There is a lot of confusion around this news that Trump is considering a plan to appoint “loyal” electors in battleground states, to try to ensure the Electoral College goes his way.
This is a serious sign of desperation, and unlikely to accomplish much.
First, for background, I wrote a thread back in January to explain the concept of so-called “faithless electors,” and how their actions comported with the framers’ actual intentions for the Electoral College.
While not strictly necessary to know, this is important background.
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The EC was originally *designed* to allow electors to go against the popular vote. This was envisioned as a protection against unqualified, populist demagogues - like Trump.
Clearly it didn’t work, even though one brave elector tried to do this in 2016.
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Over the years, many states have enacted rules and laws dictating that their electors have to vote according to the way that their state voted (some use percentages; different states handle it differently).
This goes against the spirit of the EC, but not the letter of the law
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At any rate, in July, the case in my original thread above was taken to the Supreme Court.
SCOTUS ultimately decided that it’s okay for states to force their electors to vote a certain way, because the Constitution doesn’t explicitly prohibit it.
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All this really means is that the states which already had laws governing electors could continue to use them - and that it is okay for states to create new laws to enforce elector voting behavior.
But not all states have those laws.
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There are currently 33 states that require electors to vote for the state’s pledged candidate.
This means that, in 33 states (the ones that are colored below), Trump couldn’t force a “loyal” elector to vote for him even if he wanted to.
/7 infogram.com/states-laws-bi…
You’ll notice that there aren’t many swing states where Trump would ever be able to pick “loyal” electors to begin with.
So which ones are even a concern? Pennsylvania?
What do you think would happen if Trump tried to override the voters’ will in PA?
Lead balloon.
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Now, I’m not saying that the GOP wouldn’t *try* to do this.
But this is not a strategy that would allow Trump to win a US election.
As far as I can tell, there are three risks here - none of them quite as bad as everyone is making it out to be.
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The Epoch Times started their money laundering operation sometime in 2020.
After the 2020 election, they began producing more propaganda for Trump and becoming involved in stop the steal efforts.
Somewhat symbiotic. Trump massively boosted them, and they helped him.
The highly polished propaganda video that Holehouse (an Epoch Times alum until 2015) published, seemed custom made for the Trump campaign, and he boosted it four times. 2 million views.
Trump supporters began driving up the company’s stature. 6 million followers on Facebook.
As early as Dec 1 2020, Epoch Times subsidiary NTD began broadcasting the “Kraken” press conferences (Jenna Ellis, Phil Kline, Tony Shaffer).
By March, Lauren Boebert was promoting them as the most trusted source of information when people wanted Dems locked up.
I’ve always said that while there were some normal human bad decisions in Fani Willis’ relationship, they weren’t enough to justify all of this - and what *should* get way more coverage is the crusade against her, and against the rule of law.
I think it’s important for people to see Ben Smith’s interview with Joe Kahn, Executive Editor of the New York Times, so I’m posting screenshots of the full article here.
The fact that he misrepresents and strawmans people’s issues with their reporting is really concerning.
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I appreciate that @semaforben got Kahn to answer questions about this, but I’m also disappointed at the soft touch questions that tiptoe around elephants in the room, which IMO silently confirms that NYT is avoiding real accountability for any of this.
@semaforben At one point in the interview, after claiming that the NYT’s role is to inform the public, Kahn even admits that citizens are woefully uninformed or misinformed about highly important issues.
But then he walks right past it, making clear that isn’t really his priority at all.
I try my best not to weigh in on topics that I’m not well versed on, and don’t weigh in on divisive, emerging events until I can share what I believe is reliable info. The same goes for the Palestine protests.
If anyone cares about my personal views, I will say this much.
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What is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian nightmare. I blame Netanyahu, Likud, and the right wing extremists who control the government.
They are Israel’s Trump and MAGA. Bibi is corrupt. His actions harm Israel on the world stage. An authoritarian who inflames divisions.
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I believe Bibi let the people of Israel down. He shuffled funds to Hamas to keep Gaza & the West Bank divided b/c he wants to undermine the very idea that Palestinians should have their own state.
He pulled resources to help extremists push more settlements, ensuring a 10/7.
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