😳”The solution, Bannon announced, was to seize control of the GOP from the bottom up. Listeners shld flood into the lowest rung of the party structure: the precincts…After Bannon’s endorsement, the ‘precinct strategy’ rocketed across far-right media.” 1/ propublica.org/article/heedin…
“Viral posts promoting the plan racked up millions of views on pro-Trump websites, talk radio, fringe social networks and message boards, and programs aligned with the QAnon conspiracy theory.” 2/
“Suddenly, people who had never before showed interest in party politics started calling the local GOP headquarters or crowding into county conventions, eager to enlist as precinct officers.” 3/
“They showed up in states Trump won and in states he lost, in deep-red rural areas, in swing-voting suburbs and in populous cities.” 4/
“Precinct officers are the worker bees of political parties, typically responsible for routine tasks like making phone calls or knocking on doors. But collectively, they can influence how elections are run.” 5/
In some states, precinct officers “have a say in choosing poll workers, and in others they help pick members of boards that oversee elections.” 6/
“ProPublica contacted GOP leaders in 65 key counties, & 41 reported an unusual increase in signups since Bannon’s campaign began. At least 8,500 new Republican precinct officers (or equivalent lowest-level officials) joined those county parties.” 7/
“We also looked at equivalent Democratic posts and found no similar surge.” 8/
“‘I’ve never seen anything like this, people are coming out of the woodwork,’ said J.C. Martin, the GOP chairman in Polk County, Florida, who has added 50 new committee members since January.” 9/
😳”Martin had wanted congressional Republicans to overturn the election on Jan. 6, and he welcomed this wave of like-minded newcomers. ‘The most recent time we saw this type of thing was the tea party, and this is way beyond it.’”
10/
10/
“Bannon, through a spokesperson [presumably Alexandra Preate of Capital HQ], declined to comment.” 11/
This is absolutely crucial reporting by @iarnsdorf, 9/2/21 12/
14/ Steve Bannon's guests tout precinct committeemen "chatrooms" to "take over" Broward County, Florida - by @mmfa mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/s…
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