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Greg Sargent Profile picture
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Feb 4 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
We just learned that Trump...

* fully intended to "overturn" the 2020 election

* floated seizing voting machines

* will pardon 1/6 rioters

The RNC's response? To punish the only two Republicans who think this has no place in their party.

New piece:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
An extraordinary quote:

The RNC censure of Cheney and Kinzinger claims the 1/6 committee is engaged in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

It has become party dogma that the 1/6ers are martyrs and heroes:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Let's focus more on the threat a GOP House will pose to democracy.

The more we learn about Trump's true insurrectionist intent, the more pressure Kevin McCarthy is under to whitewash it away, or even stand behind it.

That has ugly implications for 2024:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Important and related, from @brianbeutler:

Dems are still locked in an old frame of mind where they respond to the threat with "scrupulous adherence to old norms," so it's an open question whether truth/democracy or lies/authoritarianism will prevail:

mailchi.mp/crooked.com/bi…

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More from @ThePlumLineGS

Greg Sargent Profile picture
Feb 2
Trump's ugly admissions of guilt over 1/6 are clarifying. Because he's flaunting his corrupt designs, opposing reform of the Electoral Count Act is now firmly aligned with making a 2024 coup easier.

I looked at the latest emerging ECA reform. It's good:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Trump's position is now unabashedly that the 1/6 violence was a righteous effort to correct a grievous wrong.

By openly claiming Pence should have overturned the election, he has firmly aligned opposition to ECA reform with enabling a 2024 coup rerun:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
All it would take is one GOP governor and a GOP-controlled House to steal the 2024 election.

A new plan to reform the Electoral Count Act has been released by @SenAngusKing. It deals with this threat.

I took a look at the plan, w/expert @Matt_Seligman:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 31
Simply unreal: A GOP bill in New Hampshire targets "negative" depictions of US history. Its explicit goal: To ensure teachers retain "loyalty" and don't push "subversive doctrines."

This McCarthyite effort could be a model for more to come.

My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
The absurdly vague language of these bills is a feature, not a bug. The idea is to make teachers feel as if they're perpetually on thin ice, treating them like subversive elements that must be rooted out at the slightest deviation from orthodoxy:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Under the New Hampshire bill, it would be reasonable for teachers to think they must tread carefully when saying positive things about certain abolitionist or civil rights tracts:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 26
Here's an unsettling thought:

If we don't revise the ECA, successfully overturning the 2024 election might only require a single corrupt GOP governor and a GOP-controlled House.

An important new paper spells out this nightmare scenario.

Details here:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
David Perdue is running for governor in Georgia on the explicit claim that he wouldn't have certified Biden's electors.

All it takes is one governor like him, plus House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who's tolerating rampant insurrectionism in his ranks:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Here's the ultimate point:

We need ECA reform that addresses potential corruption at both ends -- state appointment of electors, and Congressional counting of them.

Relying on a good new paper from @Matt_Seligman.

(This might interest you, @Nate_Cohn)

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 5 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 20
Mitch McConnell told us exactly how his strategy works: Make government look dysfunctional and get the media to blast the Dem president for failing to secure "unity."

It's working. Three new polls show Biden slipping badly with core Dem groups and indys:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
This devious Mitch McConnell quote from 2011 lays out the entire playbook. Every Democrat should carry around a copy of it in their pocket:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Mitch McConnell's strategy also successfully exploits flawed conventions of political reporting.

McConnell surely chortled with glee during Biden's presser, where Biden was hammered for failing to achieve "unity" while GOP conduct was erased as a factor:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 19
The crowning insult: Joe Manchin finally makes it clear that the real reason he favors the filibuster is it preserves minority rule.

In some underappreciated new comments, he reveals he wants the filibuster to provide a "check" on majorities.

My latest:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Note this:

Here Joe Manchin explicitly declares that the filibuster is an affirmative good *precisely because* it allows the minority to prevent the majority from passing laws:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
"This has been a long-standing critique of the filibuster, that it allows the minority to block a majority from passing legislation. Manchin essentially acknowledged that.”

Smart comments from Senate expert @jiwallner on what Manchin has revealed here:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
Read 4 tweets
Greg Sargent Profile picture
Jan 13
Let's be clear: Kevin McCarthy's refusal to testify to the 1/6 committee may be helping cover up possible Trump crimes.

McCarthy can likely detail whether Trump saw the riot as a means to obstruct the electoral count -- an official proceeding.

New piece:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…
“There’s no doubt that McCarthy is a material witness to a possible crime by the former president. His conversation with Trump during the height of the riot could provide direct evidence of Trump’s mindset and scheme.”

@rgoodlaw, to me, in this piece:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… ImageImage
@rgoodlaw Did Trump indicate to McCarthy that calling off the rioters was in some way contingent on Republicans doing more to subvert the electoral count?

That is only marginally different from what Trump did reportedly say.

McCarthy may be keeping this buried:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… ImageImage
Read 4 tweets

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