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Will Saletan

@saletan

3 Apr

@stphnfwlr

Based on this @stphnfwlr analysis of the GA elections law, here's my list of which parts are good, bad, fine, or overhyped, based on my biases that 1) easier voting is good, 2) partisan control is bad, and 3) ID is a reasonable and manageable concern... /1 bit.ly/31Lkbbs

Bad stuff:
- shorter window to request absentee ballot
- later mailing of absentee ballots
- limiting drop boxes (The stated concern is security, but this is already addressed by moving them inside voting sites)
- shorter runoffs, which could limit the window for early voting /2

Good stuff:
- requires at least one drop box per county
- expands days/hours available for early in-person voting
- requires polls with long waits to add staff or another precinct (for next election)
- online option for ballot applications (already begun, but now formalized) /3

Read 7 tweets

Will Saletan

@saletan

19 Mar

The new US intel report on the 2020 election — written by people who worked under Trump — destroys his lies about election fraud and Chinese interference. And it exposes him, in effect, as a Russian asset.

Here's a short thread with the key findings ... bit.ly/38VjgsC

The main conclusion mirrors 2016: "Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party [and] supporting former President Trump."

But there's more to the story.

The report says Russian agents used Trump's buddies to "launder" their fake stories about Biden. Giuliani, Don Jr., Nunes and Jordan played along. Trump kept spreading the planted stories even after he was told Giuliani had been "worked by Russian assets." bit.ly/38VjgsC

Read 7 tweets

Will Saletan

@saletan

14 Feb

@LindseyGrahamSC

Chris Wallace: "Does Donald Trump bear any responsibility for the attack on the Capitol?"

@LindseyGrahamSC: "No. In terms of the law, no... The speech on Jan. 6 was not an incitement ... I don't think he caused the riot ... Did he incite this riot by his speech? Absolutely not."

@HerreraBeutler

Graham on the case against Trump: "The trial record was a complete joke, hearsay upon hearsay."

On @HerreraBeutler's story that Trump, during the riot, said the attackers cared more about the election than McCarthy did: "It doesn’t tell me a whole lot, because it’s all hearsay."

Graham says Harris is as guilty as Trump: “If you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House. Because she actually bailed out rioters, and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open.”

Read 4 tweets

Will Saletan

@saletan

7 Feb

@Liz_Cheney

On Fox, @Liz_Cheney says even if senators don't convict Trump, the "criminal investigation" of Jan. 6 will examine, e.g., "whether the tweet that he sent out calling Vice President Pence a coward while the attack was underway ... was a premeditated effort to provoke violence." /1

Cheney unloads: "The extent to which the president, President Trump, for months leading up to Jan. 6, spread the notion that the election had been stolen, or that the election was rigged, was a lie. ... We need to make sure that we as Republicans are the party of truth." /2

Cheney continues: "President Trump claimed for months that the election was stolen, and then apparently set about to do everything he could to steal it himself."

On Jan. 6: "We’ve never seen that kind of an assault by a president ... on another branch of government." /3

Read 5 tweets

Will Saletan

@saletan

6 Feb

Does NYT apply consistent standards when evaluating alleged racial or sexual misconduct? Or does it switch standards based on internal pressure?

Regardless of what the right standard is, these cases suggest pressure, not principle, is driving outcomes. /1 nyti.ms/36MoAgU

@deanbaquet

McNeil says he used a slur only in the context of attributing it to someone else, and only when that incident was raised by another person.

I don't know how accurate that account (below) is. But after hearing it and other evidence, @deanbaquet decided he shouldn't be fired. /2

On Jan. 28, Baquet wrote: “it did not appear to me that his intentions were hateful or malicious. ... in such cases people should be told they were wrong and given another chance.”

On Feb. 5, Baquet wrote that McNeil's resignation was “the right next step.”

What changed? /3

Read 7 tweets

Will Saletan

@saletan

24 Jan

@margbrennan

Birx confirms on FTN that the White House censored her on COVID: "I was not able to do national press."

@margbrennan: "Do you think the administration was suppressing vital information to win the election?"

Birx: "I don’t know what their motivation was." cbsn.ws/39bjbSc

Birx says she and her HHS aide were the "only two people who regularly wore a mask in the White House."

She says she knew the US was repeating a mistake from the HIV epidemic: "If you’re only looking for sick people, you miss a lot of what is really happening under the surface."

@margbrennan

.@margbrennan notes that after a CDC official in late February warned of community spread, Fauci said on TV that "the risk to Americans remains low."

Birx describes her reaction: "I’m in South Africa. We’re yelling at the... television, saying, 'This is going to be a pandemic!'"

Read 4 tweets

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