Thread by @ZhiZhuWeb

"Meanwhile, the amateurish “stop the steal” efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump & his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020"

#TrumpCoupAttempt
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"Those recalcitrant Republican state officials who effectively saved the country from calamity by refusing to falsely declare fraud or to “find” more votes for Trump are being systematically removed or hounded from office."

#TrumpCoupAttempt
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"Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in three years if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy."

@SenateDems
#EndTheFilibuster Pass the #FreedomToVoteAct
Protect American democracy
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"Most Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it."

#DemocracyInDanger @TheDemocrats @SenateDems
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"Trump came close to bringing off a coup earlier this year. All that prevented it was a handful of state officials with notable courage & integrity, and the reluctance of two attorneys general & a vice president to obey orders they deemed inappropriate."

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"Because the Trump movement is less about policies than about Trump himself, it has undermined the normal role of American political parties"

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"While the defeat of a sitting president normally leads to a struggle to claim the party’s mantle, so far no Republican has been able to challenge Trump’s grip on Republican voters ... It is still all about Trump."

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"For Trump supporters, the events of Jan. 6 were not an embarrassing debacle but a patriotic effort to save the nation... As one 56-yr-old Michigan woman explained: “We weren’t there to steal things. We weren’t there to do damage. We were just there to overthrow the government.”"

"While it might be shocking to learn that normal, decent Americans can support a violent assault on the Capitol, it shows that Americans as a people are not as exceptional as their founding principles and institutions."

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"It would be foolish to imagine that the violence of Jan. 6 was an aberration that will not be repeated. Because Trump supporters see those events as a patriotic defense of the nation, there is every reason to expect more such episodes."

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"Where does the Republican Party stand in all this?

The party gave birth to and nurtured this movement; it bears full responsibility"

#GOPBetrayedAmerica
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"Perhaps American conservatism was never comfortable with the American experiment in liberal democracy, but certainly since Trump took over their party, many conservatives have revealed a hostility to core American beliefs."

#GOPBetrayedAmerica
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"From the uneasy and sometimes contentious partnership during Trump’s four years in office, the [Republican] party’s main if not sole purpose today is as the willing enabler of Trump’s efforts to game the electoral system to ensure his return to power."

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"On issues such as the filibuster, Romney and others insist on preserving “regular order” ... even though they know that Trump’s lieutenants in their party are working to subvert the next presidential election.

...even these anti-Trump Republicans are enabling the insurrection."

"It has become fashionable to write off any possibility that a handful of Republicans might rise up to save the day. This preemptive capitulation has certainly served well those Republicans who might otherwise be held to account for their cowardice."

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"We are already in a constitutional crisis. The destruction of democracy might not come until November 2024, but critical steps in that direction are happening now."

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