theintercept--2020-09-30--Human Rights Watch Details NYPD Attack on Peaceful Protesters

deliberately assaulted dozens of peaceful protesters , medics , and legal observers in one of this summer ’ s most violently repressed protests , trapping people in the streets past a city-imposed curfew before beating and arresting them in what Police Commissioner Dermot Shea described as “ a plan which was executed nearly flawlessly.
” At least 236 people were arrested at the June 4 protest in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx , and at least 61 were injured by police , with some left with broken noses and fingers , lost teeth , and potential nerve damage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch .
“ The police response to the peaceful Mott Haven protest was intentional , planned , and unjustified , ” the report concluded .
“ The protest was peaceful until the police responded with violence.
” More than 100 protesters have filed notice of their intent to sue the city over police actions that day , which are likely to cost the city millions in misconduct settlements and legal fees .
The protest , one of hundreds that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ de Blasio declared an 8 p.m. curfew following looting in other parts of the city .
Most people arrested in the Bronx were charged with curfew violations or unlawful assembly .
Many were held overnight with no food , including several who were injured and received no medical attention .
The majority of the charges have since been dismissed .
Human Rights Watch ’ s reconstruction of the events , based on about 100 interviews and the review of 155 videos by participants and bystanders , reveals that about 10 minutes before curfew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ controversial law enforcement tactic known as “ kettling , ” preventing people from dispersing .
When the curfew kicked in , police moved into the trapped crowd , shoving people to the ground , pepper-spraying them , beating them with batons from the top of parked cars , and violently arresting dozens of them .
Police also detained several medics and legal observers , despite them having been declared exempt from the curfew by the mayor ’ s office .
Police on the scene were supervised by two-dozen senior officers in white shirts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the department , Chief of Police Terence Monahan , who can be seen in one video confronting one of the protest ’ s organizers .
Monahan also played a key role in the police repression of a 2004 protest at the Republican National Convention , during which police similarly kettled and assaulted protesters , ultimately costing the city $ 36 million in misconduct settlements .
“ This was just a completely unjustified , unnecessary , excessive use of force and brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters , ” Ida Sawyer , acting crisis and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a co-author of the report , told The Intercept .
Monahan ’ s presence , she said , “ really showed how the violence and abuse is encouraged and condoned by the NYPD and how the system really fuels impunity.
” “ If the top brass is leading this , then what message does that send to all of the officers below him ?
” she added .
“ It really just epitomizes how police officers are rewarded for abuse.
” “ They were basically doing collective punishment on us , ” Andom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidate , told The Intercept .
“ And they were doing it in a way that really didn ’ t give anyone the opportunity to escape it even if they happened to not be part of the protest.
” “ We were kettled before 8 p.m. and they intentionally held us so that we were outside after curfew , ” added Ghebreghiorgis , who was detained for nearly 24 hours following the protest .
“ When the police began moving through the kettle , they started pushing us from the front and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over each other , trying to escape the violence of the police on the front line and on the back line .
… It was really scary ; you just heard screaming and crying throughout the entire ordeal.
” The mayor ’ s office did not respond to a list of questions from The Intercept .
The NYPD did not answer questions but referred The Intercept to previously released statements by senior department officials in which Shea and de Blasio defended the police ’ s conduct in a press conference the day after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the NYPD saw coming , ” the mayor said , arguing that police were responding to “ an organization that literally was encouraging violence.
” The NYPD did not address Human Rights Watch ’ s questions about violence by officers or its use of kettling to force protesters to violate the curfew , but claimed that the detention of nonessential workers was “ lawful.
” In a letter to Human Rights Watch , the NYPD ’ s deputy commissioner for legal matters , Ernest F. Hart , argued that the protest ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a class of individuals based on their profession.
” The protest was promoted on social media by an abolitionist coalition known as the “ FTP Formation ” — an acronym for “ Fuck the Police ” but also “ Free the People ” — and some fliers advertising the protest depicted a police car burning , though organizers specifically denounced “ irresponsible adventurism ” and called on participants not to bring weapons .
In a review of video evidence , Human Rights Watch counted dozens of incidents of police beating protesters with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or dragging protesters , and firing pepper spray directly at people ’ s faces .
The group documented four instances of officers throwing bikes against protesters and two incidents in which police restrained participants with a knee to the face or neck .
No officers were injured , and the department did not discipline any of the officers involved in the crackdown .
The police response to the Mott Haven and other protests is currently under investigation by the New York State Attorney General ’ s Office .
The Mott Haven protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in New York City that day .
About 300 people had gathered in the neighborhood , which is home to mostly Black and Latino New Yorkers , including many who are without housing , and is one of the poorest and most heavily policed in the city , as well as one of the most devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic .
The neighborhood is a perfect symbol for protesters ’ demands for police divestment and reinvestment in services .
“ You have this neighborhood where the city has very intentionally concentrated poverty , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treatment centers , ” a protester told Human Rights Watch .
“ And then there ’ s a hyper police presence on top of that .
Literally stepping out of the subway in the area — you can see what the protesters are pushing for , investing in communities and the root causes so the police aren ’ t needed , and people are safer and healthier.
” Shea later described the protest as an attempt by “ outside agitators ” to “ cause mayhem , ” “ tear down society , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protest , police shared images of items they claimed to have confiscated that day during a car stop , including a sledgehammer , a wrench , and a bottle of lighter fluid .
But they provided no evidence that those items had been confiscated from protesters .
They also did not provide evidence that a gun they claimed to have recovered from an alleged gang member prior to the rally was connected to the protest .
Human Rights Watch found no evidence of violent conduct by protesters and argued instead that police acted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the demographics of the neighborhood and the protesters .
“ There seemed to be a real deliberate attempt by the NYPD to target this particular group of protesters in this particular neighborhood , in Mott Haven , in the South Bronx , a protest that was led by outspoken community activists who have been demanding police accountability and speaking out about police abuses , ” Sawyer told The Intercept .
“ The fact that this operation was so well planned , it seems that they really wanted to send a message to them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community there.
” The FTP coalition , in particular , had been behind a number of protests and direct actions in the city , including in opposition to a recent spike in the number of officers assigned to patrol the subway .
“ FTP directly challenges policing and the authority that policing has throughout the city , which many of us see as a direct threat to our communities , ” said Ghebreghiorgis .
“ So [ police ] had a preconceived notion about what FTP is , who the protesters were , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this plan.
” “ Anyone who experienced it knows that the only thing that was executed flawlessly was police brutality and abuse of peaceful protesters , ” he added , referring to Shea ’ s comment .
“ We came there to protest police brutality , and we all became victims of police brutality.
” Gideon Oliver , a former president of the National Lawyers Guild ’ s New York chapter , whose legal observers have monitored protests for decades , called police actions in the Bronx “ incredibly heavy-handed and disproportionate.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Fuck the police , ’ that ’ s constitutionally protected , ” he said .
“ Although that ’ s the police department ’ s m.o .
in terms of responding to protests , to be heavy-handed , this was on a different order , ” Oliver added .
“ After they kettled people , they could have said , ’ You ’ re all under arrest , now we ’ re just processing you one by one so please , comply.
’ Nobody ever did that .
They just started going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ video reconstruction of the protest released along Human Rights Watch ’ s report shows an energetic but peaceful march moving through the Bronx and crossing a public housing complex , where residents are seen cheering on the crowd from their windows .
As marchers walk down a main thoroughfare , they are blocked by about 50 officers in riot gear and on bikes , the video shows .
The march then redirects through a different street , but just a few minutes before the curfew , officers on bikes move to block that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crowd using their bikes as shields .
As tension and panic rise , the crowd starts yelling , “ Let us through , ” while a different group of officers prevents people from turning around , effectively sealing off all available exits .
“ Police got us trapped , ” a protester narrates in the video .
“ They fucking out here right now on the bullhorn telling us we can ’ t be here after 8 .
And we ain ’ t do nothing wrong .
At about 7:45 , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us pushed in , in a pen .
… Whatever narrative is spun to you later , do not believe it.
” “ Where do we go ?
” kettled protesters can be heard asking officers later on .
“ Where are we going to go , we ’ re corralled ?
” “ You are getting locked up , ” an officer responds .
“ To jail.
” Police ’ s response to the Mott Haven protest violated both the U.S. Constitution and international human rights law , as well as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Human Rights Watch charged .
The Patrol Guide , in particular , explicitly permits clearly identified legal observers “ free access through police lines at the scene of any demonstration … subject only to restrictions necessitated by personal factors.
” But at least 13 legal observers , posing no threat to police , were detained in Mott Haven .
In the video reconstruction , an officer wearing an “ NYPD LEGAL ” jacket is seen directing other officers to arrest legal observers clearly identified by their NLG neon green hats .
“ Legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good go , ” the officer is heard saying , before other officers shove a woman to the ground who was showing them documentation proving her role as a legal observer .
In his letter to Human Rights Watch , Hart , the NYPD ’ s deputy commissioner for legal matters , argued that “ legal observers did not enjoy an exemption as essential workers , ” that they should be working “ remotely , ” and that “ there can not be a legal observer of a protest that itself is illegal.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Patrol Guide and instructions by the mayor ’ s office .
“ I checked with the Mayor ’ s counsel who confirmed : yes , those lawyers are essential and can show up in person if they can ’ t do their work remotely , ” Persephone Tan , a senior legislative representative in the mayor ’ s office wrote in an email to the National Lawyers ’ Guild .
“ Protecting one ’ s liberty is about as essential as it gets.
” “ Several people from the mayor ’ s office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that legal observers and jail support and medical support for protesters were exempt from the curfew , ” said Oliver .
“ What you see in those emails is the opposite of what the police department says.
” Oliver noted that De Blasio ’ s executive order indicates that once the curfew is in place police have to give a dispersal order and that people who refuse to comply with that order can be subject to arrest .
But in Mott Haven , protesters were physically prevented — by police themselves — from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t have any opportunities to comply , ” he said , arguing that the police actions raise questions about the validity of all of the arrests made that day .
In fact , legal observers weren ’ t the only essentially targeted by police that day .
In the video , officers can be seen arresting medics in scrubs and with Red Cross insignia , while protesters yell , “ These are essential workers.
” “ As they came towards us , I told them , ’ Hey , we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you guys trapped us in here , and if you let us go , we ’ ll go on the outside of this and continue acting as medics , ” Mike Pappas , a medic interviewed by Human Rights Watch , said he told police .
Pappas was arrested anyway , along with at least five other medics .
And medics who were not arrested were prevented by officers from tending to injured protesters , despite several people crying out for help .
In one incident , officers blocked a medic from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the street , bleeding from the head and struggling to breathe , after an officer had hit him with a baton .
A different report on the protest , published by Physicians for Human Rights , concluded that “ police violated the principle of noninterference with medical services.
” Conrad Blackburn , a legal observer at the protests , described officers ’ conduct as “ vigilante justice.
” “ Once the medical professionals and the legal observers are out of the way , the police really , really just started cracking down on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ It was a very , very tragic thing to witness .
”

New York police deliberately assaulted dozens of peaceful protesters, medics, and legal observers in one of this summer’s most violently repressed protests, trapping people in the streets past a city-imposed curfew before beating and arresting them in what Police Commissioner Dermot Shea described as “a plan which was executed nearly flawlessly.”
At least 236 people were arrested at the June 4 protest in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx, and at least 61 were injured by police, with some left with broken noses and fingers, lost teeth, and potential nerve damage, according to a detailed report released on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. “The police response to the peaceful Mott Haven protest was intentional, planned, and unjustified,” the report concluded. “The protest was peaceful until the police responded with violence.”
More than 100 protesters have filed notice of their intent to sue the city over police actions that day, which are likely to cost the city millions in misconduct settlements and legal fees. The protest, one of hundreds that followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, came after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared an 8 p.m. curfew following looting in other parts of the city. Most people arrested in the Bronx were charged with curfew violations or unlawful assembly. Many were held overnight with no food, including several who were injured and received no medical attention. The majority of the charges have since been dismissed.
Human Rights Watch’s reconstruction of the events, based on about 100 interviews and the review of 155 videos by participants and bystanders, reveals that about 10 minutes before curfew, police deliberately corralled protesters using a controversial law enforcement tactic known as “kettling,” preventing people from dispersing. When the curfew kicked in, police moved into the trapped crowd, shoving people to the ground, pepper-spraying them, beating them with batons from the top of parked cars, and violently arresting dozens of them.
“When the police began moving through the kettle, they started pushing us from the front and the back so we ended up essentially trampling over each other, trying to escape the violence of the police.”
Police also detained several medics and legal observers, despite them having been declared exempt from the curfew by the mayor’s office. Police on the scene were supervised by two-dozen senior officers in white shirts, including the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the department, Chief of Police Terence Monahan, who can be seen in one video confronting one of the protest’s organizers. Monahan also played a key role in the police repression of a 2004 protest at the Republican National Convention, during which police similarly kettled and assaulted protesters, ultimately costing the city $36 million in misconduct settlements.
“This was just a completely unjustified, unnecessary, excessive use of force and brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters,” Ida Sawyer, acting crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch and a co-author of the report, told The Intercept. Monahan’s presence, she said, “really showed how the violence and abuse is encouraged and condoned by the NYPD and how the system really fuels impunity.”
“If the top brass is leading this, then what message does that send to all of the officers below him?” she added. “It really just epitomizes how police officers are rewarded for abuse.”
“They were basically doing collective punishment on us,” Andom Ghebreghiorgis, a protester and former congressional candidate, told The Intercept. “And they were doing it in a way that really didn’t give anyone the opportunity to escape it even if they happened to not be part of the protest.”
“We were kettled before 8 p.m. and they intentionally held us so that we were outside after curfew,” added Ghebreghiorgis, who was detained for nearly 24 hours following the protest. “When the police began moving through the kettle, they started pushing us from the front and the back so we ended up essentially trampling over each other, trying to escape the violence of the police on the front line and on the back line. … It was really scary; you just heard screaming and crying throughout the entire ordeal.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to a list of questions from The Intercept. The NYPD did not answer questions but referred The Intercept to previously released statements by senior department officials in which Shea and de Blasio defended the police’s conduct in a press conference the day after the protest. “This is something that the NYPD saw coming,” the mayor said, arguing that police were responding to “an organization that literally was encouraging violence.” The NYPD did not address Human Rights Watch’s questions about violence by officers or its use of kettling to force protesters to violate the curfew, but claimed that the detention of nonessential workers was “lawful.”
In a letter to Human Rights Watch, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for legal matters, Ernest F. Hart, argued that the protest’s intent was to “direct violence at a class of individuals based on their profession.” The protest was promoted on social media by an abolitionist coalition known as the “FTP Formation” — an acronym for “Fuck the Police” but also “Free the People” — and some fliers advertising the protest depicted a police car burning, though organizers specifically denounced “irresponsible adventurism” and called on participants not to bring weapons.
In a review of video evidence, Human Rights Watch counted dozens of incidents of police beating protesters with batons, punching, kicking, tackling, or dragging protesters, and firing pepper spray directly at people’s faces. The group documented four instances of officers throwing bikes against protesters and two incidents in which police restrained participants with a knee to the face or neck. No officers were injured, and the department did not discipline any of the officers involved in the crackdown. The police response to the Mott Haven and other protests is currently under investigation by the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
Trapped by Police
The Mott Haven protest was one of several that took place in New York City that day. About 300 people had gathered in the neighborhood, which is home to mostly Black and Latino New Yorkers, including many who are without housing, and is one of the poorest and most heavily policed in the city, as well as one of the most devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The neighborhood is a perfect symbol for protesters’ demands for police divestment and reinvestment in services. “You have this neighborhood where the city has very intentionally concentrated poverty, homeless shelters, public housing, drug treatment centers,” a protester told Human Rights Watch. “And then there’s a hyper police presence on top of that. Literally stepping out of the subway in the area — you can see what the protesters are pushing for, investing in communities and the root causes so the police aren’t needed, and people are safer and healthier.”
Shea later described the protest as an attempt by “outside agitators” to “cause mayhem,” “tear down society,” and “injure cops.” After the protest, police shared images of items they claimed to have confiscated that day during a car stop, including a sledgehammer, a wrench, and a bottle of lighter fluid. But they provided no evidence that those items had been confiscated from protesters. They also did not provide evidence that a gun they claimed to have recovered from an alleged gang member prior to the rally was connected to the protest. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of violent conduct by protesters and argued instead that police acted with particular impunity that day because of the demographics of the neighborhood and the protesters.
“Literally stepping out of the subway in the area — you can see what the protesters are pushing for, investing in communities and the root causes so the police aren’t needed, and people are safer and healthier.”
“There seemed to be a real deliberate attempt by the NYPD to target this particular group of protesters in this particular neighborhood, in Mott Haven, in the South Bronx, a protest that was led by outspoken community activists who have been demanding police accountability and speaking out about police abuses,” Sawyer told The Intercept. “The fact that this operation was so well planned, it seems that they really wanted to send a message to them and send a message to the broader community there.”
The FTP coalition, in particular, had been behind a number of protests and direct actions in the city, including in opposition to a recent spike in the number of officers assigned to patrol the subway. “FTP directly challenges policing and the authority that policing has throughout the city, which many of us see as a direct threat to our communities,” said Ghebreghiorgis. “So [police] had a preconceived notion about what FTP is, who the protesters were, and that’s why they had this plan.”
“Anyone who experienced it knows that the only thing that was executed flawlessly was police brutality and abuse of peaceful protesters,” he added, referring to Shea’s comment. “We came there to protest police brutality, and we all became victims of police brutality.”
Read Our Complete Coverage Protests for Black Lives
Gideon Oliver, a former president of the National Lawyers Guild’s New York chapter, whose legal observers have monitored protests for decades, called police actions in the Bronx “incredibly heavy-handed and disproportionate.”
“People are allowed to say, ’Fuck the police,’ that’s constitutionally protected,” he said.
“Although that’s the police department’s m.o. in terms of responding to protests, to be heavy-handed, this was on a different order,” Oliver added. “After they kettled people, they could have said, ’You’re all under arrest, now we’re just processing you one by one so please, comply.’ Nobody ever did that. They just started going in and wailing on people.”
A video reconstruction of the protest released along Human Rights Watch’s report shows an energetic but peaceful march moving through the Bronx and crossing a public housing complex, where residents are seen cheering on the crowd from their windows. As marchers walk down a main thoroughfare, they are blocked by about 50 officers in riot gear and on bikes, the video shows. The march then redirects through a different street, but just a few minutes before the curfew, officers on bikes move to block that exit as well, before pushing into the crowd using their bikes as shields. As tension and panic rise, the crowd starts yelling, “Let us through,” while a different group of officers prevents people from turning around, effectively sealing off all available exits.
“Police got us trapped,” a protester narrates in the video. “They fucking out here right now on the bullhorn telling us we can’t be here after 8. And we ain’t do nothing wrong. At about 7:45, they intentionally started cornering us. They have us pushed in, in a pen. … Whatever narrative is spun to you later, do not believe it.”
“Where do we go?” kettled protesters can be heard asking officers later on. “Where are we going to go, we’re corralled?”
“You are getting locked up,” an officer responds. “To jail.”
Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Vigilante Justice
Police’s response to the Mott Haven protest violated both the U.S. Constitution and international human rights law, as well as the NYPD’s own Patrol Guide, Human Rights Watch charged. The Patrol Guide, in particular, explicitly permits clearly identified legal observers “free access through police lines at the scene of any demonstration … subject only to restrictions necessitated by personal factors.”
But at least 13 legal observers, posing no threat to police, were detained in Mott Haven. In the video reconstruction, an officer wearing an “NYPD LEGAL” jacket is seen directing other officers to arrest legal observers clearly identified by their NLG neon green hats.
“Legal observers can be arrested, they are good go,” the officer is heard saying, before other officers shove a woman to the ground who was showing them documentation proving her role as a legal observer.
In his letter to Human Rights Watch, Hart, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for legal matters, argued that “legal observers did not enjoy an exemption as essential workers,” that they should be working “remotely,” and that “there cannot be a legal observer of a protest that itself is illegal.” But that claim contradicted both the Patrol Guide and instructions by the mayor’s office. “I checked with the Mayor’s counsel who confirmed: yes, those lawyers are essential and can show up in person if they can’t do their work remotely,” Persephone Tan, a senior legislative representative in the mayor’s office wrote in an email to the National Lawyers’ Guild. “Protecting one’s liberty is about as essential as it gets.”
“Several people from the mayor’s office gave confirmation to city and state lawmakers that legal observers and jail support and medical support for protesters were exempt from the curfew,” said Oliver. “What you see in those emails is the opposite of what the police department says.”
Oliver noted that De Blasio’s executive order indicates that once the curfew is in place police have to give a dispersal order and that people who refuse to comply with that order can be subject to arrest. But in Mott Haven, protesters were physically prevented — by police themselves — from complying with the order. “People didn’t have any opportunities to comply,” he said, arguing that the police actions raise questions about the validity of all of the arrests made that day.
In fact, legal observers weren’t the only essentially targeted by police that day. In the video, officers can be seen arresting medics in scrubs and with Red Cross insignia, while protesters yell, “These are essential workers.”
“As they came towards us, I told them, ’Hey, we’re health care workers acting as medics, you guys trapped us in here, and if you let us go, we’ll go on the outside of this and continue acting as medics,” Mike Pappas, a medic interviewed by Human Rights Watch, said he told police. Pappas was arrested anyway, along with at least five other medics. And medics who were not arrested were prevented by officers from tending to injured protesters, despite several people crying out for help. In one incident, officers blocked a medic from assisting a protester who was lying in the street, bleeding from the head and struggling to breathe, after an officer had hit him with a baton. A different report on the protest, published by Physicians for Human Rights, concluded that “police violated the principle of noninterference with medical services.”
Conrad Blackburn, a legal observer at the protests, described officers’ conduct as “vigilante justice.”
“Once the medical professionals and the legal observers are out of the way, the police really, really just started cracking down on the protesters with impunity,” he said. “It was a very, very tragic thing to witness.”


theintercept--2020-10-01--Michael McCaul Launches $1 Million Ad Campaign, Featuring Anti-Black Lives Matter Cop, in Competitiv

Michael McCaul Launches $1 Million Ad Campaign, Featuring Anti-Black Lives Matter Cop, in Competitive Texas Race

Cornyn is now the Senate ’ s No .
2 Republican , facing a tight reelection bid as Texas drifts more Democratic .
That same trend has put the seat of McCaul , an eight-term congressman , in jeopardy too .
To fend off his challenger , Mike Siegel , a civil rights attorney and former public school teacher running on a progressive populist platform , McCaul has gone back to the well .
“ As the state ’ s leading prosecutors , Cornyn and McCaul had unique latitude in opening an investigation , taking over the case , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Texas Signal wrote .
“ Instead , they intentionally delayed action and sat on the sidelines for years.
” The same year of the arrests , Cornyn awarded Coleman “ Lawman of the Year.
” Coleman was later convicted of perjury .
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the NAACP of Texas declared the mass arrests “ the ethnic cleansing of young male blacks from Tulia ” and called on the state ’ s top prosecutors , Attorney General John Cornyn and Deputy Attorney General Michael McCaul , to open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The officer responsible for the mass arrests , Tom Coleman , provided no real evidence or corroboration : Forty-six people , almost all of them Black , were arrested on fabricated drug charges that were entirely based on the testimony of one police officer .
No drugs , weapons , or large sums of cash were ever found in these mass arrests .
Early in the morning of July 23 , 1999 , more 10 percent of the Black population of Tulia , Texas , was handcuffed and arrested , pulled out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wrongfully charged with dealing cocaine .
Many of them served years in prison for a crime it is now widely understood they did not commit .
The name Tulia has since become a stand-in for the worst excesses of the war on drugs .
The incumbent recently launched a million-dollar-plus TV and digital ad buy , leading with an attack ad against Siegel that features Waller County Republican Constable Joe Trimm Jr .
In the ad , Siegel is slammed for supporting criminal justice reform policies like defunding the police and ending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s extreme , it ’ s dangerous , and it ’ s all true , ” Trimm says in the 30-second ad .
“ Take it from me , Mike Siegel is a threat to your family.
” Trimm is a brazen choice to be the face of McCaul ’ s campaign : He has a history of inflammatory social media posts , including justification of police violence against Black Lives Matter protesters , who he deems “ looters ” and “ thugs.
” In 2016 , he shared a video of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the caption “ not today scumbags , not today , ” and another meme that said “ if you follow the officer ’ s orders , you won ’ t get shot.
” In 2013 , Trimm posted a meme comparing former President Barack Obama and Trayvon Martin , the Black teenager who was murdered by a self-appointed neighborhood guard , because they had both previously smoked , participating in a particularly cruel character assassination of a boy who ’ d just lost his life .
The following year , Trimm shared a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the lead officer arresting Eric Garner , who was killed after being held in a chokehold by New York City police officers , was Black .
When reached for comment , Trimm said , “ Oh bull , I ’ m not going to be talking to you , ” before hanging up .
McCaul ’ s campaign did not respond to a request for comment .
Siegel is calling on McCaul to take down the ad and added that his view of criminal justice reform is much more holistic than his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ad and McCaul ’ s choice to platform a public , certifiable racist is very dangerous , ” Siegel told The Intercept .
“ It further divides the community and really makes Texas less safe for so many people , including my own family .
I ’ m married to a Nigerian American woman ; we met in Texas 21 years ago , we ’ ve been together since then , and we have two children we ’ re raising , a 5-year-old and 8-year-old.
” Trimm is in line with McCaul ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ represented Texas ’ s 10th Congressional District since 2005 and is one of the wealthiest members of Congress .
As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee , McCaul played a central role in putting together the “ Muslim ban ” policy that Donald Trump first promised as a candidate in 2015 .
When Trump signed the 2017 executive order to ban travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries , triggering nationwide protests and chaos at airports in the process , McCaul immediately tried to distance himself from the action .
A McCaul spokesperson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ wrote a white paper on extreme vetting for then-candidate Trump ” with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani but “ it did not include a Muslim ban.
” He also tried to walk back his support at the time , not by criticizing the Islamophobic and xenophobic nature of the policy , but by complaining about the implementation of the ban , which he said should have been “ better coordinated with the agencies implementing them and with Congress.
” In 2009 , McCaul joined his Republican colleagues in undermining an FBI-Department of Homeland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” of right-wing extremism , including the rise of extremists infiltrating law enforcement .
As a result , DHS disavowed the intelligence study and its unit investigating right-wing extremism was largely dismantled , as The Intercept previously reported , allowing the threat to grow .
“ This report politicizes one of our most important national security tools , ” McCaul said at the time .
“ The assessment that returning veterans who are risking their lives fighting terrorists would somehow be recruited as terrorists is absurd.
” McCaul has accepted thousands of dollars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prison industry , GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America ( which renamed itself CoreCivic ) , and voted to allow these companies to compete with Federal Prisons Industries , which is owned by the federal government , for government contracts .
He received at least $ 18,500 from GEO Group and CoreCivic over the last few election cycles , according to Open Secrets .
In September 2006 , McCaul was among the 22 Texas lawmakers who voted for the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act .
Just last month , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emails , accusing Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar of “ doing everything she can to buy Texas out from under us ” and trying to bring “ radical ideas to the great Lone Star State.
” Throughout his congressional career , McCaul has also played a significant role in the effort to ramp up America ’ s disastrous war on drugs , seeking to designate Mexican drug cartels as “ foreign terrorist organizations ” and calling for U.S. military involvement .
The Black Lives Matter movement has been active all across Texas , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , saw massive marches earlier this summer .
Waller County , a Republican stronghold , was also the site of Sandra Bland ’ s death , a 28-year-old Black woman who was pulled over for a minor traffic violation , arrested , and put in a jail cell where she was found dead days later .
“ This idea that he was complicit in the biggest law enforcement scandal in Texas history , the Tulia scandal … while these individuals were languishing in prison , facing severe personal , economic and family costs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Siegel said .
“ Then here he is , 20 years later , still propping up white supremacists .
His time has come , this is definitely an old-school , Jim Crow-style politics , but I think the new Texas is going to profoundly reject that.
” A new internal poll conducted for Siegel ’ s campaign found the Democrat closing in on McCaul , with the two statistically tied .
Siegel has gained 4 points over the past seven weeks and is now trailing McCaul 45 percent to 43 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ registered voters , found that Siegel is winning by large margins among people of color , college-educated women , and independents .
Siegel , who came within 4 percentage points of unseating McCaul in 2018 , has outperformed the expectations of many political observers and earned the support of national progressive groups and local labor unions .
The 42-year-old civil rights attorney has represented labor unions , immigrant families , and low-income renters .
Siegel ’ s campaign has also already surpassed $ 1 million in fundraising this quarter , he said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the top 10 or 20 ” Democratic House candidates nationwide .
But , despite his narrow miss in 2018 , Siegel hasn ’ t won the love of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee .
On Monday , Julie Oliver , the Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Roger Williams in an Austin-based district , became the latest candidate to make the DCCC ’ s Red-to-Blue program , which targets seats that have a promising chance to flip .
So far , the program has been expanded to include seven Texas races .
Siegel is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added that he ’ s still hopeful there ’ s a chance the DCCC adds him to the list , and would welcome more national support .

Early in the morning of July 23, 1999, more 10 percent of the Black population of Tulia, Texas, was handcuffed and arrested, pulled out of their homes in front of television crews and wrongfully charged with dealing cocaine. Many of them served years in prison for a crime it is now widely understood they did not commit. The name Tulia has since become a stand-in for the worst excesses of the war on drugs.
The officer responsible for the mass arrests, Tom Coleman, provided no real evidence or corroboration: Forty-six people, almost all of them Black, were arrested on fabricated drug charges that were entirely based on the testimony of one police officer. No drugs, weapons, or large sums of cash were ever found in these mass arrests.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the NAACP of Texas declared the mass arrests “the ethnic cleansing of young male blacks from Tulia” and called on the state’s top prosecutors, Attorney General John Cornyn and Deputy Attorney General Michael McCaul, to open an investigation and reverse the convictions.
“As the state’s leading prosecutors, Cornyn and McCaul had unique latitude in opening an investigation, taking over the case, and overturning the convictions in Tulia,” the Texas Signal wrote. “Instead, they intentionally delayed action and sat on the sidelines for years.” The same year of the arrests, Cornyn awarded Coleman “Lawman of the Year.” Coleman was later convicted of perjury.
Cornyn is now the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, facing a tight reelection bid as Texas drifts more Democratic. That same trend has put the seat of McCaul, an eight-term congressman, in jeopardy too. To fend off his challenger, Mike Siegel, a civil rights attorney and former public school teacher running on a progressive populist platform, McCaul has gone back to the well.
The incumbent recently launched a million-dollar-plus TV and digital ad buy, leading with an attack ad against Siegel that features Waller County Republican Constable Joe Trimm Jr. In the ad, Siegel is slammed for supporting criminal justice reform policies like defunding the police and ending contracts for private prisons. “It’s extreme, it’s dangerous, and it’s all true,” Trimm says in the 30-second ad. “Take it from me, Mike Siegel is a threat to your family.”
Trimm is a brazen choice to be the face of McCaul’s campaign: He has a history of inflammatory social media posts, including justification of police violence against Black Lives Matter protesters, who he deems “looters” and “thugs.” In 2016, he shared a video of protesters being run over by police with the caption “not today scumbags, not today,” and another meme that said “if you follow the officer’s orders, you won’t get shot.” In 2013, Trimm posted a meme comparing former President Barack Obama and Trayvon Martin, the Black teenager who was murdered by a self-appointed neighborhood guard, because they had both previously smoked, participating in a particularly cruel character assassination of a boy who’d just lost his life. The following year, Trimm shared a post alleging that CNN tried to hide that the lead officer arresting Eric Garner, who was killed after being held in a chokehold by New York City police officers, was Black. When reached for comment, Trimm said, “Oh bull, I’m not going to be talking to you,” before hanging up. McCaul’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Siegel is calling on McCaul to take down the ad and added that his view of criminal justice reform is much more holistic than his opponent’s characterization. “The ad and McCaul’s choice to platform a public, certifiable racist is very dangerous,” Siegel told The Intercept. “It further divides the community and really makes Texas less safe for so many people, including my own family. I’m married to a Nigerian American woman; we met in Texas 21 years ago, we’ve been together since then, and we have two children we’re raising, a 5-year-old and 8-year-old.”
The choice of Trimm is in line with McCaul’s politics since Tulia. He has represented Texas’s 10th Congressional District since 2005 and is one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, McCaul played a central role in putting together the “Muslim ban” policy that Donald Trump first promised as a candidate in 2015. When Trump signed the 2017 executive order to ban travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, triggering nationwide protests and chaos at airports in the process, McCaul immediately tried to distance himself from the action. A McCaul spokesperson told the Texas Tribune that the congressman “wrote a white paper on extreme vetting for then-candidate Trump” with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani but “it did not include a Muslim ban.” He also tried to walk back his support at the time, not by criticizing the Islamophobic and xenophobic nature of the policy, but by complaining about the implementation of the ban, which he said should have been “better coordinated with the agencies implementing them and with Congress.”
In 2009, McCaul joined his Republican colleagues in undermining an FBI-Department of Homeland Security report that detailed the “resurgence” of right-wing extremism, including the rise of extremists infiltrating law enforcement. As a result, DHS disavowed the intelligence study and its unit investigating right-wing extremism was largely dismantled, as The Intercept previously reported, allowing the threat to grow.
“This report politicizes one of our most important national security tools,” McCaul said at the time. “The assessment that returning veterans who are risking their lives fighting terrorists would somehow be recruited as terrorists is absurd.”
McCaul has accepted thousands of dollars from the biggest names in the for-profit prison industry, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (which renamed itself CoreCivic), and voted to allow these companies to compete with Federal Prisons Industries, which is owned by the federal government, for government contracts. He received at least $18,500 from GEO Group and CoreCivic over the last few election cycles, according to Open Secrets. In September 2006, McCaul was among the 22 Texas lawmakers who voted for the Federal Prison Industries Competition in Contracting Act.
Just last month, the Texas lawmaker sent out multiple Islamophobic fundraising emails, accusing Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar of “doing everything she can to buy Texas out from under us” and trying to bring “radical ideas to the great Lone Star State.”
Throughout his congressional career, McCaul has also played a significant role in the effort to ramp up America’s disastrous war on drugs, seeking to designate Mexican drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations” and calling for U.S. military involvement.
The Black Lives Matter movement has been active all across Texas, and Houston, where George Floyd grew up, saw massive marches earlier this summer. Waller County, a Republican stronghold, was also the site of Sandra Bland’s death, a 28-year-old Black woman who was pulled over for a minor traffic violation, arrested, and put in a jail cell where she was found dead days later.
“This idea that he was complicit in the biggest law enforcement scandal in Texas history, the Tulia scandal … while these individuals were languishing in prison, facing severe personal, economic and family costs — he delayed justice for these people,” Siegel said. “Then here he is, 20 years later, still propping up white supremacists. His time has come, this is definitely an old-school, Jim Crow-style politics, but I think the new Texas is going to profoundly reject that.”
A new internal poll conducted for Siegel’s campaign found the Democrat closing in on McCaul, with the two statistically tied. Siegel has gained 4 points over the past seven weeks and is now trailing McCaul 45 percent to 43 percent. The poll, which surveyed 400 registered voters, found that Siegel is winning by large margins among people of color, college-educated women, and independents.
Siegel, who came within 4 percentage points of unseating McCaul in 2018, has outperformed the expectations of many political observers and earned the support of national progressive groups and local labor unions. The 42-year-old civil rights attorney has represented labor unions, immigrant families, and low-income renters. Siegel’s campaign has also already surpassed $1 million in fundraising this quarter, he said, “which is going to put me in the top 10 or 20” Democratic House candidates nationwide.
But, despite his narrow miss in 2018, Siegel hasn’t won the love of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. On Monday, Julie Oliver, the Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Roger Williams in an Austin-based district, became the latest candidate to make the DCCC’s Red-to-Blue program, which targets seats that have a promising chance to flip. So far, the program has been expanded to include seven Texas races. Siegel is still not on the list. He added that he’s still hopeful there’s a chance the DCCC adds him to the list, and would welcome more national support.


theintercept--2020-10-01--Panic Over Mail-in Voting Only Feeds Trump’s Chaos, Says Top Pennsylvania Democrat

spent a decent portion of his stage time during Tuesday night ’ s debate raising questions about the integrity of the voting process in general , but zeroed in on one of his must-win states : Pennsylvania .
A U.S. prosecutor working under Trump had already generated confusion in the state with a wildly inappropriate press release suggesting Trump ballots were being discarded in Pennsylvania .
Then , a Trump poll watcher attempted to come inside an early-voting site in Philadelphia , which isn ’ t allowed .
She was refused , and Republicans are using the refusal as evidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Trump weaponized the U.S. attorney ’ s bogus claims , urged his supporters nationwide to monitor the polls , and singled out Philadelphia for particular scorn .
“ Bad things happen in Philadelphia , ” Trump said .
National Democrats have framed this attack on the voting process as an effort to steal the election — to create enough chaos that Trump can go to court and be declared the winner by a Supreme Court stacked with six conservatives , three of them put there by Trump himself .
But there ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats are missing , argues Pennsylvania ’ s Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman .
Trump ’ s sowing of doubt in mail-in voting could leave him with more votes in Pennsylvania , well before a court would need to intervene .
In other words , if Democrats fall into his trap , he could win outright .
More than two million absentee ballots have been requested in Pennsylvania , and more than 70 percent of those are by Democrats .
The Republican hope , said Fetterman — who ’ s a popular statewide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mind — is that enough of those Democrats , having heard of all the chaos around absentee voting , will be convinced to scrap their plan to vote by mail and instead head to the polls in person .
If they do , they ’ re walking right into a trap , because by Pennsylvania law , a voter who requested an absentee ballot must bring that ballot — including the envelope it was mailed in — or else they can not vote in person .
Any voter can at that point demand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s a win for Republicans too , because casting a provisional vote is a time-consuming process .
Election precincts will already be short-staffed due to the coronavirus , and poll workers distracted by handling provisional ballots won ’ t be able to keep the line moving .
And that leads to hourslong voting lines , especially in Democratic strongholds .
Out in the vast conservative parts of the state , voting centers rarely have lines of more than a few people .
opponents of Trump can do to counteract his strategy of victory-by-chaos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ panic and to not feed into the panic .
Pennsylvania pulled off its June primary with record turnout and no evidence of fraud .
Just follow the instructions on your mail-in ballot , he said , and either turn it in early at a county board of elections office or drop it in the mail .
If you requested an absentee ballot , he said , don ’ t switch and vote in person on Election Day , but if you do , make sure to bring your absentee ballot and your envelope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting people saying , ‘ Screw it .
I don ’ t want to vote by mail anymore .
I want to do it in person.
’ That ’ s what [ Republicans ] want , ” he said , because now you can ’ t vote normally at your precinct , because you don ’ t have your mail ballot to turn in .
“ It ’ s truly diabolical .
And I choose that word very deliberately .
It ’ s diabolical .
They know that you ’ ve got to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ envelope , everything .
If you don ’ t , you can ’ t vote .
And most people don ’ t know that you can demand a provisional ballot .
And if you do , that ’ s going to blow up the lines and create chaos.
” City Commissioner Al Schmidt , who , as a Philadelphia Republican , is not aligned with the more conservative , tea party-driven elements of the Republican legislature , said that Fetterman is right about absentee voting .
“ Absentee and mail-in voting is safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ People should tune out all the noise and efforts to dissuade people from voting by mail , if they choose.
” A recent controversy in Pennsylvania over “ naked ballots , ” Fetterman said , is contributing to the decision by people to vote in person , even if they requested absentee ballots .
In Pennsylvania , election law requires voters to put their mail ballot in a redundant sleeve .
Without that extra sleeve , it won ’ t be counted , leading to fears that tens of thousands of ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have declined to eliminate the need for the extra sleeve , and the GOP legislature has refused to fix the problem .
But the issue , he said , was blown way out of proportion .
“ That whole naked ballot freak-out was alarming .
Putting an envelope in another envelope is not a bridge too far .
I don ’ t agree with that ruling , I want to be clear , but just because you don ’ t agree with the rule doesn ’ t mean that ’ s not how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said , arguing that following the instructions is not that hard .
“ Stick the goddamn envelope in the other envelope.
” The debate on Tuesday night , he said , should leave little doubt that Trump ’ s strategy is to scare voters into creating chaos , and that Democrats need to stop helping him .
Every time Trump opponents pour gasoline on the fire Trump is trying to start , or panic over stories like a recent one on missing memory sticks , Fetterman warned , more and more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bad idea .
Other irregular voters , warned Anat Shenker-Osorio , a top progressive researcher , can be dissuaded from voting when they hear so much talk about the illegitimacy of the election and Trump ’ s plan to steal it , in a recent interview with Rolling Stone .
“ It affects the people who don ’ t routinely vote , ” she said .
“ My conclusions are based on a body of research , almost all of it proprietary , into perception and motivation among a really challenging target @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t regularly vote.
” Michael Podhorzer , a strategist with the AFL-CIO , recently laid out a similar warning in a memo to Democratic allies , as Michelle Goldberg , a New York Times columnist , recently reported .
“ We can not allow Trump ’ s constant threats to undermine voters ’ confidence that their ballots will be counted or discredit the outcome in advance , ” Podhorzer wrote , saying that the polling he had analyzed suggested that “ this close to the election , we do Trump ’ s work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ threats rather than remind voters that they will decide who the next president will be if they vote.
” Still , Democrats have work to do in their own circles .
“ Some people try to take me to task and say , ‘ You ’ re trying to shut me up , ’ ” said Fetterman .
“ No !
I ’ m not trying to shut you up .
I ’ m trying to say : This is what they want you to do.
” The strategic response to chaos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but order .
“ They say chaos .
We say order , ” he said .
“ And by order , I ’ m very clear : Vote either in person or by mail .
Follow the instructions.
” Fetterman made an analogy to Dracula .
Imagine , he said , there are three simple steps you know you can take to kill Dracula .
“ If you follow that , you can kill him .
You don ’ t have to be afraid of Dracula .
But now everyone ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Dracula ’ s coming !
’ I ’ m like , ‘ No , this is all you got ta do !
’ ” he said .
“ The bitter irony in all of this is that if you just do the simple , easy thing , it makes it all go away .
”

President Donald Trump spent a decent portion of his stage time during Tuesday night’s debate raising questions about the integrity of the voting process in general, but zeroed in on one of his must-win states: Pennsylvania.
A U.S. prosecutor working under Trump had already generated confusion in the state with a wildly inappropriate press release suggesting Trump ballots were being discarded in Pennsylvania. Then, a Trump poll watcher attempted to come inside an early-voting site in Philadelphia, which isn’t allowed. She was refused, and Republicans are using the refusal as evidence of conspiratorial activity. During the debate, Trump weaponized the U.S. attorney’s bogus claims, urged his supporters nationwide to monitor the polls, and singled out Philadelphia for particular scorn. “Bad things happen in Philadelphia,” Trump said.
National Democrats have framed this attack on the voting process as an effort to steal the election — to create enough chaos that Trump can go to court and be declared the winner by a Supreme Court stacked with six conservatives, three of them put there by Trump himself.
But there’s a step in between there that Democrats are missing, argues Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman. Trump’s sowing of doubt in mail-in voting could leave him with more votes in Pennsylvania, well before a court would need to intervene. In other words, if Democrats fall into his trap, he could win outright.
More than two million absentee ballots have been requested in Pennsylvania, and more than 70 percent of those are by Democrats. The Republican hope, said Fetterman — who’s a popular statewide politician with a reputation for speaking his mind — is that enough of those Democrats, having heard of all the chaos around absentee voting, will be convinced to scrap their plan to vote by mail and instead head to the polls in person. If they do, they’re walking right into a trap, because by Pennsylvania law, a voter who requested an absentee ballot must bring that ballot — including the envelope it was mailed in — or else they cannot vote in person.
Any voter can at that point demand a provisional ballot, but that’s a win for Republicans too, because casting a provisional vote is a time-consuming process. Election precincts will already be short-staffed due to the coronavirus, and poll workers distracted by handling provisional ballots won’t be able to keep the line moving. And that leads to hourslong voting lines, especially in Democratic strongholds. Out in the vast conservative parts of the state, voting centers rarely have lines of more than a few people.
The two things opponents of Trump can do to counteract his strategy of victory-by-chaos, Fetterman said, are to not panic and to not feed into the panic. Pennsylvania pulled off its June primary with record turnout and no evidence of fraud. Just follow the instructions on your mail-in ballot, he said, and either turn it in early at a county board of elections office or drop it in the mail. If you requested an absentee ballot, he said, don’t switch and vote in person on Election Day, but if you do, make sure to bring your absentee ballot and your envelope with you.
“I’m getting people saying, ‘Screw it. I don’t want to vote by mail anymore. I want to do it in person.’ That’s what [Republicans] want,” he said, because now you can’t vote normally at your precinct, because you don’t have your mail ballot to turn in.
“It’s truly diabolical. And I choose that word very deliberately. It’s diabolical. They know that you’ve got to bring everything: your ballot, the envelope, everything. If you don’t, you can’t vote. And most people don’t know that you can demand a provisional ballot. And if you do, that’s going to blow up the lines and create chaos.”
City Commissioner Al Schmidt, who, as a Philadelphia Republican, is not aligned with the more conservative, tea party-driven elements of the Republican legislature, said that Fetterman is right about absentee voting. “Absentee and mail-in voting is safe,” he told The Intercept. “People should tune out all the noise and efforts to dissuade people from voting by mail, if they choose.”
The two things opponents of Trump can do to counteract his strategy of victory-by-chaos, Fetterman said, are to not panic and to not feed into the panic.
A recent controversy in Pennsylvania over “naked ballots,” Fetterman said, is contributing to the decision by people to vote in person, even if they requested absentee ballots. In Pennsylvania, election law requires voters to put their mail ballot in a redundant sleeve. Without that extra sleeve, it won’t be counted, leading to fears that tens of thousands of ballots or more will be discarded. Courts have declined to eliminate the need for the extra sleeve, and the GOP legislature has refused to fix the problem. But the issue, he said, was blown way out of proportion. “That whole naked ballot freak-out was alarming. Putting an envelope in another envelope is not a bridge too far. I don’t agree with that ruling, I want to be clear, but just because you don’t agree with the rule doesn’t mean that’s not how you have to play the game,” he said, arguing that following the instructions is not that hard. “Stick the goddamn envelope in the other envelope.”
The debate on Tuesday night, he said, should leave little doubt that Trump’s strategy is to scare voters into creating chaos, and that Democrats need to stop helping him. Every time Trump opponents pour gasoline on the fire Trump is trying to start, or panic over stories like a recent one on missing memory sticks, Fetterman warned, more and more Democrats decide that voting by mail is a bad idea.
Other irregular voters, warned Anat Shenker-Osorio, a top progressive researcher, can be dissuaded from voting when they hear so much talk about the illegitimacy of the election and Trump’s plan to steal it, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “It affects the people who don’t routinely vote,” she said. “My conclusions are based on a body of research, almost all of it proprietary, into perception and motivation among a really challenging target, which is people who don’t regularly vote.”
“Stick the goddamn envelope in the other envelope.”
Michael Podhorzer, a strategist with the AFL-CIO, recently laid out a similar warning in a memo to Democratic allies, as Michelle Goldberg, a New York Times columnist, recently reported. “We cannot allow Trump’s constant threats to undermine voters’ confidence that their ballots will be counted or discredit the outcome in advance,” Podhorzer wrote, saying that the polling he had analyzed suggested that “this close to the election, we do Trump’s work for him when we respond to his threats rather than remind voters that they will decide who the next president will be if they vote.”
Still, Democrats have work to do in their own circles. “Some people try to take me to task and say, ‘You’re trying to shut me up,’” said Fetterman. “No! I’m not trying to shut you up. I’m trying to say: This is what they want you to do.”
The strategic response to chaos, Fetterman said, is not more chaos, but order. “They say chaos. We say order,” he said. “And by order, I’m very clear: Vote either in person or by mail. Follow the instructions.”
Fetterman made an analogy to Dracula. Imagine, he said, there are three simple steps you know you can take to kill Dracula. “If you follow that, you can kill him. You don’t have to be afraid of Dracula. But now everyone’s like, ‘Dracula’s coming, Dracula’s coming!’ I’m like, ‘No, this is all you gotta do!’” he said. “The bitter irony in all of this is that if you just do the simple, easy thing, it makes it all go away.”