Don't count on Colorado AG candidate.Allen to defend vote integrity, protect us from ICE and attacks on reproductive rights

 So much has been made of whether one or the other is a better administrator, but what far more crucially counts in the race for Colorado Attorney General is what the AG likely will do or not do. We have a good idea from GOP Michael Allen's past actions and statements of what Allen likely will NOT do. Don't count on him to protect vote integrity and ballot access convenience, to defy Trump's attempt to take over Colorado's control of who, where, and how we vote, to stop ICE's excessive use of force, or to protect against attacks on the Colorado Constitution's protection of women's reproductive rights. Democrat Jena Griswold is on the opposite side from Allen in all of these issues, and she has already proved her effectiveness in their defense.

The single case made by supporters of Michael Allen, GOP, is that he is a better manager. Unlike Griswold, he is also a prosecuting attorney in the courtroom, a skill AGs rarely, if ever, use, because there is a whole division that does that in the AG's office. That attack line is also an attempt to get voters away from focusing on what important issues are at stake. Allen claims Griswold is a poor manager based on skimpy evidence and is an arguable judgment call. If Griswold, as Secretary of State,, was "such a poor manager," she certainly has been effective, including keeping in check rogue county clerks who failed to keep elections fair and free during her tenure. Her business service sections ran smoothly, as well.(As a small business owner, I use her office frequently)

-Allen likely will not use his skills to protect ballot integrity..He follows the agenda of election deniers. He supports the suppressive SAVE Act and prefers in-person voting instead of mail-in ballots., Griswold has shown grit, courage, and skill in protecting fair and free elections as Secretary of State, including bringing Tina Peters to face justice. for breaking rules that had assured bi-partisan scrutiny control over the count. and then lying in a cover-up. Griswold successfully defied Trump's demand to turn over protected voter rolls as Secretary of State, and protected the gold-standard mail-in system.

- Allen will likely not protect Colorado from excessive force and cruelty of ICE. He supports ICE activities in Colorado; Griswold promises action to stop ICE's illegal actions.

- Allen likely will not protect challenges to the state constitution, which protects a woman's right to choose, because he is an extreme advocate against abortion even in the case of rape and incest, and opposed that same amendment that protects women's reproductive rights. Griswold is a firm supporter of women's reproductive rights.

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-hidden-agendas-in-race-for-colorado.html

Griswold on Tina Peters on 60 Minutes:https://www.facebook.com/reel/1754112445691420

FYI: Colorado's mail in vote system was birthed by the GOP in 2013. Don't blame Dems for this one

I am seeing on another social media Facebook site an attempt by some in the GOP to blame mail-in voting for Colorado's recent shift from somewhat red to blue. Therefore, the inference goes, vote for the GOP candidate who wants to eliminate mail-in voting and make everyone turn up in person. 90% of GOP voters in Colorado vote by mail. In 2013, the Colorado Secretary of State, Republican Wayne Williams, launched the mail-in voting system we use now. The shift from red to blue may have something to do with Colorado's economy shifting from AG and energy to more high-tech, with an increase to one of the highest education levels in the US and the second-highest voter participation rate in the 50 states. The system Wayne Williams devised provides bipartisan scrutiny and integrity. Before going off on some tangent, MAGA, read this: https://www.denverpost.com/.../colorado-denv

 https://www.denverpost.com/2020/08/16/colorado-denver-mail-voting-usps-2020-election/#

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/maga-thinks-dems-fear-saveice-at-polls.html

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/one-of-most-fundamental-lies-trump-ever.html

"Opportunity for fraud" is a new phrase being used for committing fraud on voters by keeping the big lie going for 6 years

 "Opportunity for fraud" is  a new phrase being used for committing fraud on voters by keeping the big lie going for 6  years. and explaining away the lack of evidence, the 2020 election was stolen, Trump's fundamental basis for abusing his power is that the 2020 election was stolen.  It has been his excuse for most domestic acts he has taken to give J6 criminals and election denier icon Tina Peters a get-out-of-jail pass and to federalize elections so the big leader in the White House can more easily control the vote system and the outcome. This is in spite of those charged with seditiion or battering police officers or violating rules protecting ballot integrity have been given due process,  jury trials, pleading guilty, and after appeals upon appeals. Now, a new possible director of national intelligence, former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, for Director of National Intelligence (DNI), is using the term "opportunity for fraud" to describe Trump's relentless search for an event. for which no court has found sufficient evidence so far in six years to change the 2020 outcome. Even Trjmps's own AG said the 2020 election was fraud-free.   Despite this, Trump is obsessed with keeping this lie alive, giving him the tool to rationalize a witch hunt because if there is smoke in the process itself and these isolated examples, there's certainly fire everywhere else.  and then he also has a pitch that puts.  into question any vote tally that does not go his way. For those in MAGA who dismiss the issue of evidence as some lib press and media,  or lib judges, trust the truth in every word coming from Trump, are those who are willing victims or ignorant of the deception of Trump's pitch that" since there is an opportunity for fraud, there is fraud."( In the case of California, it was uttered even before and during the counting was completed.) There is also a willful ignoring of the rigorous measures used to mitigate fraud, or of the lack of evidence that enough was done to overturn the outcome of 2020. 

 Even claiming "an opportunity for fraud" is another way to institutionalize an aura of paranoia, undermine faith in the electoral processes, give more fodder to Trump to fix what is not broken for political gain, and avoid looking like a loser, with such lies and insinuations.   https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/06/how-do-you-tell-political-lie-from.html

The term "opportunity for fraud" is used in risk management of the systems proposed or in use by those who evaluate it because it indicates the steps needed to reduce the likelihood of that happening.  The fraud Truad has committed is to ignore and keep followers in the dark about the extreme measures, legitimate practices, and rules already required of compliant election officials to keep such "opportunities" to isolated examples.  There are thousands of county clerks and state election officials who are sworn to such risk management procedures, but the one who violated her oath to follow procedure is Tina Peters, who listened to Trump's speeches to "secure the votes cast". Instead of following the required procedure, she secured the vote tabulators by locking them. up and giving the codes for access to a MAGA loyal volunteer, tried to cover it up, lied, and got convicted by a trial of peers of violation of the state of Colorado criminal law. She appealed, and her conviction was upheld, though the sentence did not take into consideration her First Amendment rights to state her opinion, and Colorado Governor Polis released her from state prison after she had already served half her 9-year sentence. Note: her conviction was not overturned.  

For those who are ignorant of the procedures their clerks use to verify their votes, both in the registration process and in ensuring their ballots are counted, the "opportunity for fraud" needs to be scrutinized, as do the measures taken. States are in control of this per the Constitution, not the federal government.  Being ignorant of that is to fool oneself, and not understanding or learning about it is to be a willing fool. 

The key to having a voter's ballot counted, whatever the process, is that the signature at registration matches the signature on the ballot cast. That is true whether the voter received their ballot by mail, did not request it, requested it, mailed it, dropped it off, was "harvested" by someone else, or turned up in person at a polling place. or showed them their papers or didn't. In most instances, there are both red and blue clerks examining signatures, and if there is a question. The ballot is kept separate and provisional until the voter is given a chance to appeal. That makes "opportunity for fraud" rarely happen in reality. 

This constant drumbeat that there was fraud in 2020, in 2026 November there will also be fraud by libs and into 2028 asell, is in itself a fraud on their MAGA supporters.  There is a high leap between "opportunity for fraud" to actual evidence of fraud itself, and that "opportunity" appeals to either the blind loyal  (if Trump says it happens and will, it did and will) or to the unthinking ignorant who do not know squat about the process elections officials use to keep that risk at a minimum.  One would think that after 6 years, and with no evidence from both red and blue judges that the 2020 election was stolen, and based on isolated examples of those who tried to cheat getting caught, there was enough of this to have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.

A word to the media: Make how the vote counts, and the signature process works a big and ongoing story. Part of the problem is that it is easier to just cite court cases, but voters need a greater understanding of the processes used to mitigate fraud in the process they use.  This is a good one for local and state media since each local or state elections official have their own set  of rules and process.

How to tell a political lie from the truth and the implications of the answers on Nov 2026 midterms

Update: 6/8/2026, Trump stormed off an interview with Kristen Welker of NBC when she tried to challenge him with actual evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. Shouted Trump, there is plenty of evidence, more evidence ...and instead of presenting it, he got up and left, calling Welker stupid among other insults. The stupid are those who cannot tell the difference between "more" and "enough". The point is not a few more examples..  It is the volume of those examples that would have proved the election was stolen.  That has never been found after every case presented to a judge, purported to show fraud was dismissed by a judge (except one) for lack of evidence, or that there was not enough evidence to change the outcome. Judges represented both Trump and prior Democratic appointees.,Without evidence that the outcome was affected, there is no evidence that the election was stolen.  This constant lie by Trump is his rationale for J6, for slush fund payoffs, for supporting election deniers like Tina Peters, who took orders from him and acted on it ways that violated state criminal statutes, ICE suppression of Hispanics, a war against mail-in ballots, and the BS war against California's ranking complicated vote count method that deviates from the usual primary system, show me your papers in the defeated SAVE act, and more. 

The California vote count is slow coming in, but even before the final total, Trump was claiming it was stolen.  https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/oversight/directives/irv-faq-060409.pdf

Continuing with the original 6/4/2026 post:

How do you tell a political lie from the truth? There are serious implications, depending on the answers you get, for the November 2026 midterms and for whether the election will be stolen or the integrity will be protected. If you only get your news from one or two "trusted sources" and hear a few examples, the next question is how widespread these selected examples of fraud were, and whether they were sufficient to have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.  

One way to tell a lie from the truth is if, instead of evidence of how widespread something was, the answer you get is an example, a story, a judicial finding that one person, or even one county like Fulton County, GA, was found guilty, or some evidence or not. Watch the election denier neglect presenting evidence that the example represented enough of a problem to justify a federal takeover by whatever means, including violent acts like in J6. The SAVE Act, also inspired by the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, which was so voter suppressive, was just defeated in the Senate. That was a dire piece of legislation in search of an actual dire problem to fix, resulting in dire unintended consequences.  

The data and every attempt to assert the claim before any court that there was enough fraud to have changed the outcome failed for lack of evidence.   Ever since 2020, MAGA has been consumed by the search for missing pieces to justify their beliefs, and so far, after 6 years of trying, they have failed. They are trying to find a poster child in Georgia and one county, but even if they could find some anecdotal evidence or if they didn't, how did what happened there mean it happened in the thousands of counties elsewhere? 

So, where do you get the data and evidence outside of your "trusted sources"? AI is helpful if you ask the question several ways.  That way, you may avoid a slanted answer.   Usually, AI will summarize one source, and the screen may show a variety of answers, a menu, and links to other sources.  If you ask for evidence or examples of how and whodunit, you will get some anecdotes. Ask for data on frequency and impact, and you will get another viewpoint: there was no finding by any due process judge that there was enough fraud to overturn the 2020 election.  The MAGA response: we'll keep digging; the evidence has got to be there somewhere. That is enough to satisfy the loyalists to the MAGA cause. The president's word is all they need.

Here is one source I thought was fair to provide in response to the question raised: how widespread was fraud in 2020? After all, Congress-sponsored information sources had been objective in budget analyses.  So I tapped into the information supplied by Congress, which members rely on for research. Congress does have the power to make changes in certain circumstances. Here is what happened when I clicked on https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/108824/documents/HHRG-116-JU00-20190129-SD020.pdf    I was immediately directed to the ultra-conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, the architect of the unitary form of government that presented a plan to defang Congress and the judicial branch and put the actual power in the hands of an all-powerful autocratic president,  Project 2025.   Ok, I said, let's see what they have.  I got this: anecdotal reports of selective election fraud that actually got a guilty verdict after due process. The evidence was on state-by-state convictions over at least the past 10 years, some of which were relevant in 2020. 

I wondered how many of those prosecutions resulted in convictions and led to a judge or jury actually overturning the 2020 elections. There was plenty of data and evidence presented, but not enough to prove the point in a court of law, and in many cases, no evidence or data at all.   

In the meantime, ICE armed for the Middle East battle, may be sent to Nov 2026 polling places on the unproven claim of illegals, ie. Hispanics were voting (scaring the toot out of anyone who looked Hispanic and was legally registered). "Suspect" ballot boxes may be seized and kept from the public, and Secretaries of State's security and any protection from tampering. There will be a huge attempt to challenge the legitimacy of voters, from registration to ballot casting, and mail-in ballots that, per Trump's executive order, will only be accepted and counted if the post office verifies federal registration lists that do not exist.  All of this will be in the name of "voter integrity" or "vote integrity? and the election results will be delayed amid the ensuing chaos and court challenges. on the constitutionality ...all justified by a demonstrable lie.

Why has the big lie, 2020 election was stolen, lived on for 6 years?

 From my Facebook post 5/19/2026:

Andrew Weissmann noted in his just-released book " Liar's Kingdom, " which focused on the claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and made a statement about it on TV that particularly got my attention. Every judge who looked at such claims brought their courts of the 2020 steal, dismissed the cases, and could find no probable cause in the evidence presented to even permit the case to go on.

The lie has been the Trump administration's stated rationale for the plan to rig the 2026 November midterm elections so they could win while losing the popular will as well as the treatment of January 6 participants to pay them off, pardon, and stick a middle finger at jury trials and due legal process.

The next question I ask is why this lie (stop the steal) has lived on and now fuels the Trump plan to rig the results of the November 2026 midterm elections.

Trump's plan is no secret: ICE at every polling place in potentially swing districts where those looking Hispanic could be intimidated, grabbing the election ballots, destroying their integrity when in the hands of partisans, and the extreme gerrymandering boundary drawings.

Trump loyalists nod their heads in support of the lie when challenged because either they blindly believe it because it came out of the mouth ot Trump or because they approve of what Trump wants, too.:Tte result

Trump is seeking to win despite the dismal polls, when they should have lost.

More thoughts not in the Facebook post.

Weissmann answers a question of why those who lie in pursuit of a political position can get away with it, while those who defame or defraud a person or a consumer when they know they are lying can face a jury and either jail or a large financial penalty or restitution. I always assumed the reason was the First Amendment, and it is under that umbrella that a marketplace of ideas is where winners are chosen by voters. The problem is that voters themselves may not have access or knowledge of an intentional lie to make that kind of intelligent decision, and even opponents do not have the ammunition to call them out. I also believe that there are those who, for other reasons, ignore evidence even when they know it is a lie because they have self-serving reasons and motivations to use it to accomplish other goals driven by. racial, social conformity, or economic self-interest. That issue has festered in my mind, though Weissmann tackled it and gave me pause to reconsider just passing it off as "the value of the marketplace of ideas" and people exercising their First Amendment rights. He presents some solutions to that seeming contradiction in the second half of the book..which I have yet to fully digest, but get the gist and skimmed. That part is the best grist for the law student, law professor, or the legislation drafting mill.

I was the administrator of a district attorney's consumer fraud office for nearly seven years, followed by a position in the city administration that also made me an elections official for nearly seven years. Freedom of political speech, and civil, and/or criminal consumer fraud consumed me for much of my professional years. Although I'm not a lawyer, I made an impact in that position, setting priorities and advocating for fair treatment in voting and the consumer marketplace. As AI technology and the ability to manipulate photos and videos become common, the question of lying in the political marketplace of ideas is no longer nagging, but it has an urgency to be considered and addressed. Weissmann's book is very important and timely. Weissmann drew on how other Western democracies split hairs about walking the fine line between free speech and doing harm with lies to the system or to citizens. It was not without a smile that I read his description of how Brazil treated political lies as similar to the truth-in-advertising approach in consumer protection. The penalties were to "disbar" or deny the one found guilty from running for office for x years. (US impeachment and a guilty verdict disbars forever. In the meantime, lies can be exposed by investigative reporters and congressional hearings, which explains why the midterms and who is in the majority in Congress are such high stakes to both sides in November.

On Gov Polis' granting clemency to Tina Peters sets a dangerous precedence for federal control of elections

 We have a challenge to save free and fair elections if we want to preserve democracy., Trump has other plans. Trump believes that his control over the election outcomes can be accomplished by empowering his supporters to control who gets to vote and who has the keys to tabulating the outcome of the vote across the nation. Governor Polis sets a dangerous precedent in granting clemency to Tina Peters just as Trump schemes to control the outcome of the 2026 November midterm elections. 

 Included in these Trump plans are to grab voter rolls information from states he and the GOP can use to suppress or promote the outcome, and to use federal forces to seize control of machines used by citizens to vote and the tabulation of results. This is no secret.  Trump made Tina Peters the test case and the cause celibre.  Polis just granted Trump a win and a template for how this power-preserving president thinks he can control the 2026 midterm outcome since the Colorado governor caved into Trump's demands to "free Tina Peters". Polis claimed Trump's threats did not influence his clemency grant, but it certainly appears that way and appearance counts in Trump's world.

The Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, had refused to turn over the voter information Trump had demanded and stood by the prosecution and outcome of the Peters case in the face of Trump's attempt to federalize elections, despite Constitutional provisions to the contrary. The fear is that Trump would use those rolls and the information provided to support or suppress voter turnout and results in the midterms of November 2026 to keep his control of Congress.  ​Trump administration again requests sensitive Colorado voter data, state declines | Colorado Newsline and then sued the state of Colorado.

Peters was found guilty by a jury that she gave those codes and access to a  MAGA volunteer to the voting tallying machine in defiance of state rules and state criminal law designed to. keep that from happening. She took her orders from Trump et al to "secure " the machines he issued via media. She did not take her orders from her oath to follow state laws and election procedure rules. Unlike the January 6 pardons of crimes committed under federal law, crimes committed under state laws are not subject to federal crime-related pardons.

The attempt by Trump to grab control of elections is no secret..and neither are the details of plans to do so on behalf of the GOP dominated by MAGA. Such actions Peters tried cannot go unpunished if we sincerely care about election integrity.  The issue is whether she was too harshly punished.  There was no issue about whether the jury trial and the sentencing guidelines the judge used were incorrect, or whether the findings in a trial that she committed the felony were procedurally wrong. She was found guilty of violating state laws by a correct jury, and Polis' actions did not change that fact. She had already served half of her 9 year sentence.

 At stake is the issue that the Trump argument for federal control over state voting laws is bogus, that the 2020 election was stolen. That is a false pretext. It has been 6 years, plenty of time,  for MAGA  to provide proof that it happened, and zero evidence has been found. That would have changed the outcome. Instead, this "stop the steal" pretext is not driven by a pious concern over vote integrity, but it is a strategy by Trump et al to have the party in power, his, to control the outcome of the vote count. .

 At issue is that Polis caved into threats by Trump et al to cut federal funding to federal programs for Colorado citizens if Peters were not freed.  Polis denied that it was why he "freed Peters", but it most certainly looks like it and sets a dangerous precedent that other states could also cave in and follow in the face of their resistance to the Trump power grab.

It is a warning to those of us who care about state control of elections as a way to counter a wannabe dictator from using underhanded tactics to thwart the outcome of elections he fears may not go his way.  

Felicia Muftic is a former Denver elections official

https://www.cpr.org/2026/05/15/tina-peters-sentence-shortened-jared-polis/  Excellent in-depth story and Polis' reasoning of why

​Trump administration again requests sensitive Colorado voter data, state declines | Colorado Newsline

Case is currently pending in federal court, with a decision awaited on a motion to dismiss filed by the state...per AI​

Trump threatened Colorado funding as ‘punishment’ oa  ver Tina Peters, judge finds - Democracy Docket   Snap funds defunding threatened

Beware of Novel Claims of 2020 Election Fraud | Brennan Center for Justice  On evidence of 2020 election fraud 

Tina Peters...will get a shot at reducing her jail time, though the conviction stands; update 4/16/2026

Update 4/1/6/2026  For how the Tina Peters story fits into the geater plans of the Trump regime to destroy the November 2026 midterm elecitons, go to https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/04/heads-up-pro-democracy-forces-in.html

Continuing wth the original post:

Tina Peters will get a shot at reducing her jail time, though the conviction stands.  The trial was fair and the conviction was fair, but the sentence needs review.The judge rules that her sentence does deserve a second look on the basis that her freedom of speech was impaired, but we will not know the outcome for at least 42 more days. Per NPR " So, the three options are, in 42 days if nobody appeals, Judge Barrett will do the resentencing. If somebody appeals, there’s a short period for the Supreme Court to decide if they're going to hear the case. If the answer is no, it will be sent to Judge Barrett for resentencing. If the answer is yes, we'll need to wait to hear what the Supreme Court says and they might come to a different conclusion than the Court of Appeals but we might not know that for maybe a year to a year-and-a-half.:" https://www.cpr.org/2026/04/03/district-attorney-dan-rubinstein-tina-peters-resentencing/

What Peters did was not only destroy the integrity of the count in a ruby red county because she took seriously instructions from Trump to "secure the ballots",. She then violated state ballot security rules and laws.  She secured them for sure, but she secured them for unauthorized Trump partisans and then engaged in a cover-up.  Trump has made her the martyr on behalf of his anti-voter access campaign based upon the "stop the steal" continuous lies about the 2020 campaign in order to justify his "SAVE" legislation, which will seriously restrict the ability of many to vote in the November midterms.  Trump tried to pardon her, but he could not since Peters was convicted under Colorado state laws, not federal ones, and Trump only has jurisdiction over federal convictions.  Instead, Trump engaged in a pressure campaign against Colorado, removing federal installations, federal assistance to social programs, and other attacks, putting pressure on Governor Polis to overturn her conviction or mitigate her sentence. Polis is now off the hook with this ruling. This court ruling upheld her conviction and that she had a fair trial, but did allow for a review of her sentence based upon the violation of her free speech rights.

The first amendment issue is whether the 9-year sentence was based on muzzling her advocacy post being removed from her position, or on other justifications, i.e., to prevent future clerks from doing what she did. The conviction was not overturned; only the issue is that her sentencing was affected

.https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/gov-polis-do-not-commute-tina-peters.html

SAVE us from the SAVE act

Proof of citizenship stopped for voters' requirement: Update 6/24/26  https://abcnews.com/Politics/judge-permanently-blocks-trump-eo-requiring-proof-citizenship/story?id=134175354 

SAVE us from SAVE: The radical piece of legislation before the Senate would have at least three particularly obnoxious provisions designed to keep certain groups of people from voting, or would require extraordinary efforts and money to prove citizenship. Particularly harmed by the requirement to provide citizenship would be married women, the poor, and seniors who do not have passports or cannot find or get certified copies of birth certificates, divorce, and name change papers so they match driver's licenses with a photo. ID.. It would expose personal data now held by separate states to partisan centralized federal officials, for suppression targeting methods and dirty tricks. The motivation for this piece of legislation is not to enhance vote integrity but to give the advantage to the GOP in the midterms. Trump has admitted that. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/09/congress/trump-save-america-act-gop-00819673.

Their whole premise is built on a lie that illegals voted and caused Trump to lose in 2020, for which no evidence has ever been found. https://www.cato.org/commentary/rights-bogus-claims-about-noncitizen-voting-fraud#:~:text=If%20you%20believe%20Elon%20Musk%2C,5%2C%20%E2%80%9Cthey%20are%20importing%20votertrutrum;ians.

Another excuse Trump likes to make for his loss in 2020 was that there was extensive fraud in mail-in ballots. Therefore,  his answer: only ballots received by election day should be counted...cutting out most active miliary votes or subject to the whims of the postal delivery service. Some states would have to change their already existing rules and laws to conform.  In fact, a study taken exposes Trump's claim as BS and I cannot find any evidence to the contrary.  https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mail-voting-in-the-us-data-points-to-very-low-fraud-and-significant-benefits-to-voters/

More on the SAVE attack on voters' ability to vote:

1) It would keep married women from voting if their ID does not match their birth certificate names or even passport names. (estimated 50percent of voters do not have passports). What does your driver's license have as your photo ID name? Divorce papers would also have to be produced, or legal documentation of name changes would have to be provided.

2) All of your personal information, driver's licenses, social security numbers, and personal data held by State officials would have to be handed over to the Department of Homeland Security as they search first for registered illegals, turn out ICE to "protect" their own voting interests at polling places,, and God knows whatelse it could be used for if say a dictator who may not be one you supports takes over now or in the future.

3) This federalization enables big brother government to manipulate elections to suit the outcome they want by giving them the tools to identify targeting groups or kinds of legal voters that may not support them by voting roll purges and other strategies. The beauty of the current state control of such information is that 50 states can control their data instead of one federal government, in the hands of a party or single strong leader, being able to affect the outcome and votes in elections.

.

The premise used to rationalize this legislation is stopping illegals from voting, a line MAGA has swallowed whole without any thought or care about evidence. For over 6 years, proof of the"steal" of the 2020 vote has been investigated, rejected by courts and hearings, and never proved. It is still just a theory to excuse a loss or a suspicion. Never mind, keeping certain voters from voting is a political strategy that MAGA embraces because they see a political advantage for them in the midterms. Heads up MAGA. You may not always be in control of the Oval Office, Congress, or the judiciary. What happens if the shoe is on the other foot, and the people you consider to be political enemies are now in power?

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/the-key-to-protecting-fair-and-free.html

If the Trump regime tries destroy Colorado's vote integrity in 2026 a buzz saw awaits

Update 1/30/2026  FBI raid in Georgia has little legal basis – but serves Trump’s goal to weaken trust in election results | Georgia | The Guardian    Why now? FBI raid in Georgia has little legal basis – but serves Trump’s goal to weaken trust in election results | Georgia | The Guardian Why now? Here is why, as the British press tries to explain this to its readers. It is to undermine our faith in the integrity of our voting. My comment: This kind of action constitutes an attempt to create a pretext for federal takeover and control of elections by separate states. The beauty of having elections controlled separately by each of the 50 states is the protection it provides from just a tyrannical wannabe who wants to control who can vote and the outcome of the vote. The tyrant may succeed in a state or two, but not in the entire nation. It is a matter that may both suit an egomaniac power-mad tyrant, but it also serves to try to shape public opinion to accept the end of our ability to trust that our elections are free and fair, the fundamental undermining of democracy that is a government of, by, and for the people, regardless of whoever sits in the Oval Office. All voters of any affiliation must understand that there is an effort to make sure your voice expressed in a vote can be ignored and you no longer count in determining who governs you if this trust is broken and breaking the trust is what such actions like the Fulton raid is also about. Note: Felicia Muftic is a former Denver elections official who holds trust in the integrity of elections sacred.

Update 1/29/2026: Trump's obsession with the 2020 elections, an attempt to prove it was stolen 6 years later, and his FBI raid on the Fulton County, Georgia, voting records could be attributed to an out-of-control personality quirk of an egomaniac who never admits a loss, or worse. Trump looks like he has an obsession with rewriting history to fit a false narrative and to justify anti democratic power grabs.. In recent history, communists and fascists, from Hitler to Mao, have used this propaganda tactic.

What is most scary about this is that there is a concerted drive to undermine fair and free elections more easily by putting voter records kept separately by 50 states per the Constitutiion into the hands a federal control and to set up the acceptance of a FBI loyal only to the president to undertake such similar actions to do so in the future, including November 2026 and 2028. Political scientist Jason Stanley warned about this in his recent book.Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future: Stanley, Jason: 9781668056912: Amazon.com: Books

FBI searches Atlanta election office, chasing Trump 2020 vote fraud claims | Reuters

Continuing with original post:

The Trump regime is threatening to hurt Colorado voter integrity in November.  The Colorado Secretary of State is ready protect our vote from the Trump attempt to federalize voter counts and elections in direct contradiction to the Constitution. Expect Trump et al will try to keep Colorado's vote from being counted, as well as any blue states,  throwing the results of who gets the majority in Congress into chaos and dispute. They will meet a buzz saw if they try such tricks on Colorado. Colorado has a plan and backup plans. 

Threat of force won’t change Colorado secretary of state’s mind on voter rolls, mail-in ballots 

Trump's false pretense of such dirty tricks is still: the 2020 election was stolen because all of those illegals voted and mail-in votes are all a fraud, their propagandists and a delusional Trump claim.. In over 6 years, such attempts to prove these claims have failed. They think if they can get voters' personal information, they can prove their pretext, the Constitution provisions delegating elections to states be hanged. The DOJ has requested Colorado’s voter rolls, including driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers, and is attempting to change the post office delivery terms of mail-in ballots to be counted by local officials.  There may be hope as a federal judge blocked the DOJ request for Oregon 1/27/26. Federal judge blocks Trump DOJ access to Oregon voter rolls

  This Trumpian scheme smells like a pretext to keep the House in GOP hands by throwing the 2026 midterms into chaos.  In the longterm, it is also a way to put the control of elections in the hands of the federal government over vote outcomes, voter participation, and election results.  If Trump and his administration can't win one way (the predictions are he will lose control of the House), they will find another way, and this one is ugly.  It will mean the end of fair and free elections that we can trust.

Why does Trump seem not to care he facing plunging polls and a loss of the House in November?

Updated: 3/1/ 2026 Whether the Iran attack will change Trump's approval ratings by November or influence the outcome of the midterms is yet a matter of speculation, but there will be time for the longer-term impact to be revealed and felt. That ridding the world of the odious Iranian leadership in power until a day ago was indeed an impressive display of the US and Israel's military/intelligence capability, but whether what follows is an improvement in the West's eyes is a gamble. If the US gets involved on the ground in another forever war will be seen as a failure of Trump's foreign policy and military strategy.

 That Trump does not care a whit what even his followers think,  nor even making a serious attempt to make a clear case in the leadup to the attack, is a further sign that Trump thinks he is a dictator who can ignore polls, public opinion, war powers acts, and commit a reversal of promises not to get in the mud mire of mid -east wars. The initial reaction by Trump's supporters in Congress is that they are happy to continue to anoint him as "their" dictator and to give up their own power to benefit his lust for more and more power.

Updated: 2/3/2026

Polls today, nearly all of them, show Trump's approval is sinking into Nixon territory, and nearly 60% of Americans disapprove of his top issues: immigration, affordability, and land grabs of foreign territories. He is already brushing off the loss of the House this November. Why does he seem not to care that voters feel the pain, and instead, just doubles down? He seems in a hurry to get revenge and punish his enemies and is engaged in stuffing his personal wealth with crypto converted to dollars and exchange fees while the getting is good. He is acting like a deranged fascist dictator gorging himself in a candy shop and satiating an appetite that craves for more and more power and control, domestic and abroad, and getting away with it before he is stopped in November: Why? He keeps issuing executive orders that he treats like they are the law, but that are blatantly unconstitutional. He counts on court delays and appeals to give him time and let him keep on violating the Constitution. He is hinting at calling off even the November 2026 and 2028 elections or confiscating ballot boxes, or declaring some national emergency or a cooked-up insurgency, as a pretext for military occupation.  Observers fear he is hoping that the streets turn so ugly he can use ICE as a pretext to invoke the insurrection act, using military,  and his ICE paramilitary, even Joe Rogan calls it a Gestapo,  funded and in place and able to act as his personal army. Why?  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump wants to GOP nationalize elections and control the vote count: that's what dictators do

 Why has this happened? 

(1). First and foremost, there is no one or no way to stop Trump's lust for power, and he knows it.  He has whipped Congress into subservience as they cower in fear of crossing him. Court rulings? He just figures a way around them and keeps on enforcing and executing his orders while the courts delay, delay, delay decisions and hear appeals upon appeals.  He may even ignore court rulings if there is an insurgency, he hinted to the New York Times recently. He believes he has the power to do it. Update 1 20 2026: A comprehensive report of how Trump and conservative GOP leaders are turning America into a unitary form of governement. (Unitary form: all power to the executive with eliminating checks and balances of the legislature and judiciary...( That in my view is a polite description of an autocracy) Trump Tests Presidential Power: Venezuela Operation, Iran Bombing and More - The New York Times

 (2)  He is a lame duck who will never have to face angry voters again, so he can ignore them, even those in his own party.

(3)"His" Supreme Court gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, so breaking the law is of no concern to him.

.(4) He is counting on his partisan loyalists of about 40% of all adults polled, to keep him going and have his back. 

(5) Update: 1/27/2026 He is planning some dirty tricks to disenfranchise votes of citizens in blue states...and especially in Colorado. Trump's attempt to federalize voter counts and elections in direct contradiction to the Constitution. Expect Trump et al will try to keep Colorado's vote from being counted, as well as any blue states,  throwing the results of who gets the majority in Congress into chaos and dispute. They will meet a buzz saw if they try such tricks on Colorado. Colorado has a plan and backup plans. Threat of force won’t change Colorado secretary of state’s mind on voter rolls, mail-in ballots   

Tump's false pretense of such dirty tricks is still: the 2020 election was stolen because all of those illegals voted and mail-in votes are all a fraud, their propagandists and a deluded Trump claim.. In over 6 years such attempts to prove these claims have failed. They think if they can get voters' personal information, they can prove their pretext.  In reality, this is just a pretext to keep themselves in power by throwing the 2026 midterms into chaos.   

 What to do; what to do, hand wringers? The only way to stop two more years of this is still an overwhelming vote and kicking out his political allies up and down the ballot in the midterms. In the meantime, angry voters have to deny Trump a fascist style pretext for such a military-like takeover of democracy by keeping their protests peaceful, large, and focusing on voter registration and turnout. FYI: an insurrection is not peaceful protestors nor even a handful of violent protestors...but Trump threatens to invoke the insurrection act, nonetheless. Those threats will go nowhere if the protests remain peaceful.

 In the meantime, cool it, hot heads, you who want to vent anger with violence.  As Minnesota officials say, "Don't take the bait". ICE hopes you do lose self-control and become violent. They will then have a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act and oppress you with overwhelming military-like force. As they escalate their violent behavior, they are provoking you to answer in kind. Don't. If you play this right, your day will come to oust these MAGA. The real power, the opinions of the majority of the people, is the force that is already with you. So is a federal judge. Don't mess it up. 

Judge Restricts Immigration Agents’ Actions Toward Minnesota Protesters - The New York Times Renee Good killing is the straw that broke the camel's back. Judge clamps down on ICE actions to suppress Minneapolis protesters exercising their constitutional rights with flash bangs, pepper spray, chemical agents, and excessive force by combat-ready ICE paramilitary-garbed agents... We are not yet a militarized police state working on behalf of a government leadership determined to get its way by any means, including violence. Let's see if this gets appealed or ignored.

These ICE are not patriots or just police. They are a masked paramilitary, claiming they are a law enforcement agency, while using excessive force techniques to take down their targets and use violent weapons of crowd control, inflaming, not de-escalating, being overtly racist, targeting those who are brown or looks like a migrant, in a way that would have gotten local policemen fired, suspended, prosecuted, and even imprisoned. The agents wear masks and display no badge numbers, so citizens cannot hold individual agents accountable. Their leader claims they have total immunity from prosecution and conceals evidence that could lead to prosecution, even for murder. Wearing masks makes them look fierce and threatening as well. No local police agency condones this.  

Here is the real value of organizations like Indivisible and 50501. They give the opposition cover and safety in numbers,, and give them the guts, non-violent techniques, and the discipline to stand up peacefully. They provide a non-party-based outlet, support, and protest opportunity for disaffected GOP members, independent,  unaffiliated voters, and Democrats dissatisfied with their own party's leadership.  The tent of these groups is welcoming, with room for a wide variety of ideologies and public policy issues.   They have the ability with vast lists of activists and their emails, leaders trained,  ready, able, and willing to galvanize voters in November. This is not the MLK civil rights movement of 50 or so years ago, but it is similar in its spirit, and it has drawn on many of the same peaceful and effective techniques of protest. The Indivisible types of protesters know from their education what kind of democracy we have and why it is so valuable. They know the difference between our kind of democracy and dictatorships. They have also inspired other organizations, grassroots, and neighborhood groups to adopt their same techniques, so it is creating a movement that goes far beyond the influence of the Indivisible lists of participants. 

 Sometimes polls do not get the complete picture if they fail to ask the right questions: I looked at the most recent one at the beginning of February.  The question of whether you believe Trump is damaging democracy was not asked....or even if that was an issue in some rankings. The closest to testing that is do you approve of Trump's job or performance? When asked that way, Trump's slide is only from 49% to 45%, yet the special election results show a decisive shift in the matter of 15 or more points.  Something is not adding up and there seems to be a disconnect between polling and voter action.

  Trump approval rating falls across every major issue in new poll   Here is another view by a heavyweight think tank taken before the Minneapolis murders. This one says the reason for the shifts in job approval is that Trump is losing blocks of voters who voted for him in 2024: young voters, independents, Hispanics. As President Trump loses support, Republican prospects in the 2026 midterms grow darker | Brookings  Such polls must give Trump comfort that his job approval has not fallen before 40% (usually below 40% signals real trouble). 

What gives Trump discomfort is  what happens in November 2026 could very likely shift Congress blue, opening him up to impeachment (again) and trimming his budget wings, as well as stopping ICE's cruel dragnet approach that sweeps up and imprisons non-criminals, legal immigrants with no criminal records, and even American citizens.  Doing it cruelly and trampling civil rights seems part of their plan now.. 

Trump is rightly correct in pointing out he is not on the ballot in November, and that is why he is likely lose Congress in any case. The other way he can get around this is if he tries to interfere with our elections using dirty tricks he has up his sleeve as feared in terms of takeover of the election process nationally..Another factor will be how many protesters marching in the street are increasing to over 3.5% of the voters (12 million), usually a threshold of success for peaceful protests successfully causing regime change elsewhere in the world per political scientists studying that history, though even smaller percentages have been successful. .  The Minneapolis effect could well boost the ranks of marching protesters to that level. The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world | Harvard Kennedy School

 As much as the Trump regime tries to say these are paid agitators and organizers, they are fooling themselves and MAGA. Without millions themselves realizing they are the only way to stop this wannabe dictator, since the guardrails against such have failed, Indivisible could never have succeeded in turning out so many, mostly white, educated middle-class people of all ages.  The participants have been willing to risk Trump's threats and abuse of power, "screw their courage to a sticking post" (Shakespeare) all across America, and for many, for the first time in their lives, to get out and march in support of democracy. They know a wannabe King, tyrant, dictator when they see one because they remember what they learned about the history of the 1930s  in Europe, the 1950's to current times in South America, and how ordinary people suffered under such rule, causing many to flee their home countries to western democracies. (There is a reason the migrants are not hordes flowing to such dictatorships.) They see it happening here and now.  Above all, they are a pro-democracy force that wants to preserve the kind of democracy we have had for 250 years, of, by, and for the people  (not of, by, and for a one-man, small minority,  or oligarchic ruler). They know about such dictatorships that, once in power, they only care enough to trickle down just enough to the masses to keep them from violently revolting. The rest of the tax benefits and grift is for their personal lifestyles and the causes that serve them. The goal of such autocrats is to stay in power by whatever means, including violence.  

CNN poll: Democrats are deeply motivated for the midterms despite having dismal views of party leaders

 

Are Trump's supporters getting what they want from his second term? Here's what a new poll shows

A post from mid December which  dives deeper into why and what of Trump's brand of fascism, or whatever you call how he is acting. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: My nagging question: why does fascism keep raising its ugly head

A post written in October: MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What is MAGA? Whatever you call it, it is not conservative, but something else.

Why are ICE agents so prone to violence and so dedicated to taking down anyone who looks like a migrant. Look at who they are recruiting. Whatever could go wrong? . The US government seems to have a clear message for white nationalists | CNN Politics

Grocery price inflation end of 2025: up 2.4 percent  tariff role per an ABC news report.Grocery inflation is picking up, defying Trump's claims. Here's why.

Gas prices at pump..just below $3 per gallon; mid Jan 2026 AAA Fuel Prices  Not..below $2 per gal as Trump claims.

Housing price inflation:Housing price inflation, 1967→2026

Energy cost inflation: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/21/why-electricity-prices-are-surging-for-us-households.html#:~:text=Electricity%20prices%20are%20rising%20quickly,the%20electric    Nearly 5% in 2025

Alive and active: voter suppression and the big lie. updated notes

Update 7 2025  In my own Grand County, Colorado, an election denier was elected county clerk and the Secretary of State had to take action in 2024. She had broken the protocol required to protect the chain of evidence and failed to affix seals. Missing seals in 2024 led Secretary of State’s Office to enact oversight on Grand County elections | SkyHiNews.com

With alarm, national and state GOP organizations have been taken over by-election deniers.  It is suspected that they are laying the groundwork to protest the 2024 presidential elections should Donald Trump lose again. It almost worked in 2020, so expect the same playbook in 2024. The same lie has a new use, not only to find an excuse for Trump's loss and the justification for the Jan.6 insurrection but now to become part of a scheme. The Election Deniers’ Playbook for 2024 | Brennan Center for Justice

   https://news.yahoo.com/election-deniers-taken-over-rnc-152548092.html

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Colorado county clerks revolt against GOP election denialism pressure

 One of the puzzles is that voters have less confidence in results in federal elections than they do in their state and local elections.  States use the same methods for all candidates, federal and state, and do not have separate systems or totals in votes cast for federal and another for state/county. This means that the myth that the 2020 election was stolen has its believers, and fear tactics regarding that have been effective. It also means something unusual has happened or could happen in specific elections that rigged the outcome.  Nothing widespread was ever found, but there have been prosecutions in Colorado in specific counties, Mesa, where the local county clerk was accused of giving specific access to her partisans to tinker with the machine's hard drives and now is facing a federal trial for that.  https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/08/tina-peters-federal-suit-rejected/      The conspiracy theories regarding Dominium Voting systems have likewise been debunked, and it cost those who promoted those false theories a bundle of money: https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe

Cheer up non- MAGAs : Iowa GOP still believing the big lie will hit a buzz saw

Snapshot January 2024:  Some day in the general election,  2020 election deniers will hit a buzz saw and will learn that they may rule their small roost, but they are only 30% of the total if current statistics hold true.  

Poll: Majority of Iowa GOP caucus-goers don’t believe Biden legitimately won in 2020 - The Washington Post

Jan. 6 poll: Republicans more loyal to Trump, rioters who stormed Capitol - The Washington Post

Trump supporters are FOXated. New poll reveals the sheer extent to which Fox News viewers remain loyal to Trump | CNN Business

Updated 3 17 2024 No court of law examining the question in sworn testimony or "forensic audits" paid for and conducted by Trump partisans found enough evidence of fraud that would have overturned the last election. There is no proof to the contrary other than anecdotal stories that represent enough of such fraud to make a difference.  Voter integrity in Colorado rests on mail-in and paper ballots, which provide a paper trail to investigate charges of voter fraud. The State has also enacted tighter controls against voter fraud in recent legislative sessions.  A study was commissioned in 2022 by the Colorado Secretary of State to examine voter attitudes and experiences https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/elections/ElectionIntegrity/20220418NASEDDisinformationMDMPresentation.pdf

One of the puzzles is that voters have less confidence in results in federal elections than they do in their state and local elections.  States use the same methods for all candidates, federal and state, and do not have separate systems or totals in votes cast for federal and another for state/county. This means that the myth that the 2020 election was stolen has its believers, and fear tactics regarding that have been effective. It also means something unusual has happened or could happen in specific elections that rigged the outcome.  Nothing widespread was ever found, but there have been prosecutions in Colorado in specific counties, Mesa, where the local county clerk was accused of giving specific access to her partisans to tinker with the machine's hard drives and now is facing a federal trial for that.  https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/08/tina-peters-federal-suit-rejected/      The conspiracy theories regarding Dominium Voting systems have likewise been debunked, and it cost those who promoted those false theories a bundle of money: https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe

Heads up, Democrats. Your case for democracy needs some help.

  Heads up, Democrats. Your case for democracy needs some help. Donald Trump is now positioning himself to try for a second term in 2024.   Democrats are asleep at the wheel if they assume naturally they will win because they support our traditional democracy and Trump is a wannabe autocrat.  Recent polls should be a wake-up alarm.  Republicans are far more passionate about believing democracy is under attack than Democrats.  . The question that should be put to voters in 2022 and 2024 is "in what kind of a country do we want to live in the future? Is it the democracy as we have known it or an autocracy?"  If Democrats make a strong case for democracy that contrasts the damage autocracies do to the freedom of voters to get their voices heard, the response should be clearly "democracy we have known". The follow-up response then would be " to vote the Trumpists out". However, making a strong case for Democrats' kind of democracy is still a work in progress and is not a done deal. The two political parties do not live on the same planet because democracy means different things to different partisans.  Simply calling Trumpists fascists or autocrat lovers meant as slurs is not enough. Simply shouting we are the ones for true democracy by and for the people and the other side is not is also not enough.  The astute  Trump opponents fear Trump wants to turn  US democracy into an autocracy, a fascist. who wants to keep opponents from voting by any means. Trump's supporters see Trump as a defender of democracy protecting us from voter fraud with "voter integrity laws".  What we will be facing in 2022 and 2024 is which ones of these views of democracy wins out.  Even more dire a question is" do we want to give  forces of autocracy more time and ability to consolidate their  power ?"

Truimpsters respond that liberals are trying to turn the US into a socialist state with the Biden agenda and socialism means the end of democracy. 

I was asked on another site via a meme by a Trumpster, if socialism is so great, why did not the central American migrants go to Venezuela? Here is my answer: Because dictatorships come in all ideologies,, fascism to communism, and stops in between. They are by their nature corrupt, favoring cronies or demographics who put them in office and will keep them there. If you are not one of "them", you have no rights or ability to keep them in check, or peacefully overturn them. They are not a government based on ability but based on the whims of one ruler. That is why you hear liberals calling Trump a wannabe dictator and an autocrat. Some call him a fascist because dictatorships in cahoots with big capitalism is the definition of fascism. So far as Venezuela is concerned, and to a lesser extent, Russia, both countries used oil revenue money to buy the favor of the group that would support them. ..When the price of oil crashed, so did their ability to bring the same continued prosperity to the groups that supported them. In Russia's case, Putin is not threatened by the middle class he favored, but because absolute power corrupts absolutely his villas and self-financial dealing and the oligarchs who enable him have created an opposition using whatever few democratic tools they had left...It sometimes takes years for demagogues to become dictators, but suppression of opposition via abusing democratic institutions is more likely in current history than the old way of military coups and revolution. The problem is dictators can come to power and slowly suppress opponents so that when they realize what has happened, it is too late for the people to act. Even those wannabe dictators who truly think they are the best thing that happened to their country begin to enjoy the power, privilege, and monetary rewards, and then they do even more to suppress any opposition. That includes total control of media so that opposition messages cannot get exposure, throwing opposition leaders into jail on some pretext, controlling the mechanisms of voting, using threats of force and using the military to crack down on domestic opponents, stacking the judiciary with cronies, and turning the legislature into a bunch of yes nodding heads, using those tactics.

Democrats on cable news often view the Trumpian threat as a rabid fringe cult. Here is why Democrats need to be more seriously alarmed bout Trumpism. The majority of voters may be mildly agreeing  Trumpism is anti-democratic., but unless Democrats convince more independents and disaffected Republicans to join them, it is not a given they will .win. The country is just too closely divided and the election process has been manipulated to favor the Trumpians.  Red and purple states are passing voter suppression laws and maximizing gerrymandering. The red states are giving their partisan-dominated legislatures the power to count votes and overturn the popular vote if they do not like the outcome.  So much of the issue revolves around what Democrats call "the big lie" that Trump won, not Biden, in spite of no evidence.  Democrats point to court cases and other evidence that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 vote. 

A mid-September poll should be a warning to Democrats .. .CNN Poll: Most Americans feel democracy is under attack in the US - CNNPolitics   75 % of Republicans say democracy is under attack, compared with 46% of Democrats....  .   Among Republicans, 78% say that Biden did not win and 54% believe there is solid evidence of that, despite the fact that no such evidence exists.".Even the recent fiasco in the "Arizona forensic audit" conducted by their own GOP contracted Cyber Ninjas concluded that Biden won. That has not changed Trump's rhetoric to his devoted rally attendees immediately after the story was reported pointing to" what about" and " what ifs" while, counting on the ignorance of their supporters of the election systems and safeguards already in force.to believe him.  Republicans still claim they are the ones who protect traditional democracy from cheaters now and in the future and the Democrats are the ones stealing it. Even if the elections system "ain't broke", they still want to fix it to their advantage. The good news in that CNN poll is that when  Americans as a whole are polled, only " 36% of Americans say that President Joe Biden did not legitimately get enough votes to win the presidency. That 36% includes 23% who falsely say there is solid evidence that Biden did not win and 13% who say that is their suspicion only.".36% is a minority view, but it is a large minority and the battle is not over. The minority of the popular vote still can win control over the majority voters depending on which state the vote is close.  Current forecasts are that Republicans will win back their majorities in Congress in 2022 and that Trump will still be the leading GOP candidate in 2024. Democrats need to do more than just win; they need to win big. It still takes more than simple majority wins of popular votes by Democrats in close elections to offset the success GOP-dominated state legislatures have had in gerrymandering House districts to their advantage and discouraging the other side from voting. The Senate is already 50-50, and one race could tilt the balance one way or the other. 

When Democrats hail democracy and Republicans fear for democracy's vote integrity, they are not even talking about the same reality. Reality is shaped by demagogues, lies,  media, and individual experiences. . The problem is explaining this difference in the practice of democracy in terms of life experiences instead of abstract concepts. Autocracy and fascism are political science kinds of words, easier to pronounce than concepts to grasp or explain in a battle of persuasion of independents, who can swing elections. Fascism is used more of an insult, but it is a dictatorship with capitalists as their partners and supporters, instead of communists. Its history with Hitler evokes emotions,, but being called a Nazi is still unnecessarily inflammatory, even if the shoe fits.

The challenge to Democrats then is to put their views of democracy in the context of something meaningful to those who are not hardcore Trumpists  Perhaps one approach is "   Your vote may not even count because the  GOP is now in the hands of Trumpists who are making it hard for you to vote and be counted, especially if you are an assumed vote for the other candidate.  " For example, the laws being passed by legislatures in red states are permitting legislatures to overturn the popular voter election results. Also officials determining which votes are counted are being put in partisans' hands instead of separately elected election administrators. 

The beauty of democracy as we have known it for 250 years is that the will of the majority of people determines the direction of the country while protecting the rights of the minority views to be able to make their case to the public and win a future election. This is thanks to the observed First Amendment freedoms of peaceful assembly and media independence and derivative civil rights laws and amendments.  Putting this in more understandable popular terms, defenders could say  "Continued existence of our kind of democracy is threatened if allegiance is pledged to a ruler who is a person because they are given the power in terms in office to twist it to maintain and increase their personal power and control.". For example, those treasured protections can be circumvented by biased interpretation, appointments of loyalists,  and selective enforcement of laws .. That would be the case up and down federal, state, and local governments in legislative, executive, and judicial power centers. It is very possible to happen within the next few years unless voters stop it when they still have a chance.  As Ben Franklin has been quoted often. When exiting the Constitutional Convention, he said" We have a republic if we can keep it". We. the people, that's us, still have an opportunity to keep it by electing those who are pledged to keeping it. 

 Just promoting the value of the rule of law and an independent judiciary instead of a rule of a person needs to be put into terms of how this impacts people. For example Transitions of power to new winners had been peaceful until January 6, 2021, when even then the Constitution held in the end as the electoral count was certified. "Do you want a violent coup attempt after every election? Is that the kind of America you want?  January 6 was a close call. Do you want more of this in the future? There is no guarantee that peaceful transitions will be the situation forever. It depends who you elect to power"..

 The key to rule of the Consitution's longevity has been mutual respect by all parties to the rule of law until now. It has never been pledging loyalty to the rule of a person who determines how laws are interpreted and who enforces the law for the benefit of the ruler's loyalists. Those are the evil practices our founders had revolted against, the rule by such a tyrant. While the GOP tried to appoint enough judges they wanted to federal courts and the supreme court, even their appointees swore loyalty to the law while leaning to a more conservative ideology. They ruled in every instance that there was no evidence of the election being stolen. That independence of the judiciary is not a guarantee if both the legislative and executive branches are in the hands of a wannabe autocrat/dictator who can manipulate the provisions of existing laws and rules to replace vacancies with his loyalists he can depend on ruling as he wants.. One term in power is not enough to complete the takeover. Two terms could get an autocrat closer to there.  Is this the country we want in the future?

 The current attacks on Trump's anti-democratic tendencies have been limited to calling him an "autocrat" ..  That is far too gentle an approach, yet calling him a fascist creates its own hysteria, no matter how true it is.  Perhaps one way without getting in the weeds is to tag Trump as fear and hate rouser who wants to be a one-man ruler who tried to use the active military and judges appointments and federal prosecutors and inspiring violent actions to get his way. That sounds more like a wannabe dictator who wants another term in power to complete his agenda.   That is never what this country was about. " Our political future will not be a corrupt one favoring his cronies if he wins. Is this the country you want?"  

Biden's approach has been to make a case for democracy because it can get things done. He is demonstrating it by getting legislation passed that helps the middle class and lays the groundwork for a more prosperous future.  That is well and good since it demonstrates "he cares about me" and deflects the old "what have you done for me lately" cynical view of voters, But it is also backhandedly admitting that "autocracies" can also get it done, if not for everyone, but at least for their loyal supporters.  That is not enough of a plea to support the kind of democracy we have had for the past 250 years. Trump has always believed that the greater motivation in politics is "fear".  Democrats need to throw that back at him ...that "more of him will lead to chaos and conflict, and the loss of popular will expressed in a ballot box with his big lies and restrictive rights for those who oppose him.  Is this the kind of America we want for our future?"  There will always be those who are radical and fanatical enough to answer "yes, bring it on".  The task for those who want to keep the form of democracy we have had for 250 years is to keep them an even smaller minority of the electorate. 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/gop-grave-threat-american-democracy/618693/