VDH, an American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator, explained to British journalist Piers Morgan on his "Piers Morgan Uncensored" podcast how Trump was able to take away voters from the Democrat Party and "middle America," and soundly defeat Harris and her stubborn adherence to identity politics (emphasis, mine).
He was able, for the first time in my lifetime, to replace racial tribalism with class solidarity ... and that’s what they do not want to confront. In other words, he said to people, 'If you're a Mexican-American truck driver, if you're a black electrician, if you're a poor white carpenter, you have more in common with each other than you do with your elites on the bicoastal, domain.' //
And that's what they do not want to confront, because that's the keystone of the Democratic Party. Victim, victimization, victimizers oppressor, oppressed. And they have this kind of Marxist binary. And people don't buy into it, and especially minorities don't buy it. //
GBenton Chelan Jim
11 hours ago
Yes, the degree to which they tried to destroy him is the degree to which he is an existential threat. Their entire success was based on a lie. And he did the ONE thing that threatened to tear it all down: tell the truth. The amazing thing is it took their demonization of him and his refusal to go away that eventually proved his point: they are the threat to democracy.
He said that all along but it took the past 10 years to show it in real time and finally enough people got red pilled.
The right/left paradigm has been turned upside down. It's really not that meaningful. The Uniparty divided us along party lines and kept themselves in power. Trump took a populist approach and is forming a coalition based on what we agree about rather than where we disagree.
The obstacle is that the nation is still highly divided and the Machine won't die easily. The Uniparty knows how to gum up the works.
BUT sunlight disinfects. The thing they can't survive is exposure. Since Trump cannot afford to let them rise back to power or we're all screwed, he has to expose their secrets. In doing so, he'll further vindicate his case and more people will reject the Democrat party as they wake up to decades of lies.
Politics as usual is over. It's not about retribution, it's about exposing why nothing has made sense for decades and how the two parties kept us losing rights and the Overton Window shifted to the brink of our destruction.
He can't be a dictator and wipe away everything in his way, they know that. BUT he can utterly destroy their ability to lie to the people and build a coaltion they cannot defeat in fair elections. //
GBenton sb2
9 hours ago edited
That is the challenge, for sure. But if you look at the collapse in rating of Hollywood and TV and corporations that go woke, the left is weaker than they appear. X.com has 10x the reach as the MSM.
I think Trump won bigger than it appeared. States with no voter ID cheated, as always, and most fo the counties in this country moved right. If they couldn't cheat in the high population center cities, what would they really have?
We're about to find out. This is an information war right now and not a shooting war, thankfully.
And their exposed flank is all their dirty secrets and lies.
My assumption is that Trump will hit that flank with disclosure of who and what they really are and simultaneously secure our elections and deport illegals so they can no longer stay in power illegitimately.
And they have almost no defense against that attack because it's all true and they are criminals.
You know what I think will be the exposures that sink a whole lot of them all at once?
Espstein and Diddy. Americans might argue over policy or unions or whatever, but no one will tolerate pedophiles. Plus the cartels and human trafficking and drugs. How many in the Elite are tied up in one or more of those things?
The depravity of the left will be its undoing.
American Majority Action turned out low-participation voters in battleground States to help Trump and fellow Republicans to victory. //
If you want to win the war, you’d better have a good ground game.
It’s taken Republicans a long time to learn that basic truth on the battleground of politics, often through painful losses. But some grassroots conservative groups got it in the latest election cycle, and the armies they deployed in ballot-chasing battles across the seven battleground states appear to have had a pronounced impact on the outcome of this month’s presidential election.
Taking a page from the successful ground game playbook in Florida’s successful 2022 elections, American Majority Action (AMA) developed and launched a blanketing ballot-chasing initiative in four swing states — Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin. //
Consultant Shannon Love told the publication there’s “no secret” to the Republicans’ success.
“They do the work. I think that Democrats get caught up in the message and the polls instead of doing the consistent work,” Love said.
Republicans should celebrate their wins, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable. The voters who flipped to the GOP in 2024 weren’t signing a lifelong contract; they were making a statement. If Republicans want to keep these gains, they’ll need to deliver. That means focusing on policies that help working families and avoiding the same trap Democrats fell into—listening to the loudest voices instead of the largest groups. //
ConservativeInMinnesota
19 minutes ago
Democrat’s policies drove minorities to finally challenge the narrative they had for decades. If Trump’s presidency improves their lives that narrative will be shattered.
If Republicans after Trump continue to show minorities their lives are better under Republicans they’ll know it isn’t just Trump. If we make that transition the Dems become the new Whigs.
“Nyah nyah nyah” has been the winner’s instinctive reflex, ever since we were all eight years old.
It’s human nature. And yet - and yet. This heavy-handed, partisan response to a major victory, carries a risk that this amazing realignment — MAGA and MAHA — will squander the greatest political opportunity of our lifetimes.
It is also strategically unwise. A good friend, who comes from the same world I do, said recently that he too is concerned that MAGA in triumph is “spiking the football’. //
If MAGA/MAHA did this — that is, walked with maturity and grace through this historic, unprecedented, transpartisan open door — it would revitalize and transform the Republican party, making the MAGA/MAHA movement into a big, unbeatable tent whose mission is to promote core American principles. This mission could replace the always-marginal, always-vulnerable status of the Republican party, which has devolved (as has the DNC) into a checklist of ever more extreme policy itemizations.
Gaetz was a highly effective member of Congress. Then all that changed with the publication of an anonymously sourced report accusing him of possibly being a child sex trafficker.
It was clear to forty percent of young women that Kamala Harris only offered death or subjugation: economically, the issue of men in women's spaces, and harm to their bodies from criminal actors. Many young women voted for a future that looked beyond "my body, my choice," and looked toward "my vote, my future."
If this trend holds and grows, the kids are going to be all right.
During the response to Hurricane Helene, there were numerous stories of late or nonexistent federal response to heavily Republican areas in western North Carolina. //
Despite this driving the "fact checkers" bonkers, the allegation clearly merits revisiting.
As I posted Saturday, the odds of a low-level part-time FEMA employee creating a policy to deprive Trump supporters of federal assistance and violate federal law in the process seem remote. The fact that Trump supporters were refused federal aid in Florida and that Trump had heard about the same happening in North Carolina suggests a more comprehensive FEMA policy aimed at displacing Trump supporters either for purposes of the 2024 election or to destroy conservative communities permanently.
Firing Marn'i Washington looks and smells like a cover-up. //
Political-Paige
14 hours ago
My family has a home in WNC, and we've been actively involved in purchasing & trucking in supplies, organizing distribution centers, & getting critical needs to trapped & suffering residents.
We've been doing it for over a month.
On the ground. Daily.
I can tell you that, outside of deep, deep Blue Asheville, FEMA has been nowhere. They've done nothing. Unless you're a Dem voter, you were just left -- I mean this literally -- to die.
ALL of the rescues were by private groups. ALL of the donations outside Asheville were by private groups. ALL of the donations that actually got to anyone were the ones that avoided FEMA confiscation. ALL of the on-going efforts --- the supplies, the housing, the road clearing, the cadaver dogs --- are still by private groups.
If you think this one leftist lunatic punishing Trump supporters in FL is a scandal, I invite you to talk to the residents of WNC.
She's the tip of a very ugly iceberg.
Deplorable Extraordinarius Political-Paige
12 hours ago
There’s an old saying that personnel is policy. I’m skeptical that we’ll find the memo that directed this or that a whistleblower will come forward who will indict people higher up. But I’m absolutely of the belief that the Deep State very much hires for political orientation. A little joke followed by a wink and nod during the interview process is all it takes. And then you get the same thing we saw during the 2020 election. Hundreds of operatives who all believe they are bravely resisting fascism by working against Trump and his supporters. And who, precisely, do we have to thank for this? The MSM and the educational establishment. Time to push back against their BS and go after the root cause. //
frylock234 Political-Paige
13 hours ago
That squares with what I've been hearing from someone I know a bit who's gone in to WNC with an aid group and who has been on the ground there helping. //
anon-fjor
12 hours ago
We live here in Bat Cave, NC. FEMA was no help. Actually, they were a hinderance, proving once again the 9 scariest words you'll ever hear: "we're from the Government and we're here to help." Everything Political-Paige said is true. Here's some news that you might not have heard .....all the people that came here to help were all volunteers from all over and every one of them that we worked with was armed. Order was kept. There were a few instances of looting or attempted looting but they were thwarted. Thank you all for helping us. You're loved and we thank GOD we live in America. MAGA forever. //
Pittiemom anon-fjor
4 hours ago
The Cajun Navy, the Mule Packers, the WV coal miners and so many more citizens have brought help and hope to so many forgotten folks, and they’ve saved lives. I have NO doubt that all the horror stories we have heard about FEMA’s actions in NC are true. //
wvcitizen
11 hours ago
The Samaritans Purse and other volunteers took over from FEMA. Proud WV coal miners made a road in a week that the bureaucrats said it would take a year. Volunteers flew in supplies and a mule train took supplies to stranded people. Meanwhile, the volunteers got rotor washed by National Guard helicopters. The people in East Palestine are still suffering from the disaster. FEMA appears to be another agency for a complete makeover and cost reduction.
anon-ybry wvcitizen
8 hours ago
Just cost reduction. To zero. //
ConservativeInMinnesota
9 hours ago
It takes a rampant culture of corruption for leaders to openly tell their staff to commit felonies. Something like that doesn't happen in isolation. There needs to be an investigation by the OIG to see how widespread this corruption is. How many people were deprived of their rights? //
anon-cdoc
8 hours ago
First - one of the things that absolutely fascinates me about Donald Trump is his ability to come up with something that seems far-fetched/conspiratorial, etc., then the next thing you know - IT'S TRUE!!!
Second - there is not a question in my mind that the federal workers/Biden administration would do this. I have never seen an administration so willing to punish 'the other side' as this administration. Not so blatantly... //
BJW WE did it 😂‼️
13 hours ago
Knowing Biden and who heads FEMA, would it even be much of a surprise? We all SAW and learned from friends or family in the area of the invisible FEMA workers. Thanks to Samaritans Purse and Trump and Musk and NONE from the D governor, people got help asap. NO thanks to FEMA, washed out bridges were not repaired even temporarily, whole communities were cut off totally from any help. Thanks to medical personnel ON HORSES some help got out while FEMA did what? Is it so out there to think this Marn'I Washington, AKA Mary Ann Adams, RN, was just acting in her own hate? No one questioned the order! As if it was just business as usual. //
anon-201n
12 hours ago
In the last 60 years, the Democrat party has gone from seemingly helping the common man to dictating what all should follow. The GOP, in contrast, has changed from the country club supporters (Rockefeller republicans) to helping the common person. The Democrats constantly tell us what to think and what policies the masses should support. The authoritarian streak in the Dems now is pretty frightening. This FEMA incident, plus many of the Obama/Biden administration, are so typical of this Dem mindset. And to that mindset, Trump is a real threat so hence the unhinged responses to his win.
"Holy Toledo. Oh, my goodness gracious," Enten declared. "These are the types of groups that you would have never thought that Donald Trump would have gained so much support among eight years ago."
Plus, it was the best GOP showing with age 18-29 year olds in 20 years, black voters in 48 years, Hispanics in 52+ years, he explained.
(((Harry Enten))) @ForecasterEnten
·
Trump's mandate:
- More states (49 + DC) swung in his direction vs. last election than anyone since 1992.
- Best GOP showing w/ age 18-29 in 20 yrs, Black voters in 48 yrs, Hispanics in 52+ yrs.
- Coattails: best GOP showing in House popular vote in prez year since 1928.
9:33 AM · Nov 8, 2024
Let's not forget this point that Enten also made about the exit polls and just how well Trump did with Latino men, the best for a Republican candidate since they started exit polls in the 1970s and ten points better than Kamala Harris. //
anon-2hhh
21 hours ago
The fact that so many demographics gravitated towards Trump is a testimony to the power Free Speech (internet, talk radio, X) has over Propaganda (MSM).
Carey J anon-2hhh
21 hours ago
And so it was that the trillion dollar propagaanda complex was defeated by ronin memelords. //
Highlar75
18 hours ago
To me there seemed to be 2 big turning points in Trump's campaign with messaging, demeanor, and everything: his pick of JD as his running mate and the first assassination attempt on his life. After this, his messaging became decidedly more on point, policy oriented, more positive and he seemed to actually be enjoying his time on the campaign trail. I think it was a wakeup call for him, that he really accepted from the Man upstairs to become the serious candidate we all wanted and needed him to be.
Long before Trump’s audacious rhetoric, rallies packed with fervor, and tweets that lit up the internet, the GOP had a blueprint for reaching minority voters. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t invented in 2023, or 2024. Go back a few decades, and you’ll find that Reagan and Jack Kemp had already planted the seeds. Their strategy? Think less “Build a beautiful wall” and more “Build opportunity and wealth.”
Jack Kemp was more than just another politician; he was an ex-NFL quarterback turned congressman who believed that economic empowerment was the great equalizer. His vision was straightforward but revolutionary for the time: break the cycle of government dependency and create opportunities for people to own their future. And he didn’t just whisper these ideas in a phone booth. He took them to the streets, addressing minority communities directly with speeches that resonated beyond typical party rhetoric. In a 1979 talk to the International Longshoremen’s Association, Kemp laid down an argument that felt as relevant then as it does now—why minority communities and the GOP shared more than they realized.
Kemp’s advocacy wasn’t just political theater. It was practical, rooted in the realities of his time, when America was wrestling with economic stagnation and social upheaval. He argued that conservative principles—entrepreneurship, lower taxes, deregulation—weren’t just talking points; they were tools that could dismantle barriers holding minority communities back. Reagan picked up on Kemp’s ideas and infused them into his 1980 campaign and his presidency, broadening the Republican platform’s appeal.
Fast forward to Trump’s rise. His 2024 campaign strategy included a surprising plot twist: an uptick in support from Black and Hispanic voters. Some analysts were quick to brand this as an unprecedented shift, a result of Trump’s unique ability to connect through a mix of bravado, policy promises, and a mugshot. But if you know your political history, you know Trump’s outreach to minority groups wasn’t entirely novel, his mugshot notwithstanding. It was the resurgence of Kemp’s vision, tweaked for a different era and amplified by digital media. //
Trump’s messaging, while often polarizing, hit on key themes that Kemp had long-before championed: economic opportunity and self-sufficiency. During his first administration, Trump pointed to job growth stats, touted the benefits of deregulation, and pushed Opportunity Zones—policies that echo Kemp’s urban revitalization agenda. Kemp believed that America’s inner cities, neglected by decades of failed policies, needed incentives for investment that would spark real, sustainable growth. Sound familiar? Trump’s version has different packaging, but the song remains the same. //
Now, back to Kemp’s original vision. He didn’t just want minority outreach to be an election-year gimmick. For him, it was about creating a long-term coalition grounded in respect and shared goals. Kemp’s view was that the GOP could be the party that lifted people up—not by expanding welfare but by expanding entrepreneurship. He believed that if people saw that the GOP’s version of economic growth and personal responsibility matched their own aspirations, they wouldn’t just be voters; they’d be champions of the party’s message. //
msctex
10 hours ago
One of the best Political "What If" scenarios there is, revolves around if Reagan had gone with Kemp instead of Bush.
Sabotage msctex
10 hours ago
He was made an offer he couldn't refuse. They shot him anyway.
Sabotage msctex
9 hours ago
Bush was the CIA director. Same arrangement (blackmail) that got LBJ on the ticket with Kennedy. Same follow up plan. Read up on the blood transfusion Reagan got after he was shot. He was never the same.
msctex Sabotage
8 hours ago
Damn, you live up to the name, don't you.
And while Trump's "NeverTrump" detractors like Rick Wilson and the like would say "Well, we helped kick him out of office in 2020," the net effect of that effort was a) to make Trump get even louder and b) to drive even more people in Trump's direction (including bigtime movers and shakers like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan), which culminated in one of the most (if not the most) spectacular comebacks in American political history.
Something equally delicious about the voter repudiation of these types of tactics on Tuesday will be that five or 10 years down the road and beyond, very few people will remember much about the NeverTrump movement. But they will for sure remember how Trump seemingly rose from the political ashes to get his revenge in the best way possible: by way of the ballot box.
Since McDaniel supports Whatley so strongly, many observers have wondered if there will really be any change at the RNC or if the misplaced spending priorities, use of crony consultants instead of folks who can actually get the job done, and fundraising failures will continue. Fortunately, with this restructuring Trump is bringing in Chris LaCivita as COO, and several RNC members who spoke with RedState on condition of anonymity expressed confidence that LaCivita will bring back the fiscal responsibility that's been missing. //
A-Nony-Mouse
8 months ago
"....Trump deserves to have the team he wants....."
basically she's saying that she was NOT on the Trump -- or America's -- team.....
There were some moments of great joy, such as the moment Pennsylvania supporters found out.
Kassy Akiva @KassyAkiva
·
MCCORMICK HEADQUARTERS GOING BANANAS AS TRUMP WINS PENNSYLVANIA
1:21 AM · Nov 6, 2024
They broke out in praise and song at the Trump victory party, singing "How Great Thou Art," as the people who had been slandered as extremist and "garbage" gave thanks to God.
Lisa Boothe 🇺🇸 @LisaMarieBoothe
·
Witnessing this as I left the Trump victory party moved me to tears. These people have been slandered and demeaned. They are good people. Patriots of all backgrounds who love this country and came together to make it great again. 🇺🇸
3:22 AM · Nov 6, 2024
As the nation enters the home stretch of this unpredictable campaign season, Christians hoping to steward their vote wisely have much to consider. One way to go beyond the click-bait headlines, short sound bites, and endless advertisements and gain deeper insight into the priorities of each party is by reviewing the party platforms.
He made it a point to stop and highlight that you aren't the weird ones, they are. Their behavior is atrocious, and their aims are just evil. "Reality has flipped," he said, stating that normal people aren't supporting the Democrat machine.
"It's the party of weirdos, of envy, of hate, of resentment, of bitterness, of weakness, of a total lack of creativity," Carlson said. "It's a part of conformity, it's a party of the machine where it doesn't matter who the candidate is, because individuals are immaterial. All that matters is the collective. That's the Soviet model." //
"Every person in this room needs to understand you are not in a despised minority," said Carlson. "You are in an incredibly gentle and tolerant majority who put up with this crap for way too long as they're insulting, not only you, but the memory of your ancestors who died for this country. They tore down statues to their memory. People who've never built anything in their lives. They went out of their way to humiliate you and spit on you, and the graves of your ancestors, and that's not an exaggeration. They did that."
"And this country is so nice," Carlson continued. "It's so polite. It's so thoughtful and empathetic and sweet. It's the kind of country that loves dogs and gives directions to strangers, that we put up with it for four years, but we can't anymore." //
The weird ones are the people who hate this country. It's the people who don masks and attack their fellow citizens in the streets over political disagreements. It's the ones who burn down their own neighborhoods and murder over falsehoods and exaggerations.
It's the ones who force divides between men and women, preaching that unhappiness and adherence to a corporate system is good, and that a loving home with a stable marriage and children is slavery.
... //
These people cannot win. The corporate media cannot succeed, and the Democrats cannot be given the power to continue driving us down this path of destruction born out of a prejudice for all things good.
You are the moral majority with the power to change things faster than you think. They don't want you to know that. They want you to think you're alone and powerless. They want you to think the world is theirs and there's nothing you can do about it.
It's time to prove them wrong. Get out there and vote.
And once we win, it will just be the beginning. We the people will destroy the machine they built and restore goodness and sanity to the madness. Things will change because they have to. They hope we'll go back to sleep, thinking we won the war. We won't. This isn't over. The war is just heating up. America has arrived at the battlefield.
Get ready.
"And it is because of my love for our country — and specifically, because of the leadership that President Trump has brought to transform the Republican Party and bring it back to the party of the people and the party of peace — that I'm proud to stand here with you today, President Trump, and announce that I'm joining the Republican Party. I'm joining the party of the people, the party of equality, the party that was founded to fight against and end slavery in this country. It is the party of common sense and the party that is led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace."
There’s going to be a presidential election in a couple weeks, but few think that we’ll know for sure the next president on November 5—what used to be known, quaintly, as “Election Day.”
Most likely, it’s going to be weeks, maybe even months, before we see a victor. And here’s a prediction: The Sturm und Drang will come in five phases: litigation, negotiation, discreditation, devolution, and then, monetization. I can explain.
GBenton
2 hours ago edited
The right understands the left. The left does not understand the right.
In sparring here with Trump haters for years I have noticed that they do not understand him. Their image of him is a simplistic charicature. In reality, Trump confounds easy categorization. He's got huge self confidence and ego and yet is unafraid to make fun of himself or get roasted. That's why he was able to thrive at the Al Smith dinner and Kamala could not - she cannot tolerate any jokes at her expense because she's so insecure and fake.
Trump is a billionaire who loves the common man and speaks in the language of the common man, including coarse language and jokes - and he's a genuine populist (where Bernie Sanders is not, trust me, he does not like the average American).
Kamala is not built for this contest. Trump is - and the things that some people don't like about his personality is part of why he is able to withstand all the hate and attacks and do things like this anyway.
Even though I make fun of losers like Billy Wallace, the truth is I feel sorry sometimes that they can only wake up and hate this man to the point of obsession. That's their right, of course, but it's still a pathetic way to go through life and warped way to experience this unique moment in American history.
He's the fighter we need to take down their Machine. He's part of the New Right that is willing to reach regular Americans where they live, unlike the Bushes and Cheneys and Romneys who look down at us (though GWB and Jeb! were somewhat better in this aspect).
Vote. Vote. Vote (even in blue districts). Let your voice be heard. Our leaders are NOT above us, they should serve us - and in this case, Trump was serving fries.
BJW#IStandWithTX GBenton
2 hours ago
You make a good point, ike they watched too many episodes of DALLAS and believed it was a documentary.
GBenton BJW#IStandWithTX
an hour ago
They love House of Cards, West Wing, Veep, Madame President, etc.
They think people on the right are the stereotype they hear about on MSNBC. And they stay in their bubble. That's why folks like Scott Jennings on CNN are so disruptive because they're speaking truth to stupid right to their faces.
What the left can't accept is that regardless of their level of intelligence, their ideology is fraudulent and their ideas are childish and quite stupid.
Their cancel culture seals the deal because they do not allow any "heretics" to stray from the narrative, which is why they get so blindsided when the people do not behave as they expect.
Tolly GBenton
an hour ago edited
"They love House of Cards, West Wing, Veep, Madame President, etc."
And this is why they have such a distorted and false understanding of how DC works and what the functions of the different branches of the government. It is their only source.
I noticed that in each of the shows you enumerate, the liberals were always portrayed as benevolent and saint like, and played by somewhat attractive actors, and the conservatives depicted as gruff, unstable, mean-spirited ogres, mostly played by the dorkiest of actors.
I wonder why that most always seemed to be the case.
Actually, I don't.
GBenton Tolly
an hour ago
They see the Republicans as fascists and tyrants and war mongers, religious zealots. And they grew up on Watergate and the fantasy that lefties are the good guys (and the ends justify the means).
They're pretty big fans of Game of Thrones, too.
Howard said that his congresswoman was able to get two contracted helicopters for search and rescue, but he also pointed out that local authorities are stopping even the media from seeing how bad the destruction is. He related a story that sheriff’s deputies in the Lake Lure area wouldn’t let CNN video the devastation.
He also gave an example of the buck-passing that’s going on in North Carolina: //
Howard pointed out that some of his colleagues are funding their rescue missions out of their own pockets. At the same time, Air Force helicopters are grounded and personnel aren’t working because they’re awaiting Title 10 orders that aren’t coming from above. //
Howard said that he doesn’t “know what kind of conspiracy” is behind this bureaucratic nightmare. In my more cynical moments, I can’t help but wonder if Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) and the Biden-Harris administration are willing to let Republican voters in a reliably red part of the state fend for themselves — and die. I don’t want to believe that, but it’s hard to shake that gut feeling. //
“I hope these politicians get fired,” he concluded. “I hope people get pissed off. They'll probably kick me out of the state of North Carolina for doing this. But you know what? I don't care. Because if I can save one more life for it, it's f***ing worth it to me.”
If only politicians in D.C. and North Carolina cared this much.
[If only churches cared this much about saving people!]. //
Jeroboam Maximus Decimus Cassius
7 hours ago edited
Those in power do care about one aspect of this, though. If they slow walk rescue and recovery efforts, no actual polling [voting at polling places] can take place in the worst affected counties, all Republican, a mere month from now. This could give the swing state of NC to the Democrats and probably would hand the Senate seat in Florida to them as well. It might also make a difference in Georgia.
Democrats want to prevent Republicans from ‘engaging in any activities related to recounts, certifications, or similar post-election activities,’ and they’re counting on a judicial branch ally to make it happen. //
The case threatens to effectively put back in place restrictions that hindered the RNC for nearly four decades. A judge appointed by President Jimmy Carter instated the restrictions when he settled a case between the RNC and the Democrats with a consent decree that limited Republicans’ abilities to partake in regular election practices like poll watching.
From 1981 to 2018, the judge, who only served for 15 years but took senior status for 21, continued to renew the consent decree, and modify it in favor of Democrats, as The Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway pointed out in her book Rigged:
For decades, the Democratic Party built up expansive coordination efforts that the Republicans were prohibited from developing. Republican candidates and state parties could do things on their own, but not with help from the national party. …
The consent decree also meant the RNC was kept out of almost any litigation related to Election Day. In fact, a main part of the RNC’s legal efforts came to be training RNC staff to stay away from Election Day operations on Election Day, including recounts, and fending off litigation that arose from the consent decree. It utterly paralyzed the political operation of the RNC, as the slightest misstep would result in getting sued by Democrats. //
With the election coming up, the case has recently seen movement after being “randomly reassigned” to Chutkan in 2023. According to court documents, the case had two different judges before landing before Chutkan.
Although no major decisions have been made on the case yet, at a November hearing, Chutkan highlighted how important it was to keep the case moving in time for the 2024 election. //
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would restrict the Republican Party from being involved in elections more than the 1981 consent decree because the new lawsuit, in addition to asking that poll watcher restrictions be reinstated, seeks to limit GOP interactions with election officials.
Speaking with CNN, Rajiv Parikh, a Democrat attorney involved in keeping the 1981 consent decree alive, said Democrats believe a court intervention here will be particularly helpful for them in swing states like Georgia and Pennsylvania, where lawsuits and challenges are almost certain to arise.
BASH: You just said that you're creating a story.
VANCE: We ought to be talking about public policy. [09:15:05]
BASH: Sir, you just said that you're creating the story.
VANCE: What's that, Dana?
BASH: You just said that this is a story that you created...
VANCE: Yes.
BASH: So, the eating dogs and cats thing is not accurate.
VANCE: We are creating -- we are -- Dana, it comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents.
I say that we're creating a story, meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it. I didn't create 20,000 illegal migrants coming into Springfield, thanks to Kamala Harris' policies. Her policies did that, but yes, we created the actual focus that allowed the American media to talk about this story and the suffering caused by Kamala Harris' policies.