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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — September 29, 2022

By September 29, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

January 6 Committee To Meet With Ginni Thomas This Week

  • CNN: January 6 Committee Chairman Says Panel Will Meet With Ginni Thomas This Week: The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol will interview Ginni Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, “sometime this week,” the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, told CNN Wednesday. Thomas’ attorney, Mark Paoletta, confirmed the voluntary interview in a statement last week, saying, “As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas is eager to answer the Committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election. She looks forward to that opportunity.” Members of the panel have long said they are interested in speaking with Thomas, particularly after CNN first reported text messages she exchanged with then-Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows prior to January 6 about overturning the election.

Supreme Court Set To Hear Two Cases With Major Implications For The 2024 Election

  • Politico: Supreme Court To Hear 2 Cases With Major Implications For 2024:  A pair of cases about to reach the Supreme Court could reshape the 2024 election. One lawsuit out of North Carolina could have broad ramifications, with Republicans asking the Supreme Court to revoke the ability of state courts to review election laws under their states’ constitutions. The reading of the Constitution’s Elections Clause that underpins the case — called the “Independent State Legislature” theory — has gotten buy-in from much of the conservative legal world, and four Supreme Court justices have signaled at least some favorability toward it.  The decision in the case could upend American elections. And another case out of Alabama that will be heard on Tuesday involves a challenge to the state’s congressional map — and whether Black voters’ power was illegally diluted. The result could kick back open congressional redistricting in several states two years after the entire nation went through a redraw. Practically, the results of the cases could open the door to even more gerrymandering by legislators around the country, and they could also give legislatures even more power within their states to determine rules for voting — including how, when and where voters could cast their ballots.

Republicans Are Whitewashing Their Trump Ties And Election Denial From Their Websites

  • Daily Beast: GOP Candidates Strip Abortion and Trump Connections From Their Campaign Websites: the so-called tactic of “pivoting to the general” is being pushed to its limits for Republicans running in 2022. Trump remains as popular as ever among the GOP base and is as unpopular as ever outside of it. The Supreme Court’s move in June to overturn abortion rights is a dream come true in the GOP base—but a nightmare to many more outside it. Stuck between their past posturing and their current campaigning, a growing cohort of Republican candidates have turned to a simple solution for reconciling it all: just delete it. According to a review of archived internet pages by The Daily Beast, at least five House GOP candidates in battleground districts wiped mentions of Trump or the 2020 election from their websites or social media after winning their primaries. And at least seven removed or significantly modified language about abortion on their web sites over the summer. Among GOP hopefuls for Senate, at least three have scrubbed their online pages of Trump or 2020: Blake Masters of Arizona, Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, and Tiffany Smiley of Washington. And at least two did the same for abortion: Masters and Adam Laxalt of Nevada.

In The States 

ARIZONA:  Attorney General Debate Highlights GOP Candidate’s Extreme Election Denying Position 

  • Arizona Republic: Arizona Attorney General Debate Gets Heated As Candidates Discuss Abortion, Elections And Experience: The candidates for Arizona attorney general exchanged heated arguments on abortion, elections and job experience during a televised debate Wednesday, emphasizing their contrasting positions. Republican Abe Hamadeh sparred with Democratic opponent Kris Mayes during the 30-minute event, as well as moderators Ted Simons of Arizona PBS and Stacey Barchenger of The Arizona Republic. […] Hamadeh made clear he would enforce the state’s 158-year-old anti-abortion ban upheld last week by a Pima County judge and that he would not have helped certify the 2020 election in Arizona because of concerns over possible fraud. Mayes used his positions to paint him as dangerous to democracy and to women.

MICHIGAN:  Michigan Legislature Reaches A Deal To Allow Pre-Processing Of Absentee Ballots For Election Day 

  • Detroit News: Michigan Legislature Reaches Deal Allowing Absentee Ballot Pre-Processing Before Election: The Michigan House and Senate on Wednesday approved a four-bill package allowing for the pre-processing of absentee ballots in large communities starting two days ahead of the Nov. 8 election. The vote came after a deal was reached Wednesday afternoon between the GOP-led House and Senate and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after months of requests from clerks for the extra time amid the increasing prevalence of absentee voting. The deal also involves the passage of laws tightening security around ballot drop boxes and changing the way dead voters are removed from voting rolls ahead of the Nov. 8 election, said state Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton. Other provisions to be implemented after the November election would allow overseas military members to submit their absentee ballots electronically and expand the types of locations that could be used as polling locations, said Bollin, chairwoman for the House Elections and Ethics Committee.

What Experts Are Saying

UPDATED: CREW’s Tracker of President Trump’s Staggering Record of Uncharged Crimes: “As of September 2022, Donald Trump has been credibly accused of committing at least 55 criminal offenses since he launched his campaign for president in 2015. That total only reflects allegations relating to his time in or running for office and omits, for instance, Trump’s criminal exposure for fraudulent business dealings. The seven offenses we have added since we published the first version of this table in March 2022 include three criminal offenses relating to the investigation of election fraud and related crimes in Fulton County, Georgia; one offense relating to potential wire fraud stemming from fraudulent representations made to solicit PAC contributions after the 2020 election; and three offenses relating to Trump’s unlawful possession of government records at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office.” Overview | Table

Robb Willer, American sociologist and social psychologist at Stanford University (Audio): ““‘There’s people wandering around in packs, not thinking for themselves, seized by this mob mentality trying to spread their disease and destroy society. And you probably think, as I do, that you’re the good guy in the zombie apocalypse movie, and all this hate and polarization, it’s being propagated by the other people, because we’re Brad Pitt, right?’ —Dr. Robb Willer, Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford University[.] When it comes to navigating the deepening ideological divide in America, what if we’re not so much the hero fighting the forces of evil—instead we’re accidentally acting just a little too much like “foot soldiers in the army of the undead,” wonders this episode’s special guest, Dr. Robb Willer.” Fulcrum’s Village SquareCast Podcast 

Heather Cox Richardson, American historian at Boston College: “Last night, California governor Gavin Newsom, who is running for reelection, insisted on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight that Democrats must push back against the Republican domination of culture wars…That omission is likely a result of the fact that after World War II, it never occurred to most Americans that anyone here would need to defend democracy. And yet we are now facing the rise of ‘illiberal democracy’ or ‘Christian democracy,’ which argues that democracy’s protection of equal rights weakens societies by destroying their moral core and by splitting the people internally. Its adherents call for limiting the vote; privileging white, heterosexual Christian citizens; and standing behind an authoritarian leader who will stamp out opposition—that is, a system that is not a democracy at all.” Letters from An American 

Paul Pierson, political scientist at University of California, Berkeley: “‘For those who feel like they’re locked in an existential struggle with demonic forces, democracy might feel like a second-level kind of problem,’ said Berkeley political scientist Paul Pierson. ‘They may feel completely justified in using whatever levers of political power are available.’…In such a climate, said Pierson, ‘American democracy clearly is at risk.’” Berkeley News 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

Washington Post: Youngkin and his national ambitions straddle the ‘big lie’ divide

January 6 And The 2020 Election

CNN: IG identifies ‘concerns’ with Defense Department phone messaging apps in probe of missing January 6 texts

CNN: Georgia state elections board seeks FBI help in criminal investigation of voting system breach after 2020 election

Other Trump Investigations 

CNN: Trump avoids Friday deposition in lawsuit by being in Mar-a-Lago during hurricane

New York Times (Analysis): ‘Giant Backfire’: Trump’s Demand for Special Master Is Looking Like a Mistake

Opinion

Washington Post (Jennifer Rubin): Forget ‘polarization.’ The problem is right-wing extremism.

In The States 

Philadelphia Inquirer: As campaign struggles, Doug Mastriano plans ‘40 days of fasting and prayer’