theguardian--2020-12-12--After the fact: the five ways Trump has tried to attack democracy post-election

The decisive rejection by the US supreme court of an attempt by one state , Texas , to throw out election results in four other states might prevent the recurrence of such an effort in future presidential elections .
But the Texas lawsuit was not the only unprecedented attack to be leveled on US democracy during the November presidential election , and other such efforts could escalate in , or echo through , future elections for an unknown time to come .
Historians could mark 2020 as the moment when Republicans applied the same zeal they have used to attack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voter suppression and gerrymandering , to attacking democracy on the back end , by trying to deny and overturn the results .
Here is a list of five post-election attacks on democracy by Donald Trump and Republicans that were new in 2020 but might haunt elections for years to come .
False accusations of election fraud are a fixture of US elections , but Trump has professionalized the enterprise , making more audacious and systemic claims of election fraud than ever before and coaxing more elected officials to go along with the lies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Republicans normalized Trump ’ s false charges by treating them as “ legal challenges ” .
But by declining to acknowledge the election result , Republicans lent weight to the notion that something unusual was afoot apart from Trump ’ s effort to subvert the popular will , and they held open a months-long window for Trump ’ s lies to circulate , during which faith in US democracy was damaged .
Will the certification of election results in key counties ever again be taken for granted ?
And will the partisan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ level in 2020 corrupt the conduct of future elections at that level ?
This was the year for local officials from both parties to receive death threats as they worked to finish the vote counting and then certify the result .
Many Republican officials , as in Philadelphia , Michigan and Georgia , reacted to the pressure with expressions of outrage and brave statements of principle .
But other local Republican officials , as in Detroit , responded to the merest charm offensive from Trump by trying to retract their certification of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US democracy , no one paid much attention to the certification process because it was taken as an article of unexamined faith that the vote was the vote and the only role officials had was to stamp it .
Now there is a plain chance that officials might take direction from the White House , the Republican National Committee or someone else instead of voters .
External legal challenges to the certification of state election results Lawsuits have developed around elections before , but never in US history has an election been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scope mounted by the Trump campaign .
Trump , the loser , sued in every state , with multiple lawsuits , where flipping the result could help him win .
The fact that Trump lost basically all the lawsuits might not discourage future presidential campaigns from building a national post-election legal strategy into their victory plan : if you can ’ t win at the ballot box , try the courts .
Internal political challenges to the certification of state election results Goaded by Trump , legislators in Pennsylvania asked the supreme court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its result .
Republican Senate candidates in Georgia demanded that the Republican secretary of state withdraw from the certification there .
The Republican party in Arizona demonstrated extremely shrill behavior , demanding that the election not be certified and even challenging Twitter followers to express their willingness to die to prevent certification .
On the whole , efforts by these state elected officials to respond to Trump ’ s sudden demand that they overthrow what everyone had previously recognized as a democratic process were half-hearted and ineffectual .
But if state elected officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they might come more prepared in future elections .
Should a president of the United States , after an election , be calling up county election officials in charge of certifying the results ?
Should a president invite lawmakers weighing an intervention in their state ’ s certification process for lunch ?
Should a president call out the mob on Twitter against a local election official or a state secretary of state who has resisted his schemes ?
Whatever damage US democracy has sustained in 2020 , much of it traces back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who did not see anything wrong in 2019 with coercing a foreign leader to try to take out a political opponent , who made the fealty of state governors a condition of pandemic aid , and who now has twisted the arms of elected officials across the United States in an effort to subvert the will of American voters .
The role that Trump has played in attacking the integrity of the American system is the most outrageous and unprecedented of all the unholy perversions of democracy that 2020 has seen .
Whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in future White Houses , and in future elections , could make all the difference .

The decisive rejection by the US supreme court of an attempt by one state, Texas, to throw out election results in four other states might prevent the recurrence of such an effort in future presidential elections.
But the Texas lawsuit was not the only unprecedented attack to be leveled on US democracy during the November presidential election, and other such efforts could escalate in, or echo through, future elections for an unknown time to come.
Historians could mark 2020 as the moment when Republicans applied the same zeal they have used to attack democracy in advance of elections, through voter suppression and gerrymandering, to attacking democracy on the back end, by trying to deny and overturn the results.
Here is a list of five post-election attacks on democracy by Donald Trump and Republicans that were new in 2020 but might haunt elections for years to come.
Especially reckless and sustained election fraud charges
False accusations of election fraud are a fixture of US elections, but Trump has professionalized the enterprise, making more audacious and systemic claims of election fraud than ever before and coaxing more elected officials to go along with the lies than seemed possible before the Trump era.
Republicans normalized Trump’s false charges by treating them as “legal challenges”. But by declining to acknowledge the election result, Republicans lent weight to the notion that something unusual was afoot apart from Trump’s effort to subvert the popular will, and they held open a months-long window for Trump’s lies to circulate, during which faith in US democracy was damaged.
Political pressure on local elections officials
Will the certification of election results in key counties ever again be taken for granted? And will the partisan poison that reached down to the local level in 2020 corrupt the conduct of future elections at that level?
This was the year for local officials from both parties to receive death threats as they worked to finish the vote counting and then certify the result. Many Republican officials, as in Philadelphia, Michigan and Georgia, reacted to the pressure with expressions of outrage and brave statements of principle. But other local Republican officials, as in Detroit, responded to the merest charm offensive from Trump by trying to retract their certification of the county results.
In healthier times for the US democracy, no one paid much attention to the certification process because it was taken as an article of unexamined faith that the vote was the vote and the only role officials had was to stamp it. Now there is a plain chance that officials might take direction from the White House, the Republican National Committee or someone else instead of voters.
External legal challenges to the certification of state election results
Lawsuits have developed around elections before, but never in US history has an election been followed by a legal battle of the scope mounted by the Trump campaign. Trump, the loser, sued in every state, with multiple lawsuits, where flipping the result could help him win.
The fact that Trump lost basically all the lawsuits might not discourage future presidential campaigns from building a national post-election legal strategy into their victory plan: if you can’t win at the ballot box, try the courts.
Internal political challenges to the certification of state election results
Goaded by Trump, legislators in Pennsylvania asked the supreme court to prevent certification by the state of its result. Republican Senate candidates in Georgia demanded that the Republican secretary of state withdraw from the certification there. The Republican party in Arizona demonstrated extremely shrill behavior, demanding that the election not be certified and even challenging Twitter followers to express their willingness to die to prevent certification.
On the whole, efforts by these state elected officials to respond to Trump’s sudden demand that they overthrow what everyone had previously recognized as a democratic process were half-hearted and ineffectual. But if state elected officials get serious about disrupting the certification process, they might come more prepared in future elections.
The president’s role
Should a president of the United States, after an election, be calling up county election officials in charge of certifying the results? Should a president invite lawmakers weighing an intervention in their state’s certification process for lunch? Should a president call out the mob on Twitter against a local election official or a state secretary of state who has resisted his schemes?
Whatever damage US democracy has sustained in 2020, much of it traces back to the source, to a president who did not see anything wrong in 2019 with coercing a foreign leader to try to take out a political opponent, who made the fealty of state governors a condition of pandemic aid, and who now has twisted the arms of elected officials across the United States in an effort to subvert the will of American voters.
The role that Trump has played in attacking the integrity of the American system is the most outrageous and unprecedented of all the unholy perversions of democracy that 2020 has seen. Whether that role will be replicated or reprised in future White Houses, and in future elections, could make all the difference.


theguardian--2020-12-12--Trump's coup is failing but American democracy is still on the critical list

Nearly four decades after the publication of A Very British Coup , a popular novel by member of parliament Chris Mullin , America is in the throes of a very Trumpian coup – desperate , mendacious , frenzied and sometimes farcical and , most importantly , doomed to failure .
But even as Donald Trump ’ s efforts to overturn the presidential election result face a knockout blow when the electoral college meets on Monday , the president is winning in other ways that could cause profound collateral damage .
Trump has raised more than $ 170m since losing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ election defense fund ” .
He has reasserted his dominance of the Republican party , many of whose members have either advanced his lies about a rigged election or maintained a complicit silence .
And his war on democracy , amplified by rightwing media to millions of Americans , threatens to burn long after Joe Biden takes the oath of office on 20 January .
There are already signs of a new grievance movement rising from the ashes of Trump ’ s defeat to shape the future of Republican politics .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the core premise that Biden is an illegitimate president .
“ What was a fracture in our democratic process is now a break , ” said Kurt Bardella , a senior adviser to the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project .
“ The Republican party has shown itself to be completely immune to facts , truth and common sense .
There is not going to be a moment where it collectively decides , ‘ Oh , my gosh , what have we been doing all this time ?
’ “ There is not going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going to continue down this path of dismantling the country as we knew it because their ideology isn ’ t about an issue or a specific public policy .
Their identity is only the pursuit of power and the means to try to hold on to it and get more of it.
” Trump was brazenly transparent about his plot against America .
He spent months falsely claiming that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud and that he could only lose the election if it was stolen from him .
Many Democrats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a constitutional crisis was to turn out in such massive numbers that they put the result beyond dispute .
They were right .
In the end , it was not even close .
Biden is set to finish with 306 electoral college votes , a total that Trump called a landslide when he won the same in 2016 .
The Democrat has a lead of more than 7m in the popular vote , a margin of almost 4.5 % – bigger than all but one presidential election since 2000 .
No significant fraud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s attempts to bully Republican officials in Georgia and Michigan into blocking results came to nought .
His failing legal team ’ s efforts have been eviscerated by judges across the country , including by some he appointed .
“ This ship has sailed , ” summed up US district judge Linda Parker in throwing out a lawsuit challenging Biden ’ s win in Michigan this week .
Even William Barr , the attorney general and Trump loyalist many liberals feared would take a sledgehammer to the constitution at the decisive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week that the justice department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome .
Biden ’ s victory was essentially guaranteed this week by the so-called safe harbour deadline for states to finish their certifications and resolve legal disputes .
Votes will be cast by the electoral college on Monday , then sent to Congress for counting on 6 January .
Despite historic pressures , from the coronavirus pandemic and Trump ’ s attempts to undermine the voters ’ will , the system worked .
In the words @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security adviser who was this week announced as the woman who will lead Biden ’ s domestic policy council , it was a “ near death experience ” for democracy .
“ It appears that our democracy dodged a bullet – or , more precisely , multiple concerted efforts by the president of the United States to torpedo its very foundations , ” she wrote in the New York Times .
Bardella , a former spokesman for Republicans on the House of Representatives ’ oversight committee , added : “ It was an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ word for it .
Donald Trump believed that , because some of these people are Republicans or some of these judges were appointed by him , they would do what he wanted because of the transactional way in which he views the world .
“ Fortunately for democracy , that was not the case .
Unlike virtually everybody else in the Republican party in Washington particularly , they would not circumvent democracy for political gain.
” Moe Vela , a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice-president , agreed : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to cross in this democracy and I think that ’ s what we just saw .
It failed because , fundamentally , the principles and the values of this country and our democracy are still in place.
” But even as the nation moves inexorably towards a transfer of power , America is not out of the woods .
Trump , who has an existential fear and loathing of being branded a “ loser ” , still refuses to swallow his defeat ; if anything , his denials are becoming more fervent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he won the election and tweeted a single word about the results : “ # OVERTURN.
” It is a futile exercise politically but not financially .
Money is pouring into his “ stop the steal ” campaign but most of it will go to a Trump-founded political action committee called Save America .
Bardella said : “ What we have seen in the weeks since the election is Donald Trump using an attempted coup to fill his coffers with cash that will sustain his livelihood once he leaves the presidency.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the White House are now enabling his anti-democratic impulses .
Last week a Washington Post survey of all 249 Republicans in the House and Senate found just 27 willing to acknowledge Biden ’ s victory .
Some , including the Senate majority leader , Mitch McConnell , still refuse to publicly describe Biden as “ president-elect ” .
Meanwhile 17 states and more than a hundred House Republicans backed a longshot lawsuit by Texas which sought to throw out the voting results in four states that Trump lost .
That lawsuit was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There are also fears that the torrent of falsehoods calculated to rile up his most fervent followers could become dangerous .
Some election officials have received death threats .
Armed Trump supporters gathered outside the home of Michigan ’ s secretary of state .
The Arizona Republican party even appeared to ask supporters to consider dying to keep Trump in office : its official Twitter account retweeted conservative activist Ali Alexander ’ s pledge that he was “ willing to give my life for this fight ” , adding : “ He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tribe , a constitutional law professor at Harvard University , warned on Twitter : “ The closer we get to Jan 20 , the more likely it is that the heavily armed core of Trump ’ s base will see itself as imminently threatened with extinction and will lash out with violence .
That ’ s the biggest imminent threat we all face as Americans.
” Although a small number of prominent Republicans have said it is time to move on , Trump continues to exercise an iron grip over the party .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ running for president in 2024 – he would be only the second person to win back the White House after leaving it – with a possible campaign launch on Biden ’ s inauguration day in an attempt to steal his successor ’ s thunder .
Jamie Raskin , a Democratic congressman from Maryland , said : “ He wants to come back again in four years , which means that at this point it ’ s the most serious problem for the Republican party .
They thought it was fine to humour Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years because they thought it would benefit them politically and now they have hell to pay because he is doing to the Republican party what he did to the country .
It may be too late for them to rescue their party .
I assume it is.
” One of keys to understanding Trump ’ s enduring influence is conservative media , which every day for the past month have been dominated by narratives of election rigging and fraud .
Fox News prime time opinion hosts such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But Fox News is facing new competition on its right flank from even more ardently pro-Trump upstarts such as Newsmax and the One America News Network .
Talk radio and social media also contribute to these alternative reality bubbles where Biden ’ s victory is still in doubt .
Now only one in four Republicans say they trust the results of the election , according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey .
Raskin , a former constitutional law professor , added : “ That is the essential problem .
A completely separate media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grown up around Donald Trump .
The Republican party today is like a massive religious cult surrounding an organised crime family headed by a deranged narcissist .
It ’ s very hard for the Republicans to disenthrall themselves from that warped epistemological system .
It ’ s just a separate reality.
” Conservative media outlets deny such a characterisation and insist they are merely breaking from the liberal orthodoxy of leading networks .
Chris Ruddy , chief executive of Newsmax , said : “ We ’ re not saying that the election was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that there was massive fraud .
“ We are saying there ’ s a legal contest in at least six states by the president in states where the results were 1 % or closer and that we should wait before we declare Biden the president-elect .
Formally that doesn ’ t happen until the electoral college .
We ’ ve openly said that we ’ re waiting for that and we will abide by the electoral college and respect the new president.
” Ruddy , a friend of Trump , rejects accusations that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during a Biden presidency .
“ I didn ’ t create the divide and when you look at what MSNBC and CNN did to this president , it ’ s horrific .
They spent years poaching on a phony conspiracy theory involving Russian collusion and then now they ’ re claiming that we should heal and unite ?
I mean , hello , give me a break !
“ We ’ re going to be loyal opposition , much like you have in Britain .
We have a point of view .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questions .
We ’ re not calling for Joe Biden ’ s impeachment .
We ’ re not going to call him illegitimate .
All the things that the left did with Trump – we have no plans of doing that.
” Biden , a political moderate , has pledged to heal the divisions , cooperate with Republicans and be a president of all Americans .
With Trump still injecting poison into the system , it will be no easy task .
Bill Galston , a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President Bill Clinton , said : “ Much rides on Joe Biden ’ s shoulders .
He will need all of the skills of civility and conciliation that he learned in nearly five decades in national politics to try to take the edge off the divisions .
“ Healing , I think , will be a stretch , especially in the short term .
But it is reasonable to believe that if he defines the tone and substance of his administration in a manner that ’ s most conducive to narrowing the gaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Democratic party coalition for one reason or another , that it ’ s not a hostile plot to undermine their way of life , then could be in a better place in two years than we are now .
But I can tell the story either way .
”

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Nearly four decades after the publication of A Very British Coup, a popular novel by member of parliament Chris Mullin, America is in the throes of a very Trumpian coup – desperate, mendacious, frenzied and sometimes farcical and, most importantly, doomed to failure.
But even as Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the presidential election result face a knockout blow when the electoral college meets on Monday, the president is winning in other ways that could cause profound collateral damage.
Trump has raised more than $170m since losing to Joe Biden by requesting donations for an “election defense fund”. He has reasserted his dominance of the Republican party, many of whose members have either advanced his lies about a rigged election or maintained a complicit silence.
And his war on democracy, amplified by rightwing media to millions of Americans, threatens to burn long after Joe Biden takes the oath of office on 20 January. There are already signs of a new grievance movement rising from the ashes of Trump’s defeat to shape the future of Republican politics. It is driven by disinformation, rage and the core premise that Biden is an illegitimate president.
“What was a fracture in our democratic process is now a break,” said Kurt Bardella, a senior adviser to the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project. “The Republican party has shown itself to be completely immune to facts, truth and common sense. There is not going to be a moment where it collectively decides, ‘Oh, my gosh, what have we been doing all this time?’
“There is not going to be a great epiphany. They are going to continue down this path of dismantling the country as we knew it because their ideology isn’t about an issue or a specific public policy. Their identity is only the pursuit of power and the means to try to hold on to it and get more of it.”
Supporters of Donald Trump listen to him speak during a campaign rally for the Senate Republican candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Valdosta, Georgia, on 5 December. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Trump was brazenly transparent about his plot against America. He spent months falsely claiming that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud and that he could only lose the election if it was stolen from him. Many Democrats argued that the best way to avoid a constitutional crisis was to turn out in such massive numbers that they put the result beyond dispute.
They were right. In the end, it was not even close. Biden is set to finish with 306 electoral college votes, a total that Trump called a landslide when he won the same in 2016. The Democrat has a lead of more than 7m in the popular vote, a margin of almost 4.5% – bigger than all but one presidential election since 2000.
No significant fraud or counting error has been established. Trump’s attempts to bully Republican officials in Georgia and Michigan into blocking results came to nought. His failing legal team’s efforts have been eviscerated by judges across the country, including by some he appointed. “This ship has sailed,” summed up US district judge Linda Parker in throwing out a lawsuit challenging Biden’s win in Michigan this week.
Even William Barr, the attorney general and Trump loyalist many liberals feared would take a sledgehammer to the constitution at the decisive moment, told the Associated Press last week that the justice department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome.
It appears our democracy dodged a bullet Susan Rice
Biden’s victory was essentially guaranteed this week by the so-called safe harbour deadline for states to finish their certifications and resolve legal disputes. Votes will be cast by the electoral college on Monday, then sent to Congress for counting on 6 January. Despite historic pressures, from the coronavirus pandemic and Trump’s attempts to undermine the voters’ will, the system worked.
In the words of Susan Rice, a former national security adviser who was this week announced as the woman who will lead Biden’s domestic policy council, it was a “near death experience” for democracy. “It appears that our democracy dodged a bullet – or, more precisely, multiple concerted efforts by the president of the United States to torpedo its very foundations,” she wrote in the New York Times.
Bardella, a former spokesman for Republicans on the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, added: “It was an attempted coup: there is no other word for it. Donald Trump believed that, because some of these people are Republicans or some of these judges were appointed by him, they would do what he wanted because of the transactional way in which he views the world.
More than two weeks after the election Trump’s lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were still falsely claiming Trump had a path to victory. Courts have repeatedly rejected their lawsuits. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“Fortunately for democracy, that was not the case. Unlike virtually everybody else in the Republican party in Washington particularly, they would not circumvent democracy for political gain.”
Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Biden when he was vice-president, agreed: “There are some lines people are not going to cross in this democracy and I think that’s what we just saw. It failed because, fundamentally, the principles and the values of this country and our democracy are still in place.”
But even as the nation moves inexorably towards a transfer of power, America is not out of the woods. Trump, who has an existential fear and loathing of being branded a “loser”, still refuses to swallow his defeat; if anything, his denials are becoming more fervent and extreme. On Wednesday he insisted that he won the election and tweeted a single word about the results: “#OVERTURN.”
It is a futile exercise politically but not financially. Money is pouring into his “stop the steal” campaign but most of it will go to a Trump-founded political action committee called Save America. Bardella said: “What we have seen in the weeks since the election is Donald Trump using an attempted coup to fill his coffers with cash that will sustain his livelihood once he leaves the presidency.”
Many of the Republicans who enabled Trump in the White House are now enabling his anti-democratic impulses. Last week a Washington Post survey of all 249 Republicans in the House and Senate found just 27 willing to acknowledge Biden’s victory. Some, including the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, still refuse to publicly describe Biden as “president-elect”.
Meanwhile 17 states and more than a hundred House Republicans backed a longshot lawsuit by Texas which sought to throw out the voting results in four states that Trump lost. That lawsuit was rejected by the supreme court on Friday.
A pro-Biden supporter, right, quietly interrupts pro-Trump political operative Ed Martin, left, as he speaks at a ‘Stop the Steal’ rally outside of the Republican National Committee office on 6 November. Photograph: Paul Morigi/REX/Shutterstock
There are also fears that the torrent of falsehoods calculated to rile up his most fervent followers could become dangerous.
Some election officials have received death threats. Armed Trump supporters gathered outside the home of Michigan’s secretary of state. The Arizona Republican party even appeared to ask supporters to consider dying to keep Trump in office: its official Twitter account retweeted conservative activist Ali Alexander’s pledge that he was “willing to give my life for this fight”, adding: “He is. Are you?”
Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University, warned on Twitter: “The closer we get to Jan 20, the more likely it is that the heavily armed core of Trump’s base will see itself as imminently threatened with extinction and will lash out with violence. That’s the biggest imminent threat we all face as Americans.”
Although a small number of prominent Republicans have said it is time to move on, Trump continues to exercise an iron grip over the party. He has already floated the idea of running for president in 2024 – he would be only the second person to win back the White House after leaving it – with a possible campaign launch on Biden’s inauguration day in an attempt to steal his successor’s thunder.
Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, said: “He wants to come back again in four years, which means that at this point it’s the most serious problem for the Republican party. They thought it was fine to humour Trump and enable him over the last four years because they thought it would benefit them politically and now they have hell to pay because he is doing to the Republican party what he did to the country. It may be too late for them to rescue their party. I assume it is.”
One of keys to understanding Trump’s enduring influence is conservative media, which every day for the past month have been dominated by narratives of election rigging and fraud. Fox News prime time opinion hosts such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity have doggedly sown distrust in the system.
The Republican party today is like a massive religious cult surrounding an organised crime family headed by a deranged narcissist Jamie Raskin
But Fox News is facing new competition on its right flank from even more ardently pro-Trump upstarts such as Newsmax and the One America News Network. Talk radio and social media also contribute to these alternative reality bubbles where Biden’s victory is still in doubt. Now only one in four Republicans say they trust the results of the election, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey.
Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, added: “That is the essential problem. A completely separate media system with its own propaganda reality has grown up around Donald Trump. The Republican party today is like a massive religious cult surrounding an organised crime family headed by a deranged narcissist. It’s very hard for the Republicans to disenthrall themselves from that warped epistemological system. It’s just a separate reality.”
Conservative media outlets deny such a characterisation and insist they are merely breaking from the liberal orthodoxy of leading networks. Chris Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax, said: “We’re not saying that the election was stolen. We’re not saying that there was massive fraud.
The One America News Network has, along with Newsmax, outflanked even Fox News with its Trump ultra-loyalism. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“We are saying there’s a legal contest in at least six states by the president in states where the results were 1% or closer and that we should wait before we declare Biden the president-elect. Formally that doesn’t happen until the electoral college. We’ve openly said that we’re waiting for that and we will abide by the electoral college and respect the new president.”
Ruddy, a friend of Trump, rejects accusations that Newsmax would further entrench and enflame polarisation during a Biden presidency. “I didn’t create the divide and when you look at what MSNBC and CNN did to this president, it’s horrific. They spent years poaching on a phony conspiracy theory involving Russian collusion and then now they’re claiming that we should heal and unite? I mean, hello, give me a break!
“We’re going to be loyal opposition, much like you have in Britain. We have a point of view. We’re going to be asking tough questions. We’re not calling for Joe Biden’s impeachment. We’re not going to call him illegitimate. All the things that the left did with Trump – we have no plans of doing that.”
Biden will need all of the skills of civility and conciliation that he learned in nearly five decades in politics Bill Galston
Biden, a political moderate, has pledged to heal the divisions, cooperate with Republicans and be a president of all Americans. With Trump still injecting poison into the system, it will be no easy task.
Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington and former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, said: “Much rides on Joe Biden’s shoulders. He will need all of the skills of civility and conciliation that he learned in nearly five decades in national politics to try to take the edge off the divisions.
“Healing, I think, will be a stretch, especially in the short term. But it is reasonable to believe that if he defines the tone and substance of his administration in a manner that’s most conducive to narrowing the gaps and also persuading people who feel excluded from the Democratic party coalition for one reason or another, that it’s not a hostile plot to undermine their way of life, then could be in a better place in two years than we are now. But I can tell the story either way.”


theguardian--2020-12-12--The Biden team will be 'diverse'. That doesn't mean it will help struggling people | Bhaskar Sunkara

Joe Biden is inheriting a mess of a country .
The pandemic has killed 290,000 people and threatens many more ; another 853,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last month ; and stores are reporting spikes in shoplifting for food and baby formula .
If Biden has any answers for us , Americans are keen to hear it .
Instead , the Biden team and its media allies have talked up one rather specific aspect of the Biden administration : diversity .
Over the past few weeks , Biden has announced the White House team he wants to help lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of touting the skills of those selected or what they ’ ll do concretely to improve working people ’ s lives , we ’ ve been hearing about their “ lived experiences ” .
It started with an unlikely subject , Antony Blinken .
Blinken is Biden ’ s nominee for secretary of state and , for what it ’ s worth , a white guy .
A white guy who happened to support the Iraq war and played a key role lobbying his boss to do the same .
A white guy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” that works with defense companies the world over .
There ’ s not much to get excited about , right ?
Not so fast .
As one article put it : “ Antony Blinken has two toddlers .
This is good for fathers everywhere.
” Well , maybe not for fathers in the Middle East – but at least we ’ ll finally have “ a dad-rocker in the state department ” .
Dads of the world , unite !
Some of the other expected senior Biden positions are actually from historically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to follow the same pattern : foreground identity to the expense of real policy .
Progressives , for example , have long argued that the Department of Homeland Security should never have been created by the George W Bush administration to begin with .
But why abolish a department that makes us less safe and violates our civil liberties when you can just put a person of color in charge of it ?
When the Biden team announced that Alejandro Mayorkas had been picked to do just that , they cut to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to remedy some of the horrors of American immigration policy , the Biden team reminded us that “ Mayorkas will be the first Latino and immigrant nominated to serve as DHS secretary ” .
Just one minute later came the breaking news that “ Avril Haines will be nominated to serve as national intelligence director , which would make her the first woman to lead the intelligence community ” .
Haines was deputy CIA director and one of the primary architects of Obama ’ s drone program .
When out of public service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and work for both Palantir and Blinken ’ s firm .
All that and Haines is “ a bookstore owner/community activist ” .
On 30 November , Politico reported that the Congressional Black Caucus ( CBC ) was putting pressure on the Biden administration .
They weren ’ t pushing him to take stronger action on black unemployment , poverty , or the scourge of mass incarceration – they wanted a black secretary of defense .
The campaign seemed to be working .
“ At the end of the day I would say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard for Biden not to pick the first female secretary of defense , but Jeh Johnson would be the first Black secretary of defense and there are a lot of white faces , ” a former senior defense official told Politico .
It wasn ’ t Johnson , but on Tuesday Biden announced that Lloyd Austin was his pick .
Lloyd Austin is African American and has served 41 years in the military .
His appointment , and those of other former army brass , has alarmed those concerned about the decline of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alarming is the fact that last year alone Austin earned more than $ 350,000 for serving on the board of directors of the military contractor Raytheon .
What the CBC thinks about all of this is not clear .
Their sole interest seems to be about Austin ’ s racial identity .
At the same time , others were celebrating Biden ’ s selection of an all-female senior communications staff and the appointment of Neera Tanden as budget director .
Sure , Tanden is a woman and south Asian ; she ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to social security and the looting of Libyan oil to pay for the US bombing of Libya .
Some picks are better than others .
Janet Yellen , for example , is a center-left economist who , as Ryan Grim notes , has a mixed record but seems to be a genuine step up from Obama-era appointments like Tim Geithner .
When announcing Yellen , though , Biden didn ’ t mention her Keynesian background or any of her academic work about full employment .
But he did joke that he “ might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another musical about the first woman secretary of the Treasury ” .
If it ’ s not clear , I ’ m not thrilled about these appointments , but beyond their substance , it ’ s very telling how they were rolled out .
The Democrats are continuing their steady rebrand from the party of FDR ’ s New Deal and economic redistribution to the party of diversity and cultural posturing .
Racial minorities , women and LGBT people better like what they see , because that ’ s all they ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ figures touting the incoming White House ’ s composition tell a recently laid-off white person not to worry , because a member of “ their community ” will be in the Biden administration ?
Of course not .
That would be ridiculous .
Yet the minority base of the Democratic party is expected to subsist off scraps of representation .
It ’ s a PR trick no different than that one we ’ ve been recently seeing in corporate America , where your boss will ask you read White Fragility and contemplate your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where a listing like Nasdaq doesn ’ t care what unethical stuff you have to do to make money , as long as you ’ re doing it with a diverse board of directors .
This vague touting of backgrounds isn ’ t just irrelevant to most of our lives , it distracts us from how simple the policy solutions to the crises facing poor and working-class Americans are .
If people don ’ t have healthcare , we can give them comprehensive healthcare through Medicare for All .
If they ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can provide them with free childcare and universal pre-K .
If they ’ re dealing with housing insecurity , we can expand section 8 vouchers and build affordable housing units .
If they don ’ t have good-paying jobs , we can sturdy up the union movement and create guarantees of public employment .
But instead of Democratic leaders actually nourishing the tired , poor and huddled masses with a robust welfare state , we ’ re told to eat diversity instead .
• None Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor of Jacobin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto : The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality

Joe Biden is inheriting a mess of a country. The pandemic has killed 290,000 people and threatens many more; another 853,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last month; and stores are reporting spikes in shoplifting for food and baby formula.
If Biden has any answers for us, Americans are keen to hear it.
Instead, the Biden team and its media allies have talked up one rather specific aspect of the Biden administration: diversity. Over the past few weeks, Biden has announced the White House team he wants to help lead us out of crisis. Yet instead of touting the skills of those selected or what they’ll do concretely to improve working people’s lives, we’ve been hearing about their “lived experiences”.
It started with an unlikely subject, Antony Blinken. Blinken is Biden’s nominee for secretary of state and, for what it’s worth, a white guy. A white guy who happened to support the Iraq war and played a key role lobbying his boss to do the same. A white guy who founded a “strategic advisory firm” that works with defense companies the world over. There’s not much to get excited about, right?
Not so fast. As one article put it: “Antony Blinken has two toddlers. This is good for fathers everywhere.” Well, maybe not for fathers in the Middle East – but at least we’ll finally have “a dad-rocker in the state department”. Dads of the world, unite!
Some of the other expected senior Biden positions are actually from historically oppressed groups. But these announcements seem to follow the same pattern: foreground identity to the expense of real policy.
Progressives, for example, have long argued that the Department of Homeland Security should never have been created by the George W Bush administration to begin with. But why abolish a department that makes us less safe and violates our civil liberties when you can just put a person of color in charge of it?
When the Biden team announced that Alejandro Mayorkas had been picked to do just that, they cut to the chase. Instead of explaining their plans to remedy some of the horrors of American immigration policy, the Biden team reminded us that “Mayorkas will be the first Latino and immigrant nominated to serve as DHS secretary”.
Just one minute later came the breaking news that “Avril Haines will be nominated to serve as national intelligence director, which would make her the first woman to lead the intelligence community”. Haines was deputy CIA director and one of the primary architects of Obama’s drone program. When out of public service, she found time to defend torture and work for both Palantir and Blinken’s firm. All that and Haines is “a bookstore owner/community activist”.
On 30 November, Politico reported that the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) was putting pressure on the Biden administration. They weren’t pushing him to take stronger action on black unemployment, poverty, or the scourge of mass incarceration – they wanted a black secretary of defense. The campaign seemed to be working. “At the end of the day I would say that it’s going to be hard for Biden not to pick the first female secretary of defense, but Jeh Johnson would be the first Black secretary of defense and there are a lot of white faces,” a former senior defense official told Politico.
It wasn’t Johnson, but on Tuesday Biden announced that Lloyd Austin was his pick. Lloyd Austin is African American and has served 41 years in the military. His appointment, and those of other former army brass, has alarmed those concerned about the decline of civil control of the military. Also alarming is the fact that last year alone Austin earned more than $350,000 for serving on the board of directors of the military contractor Raytheon.
Democrats are continuing their rebrand from the party of FDR’s New Deal to the party of cultural posturing
What the CBC thinks about all of this is not clear. Their sole interest seems to be about Austin’s racial identity.
At the same time, others were celebrating Biden’s selection of an all-female senior communications staff and the appointment of Neera Tanden as budget director. Sure, Tanden is a woman and south Asian; she’s also someone who’s advocated cuts to social security and the looting of Libyan oil to pay for the US bombing of Libya.
Some picks are better than others. Janet Yellen, for example, is a center-left economist who, as Ryan Grim notes, has a mixed record but seems to be a genuine step up from Obama-era appointments like Tim Geithner. When announcing Yellen, though, Biden didn’t mention her Keynesian background or any of her academic work about full employment. But he did joke that he “might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda to write another musical about the first woman secretary of the Treasury”.
If it’s not clear, I’m not thrilled about these appointments, but beyond their substance, it’s very telling how they were rolled out. The Democrats are continuing their steady rebrand from the party of FDR’s New Deal and economic redistribution to the party of diversity and cultural posturing.
Racial minorities, women and LGBT people better like what they see, because that’s all they’ll get. Would any of the establishment figures touting the incoming White House’s composition tell a recently laid-off white person not to worry, because a member of “their community” will be in the Biden administration? Of course not. That would be ridiculous. Yet the minority base of the Democratic party is expected to subsist off scraps of representation.
It’s a PR trick no different than that one we’ve been recently seeing in corporate America, where your boss will ask you read White Fragility and contemplate your privilege before laying you off. Or where a listing like Nasdaq doesn’t care what unethical stuff you have to do to make money, as long as you’re doing it with a diverse board of directors.
This vague touting of backgrounds isn’t just irrelevant to most of our lives, it distracts us from how simple the policy solutions to the crises facing poor and working-class Americans are. If people don’t have healthcare, we can give them comprehensive healthcare through Medicare for All. If they’re struggling financially to raise children, we can provide them with free childcare and universal pre-K. If they’re dealing with housing insecurity, we can expand section 8 vouchers and build affordable housing units. If they don’t have good-paying jobs, we can sturdy up the union movement and create guarantees of public employment.
But instead of Democratic leaders actually nourishing the tired, poor and huddled masses with a robust welfare state, we’re told to eat diversity instead.


theguardian--2020-12-12--Trump loses another case challenging election results in latest legal rebuke

Donald Trump lost a federal court challenge on Saturday in Wisconsin while judges said yet another case being fought there “ smacks of racism ” .
The slap-downs came less than 24 hours after the abrupt dismissal by the US supreme court of the most audacious Republican attempt yet to overturn Joe Biden ’ s victory in the election almost six weeks ago .
But despite the latest stinging legal defeats and rebukes , Trump took to the skies in the Marine One presidential helicopter on Saturday on his way to an engagement in New York and flew above a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington DC , who persist in bolstering his false claims that the election was “ stolen ” from him by fraud and conspiracy .
This as the US electoral college will vote on Monday to confirm Biden ’ s resounding victory , alongside his Democratic vice president-elect , Kamala Harris .
And a trickle of Republicans joined leading Democrats in speaking up about the increasing futility but also the insidiousness of the lame duck president ’ s aggressive clinging to power .
After the supreme court decision , Christine Todd Whitman , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of the Trump campaign challenges to the election result : “ It is now truly over .
Trump and his acolytes need to stop all efforts to deny millions of votes.
” More than 120 Republican members of the House of Representatives wrote an amicus brief to the supreme court last week in support of the lawsuit brought by Texas , which had been joined by Trump and aimed to overturn Biden ’ s victory in four key swing states , which the court on Friday night abruptly refused to consider .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Republican National Committee , called the effort “ an affront to the country ” .
“ It ’ s an offense to the constitution and it leaves an indelible stain that will be hard for these 126 members to wipe off their political skin , ” he told the New York Times .
In Wisconsin on Saturday , the US district judge Brett Ludwig dismissed one of Trump ’ s latest lawsuits there that asked the court to order the state ’ s Republican-controlled legislature to name him as the winner , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his way to winning the White House .
Even as Ludwig said Trump ’ s arguments “ fail as a matter of law and fact ” an attorney for the president , Jim Troupis , was busy arguing in another case , before a skeptical Wisconsin state supreme court , a lawsuit that , if successful , would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in Wisconsin ’ s most diverse counties , Dane and Milwaukee , where Biden won .
Trump is not challenging any votes in Wisconsin counties that he won .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ smacks of racism , “ the justice Jill Karofsky said to Trump ’ s attorney early in his arguments .
“ I do not know how you can come before this court and possibly ask for a remedy that is unheard of in US history … It is not normal , ” she added .
One of Karofsky ’ s fellow judges in that case , where a decision is now awaited , pointed out that Trump also did not make such challenges when he won Wisconsin on his way to the White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allies have already suffered many dozens of defeats in Wisconsin and across the country in lawsuits that rely on unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud and election abuse .
Friday ’ s rejection of the Texas case by the US supreme court , which asked the bench to overturn Biden ’ s wins in Michigan , Pennsylvania , Georgia and Wisconsin , came despite Trump having nominated three of the nine justices , which has tilted the court dramatically to the right .
The New York state attorney general , Letitia James , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked the highest court to reject Texas ’ s lawsuit , said in a statement : “ The supreme court has denied Texas ’ efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 election , and Americans across the country can rest assured that the will of the people will be heard.
” James continued : “ The court ’ s decision to throw out these ridiculous claims ensures the integrity of our elections are protected and that elections can not simply be overturned because we disagree with the results.
” James will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s loss in the 3 November election .
“ On Monday , I and other members of the electoral college across the nation will fulfil our constitutional duty and take the final step to ensure that Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States and that Kamala Harris becomes the 49th vice-president of the United States , ” she said .
Chris Sununu , the Republican governor of New Hampshire , indicated that this should be the end of the road for Trump ’ s campaign to fight the result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court , that ’ s kind of it , where they ’ ve kind of exhausted all the legal challenges .
We ’ ve got to move on , ” he told CNN .
He called for the Trump administration and the US Congress , instead , to address the coronavirus crisis , which has never been brought under control and has killed more than 3,300 people in the last 24 hours , and get the new vaccine delivered to the people .
The president ’ s dubious coat of arms at his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ magazine has pointed out , may sport the motto “ Numquam concedere ” – Latin for “ never concede ” – but the mantra increasingly conveys less a sense of indomitability than dangerous desperation .
Michael Waldman , the president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University school of law and the author of The Fight to Vote , said : “ The courts have been very , very clear in rejecting Trump ’ s efforts to undo the 2020 election … It ’ s actually a rather striking unanimity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implications were worrisome for American democracy , however .
“ Clearly , there is a very strong and previously unseen anti-Democratic impulse in the United States that can way too easily be activated , and this is going to be a big fight for years , ” he said .
He added : “ It ’ s just appalling what Trump and the Republicans have done .
”

Joanna Walters and Victoria Bekiempis in New York and agencies

Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletter
Donald Trump lost a federal court challenge on Saturday in Wisconsin while judges said yet another case being fought there “smacks of racism”.
The slap-downs came less than 24 hours after the abrupt dismissal by the US supreme court of the most audacious Republican attempt yet to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the election almost six weeks ago.
But despite the latest stinging legal defeats and rebukes, Trump took to the skies in the Marine One presidential helicopter on Saturday on his way to an engagement in New York and flew above a protest of several hundred diehard supporters in Washington DC, who persist in bolstering his false claims that the election was “stolen” from him by fraud and conspiracy.
This as the US electoral college will vote on Monday to confirm Biden’s resounding victory, alongside his Democratic vice president-elect, Kamala Harris.
And a trickle of Republicans joined leading Democrats in speaking up about the increasing futility but also the insidiousness of the lame duck president’s aggressive clinging to power.
After the supreme court decision, Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, said of the Trump campaign challenges to the election result: “It is now truly over. Trump and his acolytes need to stop all efforts to deny millions of votes.”
More than 120 Republican members of the House of Representatives wrote an amicus brief to the supreme court last week in support of the lawsuit brought by Texas, which had been joined by Trump and aimed to overturn Biden’s victory in four key swing states, which the court on Friday night abruptly refused to consider.
Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, called the effort “an affront to the country”.
“It’s an offense to the constitution and it leaves an indelible stain that will be hard for these 126 members to wipe off their political skin,” he told the New York Times.
In Wisconsin on Saturday, the US district judge Brett Ludwig dismissed one of Trump’s latest lawsuits there that asked the court to order the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to name him as the winner, whereas in fact Biden won Wisconsin on his way to winning the White House.
Even as Ludwig said Trump’s arguments “fail as a matter of law and fact” an attorney for the president, Jim Troupis, was busy arguing in another case, before a skeptical Wisconsin state supreme court, a lawsuit that, if successful, would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in Wisconsin’s most diverse counties, Dane and Milwaukee, where Biden won.
Trump is not challenging any votes in Wisconsin counties that he won.
“This lawsuit, Mr Troupis, smacks of racism,“ the justice Jill Karofsky said to Trump’s attorney early in his arguments.
“I do not know how you can come before this court and possibly ask for a remedy that is unheard of in US history … It is not normal,” she added.
One of Karofsky’s fellow judges in that case, where a decision is now awaited, pointed out that Trump also did not make such challenges when he won Wisconsin on his way to the White House in 2016.
Trump supporters protest the outcome of the election in front of the US supreme court on 12 December 2020 in Washington DC. Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AFP/Getty Images
Trump and his allies have already suffered many dozens of defeats in Wisconsin and across the country in lawsuits that rely on unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud and election abuse.
Friday’s rejection of the Texas case by the US supreme court, which asked the bench to overturn Biden’s wins in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, came despite Trump having nominated three of the nine justices, which has tilted the court dramatically to the right.
The New York state attorney general, Letitia James, who was among the 23 attorneys general who asked the highest court to reject Texas’s lawsuit, said in a statement: “The supreme court has denied Texas’ efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 election, and Americans across the country can rest assured that the will of the people will be heard.”
James continued: “The court’s decision to throw out these ridiculous claims ensures the integrity of our elections are protected and that elections cannot simply be overturned because we disagree with the results.”
James will be involved in the official confirmation of Trump’s loss in the 3 November election.
“On Monday, I and other members of the electoral college across the nation will fulfil our constitutional duty and take the final step to ensure that Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States and that Kamala Harris becomes the 49th vice-president of the United States,” she said.
Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, indicated that this should be the end of the road for Trump’s campaign to fight the result.
“What happened with the supreme court, that’s kind of it, where they’ve kind of exhausted all the legal challenges. We’ve got to move on,” he told CNN.
There is a very strong and previously unseen anti-Democratic impulse in the United States that can way too easily be activated Michael Waldman
He called for the Trump administration and the US Congress, instead, to address the coronavirus crisis, which has never been brought under control and has killed more than 3,300 people in the last 24 hours, and get the new vaccine delivered to the people.
The president’s dubious coat of arms at his Scottish golf courses, as the Atlantic magazine has pointed out, may sport the motto “Numquam concedere” – Latin for “never concede” – but the mantra increasingly conveys less a sense of indomitability than dangerous desperation.
Michael Waldman, the president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University school of law and the author of The Fight to Vote, said: “The courts have been very, very clear in rejecting Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election … It’s actually a rather striking unanimity of rulings.”
The litigation’s implications were worrisome for American democracy, however.
“Clearly, there is a very strong and previously unseen anti-Democratic impulse in the United States that can way too easily be activated, and this is going to be a big fight for years,” he said.
He added: “It’s just appalling what Trump and the Republicans have done.”


theguardian--2020-12-13--AOC's cooking live streams perfect the recipe for making politics palatable

When life gives you lemons , make lemonade .
Or talk up a storm about the minimum wage , healthcare and the existential struggle for democracy .
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ’ s latest Instagram live stream found the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress standing at a chopping board with two lemons and a plastic jug as she expounded her political philosophy .
“ Both Democrats and Republicans , ” she said , scooping up a lemon with her right hand , “ when they indulge in these narratives of commonsense policies being radical , ” – setting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ what they ’ re trying to is really shorten the window of what ’ s possible.
” A twee icing contest on The Great British Bake Off this is not .
And as far as we know , Gordon Ramsay , Ina Garten and Nigella Lawson have never been heard to exclaim , “ Shoutout to my fellow radicals !
” as Ocasio-Cortez did last Thursday night .
But for anyone worried that politics might become a little too boring under Joe Biden ’ s presidency , “ AOC ” , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comfort food .
The 31-year-old New York Democrat has gained a vast social media following with her intimate videos of cooking , fashion tips , furniture assembly and behind the scenes in Congress .
This may say something about a public craving for authenticity in politicians : Biden , Donald Trump and AOC ’ s mentor Bernie Sanders have it , as far as their supporters are concerned .
Similarly Ocasio-Cortez , from a working-class family in the Bronx , comes over more like your relatable drinking buddy than a Washington stiff but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instinct for social media and a timeless star quality .
But it is also proof that entertainment and politics have become mutually indistinguishable .
The trend arguably began 60 years ago with the televised Kennedy v Nixon debates , received a boost from Bill Clinton playing saxophone on a late-night talkshow and reached its apotheosis with Trump , who went from reality TV host to reality TV president .
So Ocasio-Cortez offers a glimpse of where we ’ re heading .
Her Instagram live streams typically begin with the type of bit that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to policy .
It is a technique that serves journalists , novelists and other storytellers well : first hook your audience with something engaging , then move on to the substantial idea you really want to talk about .
A cooking video last year began with Ocasio-Cortez in an unglamorous kitchen , rinsing rice in the sink .
What are you making ?
asked viewers .
The answer : chicken tikka masala .
“ I am missing ginger , which is a really big bummer , ” she said , before fielding questions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential impeachments .
In last Thursday ’ s edition , lemons were a suitably sour match for Ocasio-Cortez ’ s mood in a country where 3,000 people a day are dying from coronavirus , Congress has stalled for months over providing economic relief – and Biden appears in no hurry to put her progressive allies in his cabinet .
Wearing a “ tax the rich ” sweater , the congresswoman was visibly more angry and frustrated than usual .
“ If people think that the present day is like radical far left , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a book , ” she said with expressive hand gestures .
“ Like , we had much more radicalism in the United States as recently as the 60s .
“ We talk about how labour unions started in this country .
That was radical .
People died , people died in this country , it was almost like a war for the 40-hour work week and your weekends .
And a lot of people died for these very basic economic rights .
We can ’ t go back to that time.
” She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be normal .
Guaranteed healthcare should be normal .
Trying to save our planet should be centrist politics.
” She became even more irate as she talked about Covid-19 .
Hands resting on a plastic jug , she said animatedly : “ Here ’ s the thing that ’ s also a huge irony to me , is that all these Republicans and all these folks who were anti-shutdown are the same people who weren ’ t wearing masks who forced us to shut down in the first place.
” The final @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rapid staccato , accompanied by Ocasio-Cortez ’ s left hand clapping or chopping her right for emphasis .
“ I wan na see my family , ” she said .
“ I haven ’ t seen my family in a year , like many of you all .
I wan na be able to visit my friends without being scared and I wan na be able to hang out with my friends when it ’ s cold outside and not have to be outside.
” If anyone was depending on AOC for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in for a long wait .
Ilhan Omar , a fellow member of “ the Squad ” in Congress , teased her on Twitter : “ @ AOC you forgot to tell us what you were making tonight sis.
” Ocasio-Cortez confessed : “ I tried to make salmon spinach pasta but got carried away about how jacked up our Covid response is and how badly we need stimulus checks and healthcare that all I did was zest a lemon I ’ ll post my meal when it ’ s done.
” And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ accountability purposes ” .
( Her pet dog looked intrigued . )
The style has been honed over time .
Last year there was the live stream of Ocasio-Cortez in her unfurnished apartment where she had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor .
Again , relatable .
“ I ’ ve been living like a completely depraved lifestyle , ” she said , chewing on popcorn ( top tip : add ground pepper ) and assembling a table .
“ There ’ s something very satisfying about putting together Ikea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the sandwich .
“ Your grandchildren will not be able to hide the fact that you fought against acknowledging and taking bold actions on climate change , ” Ocasio-Cortez warned opponents .
“ We have 12 years left to cut emissions by at least 50 % , if not more , and for everyone who wants to make a joke about that , you may laugh but your grandkids will not.
” Another classic of the genre came in August this year when Ocasio-Cortez shot a video for Vogue about her skincare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it was glamorous and fun .
On another , it was a golden opportunity to riff on patriarchy , the gender pay gap and what it is to live in systems largely built for the convenience of men – in a medium that was infinitely more digestible than a dry university seminar .
“ The reason why I think it ’ s so important to share these things is that , first of all , femininity has power , and in politics there is so much criticism and nitpicking about how women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said .
“ Just being a woman is quite politicised here in Washington .
“ …… There ’ s this really false idea that if you care about makeup or if your interests are in beauty and fashion , that that ’ s somehow frivolous .
But I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make – and we make them every morning.
” One of the keys to understanding the phenomenon of Ocasio-Cortez , and the backlash against her , is her years of working as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to portray this as a weakness , with Twitter jibes such as “ Shut up and sit down , bartender ” .
On the contrary , it is a strength , a schooling in the art of conversation and listening .
Ocasio-Cortez shot back last year : “ I find it revealing when people mock where I came from , and say they ’ re going to ‘ send me back to waitressing ’ , as if that is bad or shameful .
It ’ s as though they think being a member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ than a waitress .
But our job is to serve , not rule.
” The US constitution stipules that the president must be at least 35 years old .
Ocasio-Cortez turns 35 less than a month before the next election .
She is already campaigning from her kitchen without knowing it .

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or talk up a storm about the minimum wage, healthcare and the existential struggle for democracy.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s latest Instagram live stream found the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress standing at a chopping board with two lemons and a plastic jug as she expounded her political philosophy.
“Both Democrats and Republicans,” she said, scooping up a lemon with her right hand, “when they indulge in these narratives of commonsense policies being radical,” – setting the lemon down on the board again – “what they’re trying to do is really shorten the window of what’s possible.”
A twee icing contest on The Great British Bake Off this is not. And as far as we know, Gordon Ramsay, Ina Garten and Nigella Lawson have never been heard to exclaim, “Shoutout to my fellow radicals!” as Ocasio-Cortez did last Thursday night.
But for anyone worried that politics might become a little too boring under Joe Biden’s presidency, “AOC”, as she is universally known, is bringing comfort food. The 31-year-old New York Democrat has gained a vast social media following with her intimate videos of cooking, fashion tips, furniture assembly and behind the scenes in Congress.
Rep. AOC: "All these Republicans and all these folks who were anti-shutdown are the same people who weren't wearing masks who forced us to shut down in the first place." pic.twitter.com/85bW0lNefU — The Hill (@thehill) December 11, 2020
This may say something about a public craving for authenticity in politicians: Biden, Donald Trump and AOC’s mentor Bernie Sanders have it, as far as their supporters are concerned. Similarly Ocasio-Cortez, from a working-class family in the Bronx, comes over more like your relatable drinking buddy than a Washington stiff but combines it with a millennial’s instinct for social media and a timeless star quality.
But it is also proof that entertainment and politics have become mutually indistinguishable. The trend arguably began 60 years ago with the televised Kennedy v Nixon debates, received a boost from Bill Clinton playing saxophone on a late-night talkshow and reached its apotheosis with Trump, who went from reality TV host to reality TV president.
So Ocasio-Cortez offers a glimpse of where we’re heading. Her Instagram live streams typically begin with the type of bit that might feature on daytime TV before pivoting to policy. It is a technique that serves journalists, novelists and other storytellers well: first hook your audience with something engaging, then move on to the substantial idea you really want to talk about.
A cooking video last year began with Ocasio-Cortez in an unglamorous kitchen, rinsing rice in the sink. What are you making? asked viewers. The answer: chicken tikka masala. “I am missing ginger, which is a really big bummer,” she said, before fielding questions on everything from Medicare for All to presidential impeachments.
In last Thursday’s edition, lemons were a suitably sour match for Ocasio-Cortez’s mood in a country where 3,000 people a day are dying from coronavirus, Congress has stalled for months over providing economic relief – and Biden appears in no hurry to put her progressive allies in his cabinet.
Wearing a “tax the rich” sweater, the congresswoman was visibly more angry and frustrated than usual. “If people think that the present day is like radical far left, they just haven’t even opened a book,” she said with expressive hand gestures. “Like, we had much more radicalism in the United States as recently as the 60s.
Photograph: Instagram AOC
“We talk about how labour unions started in this country. That was radical. People died, people died in this country, it was almost like a war for the 40-hour work week and your weekends. And a lot of people died for these very basic economic rights. We can’t go back to that time.”
She added: “Doubling the minimum wage should be normal. Guaranteed healthcare should be normal. Trying to save our planet should be centrist politics.”
She became even more irate as she talked about Covid-19. Hands resting on a plastic jug, she said animatedly: “Here’s the thing that’s also a huge irony to me, is that all these Republicans and all these folks who were anti-shutdown are the same people who weren’t wearing masks who forced us to shut down in the first place.”
The final 12 words of that sentence came in a rapid staccato, accompanied by Ocasio-Cortez’s left hand clapping or chopping her right for emphasis. “I wanna see my family,” she said. “I haven’t seen my family in a year, like many of you all. I wanna be able to visit my friends without being scared and I wanna be able to hang out with my friends when it’s cold outside and not have to be outside.”
If anyone was depending on AOC for their dinner that night, they were in for a long wait. Ilhan Omar, a fellow member of “the Squad” in Congress, teased her on Twitter: “@AOC you forgot to tell us what you were making tonight sis.”
Ocasio-Cortez confessed: “I tried to make salmon spinach pasta but got carried away about how jacked up our Covid response is and how badly we need stimulus checks and healthcare that all I did was zest a lemon I’ll post my meal when it’s done.”
And she eventually did post a photo for “accountability purposes”. (Her pet dog looked intrigued.)
The style has been honed over time. Last year there was the live stream of Ocasio-Cortez in her unfurnished apartment where she had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Again, relatable. “I’ve been living like a completely depraved lifestyle,” she said, chewing on popcorn (top tip: add ground pepper) and assembling a table. “There’s something very satisfying about putting together Ikea furniture.”
But she also delivered meat in the sandwich. “Your grandchildren will not be able to hide the fact that you fought against acknowledging and taking bold actions on climate change,” Ocasio-Cortez warned opponents. “We have 12 years left to cut emissions by at least 50%, if not more, and for everyone who wants to make a joke about that, you may laugh but your grandkids will not.”
Another classic of the genre came in August this year when Ocasio-Cortez shot a video for Vogue about her skincare and lipstick routine. On one level, it was glamorous and fun. On another, it was a golden opportunity to riff on patriarchy, the gender pay gap and what it is to live in systems largely built for the convenience of men – in a medium that was infinitely more digestible than a dry university seminar.
“The reason why I think it’s so important to share these things is that, first of all, femininity has power, and in politics there is so much criticism and nitpicking about how women and femme people present ourselves,” she said. “Just being a woman is quite politicised here in Washington.
“There’s this really false idea that if you care about makeup or if your interests are in beauty and fashion, that that’s somehow frivolous. But I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make – and we make them every morning.”
One of the keys to understanding the phenomenon of Ocasio-Cortez, and the backlash against her, is her years of working as a bartender and waitress. Critics seek to portray this as a weakness, with Twitter jibes such as “Shut up and sit down, bartender”. On the contrary, it is a strength, a schooling in the art of conversation and listening.
Ocasio-Cortez shot back last year: “I find it revealing when people mock where I came from, and say they’re going to ‘send me back to waitressing’, as if that is bad or shameful. It’s as though they think being a member of Congress makes you intrinsically ‘better’ than a waitress. But our job is to serve, not rule.”
The US constitution stipules that the president must be at least 35 years old. Ocasio-Cortez turns 35 less than a month before the next election. She is already campaigning from her kitchen without knowing it.


theguardian--2020-12-13--'I won't vote next time': could Georgia Republicans' doubts cost them the runoffs?

As the sun dipped on a crisp autumnal evening in southern Georgia , Lauren Voyle stood in line for a front-row seat on the makeshift risers at the Valdosta regional airport .
Donald Trump was due to arrive on the tarmac in a few hours ’ time .
It was the first time the president would hold a rally since losing the election in November and Voyle , who wore a blue Trump 2020 cap with the slogan “ Keep Liberals Crying ” on the rim , had driven four and a half hours from Cumming , a small city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to witness what she described as a historic moment .
The president had ostensibly travelled to Georgia to canvass for the two Republican senate candidates , David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler , before a critical runoff election in January .
But he spent the vast majority of an incoherent , 90-minute monologue spreading baseless disinformation about a rigged election , continuing to claim victory after losing by more than 7 million votes .
Georgia election officials , meanwhile , have done three separate counts of the presidential vote , each time confirming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some national Republicans fear that Trump ’ s continued denial of the results could have major consequences for the party in January , when this Senate election will determine control of the upper chamber .
With over 70 % of Republicans , according to recent polling , now believing that November ’ s presidential election was not “ free and fair ” , there are concerns that a collapse in trust in electoral processes could cost conservatives dearly at the ballot box .
With the Senate election likely to be decided by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock , are slightly ahead , according to recent polls – even a small drop in turnout on either side could have significant consequences .
In many ways , Voyle was the embodiment of their worst nightmare : a staunch Republican who would not turn up to vote again .
“ We really believe this election was crooked , ” said the 57-year-old , who voted in the November election .
“ I won ’ t [ vote ] next time unless they give us a clean election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I ’ m not doing Dominion machines.
” Although Trump urged supporters during his speech to turn out for Loeffler and Perdue , he also regurgitated many of the conspiracy theories about Dominion voting software and identification issues that Voyle described .
Of the dozen people interviewed by the Guardian at Trump ’ s rally , all said they had mostly stopped watching Fox News , which faced the fury of Trump after accurately calling the election for Joe Biden , shifting their attention to Newsmax and the One America News Network @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud claims recently championed by the president .
Even among some of those who did plan to vote , there remained a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the two Republican Senate candidates without Trump on the top of the ticket .
“ I ’ m not feeling it for either of them , but I ’ ll vote , ” said Tammy Bailey , who had driven three hours south to attend in person .
She added : “ I feel like they ’ re both part of the deep state , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Trump ’ s efforts to subvert the election results .
Loeffler and Perdue have walked a rhetorical tightrope during their second election season , on the one hand declining to articulate the full-throated , baseless claims of widespread fraud that Trump has propagated while on the otherdeclining to recognize Biden as the president-elect and offering their backing for desperate legal bids to overturn the result .
On Sunday , during a televised debate , Loeffler , a multimillionaire businesswoman , declined three times to acknowledge the result , instead arguing that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recourse ” .
Democrats in the state are quietly confident that this confusing messaging will play into their hands .
“ While they ’ re scrambling to make clear sense to their base , our message is clear and unified , ” said one source close to the Ossoff campaign .
In his effort to undermine Georgia ’ s election results , Trump has also attacked two of the top Republicans in the state , Governor Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger , the secretary of state .
Despite Trump ’ s howling , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his request and Raffensperger has loudly dismissed allegations the election was rigged against Trump .
Raffensperger has said that Trump ’ s own criticism of voting by mail cost him the election in Georgia .
Asked whether the president ’ s attacks were hurting Republicans ’ chances of winning the runoff , Raffensperger told the Guardian it would be “ helpful ” to separate the general election and the coming vote .
“ The most helpful thing for the senators is obviously to have everyone focused on them getting re-elected in the runoff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s very tough , I understand , to really bifurcate the issue of the presidential race from the senatorial runoffs , but the better that the state party and the candidates do that , the better it really is.
” “ I would never tell anyone not to turn out to vote .
I don ’ t know why someone would do that .
All the true blue , or I guess true red Republicans , we ’ ll be all out there , making sure that we vote for our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who certified Georgia ’ s election results for Biden last month , has received threats against him and his family for doing so , and urged leaders from both sides “ to condemn violence and threats of violence ” .
The attacks have also made it harder for local election officials to prepare for the runoff .
Janine Eveler , the director of elections and registration in Cobb county , which encompasses the Atlanta suburbs , said she had been getting about 50 calls and emails a day from people concerned about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away time that we could be working on the election to field all of their questions , ” she said , adding that it was extremely difficult to convince the callers there had not been fraud .
“ They are unwilling to listen to any rebuttal of that .
It ’ s fruitless .
You can ’ t really explain anything to anybody because they ’ re not willing to listen.
” Eveler said the attacks had taken a toll on election workers .
She said her office had lost about 15 workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a combination of concerns about Covid , burnout , and the attacks .
“ The public scrutiny over things , the accusations of wrongdoing that we ’ ve endured is very discouraging to people , ” she said .
“ They don ’ t make a lot of money .
And they ’ re working really hard .
And to be accused of fraudulent activity , it ’ s hard for people .
Their pictures are in the newspaper all the time , counting ballots.
” The lack of staffing has also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by half the number of early voting sites for the runoff , a move that drew strong objections from civil rights groups who said the few sites that were available were not adequately accessible for minority voters .
Cobb county is one of the largest in Georgia , home to more than 537,000 registered voters , and flipped to Biden in November – the first time the county had chosen a Democratic candidate in 40 years .
Eveler acknowledged the accessibility was a problem and said the county was moving one site and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staffing and open two additional locations during the final week of early voting .
Republicans in the Georgia state legislature have already signaled they intend to use the uncertainty Trump created around the election to implement new restrictions on voting by mail .
State Republicans said this month they planned to move legislation that would require photo ID with a mail-in ballot , eliminate ballot drop boxes and require an excuse to vote by mail – a rule that exists in just a handful of states .
“ I can ’ t understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to have these barriers to vote by mail , ” said Helen Butler , executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People ’ s Agenda , a civil rights group that helps expand access to the polls .
“ When the other side used it – and I ’ m just gon na be honest , more white people used vote by mail than people of color , because they didn ’ t trust the process – now that we ’ ve got them trusting the process , now they want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” National Democrats , too , see Trump ’ s efforts to undermine the process as a long-term danger to democracy across the country , which could extend well beyond the election in Georgia .
At an Ossoff campaign rally in the city of Lilburn , just outside Atlanta , Julián Castro , the former presidential candidate and US housing secretary , paused in the cold to reflect on the post-election circus .
“ The attacks that Donald Trump is launching against the basic foundations of our democracy are dangerous .
They are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the common agreement we all have of participating in democracy , believing in it , supporting it and abiding by it , ” he told the Guardian .
“ All because this man acts like a child and can ’ t put the needs of the country above his own selfish needs.
” • This article was amended on 13 December 2020 because an earlier version misspelt the city of Cumming as Cuming .

Oliver Laughland in Atlanta and Sam Levine in New York

As the sun dipped on a crisp autumnal evening in southern Georgia, Lauren Voyle stood in line for a front-row seat on the makeshift risers at the Valdosta regional airport. Donald Trump was due to arrive on the tarmac in a few hours’ time.
It was the first time the president would hold a rally since losing the election in November and Voyle, who wore a blue Trump 2020 cap with the slogan “Keep Liberals Crying” on the rim, had driven four and a half hours from Cumming, a small city in the northern part of the state, to witness what she described as a historic moment.
The president had ostensibly travelled to Georgia to canvass for the two Republican senate candidates, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, before a critical runoff election in January. But he spent the vast majority of an incoherent, 90-minute monologue spreading baseless disinformation about a rigged election, continuing to claim victory after losing by more than 7 million votes. Georgia election officials, meanwhile, have done three separate counts of the presidential vote, each time confirming Biden’s victory in the state.
Donald Trump attends a rally in support of the senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Some national Republicans fear that Trump’s continued denial of the results could have major consequences for the party in January, when this Senate election will determine control of the upper chamber. With over 70% of Republicans, according to recent polling, now believing that November’s presidential election was not “free and fair”, there are concerns that a collapse in trust in electoral processes could cost conservatives dearly at the ballot box.
With the Senate election likely to be decided by a thin margin – both Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, are slightly ahead, according to recent polls – even a small drop in turnout on either side could have significant consequences. In many ways, Voyle was the embodiment of their worst nightmare: a staunch Republican who would not turn up to vote again.
“We really believe this election was crooked,” said the 57-year-old, who voted in the November election. “I won’t [vote] next time unless they give us a clean election with paper ballots, IDs and fingerprints. I’m not doing Dominion machines.”
Although Trump urged supporters during his speech to turn out for Loeffler and Perdue, he also regurgitated many of the conspiracy theories about Dominion voting software and identification issues that Voyle described.
Of the dozen people interviewed by the Guardian at Trump’s rally, all said they had mostly stopped watching Fox News, which faced the fury of Trump after accurately calling the election for Joe Biden, shifting their attention to Newsmax and the One America News Network, two fringe channels propagating baseless election fraud claims recently championed by the president.
Even among some of those who did plan to vote, there remained a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the two Republican Senate candidates without Trump on the top of the ticket.
“I’m not feeling it for either of them, but I’ll vote,” said Tammy Bailey, who had driven three hours south to attend in person. She added: “I feel like they’re both part of the deep state,” suggesting neither candidate had shown enough support for Trump’s efforts to subvert the election results.
The rally came before a crucial runoff election for Perdue and Loeffler on 5 January. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Loeffler and Perdue have walked a rhetorical tightrope during their second election season, on the one hand declining to articulate the full-throated, baseless claims of widespread fraud that Trump has propagated while on the otherdeclining to recognize Biden as the president-elect and offering their backing for desperate legal bids to overturn the result.
On Sunday, during a televised debate, Loeffler, a multimillionaire businesswoman, declined three times to acknowledge the result, instead arguing that Trump had “every right to every legal recourse”.
Democrats in the state are quietly confident that this confusing messaging will play into their hands. “While they’re scrambling to make clear sense to their base, our message is clear and unified,” said one source close to the Ossoff campaign.
In his effort to undermine Georgia’s election results, Trump has also attacked two of the top Republicans in the state, Governor Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state. Despite Trump’s howling, both men have refused to acquiesce to his request and Raffensperger has loudly dismissed allegations the election was rigged against Trump. Raffensperger has said that Trump’s own criticism of voting by mail cost him the election in Georgia.
Asked whether the president’s attacks were hurting Republicans’ chances of winning the runoff, Raffensperger told the Guardian it would be “helpful” to separate the general election and the coming vote.
“The most helpful thing for the senators is obviously to have everyone focused on them getting re-elected in the runoff election,” Raffensperger said. “It’s very tough, I understand, to really bifurcate the issue of the presidential race from the senatorial runoffs, but the better that the state party and the candidates do that, the better it really is.”
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, in Atlanta on 7 December. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
“I would never tell anyone not to turn out to vote. I don’t know why someone would do that. All the true blue, or I guess true red Republicans, we’ll be all out there, making sure that we vote for our senators,” he added.
Raffensperger, who certified Georgia’s election results for Biden last month, has received threats against him and his family for doing so, and urged leaders from both sides “to condemn violence and threats of violence”.
The attacks have also made it harder for local election officials to prepare for the runoff. Janine Eveler, the director of elections and registration in Cobb county, which encompasses the Atlanta suburbs, said she had been getting about 50 calls and emails a day from people concerned about the election.
“It has taken away time that we could be working on the election to field all of their questions,” she said, adding that it was extremely difficult to convince the callers there had not been fraud. “They are unwilling to listen to any rebuttal of that. It’s fruitless. You can’t really explain anything to anybody because they’re not willing to listen.”
Eveler said the attacks had taken a toll on election workers. She said her office had lost about 15 workers for the runoffs, which she attributed to a combination of concerns about Covid, burnout, and the attacks.
“The public scrutiny over things, the accusations of wrongdoing that we’ve endured is very discouraging to people,” she said. “They don’t make a lot of money. And they’re working really hard. And to be accused of fraudulent activity, it’s hard for people. Their pictures are in the newspaper all the time, counting ballots.”
The lack of staffing has also meant Cobb county has had to cut by half the number of early voting sites for the runoff, a move that drew strong objections from civil rights groups who said the few sites that were available were not adequately accessible for minority voters. Cobb county is one of the largest in Georgia, home to more than 537,000 registered voters, and flipped to Biden in November – the first time the county had chosen a Democratic candidate in 40 years.
Eveler acknowledged the accessibility was a problem and said the county was moving one site and working on a plan to ramp up staffing and open two additional locations during the final week of early voting.
Republicans in the Georgia state legislature have already signaled they intend to use the uncertainty Trump created around the election to implement new restrictions on voting by mail. State Republicans said this month they planned to move legislation that would require photo ID with a mail-in ballot, eliminate ballot drop boxes and require an excuse to vote by mail – a rule that exists in just a handful of states.
Jon Ossoff bumps elbows with Julián Castro during a Latino voter registration event in Lilburn, Georgia, on 7 December. Photograph: Dustin Chambers/Reuters
“I can’t understand why all of a sudden now we have to have these barriers to vote by mail,” said Helen Butler, executive director of the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a civil rights group that helps expand access to the polls. “When the other side used it – and I’m just gonna be honest, more white people used vote by mail than people of color, because they didn’t trust the process – now that we’ve got them trusting the process, now they want to go in and change the rules.”
National Democrats, too, see Trump’s efforts to undermine the process as a long-term danger to democracy across the country, which could extend well beyond the election in Georgia.
At an Ossoff campaign rally in the city of Lilburn, just outside Atlanta, Julián Castro, the former presidential candidate and US housing secretary, paused in the cold to reflect on the post-election circus.
“The attacks that Donald Trump is launching against the basic foundations of our democracy are dangerous. They are the types of things that can weaken the common agreement we all have of participating in democracy, believing in it, supporting it and abiding by it,” he told the Guardian.
“All because this man acts like a child and can’t put the needs of the country above his own selfish needs.”