GOP and the Big Lie

[ArthurItas]

A federal appeals court has overturned the lower court ruling that Cawthorn couldn’t be disqualified based on the 14th amendment. It doesn’t matter in Cawthorn’s case since he lost the primary, but it might matter for some of the other seditionist politicians that supported overturning the election.

https://thehill.com/news/house/3499881-appeals-court-clears-way-for-bid-to-disqualify-cawthorn-as-insurrectionist/

[soyleche]

The Arizona GOP is clearly insane.

https://twitter.com/garrett_archer/status/1549649327680659456?s=21&t=ghxJFIS8sytk8kk0aVj5Fw

https://www.12news.com/amp/article/news/politics/arizona-republicans-censure-house-speaker-rusty-bowers/75-66991122-dda0-4df7-9155-8efc31404a75

[SteveGrondin]

It is almost like they don’t believe those cyber ninjas they hired.

[funkingded]

An interesting illustration of the new Republican party and their spiral toward absolute oppression. Conservative enough to be elected speaker in 2019, way too progressive now. It is worth posting the quote from the article where he explains/defends his rebuff of pressure to overturn the election.

“It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, that this is my most basic foundational belief,” Bowers, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told the committee.

“So for me to do that because somebody just asked me to, is foreign to my very being. I will not do it.”

His religious faith is not good enough when it comes to this new Republicanism. Faith and facts are no excuse and will get you punished if you choose them over subservience to The Party. (it is no longer Grand and it is no longer Old).

[ArthurItas]

Tina Clark, the Big Lie proponent indicted for tampering with voting machines, just had another warrant for her arrest issued. She allegedly violated terms of her parole again. She was ordered “no contact with employees from the Clerk and Records Office”, but apparently sent lots of emails to county clerks seeking a recount of her recent loss running for secretary of state in CO.

[soyleche]

More “we can’t find any evidence of voter fraud in Arizona”. We really need to keep looking though…

https://twitter.com/garrett_archer/status/1554234332465664000?s=21&t=_pQClEvxQAvbXO2NW05bEA

[Mathman]

I do really enjoy watching lawyers take people down. It’s usually thorough, and it’s worded politely but just barely. I used to work with an attorney that had an absolute A+ trolling game, which was reserved for people who did truly deserve it. It was a lot of fun to watch her work.

[soyleche]

The best part of this is that he’s essentially taking himself down.

[Mathman]

I can’t even keep up anymore, was he on Team Trump and promoting the big lie back when?

[soyleche]

Absolutely.

[Mathman]

Well then, that does make it much, much better. Thanks.

[ArthurItas]

Lindsey Graham must testify before the Fulton DA’s special grand jury into election tampering in GA. The judge is “unpersuaded” by Graham’s argument that legislative privilege shields him from anyone investigating his efforts to overturn the election.

[ArthurItas]

Giuliani is scheduled to appear before the same grand jury Wednesday. Giuliani was informed today that he is a target of the investigation.

[ArthurItas]

Trump allied lawyers were reportedly responsible for unauthorized access to voting machines in multiple states.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/15/sidney-powell-coffee-county-sullivan-strickler/

[dr_t_non-fan]

“See how easy it is to get inside these machines! Proof that someone else hacked in!!”

[twig93]

From NYT’s The Morning email:

Deniers, enablers, accepters

We break down elected Republicans into three groups, based on their stances toward false claims about the 2020 election.

The DeSantis two-step

Dozens of Republican officials continue to tell lies about the 2020 election, claiming that Donald Trump lost only because of fraud. These claims are especially worrisome for the future of American democracy because they suggest that those same officials might be willing to overturn a future election result and hand power to the rightful loser.

On the other hand, dozens of other Republicans have never claimed that Trump lost because of fraud. This list includes most Republican senators (like Mitch McConnell, the party’s Senate leader), several governors (like Mike DeWine of Ohio) and other state-level officials.

In the latter group of Republicans, however, a split is emerging. Some have decided that lies about the 2020 election are a red line they will not cross, and they have refused to endorse other Republicans making the claims. Others are actively campaigning for election deniers — and, in the process, enabling the spread of the false claims.

In today’s newsletter, we will break down the three groups of Republicans: the deniers, the enablers and the accepters.

We’ll also give you the latest results from last night’s primary elections in Florida, New York and Oklahoma.

The deniers

Republicans who falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent now make up more than half of the party’s major elected officials in some states. In the House of Representatives, almost two-thirds of current Republican members objected to the 2020 result in at least one state. So did eight senators and attorneys general in 17 states.

This faction of Republicans seems to be growing, too. Overall, Republican voters have nominated more than 100 candidates for Congress or statewide office who echo Trump’s false claims of fraud. The Washington Post has compiled a list, and it includes top officials in several swing states — like Michigan and Pennsylvania — that could determine the 2024 presidential election.

Last night’s voting: In Oklahoma, Republicans nominated Markwayne Mullin, a Trump-endorsed congressman who has claimed that the 2020 election was stolen, in a Senate primary runoff.

The enablers

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is a telling case study. Many political analysts believe that DeSantis is likely to run for president in 2024. As he prepares for a potential campaign, DeSantis is trying to distinguish himself from Trump while also appealing to Trump’s supporters.

One way he seems to be doing so is his approach to the false claims about the 2020 election. He has studiously avoided making them himself. (As Politico puts it: “When asked by reporters whether the last presidential election was rigged, DeSantis has instead highlighted changes to election laws he has supported or simply changed the topic.”) At the same time, DeSantis is embracing other Republicans who do echo Trump’s lies.

He traveled to Arizona to campaign for Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor, and Blake Masters, the Senate nominee. In Pittsburgh last week, DeSantis gave a 40-minute speech at an event for Doug Mastriano, the Pennsylvania governor nominee. DeSantis has also held a rally with J.D. Vance, the Ohio Senate candidate who has claimed that 2020 featured “people voting illegally on a large-scale basis.”

Among the other Republican enablers:

• Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona — despite saying that Lake was “misleading voters” about election fraud — is supporting her in the general election. “It’s important for Arizona Republicans to unite behind our slate of candidates,” he tweeted.
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia is scheduled to campaign this week with Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for Michigan governor, who has made false election claims.
• McConnell has endorsed Herschel Walker, the Trump-backed Georgia Senate candidate who has also repeatedly made false election claims. And a group affiliated with McConnell recently announced it would spend tens of millions of dollars on TV and radio ads to boost Vance.

The accepters

The number of Republicans who have treated false election claims as a defining issue is much smaller, but it’s not zero:

• Larry Hogan, Maryland’s Republican governor (who cannot run again, because of term limits), is refusing to endorse and is harshly criticizing his party’s nominee for governor this year, Dan Cox. Cox has called the 2020 election fraudulent and chartered buses for the Trump rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot.
• John Bridgeland, a Republican former staffer to Rob Portman and George W. Bush, endorsed Tim Ryan, the Ohio Democrat running for Senate, over Vance. “If Vance is willing to undermine his own integrity and character for public office, imagine what he might do if he were a U.S. senator,” Bridgeland wrote in The Cincinnati Enquirer.
• In the Colorado Senate race, Joe O’Dea won the Republican nomination over a rival who attended Trump’s Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. O’Dea criticized his opponent for focusing on the past.
• Most prominently, Representative Liz Cheney, who lost in a primary last week to Harriet Hageman, called on voters to oust election-denying Republicans. “Let us resolve that we will stand together — Republicans, Democrats and independents — against those who would destroy our republic,” Cheney said in her concession speech.

The bottom line: It remains unclear whether the Republicans denying the 2020 election result — or the Republicans enabling those deniers — would ultimately be willing to overturn a future election. But their words and behavior certainly suggest that they might participate in such an effort or at least tolerate it.

[AcademicActuary]

Far-Right Activist Laura Loomer Refuses to Concede, Sobs About Voter Fraud

November election is going to be a shit show as every Trumpster who loses will claim election fraud..

[dr_t_non-fan]

Real Trumpers claim voter fraud in September.

[vjvj]

I’ll give her points for this part, though: “the reality is our Republican Party is broken to its core”

[Indy]

I hope she encourages her voters to stay home in November to protest the crooked primary election.