Thread by @DHStokyo

I’m so angry.

Republicans, right wing pundits, and bad actors are throwing America under the bus, and worse, are poisoning its own citizens to hate #democracy. // Thread

The Republicans have been anti-democratic for decades, which we can see from things like their vast #VoterSuppression tactics, but it used to be quiet. Hidden from view. No longer.

Throughout Trump’s presidency, Republicans have helped him by parroting lies, letting dangerous remarks take hold because they wouldn’t challenge them, and gaslighting the public themselves.

They even have picked up conspiracy theories and other garbage talking points from the sinister MAGA media — those right wing rags, websites, podcasts, etc. — and fed them back to the public.

Why did they do that? Was it cowardice, or opportunistic? Doesn’t matter. They are tasked with writing our laws and overseeing our govt operation, and yes, DOING RIGHT BY THEIR CONSTITUENTS.

Let’s take these election lawsuits. All of them know how the courts work. You present your best case — yes, MAGA, with all your evidence — in the lower court. Think of it like a box full of stuff.

If you think that the judge got something wrong (I’m not going to list what all that is), you can appeal the case to a higher court, but the only thing that goes to the higher court is that box. You can’t introduce anything new.

But for WEEKS now, Republicans have allowed their supporters to think that Trump’s legal team was building a case with all these lawsuits, and one that would culminate in a hearing at the Supreme Court. WRONG.

You no doubt saw this on social media — Trumpers saying it’s all part of the plan, just wait til we get to SCOTUS, etc. Not once did any Republican explain to their constituents what the losses in the lower courts meant. No, they fed them FALSE HOPE.

The GOP and right wing allies fed them this false hope in many ways — not acknowledging Biden’s win, repeating false claims about voter fraud, pointing to these frivolous court cases as “normal,” etc.

But the cherry on this sh*t sundae was the #TexasLawsuit. I’ve been around lawyers a lot so I knew this was a dumb attempt by a compromised Attorney General (yes, you, Ken Paxton). The Constitution is quite clear that each state gets to determine how it’s elections are run.

But not everyone knows how this works, and that’s ok. Folks are busy and we all have our own areas of expertise.

But here’s the thing — Republicans PREYED on its own voters, knowing that most wouldn’t know how ludicrous Paxton’s lawsuit was.

But then, they all ran as fast as they could to sign onto the lawsuit. 126 GOP Congressmen, and 18 GOP state Attorneys General.

It wasn’t limited to them. Here in my state of #Oregon, we had several state legislators who demanded that our Attorney General sign on as well. (She didn’t.) If you’re in a blue state, you likely had GOP legislators do this too.

https://twitter.com/ORDems/status/1337481222600052736

Think of how all this plays out in the minds of a Trumper. You can easily see how they’d feel pretty confident about a SCOTUS case when so many prominent people signed onto it. That had to mean that there was something really there, right?

So why’d all these people sign on? I see two options, and both are bad.

1) They wanted to curry favor with Trump.

Even after his massive loss, they still don’t want any blowback from him, or his rabid supporters. Cowards.

2) They hoped the Supreme Court would hear the case.

That’s the scary one. They wanted SCOTUS to overrule the will of millions of voters so they could stay in power. They honestly thought stacking the Court 6-3 made this possible.

That right there is what disqualifies them from having any role in our government. They’ve demonstrated that they have abandoned their oath to protect the Constitution.

None of them will own up their betrayal, and clean up this mess. So what are we left with?

Millions of Trumpers who are livid, confused about why this happened, and saying things like:

Topping off my anger this morning are the folks STILL feeding their supporters, even after the SCOTUS repudiation. It’s not just popular social media personalities either.

@SenRonJohnson is holding a hearing NEXT WEEK to look at “inconsistencies.”
cnn.com/2020/12/11/pol…

Now, it does appear that some of the congressmen who signed onto the @TexasLawsuit are a wee bit scared right now.

Look at this measly statement. (And look at that ratio!)

https://twitter.com/repwesterman/status/1337575359953440770

So where do we go from here? That’s a big question, and one I’ll keep exploring at #PoliticalCharge (see my bio), but for sure we don’t let up the pressure on the Republicans who betrayed their country.

America will struggle as long as we have this many elected Republican officials and right wing personalities misleading half of the public for their own selfish treasons.

Our work over the next several years is cut out for us. // End

I'm glad to see that this thread is resonating. I'm being serious when I say our work is cut out for us. I hope you'll check out #PoliticalCharge. If you like what I do, you can support my work (& get the inside scoop) here: patreon.com/politicalcharge