Burn the GOP to the Ground.
Tags: Voting, Elections, Politics, Democracy, Policy

This election-related game of whack-a-mole has to come to an end. Two things we now know: one, voting is an extraordinarily powerful tool that the Right is hellbent on denying to people of color particularly. And two, the current incarnation of the Republican Party is a cult of terrorists, led for the most part by people who would happily be led by a totalitarian.

This whole thing is idiotic.

The latest affront comes from the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton. He’s suing four states — Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — in the Supreme Court claiming among other things that the way those states ran their elections caused harm to Texas voters. Read that again: to TEXAS voters. The Supremes have original jurisdiction to hear cases in which states sue each other so that’s why this dumbassery wasn’t slapped down by a lower court — which it would have been. (And Paxton could have, if this was legitimate, attached said claims to any of the other 50 cases so far brought, and lost, by the Trump people in lower courts…but he didn’t because, you know, bullshit.)

First, this is pernicious because in each of these states, the margins of victory were largely made in urban areas: in size of the key urban areas from largest to smallest that would be Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Those large cities, and surrounding areas went bigly for Biden and had record turnout among voters of color, Blacks and Latinx, primarily. (And it should be noted this is a pattern: in several already-dismissed suits, the GOP only targeted largely- or majority-minority counties: Philadelphia County; Wayne County, Michigan; Milwaukee and Dane Counties in Wisconsin; and Fulton, Gwinnett, Dekalb and Chatham Counties in Georgia.) See a pattern? Basically the subtext argument is that these colored folks’ votes are ALL illegal and should be thrown out, and the race moved to the Republican-dominated legislatures of these states where they can side with our white supremacist enabler, Donald J. Trump.

Second, the response needs to be an overwhelming rebuke of this nonsense. I hope SCOTUS roasts the Texas AG in their order declining to hear this bullshit. I’m angry this is even has to be responded to….but if it has to…we’ll just let alone for a moment the fact that Texas has no standing to sue its four sister states on how those states run their elections, and say the other claims are equally ridiculous. Rule 11 sanctions, please, for Paxton (who I’ve already mentioned is under indictment for bribery and other corruption charges and should be straight disbarred) and for the 16 other AGs from various conservative states like Arkansas, and Missouri for joining this lawless suit.

Third: the Democrats. SMH.

As a good friend said, DNC leadership should resign en Masse. And I agree. They should quit. Today, unless by this noon, some mouthpiece isn’t on every TV and radio program they can book calling this crap out. I’m dead ass.

Literally….The fact that the suit was even launched should be on ads directed to every Facebook page and TV and radio of a person in Georgia, particularly, from today through the Christmas and New Years holidays. It should start by saying in an ominous voice “Federally-indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to take away YOUR vote. Someone from Texas is trying to tell the Supreme Court YOUR Georgia vote shouldn’t count…” And the direct association to Kelly Loefler and Sonny Perdue should be made because they are both complicit or at least silent, as an idiot from a state 700 miles away from them is trying to disenfranchise every voter in their state.

And going forward: Scorched Earth. Sherman’s March to the Sea should be the thematic direction for Dems over the next four years. Slash and burn the GOP. And salt the earth where they stood. Nothing conservative should grow there again. The Dems will learn one of these days you do not negotiate with — or play fair — against terrorists. And that’s that the GOP is now: a bunch of terrorists, who will happily steal a basic American right from nearly 20 million voters — all because POC in cities had the temerity to vote. Dems need to come out forcefully to defend their core constituencies. And lastly, Dems need to realize, no matter what the “moderate” elements of the GOP may publicly say, the crazy, far-right element of their party is in control — and will be for some time to come — and they are going to kill the hostage (American voters) anyway. So there’s no reason not to play anything but the hardest of ball with these people.🤷🏾‍♂️