseless conspiracy theories and push the tactics from his election-denier playbook. But, the law is on the side of Americans, and Donald Trump and all of his allies must be held accountable for their actions.
Here’s what you need to know for the weekend:
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. Election officials across the country can agree on one thing – democracy is still at risk heading into the 2024 election cycle. New year, new election deniers. And they are ready to ramp up their attacks on our democracy in order to get their way.
-
- Top point to make: The threat posed to our democracy, our right to vote, and the security of our elections by MAGA Republicans is serious.
-
- If you read one thing: NBC News, 2/2/23: Election officials say democracy is still at risk in 2024: ‘The gun is still loaded’. “The respite, however, appears to have been brief, with the new year marked by violent, moneyed and high-profile election denialism: A failed Republican candidate claiming fraud orchestrated shootings into local Democrats’ homes in New Mexico, police allege. Former President Donald Trump hit the trail for the first time in his third presidential bid and once again advanced the conspiracy theory that he won in 2020. In Pennsylvania, mostly rural Lycoming County spent three days doing a hand recount of the 2020 election ballots last month after having been being dogged by false fraud claims for years. The recount affirmed the results, growing Trump’s margin of victory by just eight votes. The recount is a part of what election officials say is growing distrust of election machinery, even though hand recounts are typically slower, more expensive and less accurate. In Arizona, Republican Kari Lake continues to challenge her November loss in court and on television, hosting rallies and raking in more than $2.5 million since Election Day, according to an analysis of her campaign finance disclosures after Election Day by the Arizona Mirror. Elsewhere in Arizona, an election official in Cochise County — who was personally sued as she was trying to fend off local officials’ efforts to block certification of election results there — resigned. She is one of a growing number of election officials resigning because of harassment and election denialism.”
2. Criminal charges in Georgia for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election could lead to more cases and more charges. Charges in Georgia are “imminent” and could serve as a blueprint for more states to follow in their footsteps.
-
- Top point to make: Donald Trump and his allies engaged in a violent criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and must be held accountable.
-
- If you read one thing: Bloomberg, 2/7/23: Trump Charges in Georgia Over 2020 Could Lead to Bigger Fed Case. “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her decision is “imminent” on whether to indict the former president, which would make him the first US president charged with a crime. That decision will have a ripple effect on the Justice Department’s special counsel probe and other investigations circling Trump… Legal experts say nothing stops a US special counsel overseeing the federal Trump probe from pursuing similar charges at the federal level, regardless of what Willis ultimately does… ‘There’s no double-jeopardy problem here,’ said Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas. ‘For better or worse, the Supreme Court just reiterated the so-called ‘separate sovereigns’ doctrine, which leaves states and the federal government free to prosecute the same unlawful conduct, and free to decide how to do so as well.’”
3. States across the country are further enacting racist voter suppression laws and justice systems. In Mississippi, the white supermajority of the state legislature is creating a separate court and police system for the highest populated town of African American residents.
-
- Top point to make: Trump-Republicans around the country are continuously working to silence the voices of Americans who disagree with their radical and extremist views.
-
- If you read one thing: Mississippi Today, 2/7/23: ‘Only in Mississippi’: White representatives vote to create white-appointed court system for Blackest city in America. “‘Only in Mississippi would we have a bill like this … where we say solving the problem requires removing the vote from Black people,’ Rep. Ed Blackmon, a Democrat from Canton, said while pleading with his colleagues to oppose the measure… ‘This is just like the 1890 Constitution all over again,’ Blackmon said from the floor. ‘We are doing exactly what they said they were doing back then: ‘Helping those people because they can’t govern themselves.’’”
Expert voices
Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “The insurrection happened. Trump Republicans tried to destroy our democracy. They should never be permitted to return to power; they should not have been there in the first place. Yet here we have Secretary [Mike] Pompeo touting the glorious success on January 6, 2021. And there has been barely a whisper of disapproval, let alone an outpouring of outrage. What can we do? It’s hard to say. But we can spread the word. We can refuse to forget so easily. We can refuse to let this be last week’s news and ensure that we use social media and personal conversations to underline that Pompeo’s lie—that January 6 was a successful, peaceful transition of power—will not be tolerated by decent people in this country.” Civil Discourse
Democracy Docket: “Georgia, Kansas and North Carolina will have litigation developments this month as other lawsuits challenging suppressive voting practices and the results of the Arizona midterm elections (yes, you read that correctly) remain active. Redistricting litigation is also back in full swing as district lines for the 2024 elections come into focus. [Here] we outline cases with courtroom activities or filings to look out for this month. This is not an exhaustive list — new lawsuits will be filed, and pending cases are subject to scheduling conflicts, delays or case developments that change the course of litigation. Keep an eye on our Cases page for any developments in these lawsuits and others.” Litigation Look Ahead: February
Michael Li, Democracy Senior Counsel: “For most Americans, the congressional districts they voted under in 2022 will be the same ones they use in 2024. But changes in a handful of states between now and 2024 could shift the advantage in favor of one party or the other in the battle for a closely divided House. Whether those changes make maps fairer or more gerrymandered remains to be seen.” How Voting Districts Could Change Before 2024
Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket: “Expanding access to registration, early voting and mail-in voting is the bare minimum. They are necessary but not nearly enough to address the threats we will face in 2024. To address those, Democratic legislatures need to be bolder and more aggressive to prevent a new wave of tactics aimed at suppressing the vote and subverting elections. Here are five new election laws every Democratic state should adopt this legislative session.” Five Voting Laws Needed To Protect Democracy
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian at New York University: “The history of Fascist violence speaks to what happens when generations have their sense of morality dimmed so that racist crimes can be perpetuated and tolerated. The children DeSantis uses as props exemplify the authoritarian’s greatest goal and pleasure: getting people to act against their own interests —preferably from an early age.” Lucid
Sean J. Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth: “In an August 2022 paper, “Does Affective Polarization Undermine Democratic Norms or Accountability? Maybe Not,” David E. Broockman, a political scientist at Berkeley, Joshua L. Kalla, a political scientist at Yale, and Sean J. Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth, pointedly reject the claim made by a number of scholars “that if citizens were less affectively polarized, they would be less likely to endorse norm violations, overlook copartisan politicians’ shortcomings, oppose compromise, adopt their party’s views, or misperceive economic conditions. A large, influential literature speculates as such.” Instead, Broockman, Kalla and Westwood contend, their own studies “find no evidence that these changes in affective polarization influence a broad range of political behaviors — only interpersonal attitudes. Our results suggest caution about the widespread assumption that reducing affective polarization would meaningfully bolster democratic norms or accountability.”…In an email, Westwood argued that the whole endeavor “to fix anti-democratic attitudes by changing levels of partisan animosity sounds promising, but it is like trying to heal a broken bone in a gangrenous leg when the real problem is the car accident that caused both injuries in the first place.”” NYT’s Thomas B. Edsall Column: Meet the People Working on Getting Us to Hate Each Other Less
