I agree, you’re spot on Jack. He’s a desperate man and will try anything. Still, I’m heartened by the results in Hungary, Serbia and now Brazil.
Orban and Serbia’s leader were in power longer than Trump. And Orban’s hold was tighter. So, I’m cautiously optimistic for the best and bracing for a chaotic 60 days.
What is the end game in seizing GA ballots? We are past the statute of limitations. We know there were 3 recounts after 2020. None showed fraud or evidence of wrongdoing. Was this just performative?
You're right…the clock's run and three counts confirmed 2020. The end game is 2026: DOJ subpoenaed election workers' names, kept 600+ boxes, found nothing.
It’s pretext, not performance….a cloud over Fulton to justify challenging November’s count.
The best outcome is that the results are so astronomically wide in our favor that it will be hard to prove anything happened. My county election supervisor has been the same for all his nonsense and has always been fair and non partisan. we all must
Utah's AG stood firm and told trump what he could do with his threats if she didn't hand over the personal voter data. A Republican AG. Georgia's Raffenberger is holding.
trump is crying foul because Zelenskyy is bombing Russian bot farms (data centers). He called it interference in our election.
Maybe we could just keep him distracted for the next several days by having the Chippendales visit the White House.
On election Day I will be somewhere off the coast of Virginia. The clerk has my vote. Crossing fingers and #HoldingFast.
Should we start a funding page to hire Chippendales dancers for Trump?! (I'm still laughing after reading that.)
On a more serious note, YES...I hope to see SEVERAL Republicans in key positions with the ability to say "HELL NO!" to his shenanigans. I think there's a good chance we just might!
Jack, your three predictions are right, and I'd add what makes this cycle more dangerous than 2020.
In 2020 the fake election claims had a campaign behind them. Now they are the daily weather. Your count of more than 70 percent of days is the whole story: the pre-commitment is the operating system. He held up Brazil's fast count to call American elections corrupt, got the country wrong in the same post, and has amplified claims that Serbian servers rigged our votes. Every foreign election becomes a prop for the same lie. The man telling it shows no sign of any guardrail, internal or external, and the visible decline makes it worse. The people around him have learned that agreeing is safer than correcting.
On your third prediction, the machinery is different now. In 2020 there were officials at Justice who said no. Today the DOJ is run by people determined to try anything that protects a man who is threatened by the count. The request to hold 20,000 California ballots is the template: ask for a delay, manufacture doubt, let the clock do the work. The Fulton County seizure is the same muscle being flexed.
Here is the piece I'd add about Congress. The Constitution lets each chamber judge the elections and returns of its own members. It was written as a backstop, and it is the opening for anyone who wants to turn doubt into a refusal to seat winners. Courts and secretaries of state held in 2020, but this question gets answered by a majority vote inside the chamber. So your point about asking members of Congress for their position on seating the winners, in writing, is the most practical advice in the piece.
Then there is the money, and the shopping list. At the Dallas convention he promised every adult citizen a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans keep Congress. At the Kansas rally he added that if you lose, you get nothing. No one has pointed to an appropriation for it, and the spending power belongs to Congress, not a rally stage. The rest of the menu has the same problem: $100 million for a drug manufacturing facility in Kentucky if Republicans win, permanent year-round E15 for Kansas only if Marshall wins, a Space Academy, hurricane relief for North Carolina that he then called a joke. Reporting today counts offers like these in about half the states with key Senate races. Voters see it clearly. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 66 to 18 percent called the $5,000 pitch inappropriate, and NBC found fewer than one in six expect to see a check. Eight days out, these are pitches for votes with no money behind them, and if the returns go the other way they hand him one more thing to say was stolen.
Timothy Snyder has spent years warning that the abandonment of facts comes first, and that institutions fall when people obey in advance. The lie came first in 2020, and the pressure on officials followed.
And Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation wrote the staffing plan. Their blueprint is about replacing the people who say no with people who say yes across Justice and the agencies that touch elections. Your closing point is exactly what that plan targets: the clerks, judges, and county boards who hold the line.
So yes, learn your county board's name. Then vote, show up, document everything, and make sure those people know they are not alone when the phone rings.
As I mentioned in response to today’s “I Love Fucking Australia” iSubstack, the following:
“An important thing to keep in mind - there are some states, like California, where I live, who have rules and laws in place that the votes will still be counted days after Election Day due to mail in and overseas voting, and then be certified in December.
Each state varies for their time and certifications. On one hand, this is a good thing because if all states were under one/same system of ballot count timing and certifications, then the regime could throw their monkey wrench over every state’s votes all at once. On the other hand, the regime can only go after some states. Either way, the regime will try their shenanigans and fail.
Thank goodness for the 50 individual states’ rights and governance. This is one reason why our country is called the United STATES of America.”
That snarling rodent face gets me every time 😂. What a sorry excuse for a not quite human being. Great article btw!
Boy, Chichi…isn’t that the truth!
And…thank YOU.
-Jack
Perfect description of its face! That’s all I see every time!
I agree, you’re spot on Jack. He’s a desperate man and will try anything. Still, I’m heartened by the results in Hungary, Serbia and now Brazil.
Orban and Serbia’s leader were in power longer than Trump. And Orban’s hold was tighter. So, I’m cautiously optimistic for the best and bracing for a chaotic 60 days.
Ellen...YES! Hungary, Serbia, and Brazil...DO offer a clear-eyed look at what CAN be done when people finally decide that they have had ENOUGH.
These examples should be held firmly in mind!
-Jac
What is the end game in seizing GA ballots? We are past the statute of limitations. We know there were 3 recounts after 2020. None showed fraud or evidence of wrongdoing. Was this just performative?
You're right…the clock's run and three counts confirmed 2020. The end game is 2026: DOJ subpoenaed election workers' names, kept 600+ boxes, found nothing.
It’s pretext, not performance….a cloud over Fulton to justify challenging November’s count.
You are spot on, Jack! 👍🏻
Thanks, CJ!
-Jack
The best outcome is that the results are so astronomically wide in our favor that it will be hard to prove anything happened. My county election supervisor has been the same for all his nonsense and has always been fair and non partisan. we all must
#HOLDFAST
Teri
That's it, Teri. "Astronomically wide." It must be!
#HOLDFAST
-Jack
Utah's AG stood firm and told trump what he could do with his threats if she didn't hand over the personal voter data. A Republican AG. Georgia's Raffenberger is holding.
trump is crying foul because Zelenskyy is bombing Russian bot farms (data centers). He called it interference in our election.
Maybe we could just keep him distracted for the next several days by having the Chippendales visit the White House.
On election Day I will be somewhere off the coast of Virginia. The clerk has my vote. Crossing fingers and #HoldingFast.
Sue..hahahaha!
Should we start a funding page to hire Chippendales dancers for Trump?! (I'm still laughing after reading that.)
On a more serious note, YES...I hope to see SEVERAL Republicans in key positions with the ability to say "HELL NO!" to his shenanigans. I think there's a good chance we just might!
#KeepHoldingFast
-Jack
This picture Cracks me Up 🤣!!!
Jack, your three predictions are right, and I'd add what makes this cycle more dangerous than 2020.
In 2020 the fake election claims had a campaign behind them. Now they are the daily weather. Your count of more than 70 percent of days is the whole story: the pre-commitment is the operating system. He held up Brazil's fast count to call American elections corrupt, got the country wrong in the same post, and has amplified claims that Serbian servers rigged our votes. Every foreign election becomes a prop for the same lie. The man telling it shows no sign of any guardrail, internal or external, and the visible decline makes it worse. The people around him have learned that agreeing is safer than correcting.
On your third prediction, the machinery is different now. In 2020 there were officials at Justice who said no. Today the DOJ is run by people determined to try anything that protects a man who is threatened by the count. The request to hold 20,000 California ballots is the template: ask for a delay, manufacture doubt, let the clock do the work. The Fulton County seizure is the same muscle being flexed.
Here is the piece I'd add about Congress. The Constitution lets each chamber judge the elections and returns of its own members. It was written as a backstop, and it is the opening for anyone who wants to turn doubt into a refusal to seat winners. Courts and secretaries of state held in 2020, but this question gets answered by a majority vote inside the chamber. So your point about asking members of Congress for their position on seating the winners, in writing, is the most practical advice in the piece.
Then there is the money, and the shopping list. At the Dallas convention he promised every adult citizen a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans keep Congress. At the Kansas rally he added that if you lose, you get nothing. No one has pointed to an appropriation for it, and the spending power belongs to Congress, not a rally stage. The rest of the menu has the same problem: $100 million for a drug manufacturing facility in Kentucky if Republicans win, permanent year-round E15 for Kansas only if Marshall wins, a Space Academy, hurricane relief for North Carolina that he then called a joke. Reporting today counts offers like these in about half the states with key Senate races. Voters see it clearly. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 66 to 18 percent called the $5,000 pitch inappropriate, and NBC found fewer than one in six expect to see a check. Eight days out, these are pitches for votes with no money behind them, and if the returns go the other way they hand him one more thing to say was stolen.
Timothy Snyder has spent years warning that the abandonment of facts comes first, and that institutions fall when people obey in advance. The lie came first in 2020, and the pressure on officials followed.
And Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation wrote the staffing plan. Their blueprint is about replacing the people who say no with people who say yes across Justice and the agencies that touch elections. Your closing point is exactly what that plan targets: the clerks, judges, and county boards who hold the line.
So yes, learn your county board's name. Then vote, show up, document everything, and make sure those people know they are not alone when the phone rings.
#HOLDFAST
As I mentioned in response to today’s “I Love Fucking Australia” iSubstack, the following:
“An important thing to keep in mind - there are some states, like California, where I live, who have rules and laws in place that the votes will still be counted days after Election Day due to mail in and overseas voting, and then be certified in December.
Each state varies for their time and certifications. On one hand, this is a good thing because if all states were under one/same system of ballot count timing and certifications, then the regime could throw their monkey wrench over every state’s votes all at once. On the other hand, the regime can only go after some states. Either way, the regime will try their shenanigans and fail.
Thank goodness for the 50 individual states’ rights and governance. This is one reason why our country is called the United STATES of America.”
#HOLDFAST #OUTLAST #STANDFAST