Since Donald Trump is back to saying the 2020 election was stolen from him, claims regularly echoed by his followers, it's helpful to keep on hand 1 or 2 of the exhaustively detailed state-by-state accounts by election lawyers and scholars of why this isn't so. Links follow. /1 "Lost, Not Stolen," 2022, is a 72-page report from eight prominent conservative legal and political figures that knocks down many of the more frequently heard claims from Trump and allies that the 2020 election was stolen or illegitimate. /2 drive.google.com/file/d/1aqorZ6…

Donald Trump is a convicted felon. This is a big deal. And the primary reason he finds himself in this position is that habitually, without apparent conscience or hesitation, he engages in crimes. /1 Trump's lawyers will try to get today’s 34 felony convictions overturned on appeal, and perhaps they will find some defect in the law or error in the trial to get him off -- what his populist backers, were sides reversed, would call a technicality. /2

A social media influencer frequently associated with false claims has asserted that "NY changed their laws specifically to allow Jean Carroll to sue Trump." This claim has now been widely circulated. Let's give it a look. /1 In May 2022 the New York state legislature passed something called the Adult Survivors Act, which reopened lapsed statutes of limitation for a year to allow the filing of civil suits over allegations of past sex crimes. /2 nytimes.com/2022/05/23/nyr…

Does the new Trump prosecution seek to criminalize speech and advocacy? I answer this and six other questions in my new @CatoInstitute post. Thread 🧵/1 @CatoInstitute "Nothing in the [indictment] seeks to punish the former president for speech or advocacy as such....it IDs each statement as part of an overall course of conduct satisfying the elements of a crime under one of four federal statutes." Link to piece: /2cato.org/blog/seven-que…

Trump didn't get charged with illegal possession over the 197 docs he gave back to the archives when asked. That matches up with how Biden, Pence, etc. were treated. Give back voluntarily = no rap.

Trump is facing charges because he chose to lie to the feds and hide documents. I’ve written up some observations about the Trump indictment in a new @CatoInstitute post: cato.org/blog/notes-cha…

Recommended: @ryan_dane @RSI evaluation of how Alaska's new electoral system (universal primary from which four candidates advance, general election using #RCV) worked in its trial run last year. Summary: it worked well. /1 rstreet.org/wp-content/upl… @ryan_dane @RSI "A review of initial evidence found that races in the state became more civil and competitive overall, and, despite it being a major change in process, the top-four approach caused little disruption in the composition of government." /2

There's a push currently on to make Minnesota the 16th state to sign on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), intended to sidestep the Electoral College and install the election of presidents by popular vote. But.... /1 startribune.com/momentum-build… As @AndrewRCraig noted in 2021, the NPVIC in present form suffers from unacceptable practical flaws in its mechanics, regardless of what one may think about its aims. /2 cato.org/blog/fatally-f…

This is just outrageous. The U.S. State Department has funded "disinformation index" @DisinfoIndex, which feeds a blacklist to advertisers to keep ads off sites like @Reason magazine (at which I'm a contributing editor). /1 libertyunyielding.com/2023/02/11/tax… Others on the blacklist as purported disinformation purveyors: the @nypost and the @dcexaminer. The London-based group describes its mission as "Disrupting the business model of disinformation." You can download one of its relevant reports here: disinformationindex.org/country-studie… /2