Thread by @jennycohn1

Trump “attacked the election machines for being insecure & opaque, the very thing his party enabled & fought reform of for the last 4 years. Of course electronic machines are unreliable & unverifiable, the GOP made them that way.” ⁦@LoveisCthulhu⁩ 1/ theecksfactordefense.medium.com/elections-are-…

This is a fantastic piece! #SAFEAct 2/

“Republican members of congress fought election security every step of the way. In Feb 2020, while the GOP president was being impeached 4 soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election, GOP senators blocked 3 bills 4 increased election security from coming to a vote.” 3/

“‘America is 266 days away from the 2020 election, and Majority Leader McConnell has yet to take any concrete steps to protect our foreign elections from hacking or foreign interference,’ Wyden said.’ per The Hill Feb 11 2020.” 4/

“This was not just a 2020 phenomenon. 2016 revitalized concerns about election security given Russia’s efforts to support the Trump campaign, confirmed in the Mueller report, even if the coordination with the Trump campaign was not.” 5/

“In 2018 and 2019 Sen Wyden tried to bring in election reform measures that again died in the Senate.” 6/

“‘Wyden recently reintroduced the PAVE Act [similar to his SAFE Act], a wish list of election-security provisions that failed to get through the Senate last year.’” 7/

“‘The measure includes the use of hand-marked paper ballots and a prohibition on wireless modems and other kinds of Internet connectivity, all of which have been advocated by computer scientists and other election experts for years.’ per the New Yorker June 12 2019.” 8/

“There is a difference between voter fraud and electoral fraud. Voter fraud is the idea that voters not entitled to vote are voting. The GOP love this narrative despite how rarely this happens.” 9/

“Because this justifies their favourite hobby, stopping people from voting. The GOP operates on the philosophy, lower turnout favors Republicans. This is what you have to do when your ideas are wildly unpopular.” 10/

“There is scant evidence of widespread voter fraud. ‘Trump sometimes says that large numbers of people vote illegally in the United States, but a panel he appointed to investigate that ostensible problem could not substantiate it.’ NPR July 12 2020.” 11/

“What has changed post the 2020 election is now the GOP & Trump are going after electoral fraud, the idea that electronic voting machines are unreliable. Historically this has been the domain of the Ds, as this is the type of fraud the above...bills were intended to prevent.” 12/

“So why are the GOP wading into these previously verboten waters? Because their tried and true methods of voter suppression (disguised as concerns about voter fraud) didn’t work. People waited in 11 hour lines. People voted by mail in record numbers.” 13/

“People voted by mail in record numbers. Early turnout broke all previous records. Lawsuits forced voters purged from the rolls to be allowed back on.” 14/

“Another party in a saner system of government might eat their loss and either try to widen their appeal or redouble their efforts at suppression. Trump is not content with that.” 15/

So TFG “harnessed his team of the worst of lawyers & ... attacked the election machines 4 being insecure & opaque, the very thing his party enabled & fought reform of 4 the last 4 years. Of course electronic machines are unreliable & unverifiable, the GOP made them that way.” 16/