Trump's lies about the 2020 elections are a false pretense used to justify voter suppression. tactics

 One of the most consequential lies Trump ever told has become the foundation of his attempt to get and keep himself in power. The lie was that the 2020 election was stolen. It has become a pretense, a false pretense, to justify the suppression of the ability of those voters assumed to be in political opposition to Trump, including justifying threats to put armed ICE agents at polling places in the midterms. After 6 years of commissions, ninjas, special counsels, and his own DOJ-controlled administration using all the powers they have, they never found enough to even show probable cause or evidence to justify more digging to keep keepi the myth alive. A particular case in point: even Trump's administration could not come up with enough evidence, or even questionable evidence by pro-Trump biased researchers, to show that enough non-citizens voted to have changed any outcome. https://www.pbs.org/.../trump-says-these-documents-prove...

Yet it is still a MAGA mantra and Trump's signal slogan, and to repeat such lies is the verification of loyalty to the MAGA cause. An approach, which includes the lie about non-citizens voting, serves two purposes: it appeals to those within the Trump base who are white nationalists, as well as those still approving the SAVE bill who still believe that election fraud committed by Democrats is rampant (lack of evidence be damned). https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/white-christian-nationalism-has-taken.html

This lie has become the rationale for ICE excess and mass deportations of even non-criminals, and for threats to put their icy stare and war-grade visages at swing-state polling places to scare off even rightful citizen immigrants from voting or snatch them into custody for even looking like a suspect. For that reason, the Denver Clerk and Recorder and Latina groups are suing the federal government to prevent armed ICE agents at polling places because they would intimidate legitimate voters trying to cast a ballot at a polling place. It would have a "chilling" effect.

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/09/10/denver-sues-trump-to-block-armed-ice-agents-from-polling-sites/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/01/trump-homeland-security-markwayne-mullin-polling

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-elephant-in-room-of-colorado.html

Trump's lies about the election machines causing the election loss were repeated by FOX host Maria Bartiromo and others, and it cost FOX $787 million when they were sued for defamation and lost in court. 6 years later, that suit appeared to have figured into Bartiromo's "firing" when the FOX brass cautioned FOX hosts to steer clear of comments on election fraud and Trump claims...and the memo got back to the Trump staff, with the leak traced to Bartiromo, per The New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/business/media/maria-bartiromo-fox-news.html

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

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.

Coalition politics? A rare word in American political science could help Harris.

Updated and revised: 9/6/2024 to reflect a day of breaking news

A loose coalition of unified Democrats with anti-Trump, pro-democracy Republican voters may be where Harris has the best chance of finding enough votes to win in November. A pro-democracy coalition is beginning to gel, and the potential is significant.  This is coalition politics American style, but the term "coalition" is not usually on the tip of our tongues. Still, about 18% of voters have not made up their minds, per a New York Times report of polls, and demographically, in critical swing states, they are more male, young, white, and less well-educated than the average voter, which favors Trump. The disaffected registered Republicans are Harris's better potential for a win. They tend to be better educated and moderate and understand and fear Trump's aspiration for a dictatorship, a sentiment shared with Democrats.

 This election is still up for grabs, and Harris has reason to call herself an underdog. The coalitions, as always,  in the US will be resolved intraparty before November 5,   forced by time and structure set state-by-state election-related laws to resolve their issues within the two-party system months before the actual presidential vote. This differs from European parliamentary coalition politics, where coalitions are decided after the national vote between parties, and those in the winning coalition keep their party affiliations and choose their nation's prime minister. 

The orphaned "Haley voters" are estimated to be about 20 to 25% of registered Republicans. They are still sorting themselves about whether to sit this election out, vote for Harris, or revert to party loyalty even though the party is not like old times.  The money and GOP apparatus are clearly in the hands of MAGA, so those Republicans still toying with how they will vote will be a matter of many individuals making the same decisions on their own if they are to be significant in the final outcome. So much will depend on the the debate on September 10. In some polls, about a quarter of Republicans are showing favorable opinions of Harris, but that does not mean they will vote for her. They will have to put country over party and feel comfortable doing it. Harris has a chance to make them feel comfortable in that debate. 

I do not recall anything like that happening in our recent extremely polarized climate and a 50-50 division. One reason for this phenomenon is MAGA's reversing policies and values held by GOP's long-time party loyalists as defined by Ronald Reagan. (strong defense and alliances, free trade, rule of laws and order, while supporting traditional elements of libertarianism, keeping government out of private lives, low taxes favoring big business, trickle-down economics, low debt, and minimum government spending on social aid services). The traditional Republicans holding onto these beliefs have been depowered and roughly identified as the " Haley voters", dissidents to be dissed and Trump has treated them as such. Their numbers are estimated to be around a quarter of registered Republicans. Ironically, Nikki Haley herself tepidly stayed loyal to Trump. However, he never has made use of this fealty, while others, like the Cheneys, put fear of the Trump threat to democracy above party. On the other hand, Harris has moderated some positions to become more centrist and said she will include Republicans in her cabinet. She gets it.

The coalitions, as always,  in the US will be resolved intraparty before November 5,   forced by time and structure set state-by-state election-related laws usually to resolve their issues within the two-party system months before the actual presidential vote. Third parties and RFK Jr have already become non-factors in 2024 or have already aligned themselves with Trump or not. Political parties are not even mentioned in the Constitution. FYI Their institutions are protected by laws and legislation and the First Amendment. 

Liz Cheney's announcement on 9/4/24 that she and her former vice president's father, icons of traditional conservatism,  would vote for Harris because of Trump's threat to democracy is very significant. Later, Dick Cheney issued a confirming statement. Their evolution of thought began with what happened on January 6. Liz Cheney also announced support for Colin Allred (D-TX) running for Senate to unseat GOP Texas senator Ted Cruz. Cheney was giving a permission slip for those feeling like her to get the guts to go public and vote for Harris (and Allred), even if they had planned to vote their feelings in the privacy of the ballot box. The Democrats threw out the welcome mat. VP candidate Tim Walz reclaimed the flag and patriotism for Democrats. At the Democrat National Convention, even mention of John McCain's name got cheers, and speaker reference to Ronald Reagan got sincere respect.   Democrats similarly fear Trump would try to turn us into a dictatorship on behalf of white Christian extreme nationalists. The progressive left tolerated it and pragmatically joined in a unified party. A loose pro-democracy coalition of shared spirit was formed.  Disaffected Republicans and Democrats agree with enough issues and ignore others to make it possible. Whether this is a permanent coalition and/or party re-alignment is yet to be seen, but it is certainly a possible game-changer for November 2024, where margins are slim and every vote counts.   

Liz  Cheney also upped the ante on branding Trump and Vance when she called them "misogynistic pigs".   It also got Lia Cheney's dander up, too.  She called Trump and Vance "misogynist pigs"

 In another profound switcheroo but less impactive, Trump finally admitted openly that the 2020 election was not stolen. The big lie was indeed a big lie, it appears. That will have a very limited impact on the immediate upcoming November election. The Trump plans to screw up and turn the election into chaos are already in place in swing states. Whether a violent mob can re-enact January 6 is more unlikely to happen if they realize they were just Trump's pawns bought in a store of lies. Nick Fuentes, the insurgent violent mob leader, expressed his anger at Trump for lying to him.   This will not cause violent militiamen to lay down their arms, but it might dampen their participation in a January 6 repeat. MAGA already has their election-denying administrator loyalists in place to gum up the election, and facts and truth never seemed to dampen their support of Trump in the past. The "stolen"  line was more of a code and cover for their anger and frustrations to which Trump appealed.

. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/09/05/trump-admits-lost-2020-enrages-supporters/75086053007/

https://apnews.com/article/harris-cheny-duke-university-liz-dick-55852b4dffc447413616a01b6a38c920

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/former-republican-vice-president-dick-cheney-vote-harris/story?id=113467122

Hot air or a real threat to democracy by Trump: Vote for him He will fix it so no need to be engaged in the next election?.

Was this hot air or another real threat to democracy by Trump in his recent speech to a Christian right-wing political group on July 27?.   Trump:  If elected, Christian-related agenda will be "fixed" so much so that they would no longer need to be politically engaged."You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."  Is this as bad as it sounds? Yes.  It could be seen as a threat to democracy in a couple of  ways

1)  Trump's "fix" speech was an ear-splitting dog whistle, a way to infer a promise of his implementation of an unpopular Christian right-wing agenda without being so obvious about it or addressing the details that would alarm other voters. 

 2) The votes of those opposing them would be suppressed or overturned.  Does he mean free and fair elections representing the will of the people, the fundamental characteristic of a democracy, will be "fixed" so it would not exist in the future?   This "fix" fits with another quotable slip of his tongue:" I will be a dictator on day one." 

 It is not puffery. Trump has credible plans to"fix"  both implementations of the policies and the election process. Project 2025 contains a plan for Trump to replace career service employees and appointees with loyalists and those who pass a litmus test approved by extremely conservative Christians, as well as implement the public policies they want with or without legislation. Trump's 2024 campaign promises and the Heritage Foundation all have plans for overturning the majority vote by such means as successfully carrying off the fake elector scheme in 2028 (JD Vance pledges to do what Pence failed to do if he is VP in 2028)  while undermining faith in the election's legitimacy with the "big lie", a redux of 2020.  https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gop-group-project-2025-floats-conspiracy-theory-biden-111863482   The Supreme Court has made these plans even more possible with its bias toward Trump's interests, including granting him immunity from criminal prosecution and election-related rulings. 

The BBC has provided the best, most objective, succinct, and short description of Project 2025. Here is the link. The summary is great except for the reproductive rights part. Yes, it does not specifically propose a federal abortion ban, but elsewhere in the document, it, in effect, does. It is dire...Go to page 428 of the Project 2025 mandate If the link to it does not work, copy and paste in the URL....https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership.. Project 2025 supports the "culture of Life" and fetal personhood, which, if applied, would ban contraception and other related rights and procedures.

The work for the "fix" the Christian right wants is already underway and is well funded. The plan is in black and white in the 900-page document produced by Project 2025. The plan is already being excuted by the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025's mother ship, The Foundation is already screening and taking names of those applying for jobs in the next Trump administration, ready to go on day one.  A compliant Supreme Court giving Trump immunity from criminal prosecution is already in place.to deal with suits and decisions that arise.  If Harris is about the future of democracy, so are Trump's promises that should scare all but the MAGA faithful.

 https://www.npr.org/2024/07/27/nx-s1-5054272/trump-christian-wont-vote-anymore-speech

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/06/project-2025-and-christian-nationalism.html

//www.axios.com/2023/12/01/trump-government-job-applications-2025

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/trump-allies-project-2025/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/donations-surged-groups-linked-conservative-project-2025-rcna125638

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/donald-trump-allies-christian-nationalism-00142086

https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/resources/gutting-abortion-access-under-project-2025/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/jd-vance-stands-certifying-2020-election-voter-fraud-rcna161984

Why election deniers have reasons to keep up the big lie

The importance of continuing the lie that the 2020 election was stolen is that it has become a political strategy key to Trump's re-election.  No evidence has emerged in nearly four years of trying to find it that would have found enough irregularities to result in Trump being re-elected.  By now, rational thought should have debunked the lie long ago.   Instead, more political leaders still embrace the Big Lie than ever before.  Not all of them are so irrational to ignore the lack of evidence. It has evidently become an important 2024 election tool for Trump supporters. 

The brief tenure of Ronna McDaniels as a political commentator on NBC left me with mixed feelings.  McDaniels, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, had been brought on to the network to give news coverage a more balanced appearance, I assume. Still, it ended in heated and on-camera objections from many NBC and MNBC stars. the network brass reversed itself.  In her first appearance, she refused to back down from being an election denier who contributed to the January 6 violent rioters and Trump's attempted coup to overturn the 2020 election results to turn him from a loser to a winner. I would have looked forward to her defending election denying in the face of challenges from other panel members or moderators. The sign of a true believer is to admit that Biden sits in the White House, so he is now President, but never to admit the 2020 election was legitimate.  McDaniels, now a private citizen, passed the true believer MAGA test in her interview on Meet the Press in March, igniting howls of protest that giving a public platform to promote such lies was unacceptable. She refused to agree the 2020 election was fair and referred to all of the "problems" in the 2020 election. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ronna+mcdaneil+meet+press+first+interview

How can one explain why election denials  have such power even in 2024? It makes no sense unless you view it as a cynical political strategy that benefits Trump and the MAGA movement.

     1. One explanation could be that it has value as a strategy and a tactic to give some sort of rationale to justify a second coup, violent or otherwise.  The 2020 election was stolen, so expect 2024 to be stolen again if Trump loses, goes the pitch. Political violence is already being threatened. The chief election official in Colorado is the Secretary of State, a Democrat, and like other election officials throughout the US, she must have 24-7 security protection because of the threats of violence against them. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/politics/threats-us-public-officials-democracy-invs/index.html

Trump has a long history of supporting violence to accomplish a political goal. Even if you think he is just bluffing and bloviating, then learn how he has promoted violence in the past. It is a big part of who he is Promising to free and forgive violent and convicted January 6 protestors is just the most obvious one, but his inciting violence or advocating it has a record. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/trump-fans-flames-of-violence-yet-calls.html

     2. Another explanation could be that it is also a way to identify those who are true MAGA supporters from those who are not, like a secret handshake to get entry into the Trump club or as a hex sign to warn off a political attack by MAGA party disciplinarians of being primaried or publicly humiliated. Fear of loss of power or livelihood in a primary is a powerful motivator.   Trump's threat of revenge and retribution if he is re-elected is his promise often repeated.

    3. There could be another, darker reason for keeping the Big Lie going. It provides motivation and a rationale to enact voter suppression legislation and call it "voter integrity."  If the system is broken, we should fix it, according to pious logic. The problem is there is no evidence the system was that broken to justify unlawful purging of voter records, playing keepaway from convenient ballot drop boxes, and stopping mail in voting. However, suppressing the vote benefits the Trump re-election efforts by weakening his feared opposition.  What the MAGA "fix" is passing laws making it hard for targeted, presumed potential anti-Trump and pro-Biden voters to vote, all in the name of "voter integrity," based on the presumption that the young and the poorer minorities are the ones to commit voter fraud.  The current crusade is to end mail-in balloting (the fraud-free system used in Colorado by most voters). That is both a race-based approach that appeals to the white nationalist element of MAGA and one that does not stand up to evidence of prosecution records. Furthermore, when the MAGA crowd and FOX media lost millions in losing the defamation suit against the vote tabulating systems of Doniniium, they just kept spouting their unproved theories.  If the solution is to use only paper ballots, the answer is to keep mail-in voting and still provide same-day polling places as Colorado does. Paper ballots kept secure are the best proof in an audit that the computer systems upheld the validity of the count in an audit.   https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/5-egregious-voter-suppression-laws-2021

https://www.lwv.org/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression

     4. It supports the continuing rule of autocrats, which Trump promotes and what he promises to be. However, know when an autocrat controls the election system, as Trump would like to do with his appointments. there is no faith that there is any election integrity at all. We just witnessed the Russian sham elections recently, which were neither fair nor free, giving Putin his 6th term with 87% of the vote, the same incredible outcome of voting as in the old Communist-controlled USSR.  Putting MAGA in control, like the fox guarding the henhouse, of counting the vote is about the same lack of faith and credibility as it is in Russia. 

5. The Boss requires it. He has honed the technique over many years. Donald Trump has a long history of denying he lost a contest. It was noted when he was the Apprentice star who failed to get the Emmy he thought he deserved. Election denial was again used to explain the rigging that explained Obama's success, which popped up in 2012, and then, in 2020, it set off a bell in an October presidential debate. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-donald-trumps-election-denial-claims-republican-politicians/story?id=89168408   At first, it was just a comment made during a debate by Donald Trump in  October of 2016 that set off the first alarm bells. .https://www.npr.org/2016/10/20/498713509/donald-trump-says-hell-accept-the-results-of-the-election-if-he-wins    Some watching the debate thought he was just making a joke, but the joke was on us. He was not kidding. Others thought he believed he would lose, so he was preparing his followers to not lose faith; he never lost anything, and he would do something.   And something he did culminating in the January 6 attempted coup.  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/no-modern-presidential-candidate-refused-to-concede-heres-why-that-matters  

6. The purge is complete.MAGA election deniers have taken over the GOP and many state officials.They got the power and prestige by riding on election denying oratory. The US Speaker of the House is an election denier, and the present and just past RNC (Republican National Committee) chairs are election deniers. Election deniers are in place to administer the 2024 elections in many states.   https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/election-deniers-playbook-2024 

In Colorado, recently mostly blue,   a very conservative and disgusted  Rep. Buck (R)  bailed out of the House before his term was up, leaving the GOP control hanging by a thread. He cited that the lies still promoted by the 2020 election were stolen. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-rep-ken-buck-leaving-congress-eroding-gop-majority-rcna143046 His district is ruby red, so he will likely be his replacement who passes the MAGA loyalty tests. The Colorado state party chair, Dave Let's Go, Brandon Williams, the supreme Colorado election denier, is also running for Congress to fill another announced House vacancy in a red district.  Republican state chair Dave Williams wins top-line in Colorado's 5th Congressional District primary | Elections | coloradopolitics.com   

Buck's replacement was picked to run in the primary. Greg Lopez is an election denier, against abortions with no exceptions, with a history of domestic violence, DUIs, and other run ins with the law. https://coloradosun.com/2024/03/28/greg-lopez-ken-buck-colorado-4th-district-lauren-boebert/

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/candidate-lets-go-brandon-nickname/73-cac3b05d-4d57-4ac6-961c-6d308155e2f6

In my own county, the newly elected County Clerk nearly lost to opponents who suspected she was an election denier who would be running elections. She squeaked by winning her election recently after claiming the retiring loyal and much respected GOP clerk was OK, but the rest of the 2020 election, state and national, was a fraud. Go figure.    

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

Simple minds for simple solutions explains US anti democracy MAGA

One of the most appalling crowd reactions I have seen recently was of a MAGA rally that responded with cheers to Trump when he proclaimed that he would be a dictator for one day.  I have come to the conclusion that the problem is that those with simplicity-loving minds want direct lines to the simple solutions they seek. They do not welcome clutter like facts, data,  logic, and warnings of unintended consequences. Simple minds for simple solutions explain the USA's anti-democracy MAGA. If the enemy of Trump is the kind of today's democracy, simply replace it with an autocracy/dictatorship pledged to Trump. Simple, right?. That control of the"deep state"  and replacing all branches with loyalists would get Trump's agenda  (whatever that is) done. It is a very simple concept.

Why do I think that?

Many MAGAs I encounter on social media or see and hear/see interviews of "persons on the street', or attendees at Trump rallies on TV and think they must like it simple. For them often slogans, insults,  and memes,  parroting back Trump and MAGA's phrase of the day,  suffice to advocate for their candidate. Repeat it enough and flood the zone with them. We'll eventually get it and agree, they think. Arguments and evidence to the contrary are dismissed as  "ramblings" and are irrelevant or fake or just too complex, attention-diverting,  and confusing.  

Some simplistic thinking is because Americans do not know even the basics of the "blessings of liberty" our democracy brings.s National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test - Institute for Citizens & Scholars (citizensandscholars.org)  

In Trump's occupancy of the White House ending January 2021, he frequently tried to increase his power but those around him told him he could not because of laws and the Constitution, and he had to back off. (Use of active military to put down street demonstrations, firing and replacing the Justice Department and the FBI with loyalists,  and firing 50K civil servants, replacing them with loyalists using schedule F, for example).  The current practice of democracy gets in his way, so he promises to finish what he started in a second term.  Immediately, he would replace those loyal to the Constitution with "yes people"(Project 2025), including regulatory agencies (delicensing opposition media), and continue his campaign to control Congress with threats of primaries, revenge, and retribution. The Justice Department would threaten and be weaponized against his political opponents  He already thinks he has control of the  Supreme Court dominated by loyalists he appointed .. Once in control of all three branches comes the next step. He has said he wanted to tear up, alter, or gut enforcement of, the Constitution itself.

That control of the"deep state"  and replacing all branches with loyalists would get Trump's agenda  (whatever that is) done. It is a very simple concept. It is also the end of democracy as we have known it. Therefore, simplistic slogans and memes, parroting back Trump and MAGA's lines of the day, suffice to advocate their simple solutions and are the only proof and evidence they need. Arguments and evidence to the contrary are "ramblings" and are irrelevant or fake or just too complex to comprehend..

 Most recent polls peg those and fellow travelers of MAGA at somewhere between 30 and 43 percent of the GOP, depending on the degree of agreement or vested self-interest in business and political job positions. The goal is then for MAGA to rule over everyone else who, they hope, has other things to worry about in their lives than some abstract theory of democracy.  

MAGA is indeed simple, and MAGA is indeed foolish and dangerous. The" tear down democracy" crowd is besotted with it or dismisses it as a joke, Trump being Trump, and he is a martyr dumped on with so many court filings.. If Trump were to get into the Oval Office again, on day one, he could spend all day signing decrees, orders, and appointments to advance his control and power, which would have forever repercussions. It depends on how quickly and effectively he is in the four years we foolishly gave him to consolidate his control over all three branches of government with his promoting the tools of fear and favor.

The only barriers to Trump after day one would be the wide variety of state and federal judges who have sworn to uphold the rule of law, not the rule of a person. MAGA takeover of the GOP House is complete, as those who oppose him simply resign or bow to the threat of primaries in their gerrymandered safe districts. The same fate without the gerrymander opportunity would contaminate the Senate if they got the majority. again. The executive branch is the easiest to dominate using Schedule F and the" ready to go day one Project 2025'. Trump has made it clear he will appoint only loyalists to him to the military brass and advisors who always say "Yes boss", as they take over the voting machines and shut down opposition media via delicensing and put the fear of loss of jobs in the 50 thousand federal civil servants.

This is not a fantasy or an apocalyptic prediction because the same story has been repeated time and again without exception, from Putin to Tito (my hands-on, personal experience) to Orban to Moduro., They got there initially through the consent of the mobs or were viewed as heroes bringing help to the working poor and the end of lawless chaos.. In the long term, as every instance in modern post-World War II history has shown, once that autocrat's power is consolidated, it rarely is reversed. peacefully or by violence.. Control is gained and kept by fear and favor. The autocrat and his minions and their subjects had adjusted, and as time went on, they became even more dedicated to keeping the favor of power and feared the loss of it and their jobs if they did not pledge their allegiance to the "boss", the system of corruption favoring them, controlling the voting process, and what information the populace gets ( no dissension, please), always waiting in the wings. the iron fist of the active military to put down the "street." 

Trump has not ceased touting that the 2020 election was stolen from him.  That is his core rationale to the crowd for taking over the deep state, wanting to call on the active military to seize voting machines, inciting the January 6 militia and rioters,  and becoming a dictator. Those who continue to think simply, who still believe that Trump won the 2020 election, can only be intentionally blind and willfully and conveniently ignorant to keep swallowing that Trump claim.In the past three years, no forensic audits or research funded by the Trump campaign or allies found enough fraud to overturn the 2020 elections, nor did over 60 court cases.  The real fraud is Trump's "Stop the Steal" rhetoric or as his opponents call it "the big lie".Trump has not ceased touting that the 2020 election was stolen from him.  That is his core rationale to the crowd for taking over the deep state, wanting to call on the active military to seize voting machines, inciting the January 6 militia and rioters,  and becoming a dictator.

 Those who continue to think simply, who still believe that Trump won the 2020 election, can only be intentionally blind and willfully and conveniently ignorant to keep swallowing that Trump claim.In the past three years, no forensic audits or research funded by the Trump campaign or allies found enough fraud to overturn the 2020 elections, nor did over 60 court cases.  The real fraud is Trump's "Stop the Steal" rhetoric or as his opponents call it "the big lie".. Trump acknowledges he was told 2020 election lies were false in wide-ranging interview | CNN Politics

Voter data expert hired by Trump campaign says 2020 election was not stolen (yahoo.com)   He debunks the theory that dead people voted and fraud was committed in the mail in ballot system. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/court-filing-tears-apart-maga-s-favorite-jan-6-conspiracy-theory  This debunks a false flag operation surrounding January6 that it was an inside job by law enforcement.  This was revealed in a suit against FOX and Tucker Carlson

Trump whines and claims he is the victim of all of the criminal charges and lawsuits. For those who think Trump is a victim of the legal process, no one in history has ever been treated like this, as he and his loyal advocates and followers turn a blind eye to any evidence or data revealed to them by people under oath. No sitting president has ever tried to stay in office when they lost an election, either. 

The Supreme Court ruled that Trump was not immune from civil suits for his behavior while president. Some of those court cases he whines against re Stormy Daniels, rape, Colorado ballot eligibility,  and his company's fraud are civil. It does not result if found liable in jail (if perjury in trial not committed), but either loss of money or stopping an activity.  The main criminal case ot watch could result in jail time if Trump loses is Jack Smith's federal DOJ case against his part in January 6.  If Trump is elected in Nov. 2024, he could pardon himself if he is found guilty.  However, the Georgia case is a state criminal case, and he could not pardon himself if found guilty. 

 Donald Trump Rally Goers Want Him to Be 'Day One Dictator' (newsweek.com)

Pew Research Poll: 43% of Republican Basically Want Trump as a Dictator - YouTube"

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What Trump plans for his second term and how he will do it

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-voter-fraud-investigator-proved-there-was-no-fraud-1234939275/

Results of Lawsuits Regarding the 2020 Elections | Campaign Legal Centerl

National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test - Institute for Citizens & Scholars (citizensandscholars.org)

Colorado county clerks revolt against GOP election denialism pressure

 This is an excerpt in italics from  a December 9 posting with additional commentary and updated status of the Tina Peter's federal trial scheduled for Febrary 2024

In Colorado, on December 8, 2023, there was an explosive report by Kyle Clark, KUSA,  a local station,  about threats and politics of election denialists that shows how   MAGA lies are used to seize control of the election processes on a local government level.  . Next Conversation: Head of Colorado's County Clerks Association talks election rigging lies - YouTube  

 This is a prelude to Trump's attempt at the Big Lie again to stay in power if he ever gets elected again, and it is his pretext for Trump loyalists to control the entire election process from registration to voter access, to vote casting, to tabulation, and to reporting at the exclusion of any opponents in the process.  It is the end of free and fair elections if he succeeds is doing this throughout the country, and the attempt is already underway, as this Colorado GOP attempt illustrates.  The message: elections are already corrupt (the Big Lie), not free or fair, so why not put your MAGA buddy in charge. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: An election denier will now be the Colorado state GOP chair Update 3 12 2023         Note: a critic of the Big Lie, Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), was a casualty himself. He will not run for re-election in a ruby-red district.

The following comments are my additional ones to the December 9 posting.  Note in  Kyle Clark's interview of the executive director of the County Clerk's Association he and nearly all of the Colorado county clerks are Republicans.  As a former county clerk (Denver)  years ago, that was also the case. (I was usually the lone Democrat).  Party ideology then was simple: do the best job to ensure the voting process goes smoothly and accurately and follow the rules.  Those were low-technology processes back then, and voting machines were the lever type backed up by paper ballots.  In every layer of the process in Denver, representatives of both political parties looked over each other's shoulders to ensure that the rules were followed and the process was honest.(*no longer required, though)  In the time of high tech, in Colorado, those paper ballots are still available for any audits if questions are asked, and recounts that are triggered by a percentage in close races, and still are.  Clerks were proud, and most still are  (with several exceptions in 2020) of being accurate and rule-abiding. To have a state party GOP chair threatening to primary any GOP clerk who is not loyal to MAGA and claim the process for which they were proud and took responsibility is outrageous and insulting, but also a threat to clerk's positions to which they were elected after surviving their primaries ..   As individuals, thanks to the threats of their own party chairs, they could not speak out individually, but their association did. on Clark's broadcast on NBC's Denver affiliate, 9 News..

In my own county, election denialism nearly caused the GOP candidate for the county clerk to lose her election in 2022.. It was a squeaker in a red county blushing a bit purple. She was running to fill the vacancy left by the previous Republican county clerk, respected by both parties who chose not to run again for the office. The candidate refused to say the 2020 election was not fraudulent, but when pressed, she admitted her Republican predecessor had run a clean election. It just was that every other county, by implication, was corrupt because she was MAGA..  In the meantime, seizing national attention was a GOP country clerk, Tina Peters, in Mesa County who had fallen for the national party election denialism, broke the rules, and gave the codes to a Trumpster nonstaff member to seize the county machinery and jeopardize the security and integrity of the vote count, ... 

More on the Tina Peters case: Federal trial schedules in February 2024

Update: 12/10/2023  Tina Peters files federal lawsuit to halt investigations, prosecutions (coloradosun.com)  Peters is facing trial early in 2024 after federal indictments for her actions in 2022.

Update: 2/11/23  New information from the FBI delays the Tina Peters election tampering trial. What is interesting is FBI evidence claiming that the "update of computer systems "was not performed by an employee of the clerk's office" as Peter's claimed but by someone else using a copy of an employee's access key.ttps://www.cpr.org/2023/02/09/tina-peters-trial-delayed/

Tina Peters arraigned on 10 felony, misdemeanor charges in case alleging election equipment breach | Courts | coloradopolitics.com

How can it be that so many in the GOP still believe in the Big Lie?

 

Some of MAGA will understand that Trump thought they were devoted to him enough to believe whatever he claims as gospel truth. Most will not.How can it be that so many in the GOP still believe in the Big Lie? In fact, 70% of the GOP voters still believe Trump won the election, he was so effective in convincing them.  Believing that, or repeating it, whether they still believe it when they don't, is still necessary to qualify as a bonafide loyal member of the MAGA followers.    That is the only way I can explain that despite three years of trying, no evidence, no court cases, no "forensic audit" could come up with proof there was enough fraud to overturn the 2020 election. It is irrational, and it deserves to be tagged as the Big Lie. Swearing to it that the election was stolen is also a necessary part of voters and political leaders/candidates swearing allegiance to Trump and for Trump to sort out who is loyal to him and who is not.  Leaders and candidates who should know better still mouth to lie for fear Trump will call them out as being disloyal and a RINO and primary them if they live in a gerrymandered district or ruby red state. That is how Trump rules his party: by fear of revenge and retribution, and it is also how he plans to rule the country if re-elected to a second term.  But is it a crime for Trump to have fooled them? Smith contends it is if it was knowingly part of a scheme and advocating it as a tool to overturn the election to keep himself in office no matter if he believed he won or not...  That is the issue confronting Jack Smth's case of charging Trump for committing a crime for his part in the January 6 violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Per reporting by Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark, based upon a prosecution's recent filing regarding Trump's role in January 6, prosecutors will make the case to a jury that Ttump knowingly lied about facts he knew to be false. He used the lies he knew were lies to motivate supporters to overturn the election.    This is in anticipation of the defense argument that Trump actually believed he won so what he said was not intentional and, therefore, not a crime.  They bank on the defense argument that you cannot prove what was in Trump's head.  That politicians lie all the time on the stump and have a First Amendment right of free speech to do it is another Trump defense. The answer is the purpose of his lies was to convince others to commit crimes on his behalf to overturn the election and stay in power. It was his actions, knowingly using lies as a tool to advance his beliefs, sincerely held he won, delusional or not sincerely held,  to overturn the election with violence. 

The next question is, will it make a difference of support at the ballot box if a jury agrees with Jack Smith.  Some say it will. Most say it won't in advance of the trials.. Most Americans don't want another Trump presidency but Republicans do : NPR      It's all a politics motivating the prosecution, right? Proof and facts have little to do with their loyalty and never had.  Even if Jack Smith gets a guilty verdict from a jury before November 2024, appeals could continue beyond the election and swearing-in.   Still, there is another year to go until voters in private will mark their ballots.

So something irrational is rampant to cause so many to blow off evidence and even excuse and back an avowed wannabe dictator who wants to rid the US of everyone not of his race as "vermin".https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/12/trump-rally-vermin-political-opponents/  I have always felt the driver is demographic shifts. and racism. This "vermin" comment confirms my suspicions.  By 2045, those who are non-white will be in the majority, and even now, those identifying themselves as white are only 57% of the population.  The attached opinion piece rang a bell with me. White Folks Will Be a Minority in America in 2045 (msn.com)  We don't need ovens to repeat the horrors of fascism to become a fascist country.  That is the lesson of Viktor Orban in Hungary.  He abused the levers of governmental power to become a dictator.. The difference is it was easy there because Hungary is 98% pure Magyar, and the large population of Jews met their deaths in the ovens during World War II when the Germans moved in.  To think that a white dictator can keep control of a nation that is only 57% racially pure like him without serious pushback and even violence and instability is a fantasy. Politica instability also destroys economies.CEOs Say Political Uncertainty Poses Greatest Risk to Business Growth (investopedia.com)  We are already feeling that as Moody's just downgraded US credit rating because of our political instability. That is just for starters. Calling both non-white immigrants and those disloyal to Trump a "vermin" pure Trump (descending elevator in 2016 calling them murderers and rapists) is not only the first step but one many he used in rallying racist support. This 11/12 speech is definitive. If describing brown immigrants as "vermin," means they are subhuman. it is not unlike how Hitler rallied his mostly white and Germanic is how it made it easier for the master race to rationalize taking steps to purge their country of those they blamed for their economic woes.  The US is not Germany of the 1930s, thank God, but with a racist dictator like Trump in control of the country. able to turn the government into a tool to advance and protect his power grab is not a country where I want to live.  I am saved from that fate.  This 85 year old white women will not be on this earth to see  future decades of turmoil and damage this regime would cause. However, I fear for the future of my children and grandchildren and I hope that before I leave this planet, I will see this kind of government Trump promises to give us will be firmly rejected in November 2024.    ,

CNN Poll: Percentage of Republicans who think Biden's 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70% | CNN Politics  

Trump's Nesting Doll of Lies - by Charlie Sykes (thebulwark.com)

Trump suggests he would use FBI to go after political rivals if elected in 2024 | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Republican Judges, Lawyers Conclude 2020 Election Was 'Lost, Not Stolen' (newsweek.com)

CEOs Say Political Uncertainty Poses Greatest Risk to Business Growth (investopedia.com)

Donald Trump Accused of Going 'Full-On Hitler' by Joe Scarborough (newsweek.com)

Why the persistent big lie is still a danger to democracy updated 11/18/2023

 From the 10/12/posting, an extract focusing on how dangerous undermining faith in the election process is to the continuation of democracy.  It also touches on how the anti-democracy MAGA right sees chaos they foment themselves should be cured by their own solution:  government control by a strong man with an "iron fist" who is their great leader, Donald Trump. 

(Update: 11/18/2023  Colorado judge finds Trump engaged in insurrection, but keeps him on ballot : NPR    Thi will be appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court, and then likely onto the US Supreme Court with the conservative majority.  The bad news for Trump is the Colorado judge was the first judicial finding that Trump was an insurrectionist and his First Amendment rights were not jeopardized. The good news left many judicial jaws dropping that Trump was not an officer of the country because his oath of office did not conform to the oath of other officials. This is truly a debatable interpretation of the 14th Amendment. That will certainly be the crux of the appeal)

This persistent belief the 2020 election was stolen is a danger to democracy. Perpetuation of the Big Lie is central to the anti-democracy strategy to destroy faith in the democratic process and then use what they themselves had sabotaged and undermined to replace it with an autocrat who makes sure their MAGAs win by whatever means necessary, including replacing the Department of Justice with loyalists.  

Per reporting by Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark, based upon a prosecution's recent filing regarding Trump's role in January 6, prosecutors will make the case to a jury that Ttump knowingly lied about facts he knew to be false. He used the lies he knew were lies to motivate supporters to overturn the election.    This is in anticipation of the defense argument that Trump actually believed he won so what he said was not intentional and, therefore, not a crime.  They bank on the defense argument that you cannot prove what was in Trump's head.  That politicians lie all the time on the stump and have a First Amendment right of free speech to do it is another Trump defense. The answer is the purpose of his lies was to convince others to commit crimes on his behalf to overturn the election and stay in power. It was his actions, knowingly using lies as a tool to advance his beliefs, sincerely held he won, delusional or not sincerely held,  to overturn the election with violence.   

Some of MAGA will understand that Trump thought they were devoted to him enough to believe whatever he claims as gospel truth. In fact, the majority of the GOP still believes him, he was so effective. Believing that, or repeating whether they still believe it when they don't, is necessary to qualify in his eyes as a bonafide loyal member of the MAGA followers.    That is the only way I can explain that despite three years of trying, no evidence, no court cases, no "forensic audit" could come up with proof there was enough fraud to overturn the 2020 election. It is irrational, but it is a necessary part of swearing allegiance to Trump. 

There are advocates in the MAGA movement, such as Steve Bannon,  who see creating chaos as part of the strategy to replace democracy with a strong leader autocrat he favors that would empower MAGA movement to rule over those they disdain,. Claiming democracy does not work is dependent on their convincing the MAGA movement that it does not work for them at the ballot box. They have been very successful since 70% of Republicans still think the election was stolen. The ability of all citizens to choose their leaders via the ballot is the most central and fundamental characteristic of a democracy.     .https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/07/politics/steve-bannon-us-democracy and faith in its integrity is essential. Keeping the Big Lie going is how the MAGA anti-democracy radicals are trying to damage that faith in order to give a rationale for replacing democracy with a form of dictatorship (by Trump) instead..\To achieve this goal, Trump even advocates violence, and his followers are quick to do likewise, threatening violence against any politician or judge or law enforcer who acts against Trump's interest.  

The latest death threats are against Colorado's Republican Congressman, Ken Buck, who has been outspoken against Trump's back House Speaker, Jim Jordan. Ken Buck one of multiple Republicans receiving death threats for voting against Rep. Jim Jordan as House Speaker | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org) One of Buck's issues is that Jordan  is an election denier and is against more aid to Ukraine.  How right he is about Jordan, who played a role in January 6, supporting the attempt to for Pence to go along with the conspiracy to refuse to certify the 2020 election as late as January 5 and every act supporting the big lie and the refusal to certify the election thereafter.  As head of the judicial committee Jordan was a verbal bomb thrower from impeachment attempts of Trump to refusing ot testify before the January 6 committee after being subpoenaed. He may expect those he throws his political adversaries to turn up when he sobpoenas him but he himself refuses to appear if he gets subpoenaed.  So fixated is he on his role of attack dog, he never passed a piece of serioius legislation  he sponsored in ihe House in his 16 years as a congressman.. Yet, that is is job of a Speaker, to get his party's legislation passed.  He does not subscribe to the legislative process; he has seeked to destroy it if it does not support Trump's ambitions.   What to know about Jim Jordan's role in Jan. 6 - ABC News (go.com)

What is now even more critical at stake in 2024 is the election of Trump, who does not even support the Constitution, evidenced by the claim by his attorneys that Trump is not sworn to defend it. Trump tells court he had no duty to 'support' the Constitution as president (msn.com)  This lawsuit centers on Trump's failure to support the constitution on January 6.  Trump's frightening comment was revealed by the lawsuit against Trump brought by GOP and independent Colorado citizens seeking to disqualify Trump from being on the Colorado ballot in 2024. The 14th Amendment plan to disqualify Trump, explained - BBC News   The Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, named in the suit, plans to "see the suit through" . Colorado secretary of state calls Trump a ‘liar,’ vows to see ballot lawsuit through | The Hill   A recent Supreme Court action on a similar issue per experts, did not affect the Colorado case because the legal argument on its behalf if stronger.. Trump's refusal to support the Constitution is consistent with earlier statements that he wanted to terminate or suspend the Constitution and his advocacy of political violence instead of ballots. .  Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post | CNN Politics

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: America's future, the short and the long, macro and micro, at stake in 2024 updated 9/30/23, 10/2/23

Supreme Court declines to consider longshot bid to disqualify Trump from running for president | CNN Politics

Ticked the deep state is out to get Trump, a scofflaw?

Ticked the deep state is out to get Trump, a scofflaw? May I make a rude observation? He asks for it, then claims he is a victim and turns his victimization into epic fundraising. Trump has a history of raising his third finger to rules and laws throughout his life.  At risk now is setting a precedent that any president in the future does not need to abide by laws...a phrase often used is the president above the law. In the question of Mar-a-Lago, which law is at issue, the affidavit made it clear that the statute in question was not if he mishandled material marked classified.  When Trump claims he has the power to declassify any classified information as president, even if he does not go through the steps required to do it, that is irrelevant because that is not what the DOJ is contesting. Per the affidavit, what the DOJ was possibly charging was violations of the espionage act, whether the documents he stole and hid away contained information that endangered national security because they included names of human intelligence agents and information about how the FBI and national security officials do their work. If any foreign spies got their hands on such sensitive information due to, his actions would be the most explosive outcome. The damage assessment is in progress.   The other charges involved could include obstruction of justice and lying to comply with months of requests by the National Archives and finally by the FBI to return them, classified or not, per the requirement of the statutes.  

  Trump has a reputation and history of seeing how far he could go and what he could get away with whenever rules, laws, ethics, and shady practices were involved. USA Today compiled a list of a history of over 4 thousand civil lawsuits and criminal/civic fraud in his lifetime.   If Trump observed the rule of law and the rules under which he operated and did not defy, skirt, and ignore them to feather his own financial nest and power positions,  he would not be the target of so many lawsuits and criminal investigations. His legal entanglements never changed his behavior, and he turned it into a money maker. 

 In the days when he was in private business, he lost suits, was fined, paid restitution, and racked up substantial legal fees. He was famous for stiffing those who provided services for which they were not paid and being sued. It was the cost of doing business his way. Now in public life, those costs in defending himself are being borne by political supporters. He arranged for the RNC to pay $1.6 million in legal fees and raised over $250  million from his devoted followers on the lie since debunked that the election was stolen. Little went to attempts to overturn the election and a non-existent "legal defense fund" in a PAC. Still, much went to a fund that paid for some of his personal lifestyle expenses and income. After the Mar-a-Largo raid, he raised a million a day for the same non-existent legal defense fund.    The Trump  Save America PAC  has over $99 million in its coffers.

The lawsuits and criminal and civil fraud charges arise from his stiffing suppliers, lenders, insurers, and service providers, and civil and criminal fraud, misusing charity foundations,  avoiding tax-paying, and then getting gullible supporters to write a check to help out when he gets caught or accused. Sometimes he wins in court, and other times he loses. Recent estimates are his net worth is $3 billion.    He brought that modus operandi into the White House, and we now see it writ large in the Mar-a-Lago documents seizure by the FBI. What is most disturbing is that most of his supporters do not give a whit and look for ways to rationalize their own anti-government, anti-rule of law attitudes, and political loyalty, as well.  .  It says much about the character of his supporters and their own moral standards, gullibility, and priorities.

 USA TODAY Network: Dive into Donald Trump's thousands of lawsuits - USA TODAY   

The GOP Is Paying for Way More of Trump's Legal Expenses Than Was Previously Reported – Rolling Stone

 Trump Raised $250 Million Since Election To Challenge Outcome—Here's Where Most Of The Money Will Actually Go (forbes.com).

Trump rakes in millions off FBI search at Mar-a-Lago - The Washington Post  

What Is Donald Trump's Net Worth? (investopedia.com)

USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1118946905/trump-pac-money-fec

Donald Trump will go down in history as a master con man, but do his victims care?

Donald Trump will go down in history as a master con man, but do his victims care?

In the 1970s,  I spent almost seven years as head of a Denver and multi-five county District Attorney's investigative unit into white-collar crime. Near the end of that period, I helped enforce the new Colorado Consumer protection act with civil authority. If anything, my antennae go into overdrive when I smell con artists, Donald Trump fit the profile of con artists I have known..  Puffery, exaggerations, lying, and hyper-pressure sales technique are some of the marks of confidence fraudsters and con artists. They depend on "a sucker is born every minute" to succeed. The January 6 committee this past week shined a light on a potential criminal charge against Trump for knowingly lying about whether the 2020 election was stolen, alleging he used money he raised by promoting the lie (2020 election was stolen by fraud) after he was told it was a lie. His sales pitch was money raised would go to carry on the fight in court. The money was to go into a fund, which appeared to be non-existent  Per the hearings, the fraudster involved was Trump himself, not his political opponents. Instead of his sales pitch, the $250 million raised paid for his own property's usage benefitted political loyalists post administration employment in a political action organization and an elected official's nonprofit. Those defrauded have not yet complained. Do they care? Perhaps they are willfully blind, have not been following the hearings, or they are OK with what he did with the money even if t was not in the way it was promised because it was still used for 'the cause" of his continued political influence. Victims of fraud, I have found, are often afraid to admit to themselves or to others they were conned, either because they are embarrassed or are in denial. Sometimes they will try to justify their foolish actions and even support the perp. Nonetheless, there is value in prosecution or lawsuits, either as a deterrent and warning to others or to get restitution even for those who do not know they were ripped off. The purpose of criminal prosecution, theft by deception,  is to punish and deter further action or others contemplating doing it.. Civil litigation can result in victims getting some money back.  It will be interesting if some state attorney general or DA files criminal charges or files a lawsuit per enforcement of state laws. Trump has a history of being sued or prosecuted for similar fraudulent practices, such as in Trump University and his charitable foundation, resulting in penalties and millions in refunds to his victims.  It has not deterred him so far,  but the saga is not over.

  Proof of intentional deception is the element we needed to file criminal charges. We looked for volume and patterns of criminal or civil fraudulent behavior in the complaints we received.   The criminal statute we were authorized to investigate and to enforce as "theft by deception". Not all con artists get caught, sued, or go to jail, by a long shot. Donald Trump did get caught in his Trump University for operating a fraud, and his family's charitable foundation resulted in his family being forbidden to participate again in such a "charitable" foundation, money used to benefit himself..  . His tax and evaluation of the worth of his properties are under investigation even now. The Consumer Protection Act in various states gives state  Attorneys General civil authority to recover missed money for consumers, and the element of proving criminal intent beyond a reasonable doubt is not required. The burden of these civil powers is not so hard to prove, just needing the "preponderance of evidence", meaning the balance of evidence is sufficient, not requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt to get a criminal conviction.. . The other issue is the use of "fraud by wire," which may be involved in fueling criminal charges. It is not unlike the use of mail to commit a fraud under which the post office can trigger criminal prosecution.     The other issue in a criminal prosecution that the Department of Justice must consider is should they be in the business of criminally prosecuting a former president. It sets a dangerous precedence for the next regime to do until their political enemies who served before them. For that reason, the civil approach to recover money on behalf of victims makes more sense to avoid that dilemma. One thing is clear, Trump has a history of being a successful con artist until he got caught, losing legal action that cost him millions, in or out of elected office, yet he was never deterred from doing something similar again and again.  

The Jan. 6 panel says the Trump campaign misled donors using election lies : NPR

Donald Trump investigation reveals new details of alleged fraud - BBC News

Donald J. Trump Pays Court-Ordered $2 Million For Illegally Using Trump Foundation Funds  | New York State Attorney General (ny.gov)

"The big ripoff": Jan. 6 committee lays out how false election claims fueled Trump fundraising - CBS News

 Judge finalizes $25 million settlement for 'victims of Donald Trump's fraudulent university' - ABC News (go.com)

In 2016, he was already a con man   A link to my blog posting calling Trump a con man in 2016

Felicia Muftic is the author of The Colorado Consumer Handbook, 1982,  available in the Library of Congress 

HC107.C73 C635 

  and in the Denver Public Library Call Number: C640.730978 M891co....It is long out of print.

 

Trump the Con man in 2016

Political correctness has been replaced by tongues of hatred

Dana, a close friend of my daughter dating to their high school years and their parents became friends of our family, a friendship lasting over 30 years. They had a horrific experience last year.  Dana's mother Sally passed away, and last July they held a zoom memorial service because their synagogue was closed due to COVID-19. This year, another daughter of mine, age 53, passed away and we also opted for a zoom celebration of life hosted by my church pastor. Ours worked beautifully and the recording of the service is a treasure.  Sally's zoom service was hacked by Nazis and swastikas appeared on their screen.  That was just one of the horrors committed by those who felt the time was right to tout their hatred more openly. The numbers of reported antisemitic crimes have tripled since 2018 in Colorado.  Dana's recounting of the incident was featured on television and is available on You Tube. https://youtu.be/59jErmUmI4w      What makes such hate groups feel they have gotten permission to increase their public activities?

Whatever happened to political correctness? The sad state of our nation is that civility, any veneer of supporting a common good, has "gone with the wind". Too often it has been replaced by tongues of hatred and followed by some committing crimes. Even those who do not fancy themselves as hate group fellow travelers are contributing to the atmosphere that encourages them to be more public. Any attempt to castigate some for the lightest tinge of comments defending racial or religious bias is met with counter-accusations from the right of "cancel culture" and anger that "libtards" are trying to do it to them. The definition of culture they feel is under attack has been left to the imagination of others. Some on the left reacted in kind in countering what they see as racial suppression. The country has been divided as speech gloves have been taken off and anger is raw and little hindered. It is clear there is a revolt against "political correctness", once a general agreement among most Americans not to be overtly racist and anti-semitic, to keep noncorrect jokes and slurs hushed, or not to appear publicly antagonistic toward "others" that did not mirror their own ethnic, racial, or religious group. In right-wing demonstrations from Charlottesville to the US Capitol nazi and nazi derived symbols and antisemitic hate slogans are chanted or on display in banners and shirt patches among the other marchers. They and their hate-mongering ilk have always been around, but not so brazenly and publicly in many years as they are now. In the past four years, more have crawled out from under the shadows of rocks to openly flaunt their hate in the light of day. Why?

While verbal and social media barbs are thrown by both sides, the end of more recent societal ethics of political correctness can be traced to the beginning of the Trump era. Donald Trump's words had consequences. The lid of political politeness and respectful speech became something of the past as Trump ripped off the scab of a festering white resentment to the rise of the political power of minorities. Early in the Donald Trump presidential campaign, the slogan that caught fire was Make America Great Again. Reporters had no luck in getting Trump supporters to put into words on camera to which era did they want the US to return that they considered good "again". Trump's oratorical and media skill set was his ability to tap into their gut feelings and to channel them into support of public policy issues which also contributed to his own political power. No longer carried in his favored media were inconvenient facts or embarrassing videos. The media on the left responded by giving focus to what they saw as the truth and reality. Those who tuned in solely to Trump's preferred media still get a view of the world filtered to create a reality that is not shared by viewers and readers of non-Trump media. Recent polls revealed that over half of Republicans believe the election was stolen and Joe Biden was not elected legitimately. At rallies, Trump's devoted audiences cheered racist dog whistle oratory as they jeered at those they disdained. The 1/6 rioters were just tourists viewers were told and they were shown carefully edited videos that neglected to show the violence, vandalism, and combat with police that ended with some dead and 140 injured, and nearly 500 arrested and charged for their alleged criminal behavior. Even with his tweet and facebook wings clipped, Trump's threats to take revenge on non-loyalists get conveyed through other means. Trumpism is now more than just a cult of one person. It is a movement that controls the GOP and uses the fear of being primaried to keep discipline among officeholders and candidates.

Now, in any case, political correctness appears to be no longer part of the culture many assert is being canceled. What this end of political correctness means could also be deduced from which public policy initiatives those decrying political politeness supported that resembled the era before civil rights legislation and the increase in immigration from south of our border. Recent examples are cries of protest against banning Dr. Suess or the renewal of barriers to voting by demographic groups who are viewed as their political opposition. These issues have occupied the Trump media for some time. No government banned any of his books, but the publisher ceased printing several of them at the request of the Suess heirs who did not want Dr. Suess' reputation to reflect racism in a few of his illustrations and words he used in less sensitive times. The other is the wave of voter suppression legislation aimed at making it harder for students, and minorities with lower income and education levels and/or access to transportation to vote. A further objection to the exposure of the participation of neo-Nazis and white nationalist groups in the January 6 riots is also part of the same syndrome. Most of the GOP Senate closed ranks to scuttle further exposure of GOP culpability by voting against an independent commission just before Memorial Day designed by bi-partisan legislators to discover and expose to the public what happened on January 6. Sweeping that embarrassment under the rug will not work and Democrats via hearings and campaign advertisements will make sure voters understand the January 6 rioters were no tourists. Democrats branding Trumpist GOP candidates as anti-democracy will be front and center in the 2022 election campaigns. Exhibits one and two will be videos of January 6 violent rioters carrying Trump banners and airing tactics by GOP Trumpists in state legislatures to suppress certain demographics' ability to vote conveniently and to get their votes counted fairly.

Donald Trump's unique contribution to the end of political correctness was to light a fire under the smoldering sores of divisiveness, resentment of an Obama presidency, and disrespect and hatred of others not like them. . This resulted in more openly expressing intolerance of "others, couched in social media memes and postings, and advocacy of certain public policy positions.. His contribution to racial and religious divide was flagrant, from Charlottesville's new-Nazi parades to Michigan statehouse to the US Capitol, calling white nationalist militias patriots or containing "some good people", his thinly disguised racism tagging one racial group as he kicked off his 2016 campaign with the broad brush of "rapists" and "murderers" or banning another group from entering the US solely because of their religion. Others took the end of political correctness to mean it was a permission slip to be rude and inconsiderate to others or to ignore Covid masking rules and vaccinations as some liberal scam cooked up to control them, to battering innocent Asians on the streets, and to rising antisemitism. That is the sad state of our nation today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/video/extremist-signs-symbols-capitol-riot.html

Why Attacking ‘Cancel Culture’ And ‘Woke’ People Is Becoming The GOP’s New Political Strategy | FiveThirtyEight

A Disturbing Number of Republicans Still Believe All the Lies Donald Trump Tells Them | Vanity Fair

Over half of Republicans believe Donald Trump is the actual President of the United States | Ipsos

Poll: Quarter of Americans surveyed say Trump is 'true president' (usatoday.com)

https://www.adl.org/2017-impact-report/racists-converge-on-charlottesville