Republican lawmaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, current Speaker of the House, Trump bootlicker, a homophobic, misogynistic nerd who engages in a weird reciprocal policing of internet use with his son, (to make sure there is no porn) is up for reelection with not so much as a cardboard cutout of a Democrat opposing him.
I know this because I was searching for Ron Johnson, but typed in the wrong name.
I hit my head a couple of weeks ago on a fallen tree branch and *I believe I dislodged one or two IQ molecules. I didn’t have many to spare, but I’m confident they’ll regenerate. <—That last part is a joke. It’s a sad day when a person needs to postface their humor with an asterisk to add a disclaimer, but here we are. Sad. Have I lost my edge or has it sharpened beyond the comprehension of anyone but myself?
Moving on.
So, Senator RON Johnson (R-Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was among that infamous group of eight members of Congress who spent July 04, 2018, (Independence Day) with Putin in Moscow. Others who made that misguided trip: Senator Richard J Shelby (R-Ala.), Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).
Ron did that, tried to submit fake electors, and continues to deny Biden’s Presidential legitimacy. Still, Ron Johnson won reelection in 2022. What the flip, Wisconsin? You know, unlike the two-year terms for Members of the House, U.S. Senators enjoy job security for six-years. But do not fret, he is not likely to last through 2028.
Reasons to watch the U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson:
- Ron was in on the fake electors scheme. He went so far as to send a staffer to D.C. to deliver fraudulent certifications to then-Vice President Mike Pence, but Pence’s personnel declined to accept them.
- A witness testified to Ron’s actions, saying Ron sent numerous texts and made phone calls to others involved in the election denial scheme. In December 2020, Ron Johnson had hearings in Wisconsin to discuss “voter fraud.”
- He was at the center of 1/6 planning meetings and continues to perpetuate the idea that President Biden is illegitimate.
- Ron refused to testify before the 1/6 committee.
These are statements he made in media interviews when asked about the role he played:
Jan. 2, 2021: “I’m not going to do what Democrats and many in the media want us to do, which is just shut up, sweep all of this under the rug and move on.”
“You can’t even call it participation. I wrote a couple texts,” Johnson.
He called himself “an innocent bystander.” “Can we stop calling it an insurrection?”
Details in link.👇🏼
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/21/jan-6-panel-trump-overturn-2020-election-00040816
Of course, he doesn’t recall any of that. The most important bullet point:
- Ron Johnson will not accept the results of the 2024 election if Donald Trump doesn’t win. We have been warned.
Yesterday I mentioned the influencers paid to spread Russian disinformation. These are the talking points they were told to focus on:
Now in English:
The election is in 58 days. The same bad actors who tried to overthrow the government in 2020 are at work planning to disenfranchise the majority of us who will elect Kamala Harris. Voting early might be the best way to avoid Election Day chaos.
“I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election.” ~Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias.
“Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.” ~Mark E Elias, Attorney, Founder of Democracy Docket
I have followed “Angry Staffer” for several years. This anonymous insider offers insight that I have found nowhere else. And because we are all worried about what is coming, election interference and the government’s response to it, I’m sharing his article.
Angry Staffer:
It’s no secret that the GOP is preparing for the possibility that Trump loses – again – in 2024, or that they’re looking for ways to hand him the presidency anyway. It’s easy to dismiss this as another “been there, done that” threat from Trump, but this is more serious – and more organized – than his ham-handed attempts to steal the election in 2020. Let’s dig in.
Background
From USA Today:
“Since 2020, we’ve seen a right-wing Republican infiltration of local election offices and even some state elections boards which is the MAGA republican plan to walk off with this year’s election.
Our state is a notorious case in point. Georgia rises to the top of the cesspool with its five-member state election board packed with an election denier majority and only one Democratic member.
In August, the Georgia state board enacted a rule requiring local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into voting issues before certifying the election. That vague rule is a green light to stall certification while fishing for any excuse to vote against it. The new rule makes certification mandatory before the election results are verified by the secretary of state’s office. These actions were described as a “mess” by Georgia GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.”
Democrats are suing to prevent this from happening, arguing (accurately) that there are already sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that elections are conducted fairly and accurately, and that giving the GOP the power to turn the process into a circus would only seek to further divide the country.
Which is, of course, their goal.
Quick sidebar, but I want to be really clear about this point: the GOP understands their platform is unpopular. They know that we outnumber them, and that the electoral disparity is only going to continue to get worse as the dinosaurs in their party become extinct. They campaign like they govern – through fear and rage-farming. It’s all they’ve got; they don’t have anything to build people up – only manufactured fear of what others might take away.
Any time you hear a story about a migrant caravan, Dems coming to take your guns, “Critical Race Theory,” or any of the other GOP greatest hits, you should think about the reactions those breathless stories are meant to elicit, and you should ask yourself why a political party would want you to feel that way. Fear generates votes. It’s also the same reason the GOP is so anti-education: dumb people are easier to manipulate.
Keep ’em dumb, keep ’em afraid, and you’ve got a voter for life.
So, what’s the plan?
The GOP realized that taking the election by force won’t work, so they’ve spent the last four years prepping the battlespace for what could be a coordinated refusal to certify elections in multiple swing states. The goal here would be to delay long enough to force what’s known as a contingent election. More on that in a second.
We’ll know who won the election in the days or weeks following Election Day, but the electoral college doesn’t meet to formally vote until mid-December. After this, these votes go to Congress to be certified on January 6. Thankfully, Congress passed legislation to modify a few things about the certification process:
• the legislation makes clear that the Vice President’s role in certifying an election is ceremonial (read: they can’t send it back to the states).
• the legislation changed the threshold to object to a vote from one Representative and one Senator to one-fifth of each chamber.
That doesn’t mean that the GOP can’t – or won’t – still try to steal this election. If they can get enough governors to refuse to certify, OR they can convince enough of their members – and given the state of Congress right now, they probably can – to object to certifications, they could still force a contingent election.
In this scenario, each state delegation in the House gets one vote. Currently, the GOP has the majority in state delegations, so essentially that would mean we get an illegitimate President Trump.
So, what do we do?!
Thankfully, this plan leaked early, and there are a lot of folks who are working on ways to counter this attempted electoral sabotage. There will be immediate legal challenges for governors who refuse to certify. Folks are even planning lawsuits over the House of Representatives installing the President, if it goes that far.
The best things we can individually do to prevent this scenario:
1. Win with a margin that’s too big to manipulate – this is really the “well, obviously” answer, but it’s true. If Harris wins in a landslide, the GOP is going to have a much harder time convincing the courts (or their constituents) that challenges are warranted.
2. Support Democracy Docket – Marc Elias does fantastic work defending our system of government. The Harris campaign has added him on in preparation for what they expect to be a contentious postelection period. Elias will work with high profile lawyers such as Bob Bauer, Dana Remus, Maury Riggan, Josh Hsu, Seth Waxman, Donald Verilli, and John Devaney. Elias will also be bringing attorneys from his firm, Elias Law Group. According to press reports, this legal team will be focusing on eight battleground states and “four other states of interest.”
We should all feel better that they’re on the case, but I’d prefer to make it a non-issue. Let’s elect Harris in a landslide.
Buckle up: Win or lose, Trump promises potential scenarios of violence
Register to vote, and confirm your registration at:
Vote.gov
A lot from Lydia 