Skip to main content
Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — February 21, 2023

By February 21, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Election Deniers And Conspiracy Theorists Maintain Their Iron Grip On The GOP For 2024

  • Washington Post: Far-Right Election Denier Beats Trump’s Pick For Michigan GOP: Republicans in Michigan, reeling from a midterm election rout that many blamed on the influence of former president Donald Trump, responded Saturday by spurning the former president’s choice for state party chair — and choosing someone even more extreme. Kristina Karamo, who refused to concede her 14-point loss for secretary of state in 2022, beat former attorney general candidate Matt DePerno, who had Trump’s endorsement, in three rounds of contentious voting. The chaotic 11-hour convention, featuring a rowdy standoff over voting procedures and 10 candidates who all ran under a pro-Trump banner, left no doubt that the bulk of the party’s activists in this key battleground state remain firmly committed to election denial and showed no interest in moderating their message to appeal to the political center. “Conceding to a fraudulent person is agreeing with the fraud, which I will not do,” Karamo said to cheers in her campaign speech on Saturday.
  • Washington Post: Kari Lake, Still Pushing Midterm Fraud Fiction, Edges Closer To Senate Run: Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is inching closer to deciding to run for Senate, and her expected candidacy has frozen the Republican field in the state as other Senate hopefuls wait for her decision. Lake, a former local television anchor who falsely claims that she won her 2022 race for Arizona governor, is considered the most formidable opponent in a Republican primary, and at least three Republican candidates also sizing up the race are waiting for her to make a decision before they decide to run, according to three people familiar with the situation who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly. Lake is eyeing a June timeline for announcing her plans, a person familiar with her thinking told The Post last week. She enjoys the highest favorability ratings among Republican primary voters of five potential GOP candidates, followed by former GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters, according to a private poll, portions of which were obtained by The Washington Post, that is viewed by Republican strategists as an accurate snapshot of the mood of the GOP electorate. Both candidates were endorsed by former president Donald Trump in their earlier bids.

January 6 Plotter And Key Kevin McCarthy Ally Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls For Dissolution Of The United States In A  “National Divorce”

  • NBC: Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls For A ‘National Divorce’ Between Liberal And Conservative States: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called for the U.S. to be separated by red and blue states and for shrinking the federal government in a tweet on President’s Day, the latest in a string of controversial statements.  “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,” Greene, R-Ga., said in the tweet. “Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.” The U.S. fought a civil war in the 1860s after a group of southern states tried to secede to preserve the legal enslavement of Black people.

Georgia Grand Jury Report Is Yet Another Rebuke OF Trump’s “Stolen” Election Claims 

  • Washington Post (Analysis): Fulton County Adds To High-Profile Rebukes Of Trump’s ‘Stolen’ Election: Those awaiting a potential blockbuster report from the Fulton County special grand jury’s investigation of Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election are apparently going to have to keep waiting. A judge released a rather minimal excerpt of the report Thursday and left the rest under seal. To the extent we learned anything, it’s that the grand jury thinks one or more witnesses might have committed perjury — though we don’t know who. Beyond that, the report states that the grand jury voted unanimously that there was no voter fraud sufficient enough to overturn Georgia’s tight 2020 presidential election results. “The grand jury heard extensive testimony on the subject of alleged election fraud from poll workers, investigators, technical experts, and State of Georgia employees and officials, as well as from persons still claiming that such fraud took place,” the report reads. “We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.”
  • Huff Post: Trump Outlandishly Claims Georgia Grand Jury Excerpts Are ‘Total Exoneration’ Of Him: Donald Trump baselessly boasted Thursday on his Truth Social site that released excerpts of a Georgia special grand jury investigation into attempts by the former president and his allies to upend his 2020 election loss in the state were a “total exoneration” of him. Trump even thanked the grand jury for its “patriotism” and “courage,” adding, “The USA is very proud of you.” The former president claimed that he was in the clear because his name was not mentioned. But no individuals were named in the five-page section of the report released Thursday, as ordered by Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. The excepts don’t reveal what specific charges the 23-member panel has recommended against which individuals. But most members believe that “perjury may have been committed by one or more” of the 75 witnesses who appeared before them and recommended “appropriate indictments” for lying under oath, according to the documents. Trump did not testify before the panel.

Kevin McCarthy Gives Exclusive Access To Thousands Of Hours Of January 6 Footage To Tucker Carlson As Dominion Lawsuit Reveals The Network Aired False Conspiracy Theories, Feared Letting Trump On Air During The Attack 

  • Axios: McCarthy Gives Tucker Carlson Access To Trove Of Jan. 6 Riot Tape: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me. Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks. Why it matters: Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as “vandalism.” Now his shows — “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, and “Tucker Carlson Today” and “Tucker Carlson Originals” on the streaming service Fox Nation — have a massive trove of raw material.
  • CNN: Fox News Executives Refused To Let Trump On-Air When He Called In During January 6 Attack, Dominion Says: Former President Donald Trump tried to call into Fox News after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but the network refused to put him on air, according to court filings from Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation case against the company. The House select committee that investigated the January 6 attack did not know that Trump had made this call, according to a source familiar with the panel’s work. The panel sought to piece together a near minute-by-minute account of Trump’s movements, actions and phone calls on that day. His newly revealed call to Fox News shows some of the gaps in the record that still exist, due to roadblocks the committee faced. “The afternoon of January 6, after the Capitol came under attack, then-President Trump dialed into Lou Dobbs’ show attempting to get on air,” Dominion lawyers wrote in their legal brief. “But Fox executives vetoed that decision,” Dominion’s filing continued. “Why? Not because of a lack of newsworthiness. January 6 was an important event by any measure. President Trump not only was the sitting President, he was the key figure that day.” The network rebuffed Trump because “it would be irresponsible to put him on the air” and “could impact a lot of people in a negative way,” according to Fox Business Network President Lauren Petterson, whose testimony was cited by Dominion in the new filing.
  • New York Times: Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims. ‘Crazy Stuff’: Newly disclosed messages and testimony from some of the biggest stars and most senior executives at Fox News revealed that they privately expressed disbelief about President Donald J. Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though the network continued to promote many of those lies on the air. The hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, as well as others at the company, repeatedly insulted and mocked Trump advisers, including Sidney Powell and Rudolph W. Giuliani, in text messages with each other in the weeks after the election, according to a legal filing on Thursday by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion is suing Fox for defamation in a case that poses considerable financial and reputational risk for the country’s most-watched cable news network. “Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It’s insane,” Mr. Carlson wrote to Ms. Ingraham on Nov. 18, 2020. Ms. Ingraham responded: “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy.” Mr. Carlson continued, “Our viewers are good people and they believe it,” he added, making clear that he did not.

James O’Keefe Ousted From Far Right Project Veritas 

  • New York Times: James O’Keefe Is Removed as Project Veritas’ Leader: James O’Keefe, who as the leader of the conservative group Project Veritas used theatrical stunts, undercover stings and other deceptive tactics in efforts to inflict embarrassment and charges of hypocrisy and wrongdoing on perceived liberal enemies in politics and the media, has left his post, Mr. O’Keefe disclosed on Monday. His departure came amid an uproar among the group’s staff about his leadership style, his treatment of subordinates and his use of the group’s funds for high-priced expenses like flights on a private plane. It also came in the midst of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into how Project Veritas acquired a diary kept by Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, before the 2020 election. Mr. O’Keefe’s home was searched by F.B.I. agents with a warrant in the fall of 2021 as part of the investigation.

In The States 

ARIZONA:  Republican Losses Fuel More Conspiracy Theories In Rural Arizona 

  • Associated Press: Republican Losses Fan Election Conspiracies In Rural Arizona:  Last year was a tough one for the election denial movement in Arizona. Its candidates for U.S. Senate, governor, secretary of state and attorney general all lost. But it’s still thriving in rural Cochise County, a vivid example of how paranoia about elections fanned by former President Donald Trump maintains a stubborn grip in rural parts of the country. Trump last year backed a slate of candidates for top state election positions in Arizona and elsewhere who parroted his lie about losing the 2020 presidential election due to voter fraud. Every one of those candidates lost in the battleground states that typically decide the presidency. But the election conspiracy movement maintains a firm hold in beet-red rural spots such as Cochise County, a swath of the Sonoran Desert dotted with ranches, small towns and U.S.-Mexico border communities that encompasses an area larger than Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. The county’s respected elections director, Lisa Marra, who had opposed the board’s voting moves, recently resigned from the nonpartisan position after five years in the job. The two Republicans on the three-member board are seeking to replace her with the elected county recorder, David Stevens, another Republican

MISSISSIPPI:  Old Racial Divides Surface With Republican Plan To Impose State Control Over Jackson 

  • New York Times: In Mississippi’s Capital, Old Racial Divides Take New Forms: Mississippi’s struggling capital has been a favored target of Republican leaders since the G.O.P. took total control of the state a decade ago. But perhaps none of the slings and arrows flung at Jackson has provoked as much outrage as the one the state House of Representatives loosed earlier this month. Legislators approved a bill that would establish a separate court system for roughly one-fifth of Jackson, run by state-appointed judges and served by the state-run police force that currently patrols the area around Mississippi government buildings. For the neighborhoods it would cover, the entire apparatus would effectively supplant the existing Hinds County Circuit Court, whose four judges are elected, and the city-run Jackson Police Department. The proposal might be less provocative if not for the inescapable context: More than eight in 10 of Jackson’s 150,000 residents, as well as most of its elected leaders, judges and police officers, are African Americans. The proposed court system, and the police force, would be controlled almost exclusively by white officials in the state government. Atop that, the new courts and police patrols would serve neighborhoods that contain the bulk of Jackson’s white population. The city’s Black neighborhoods would largely be skirted.

WISCONSIN:  Supreme Court Candidate Daniel Kelly Was Paid To Advise On Fake Electors Scheme 

  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Supreme Court Candidate Daniel Kelly Was Paid $120,000 By Republicans To Work On ‘Election Integrity,’ Advise On Fake Electors: Former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly — who has been critical of his opponents for their partisanship — has been paid nearly $120,000 by the state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee over the past two years for his work on election issues. In that role, Kelly was at the center of the discussion in December 2020 with top Wisconsin Republicans over their highly controversial plan to covertly convene a group of Republicans inside the state Capitol in the weeks following Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden to sign paperwork falsely claiming to be electors. Former state Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt said in a deposition last year to the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that he and Kelly had “pretty extensive conversations” about the fake elector scheme. Kelly was serving as the party’s “special counsel” at the time.

What Experts Are Saying

Janet Malzahn, predoctoral research fellow at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and Andrew B. Hall, professor of political economy and political science at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business: “We combine newly collected election data with records of public denials of the results of the 2020 election to estimate the degree to which election-denying Republican candidates for senator, governor, secretary of state, and attorney general over- or under-performed other Republicans in 2022. We find that the average vote share of election-denying Republicans in statewide races was approximately 2.3 percentage points lower than their co-partisans after accounting for state-level partisanship. Election-denying candidates received roughly 2 percentage-points more vote share than other Republican candidates in primaries, on average, although this estimate is quite uncertain. The general-election penalty is larger than the margin of victory in battleground states in recent close presidential elections, suggesting that nominating election-denying candidates in 2024 could be a damaging electoral strategy for Republicans. At the same time, it is small enough to suggest that only a relatively small group of voters changed their vote in response to having an election-denying candidate on the ballot.” Working Paper: Abstract: Election-Denying Republican Candidates Underperformed in the 2022 Midterms | Janet Malzahn Tweet | Andy Hall Tweet   

Heather Cox Richardson, American historian at Boston College: “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) explicitly called for dividing the nation. She tweeted: “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this.” For once I will spare you my usual lecture on how elite southern enslavers in the 1850s made this same argument because they resented the majority rule that threatened their ability to impose their will on their Black neighbors. (I will note, though, that former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) helpfully reviewed “some of the governing principles of America” for Greene, tweeting: “Our country is governed by the Constitution. You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Secession is unconstitutional. No member of Congress should advocate secession, Marjorie.”)

What Greene had to say next is of more interest in this moment. The Munich Security Conference, the world’s largest gathering for international security discussions, has just reported that the Russian war on Ukraine is a war of authoritarianism on a rules-based international order. At that conference, Vice President Kamala Harris said the U.S. had determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity and noted that the bipartisan U.S. delegation to the conference was the largest we have ever sent. The U.S. president has just entered a war zone to declare U.S. support for democracy and is now in Poland, where he will speak with the leaders of the nine countries that make up NATO’s eastern flank and will deliver a speech that Blinken has described as “very significant.” In contrast, Greene echoed authoritarian leaders Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Putin himself when she called for splitting the nation over “the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats” and “the Democrat’s [sic] traitorous America Last policies.” Authoritarian leaders insist that the equality that underpins liberal democracy threatens traditional society because it means that LGBTQ people, women, and minorities should have the same rights as white men. Greene appears to be taking the same position.” Letters from An American 

Norman L. Eisen, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, E. Danya Perry, former deputy chief criminal division, SDNY, and Amy Lee Copeland, criminal defense and appellate attorney in Savannah, Georgia: “We need to prepare for a first in our 246-year history as a nation: The possible criminal prosecution of a former president. If Mr. Trump is charged, it will be difficult and at times even perilous for American democracy — but it is necessary to deter him and others from future attempted coups.” NYT Op-Ed: It’s Time to Prepare for a Possible Trump Indictment

Joyce Vance, former US attorney, re: Speaker Kevin McCarthy giving Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 1/6 Capitol surveillance footage: “How does this square w/the Founding Fathers’ vision of the 1st Am & free press? Of an open gov’t w/checks & balances? & what does McCarthy hope to do by anointing state run media? Why not make this available to everyone in the media-it’s the people’s property, not the Speaker’s.” Tweet 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

Grid: Meet ‘Patriot’s Row’: Mark Meadows’ MAGA hub buys a multimillion-dollar chunk of ‘the Swamp’

NBC: Kari Lake’s lawyers hit with bar complaints

Politico: Republican losers look to run again in ’24 — and the party’s at odds over how to stop them

January 6 And The 2020 Election

Arizona Mirror: GOP Arizona legislators, including leaders of the House and Senate, subpoenaed to testify in special counsel probe of Trump

Associated Press: Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

Daily Beast: Trump’s Shell Spending Scheme Comes Under DOJ Scrutiny

The Guardian: Witnesses in Trump investigation may have lied, says Georgia grand jury report

NPR: The ‘wackadoodle’ foundation of Fox News’ election-fraud claims

Politico: Proud Boys leaders facing Jan. 6 charges say they intend to subpoena Trump

Washington Post: Alex Jones is ‘holding firearms’ for Jan. 6 participants, bankruptcy docs show

Other Trump Investigations

Reuters: Trump lawyer hires own attorney in classified documents probe

In The States

Arizona Daily Star:  Arizona lawmakers work to make citizen initiative drives harder

Associated Press:  Kari Lake loses appeal in Arizona governor race challenge

New York Times: Michigan G.O.P. Fixates on Election Deniers in Leadership Race

Politico: The bipartisan odd couple banding together to fight election deniers in Arizona

Politico: What It Looks Like When the Far Right Takes Control of Local Government

Votebeat: Unequal election policies disenfranchised some Pennsylvania voters in 2022. Explore what each county did.