A Liberal in Trumpistan: Part VI: Helping MAGA Folks Face Reality (Steps 464-563)

Part VI: Grim Times for Team Trump.

(Steps #464 – 563.)

__________

“If Dr. Eastman and President Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution.”

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter.

__________

ON THE MORNING of January 20, 2021, a defeated Donald J. Trump waddles out of Washington D.C. and jets off to Mar-a-Lago.

Even most Republicans assume he’s never coming back, but they fail to consider what a conscienceless liar he is. Since that date, hardly 24 hours has passed without Donald clamoring that he was the victor in 2020, and that Joe Biden was an illegitimate president.

Thinking about his next lie.

So, what does evidence show? We do know that the courts have not stopped kicking Team Trump’s lawyers in the butt.

Recounts haven’t helped Donald build a case, either.

Once again, we are numbering steps which we believe will help lead members of the Lost Tribe of MAGA to the Truth. We back up here from where we left off, in Part V, but our humble goal remains the same.

To save the ill-informed Trump supporter before it’s too late – and they cast a ballot for the Arch Liar.

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Let’s jump right in with fresh examples.

464. February 13, 2021: Fifty-seven U.S. senators vote “guilty” in the impeachment trial of the former President of the United States, Donald John Trump.

Forty-three vote to acquit, and with a two-thirds majority required for conviction, Donald escapes.

465. Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted for acquittal, but not because he felt Trump was innocent.

The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of this president [emphasis added throughout] and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest microphone on the planet.

McConnell continued, insisting that the deadly riot was the product of “increasingly wild myths” and “an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision, or else torch our institutions on the way out.”

FUN FACT – WITH COWARDS: McConnell later decides that he will support Trump in the 2024 election. Sure! Why not! All Donald tried to do was “torch our institutions” last time he held office.

466. April 20, 2021: Suppose you were a Trump fan. Would you be so dense as not to realize that people like Bruce Bartman cheated for Trump? Today, Mr. Bartman was sentenced on a felony count of casting an illegal ballot in his deceased mother’s name. He had hoped to cast a second bogus vote in his mother-in-law’s name, but couldn’t pull off the paperwork. The man from Delaware County, Pa., cast the only ballot known to have come from a dead voter in 2020, in that county, and ended up on probation for five years.

A mathematical analysis!

467. August 10, 2021: Claims that the 2020 election was stolen are selling at a steep discount. Dominion Voting Systems, accused of rigging the vote, has sued Newsmax and One America News for continuing to tout such lies.

As one example, Dominion says, One America trotted out an “expert mathematician” to explain how voting was rigged.

In an interview in January 2021, Ed Solomon told his One America host and the channel’s misinformed audience that he had performed a mathematical analysis, and the votes in Fulton County, Georgia had to have been rigged. Results, he said, could “only have been done by an algorithm.” He said that the probability of Biden’s victory in the county was “1 over 10 to an exponent so large there’s not enough stars in the universe, there aren’t enough atoms in the universe, to explain the number.”

(There are fewer people in Fulton County than atoms, I’m pretty sure.)

468. Lawyers for Dominion spit in his soup, pointing out that Solomon was, at the time of his report, a convicted felon, with no college degree.

469. His day job was installing swing sets for children. Dominion also noted in a subsequent court filing that OAN “had effectively acknowledged” the claims made by Solomon and others were false “by secretly removing several articles and broadcasts from its own website that made similar claims.”

470. August 25, 2021: Judge Linda V. Parker of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan, delivers a fresh blow to Team Trump and the endless battle to prove that massive voter fraud exists. Judge Parker orders sanctions against Sidney Powell, L. Lin, and seven other lawyers.

It was “one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election,” the judge said. It was another to deceive “a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed.”

“This case was never about fraud,” she wrote. “It was about undermining the people’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so.”

Parker recommends that the nine attorneys be considered for disbarment, or have their licenses to practice suspended. (If you want to know their names, just skip to the last page of her 110-page ruling.)

471. We won’t know this until two more summers pass, but to avoid a smorgasbord of legal problems in Georgia and elsewhere, Wood surrenders his law license forever. Then he floats a novel explanation for his predicament. He’s being targeted by “devil worshippers” who run the Deep State.

(I’m sorry, but MAGA folks will fall for almost any hocus pocus.)

472. September 17, 2021: We won’t know this until Donald Trump is indicted in the Georgia election fraud case. But on this date, he is accused of committing a fresh felony. Once again, he begs Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the 2020 vote in his state.

Think how crazy that is!

Donald was still claiming, ten months after he got booted from the White House, that he should be returned to power. “As stated to you previously,” he told Sec. Raffensperger, “the number of false and/or irregular votes is far greater than needed to change the Georgia election result.”

(There was no evidence of that then. There’s still no evidence now.)

Still no Biden ghosts in the machines.

September 24, 2021: A last-ditch recount in Maricopa County, by far the most populous county in Arizona, is conducted. Trump apologists are beside themselves with giddy anticipation. They just know that shocking proof of election fraud is about to be revealed. Doug Logan, a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist, and head of a company called “Cyber Ninjas,” counts and weighs and sniffs the ballots.

The result?

Biden gains ninety-nine votes!

Trump loses 261!!

And the recount costs Team Trump $6 million!!!

(We are not numbering steps, if they have been counted in previous posts.)

473. There would be other recounts, too, and none would prove the point the MAGA faithful accept without proof. With Trump fans still clamoring about massive fraud, a curious GOP state lawmaker in Michigan launched a small-scale recount of three precincts in his district, to see if machine and hand recounts match. He found that in all three, vote totals for Biden and Trump remained virtually unchanged. In the machine count, Rejected-President Donald, piled up 2,526 votes. Old Joe from Delaware got 1,502. When the hand tally was complete Old Joe still had 1,502. And Trump lost one in one precinct, and gained one in another.

ZERO VOTER FRAUD.

And ZERO RIGGING.

474. February 2022: Mr. Trump continues to insist he won a second term, making him the rightful president. Results of the last election, he clamors, should be “overturned immediately.”

A novel concept, surely – and nowhere hinted at in the U.S. Constitution.

Trump wants to change the Constitution.

Ever the dutiful blogger, I keep looking for evidence that proves massive voter fraud. I turn to red states, where I figure officials are working hard to ensure voting is fair and accurate.

475. The situation in Ohio is typical, where a Republican attorney general has 27 possible cases of illegal votes cast in the 2020 election. That’s twenty-seven cases in a state where more than 5.9 million votes were counted. Or, one in every 219,341 ballots. Not exactly what you’d call “massive” anything.

476. In May 2022, a federal judge, appointed by Mr. Trump, slaps aside another “Stolen Election” claim, this one filed by the perpetually-deluded-and-cluelessly-loyal Mike Lindell. U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols orders Mr. MyPillow to pay court costs and legal fees for Smartmatic, a voting software company suing Mike for defamation. Lindell has insisted they helped rig the 2020 vote.

Nichols listens to lawyers for both sides, then notes in his ruling that at least one of Lindell’s stolen vote claims was “frivolous,” and noted that “other claims” fell on the “frivolous side of the line.”

Candidate gets 3.4% of the vote – claims she really won.

With the advent of the 2022 midterms, Republicans start crying afresh about stolen votes, and evil spirits in all the voting machines – at least in elections where they lose. This time, however, they begin eating their own.

477. A recount in Pennsylvania, in June, shows that Mehmet Oz, a Trump-endorsed candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate, has won the GOP senate primary, defeating David McCormick. Oz polls 419,999 votes, McCormick 419,048. That’s a margin of 951 votes. The original count had shown Oz with a 972-vote lead. So the recount marks a change of nineteen votes (19), out of 1.3 million cast.

(There were several other candidates.)

478. What makes this story so revealing is that before all the votes could be counted in the May primary, the former president was already urging Oz to declare victory. “It just makes it harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they ‘just happened to find,’” Trump barked on Truth Social – though he lacked any evidence of actual fraud.

479. In Georgia, far-right candidate Kandiss Taylor, comes up short in her June bid to unseat Governor Brian Kemp – a Trump-hated man. In the GOP primary, Taylor gets just 3.4% of the total vote. Kemp “nips” her in the end with 73.7%.

Taylor is battered by reality, but unbowed. “I want y’all to know that I do not concede,” she announces in a shrill online video. “I do not. And if the people who did this and cheated are watching, I do not concede.”

(Trump couldn’t have said it any better himself.)

“It would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power.”

480. June 22: The investigation into the real attempt to steal the 2020 election for Donald, continues. Wednesday, Dr. John Eastman, one of the Team Trump masterminds, steps out of a restaurant into the waiting arms of federal agents, who relieve him of his phone.

481. Federal agents also raid the home of former Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Clark. As more than two dozen Republican witness will make clear during congressional hearings (See: Part V), Eastman and Clark were two main cogs, driving the plot to keep Donald J. Trump in office for a second term.

482. Team Trump will describe these kinds of searches as “weaponizing” the Department of Justice. In reality, a federal judge will have to have believed there was “probable cause” to issue a warrant.

(That’s the law.)

We also learn that Dr. Eastman was frisked, and forced to provide bio-metric information to allow agents to open his phone, which no doubt disrupted his digestion. Eastman is famous for deciding – in the waning days of the Trump administration – to email Rudy Giuliani. Could Rudy please let the Boss know: “I’ve decided I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”

483. Eastman’s problems only mount. In a separate matter, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rules against the professor and orders him to turn over 101 of 111 disputed emails requested by the House Select Committee on January 6.

In his 44-page opinion, Judge Carter insists the crime-fraud exception negates Eastman’s claim that as a lawyer any communications he might have had with Mr. Trump are privileged and not subject to judicial review.

Carter is blunt:

If Dr. Eastman and President Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution. If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself.

Judge Carter has only limited jurisdiction in the matter, but blasts both Eastman and the former president for their actions leading up to and including January 6. The two, he says, “launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history.”

Their plan to steal the election, he describes as “a coup in search of a legal theory.” The plot hatched by the pair “spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation’s government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process.”

The “Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” Carter continues. He finds it “more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired to obstruct” the final counting of the electoral votes.

484. July 1, 2022: Having listened to the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson and two dozen other witnesses in the January 6 hearings, described in Part V, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (no relation) makes clear. As far as Mr. Trump, and his conduct in the months leading up to and after the last election, he says, “I will not be supporting him for 2024, he acted irresponsibly during that time, he was a risk to the nation, absolutely.”

485. Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, according to today’s GOP. It strikes every time an election is lost. In Nevada, two Joe’s face off in a bitter primary for governor. On one side is Joey Gilbert, a COVID-truther and a true believer in stolen elections, now including his own.

With votes left to count, the day after the primary, Gilbert cries foul. His opponent, Joe Lombardo, appears to have won with 38.4% of the vote. Gilbert, at 27.6%, isn’t about to swallow his democratic medicine like a man. “Maybe the establishment and swamp rats forgot who they’re dealing with,” Gilbert howls. “I smell a lawsuit because this STINKS! I will concede nothing.”

Nevada election officials keep counting. Lombardo ends up with 45% of the vote, nearly doubling up Gilbert, who finishes with 23.8%.

486. Gilbert and his supporters decide to pay $190,000 for a recount of the state’s two most-populous counties, Clark, and Washoe. The hand recount – of more than 118,000 ballots – takes five days and he still loses.

In the end, Gilbert nets three (3) measly votes.

(That would be $63,333 for each vote gained.)

He must cough up $2,322,500 in restitution.

487. July 5, 2022: Remember Lev Parnas? Back in 2020, he worked cheek to jowl with Rudy Giuliani, in a noble effort to “clean up corruption” in Ukraine. Lev and Rudy and Igor Fruman – the Three Musketeers of Justice.

Searching high and low for Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Lev just got sentenced to twenty months in prison, which we can all agree is a terrible look for any corruption fighter. Or, as the Department of Justice puts it, Parnas will be spending the next chapter of his life in the slammer, as a result of “conspiring to make political contributions by a foreign national along with solicitation and aiding and abetting the making of the same, conspiring to make straw donations, participating in a wire fraud conspiracy, and making false statements and falsifying records.”

488. And just whose money was Lev funneling to U.S. politicians? Not just tainted cash from, say, Canadians. No.

Russian money! Andrey Muraviev’s Russian money to be exact.

Lev was a sh*tty corruption fighter. And as part of his sentence, he must cough up $2,322,500 in restitution.

489. So, to recap. Lev is going to jail. Fruman will be out first, having been sentenced to 366 days in prison for similarly larcenous acts.

490. Two lesser lights in the scheme, Andrey Kukushkin and David Corriea, are also having living expenses footed by the federal government, as they, too, have been sentenced to a year and a day behind bars.

491. Muraviev remains free – having decided to hunker down in Russia, beyond the reach of U.S. law.

If you are doing the math the Three Musketeers have now been cut down by 66.667%. The way Rudy is going, he might be cut off at the ankles next. We now know that a Georgia grand jury has subpoenaed Mr. Giuliani, in an investigation into efforts to steal the last presidential election, wrap it in a red, white, and blue bow, and hand it over to Rejected-President Donald. That way, he might serve a second, undeserved term and pardon Rudy and all his criminally inclined pals.

Left to right: VP Pence, Fruman, Parnas, Trump, Giuliani.

Subverting democracy at a rate of $20,000 per day.

492. Speaking of large piles of corrupt money, we would be remiss if we failed to focus on Dr. Eastman, as well.

On January 20, 2021, just hours after President Biden was inaugurated, Eastman sent Giuliani a request. He wanted help collecting $270,000 he was owed by Team Trump for his efforts to subvert democracy. Eastman knew he and like-minded conspiracy kooks had failed to prove their case. He suggested looking into the special elections for U.S. Senate in Georgia, which had taken place on January 5.

“A lot of us have now staked our reputations on the claims of election fraud,” he admitted, “and this would be a way to gather proof.” So far, Eastman realized, they had little. “If we get proof of fraud on Jan. 5, it will likely also demonstrate the fraud on Nov. 3, thereby vindicating President Trump’s claims and serving as a strong bulwark against [a] Senate impeachment trial.”

In other words, they had been working to contest the November election, all along, but didn’t have proof.

The invoice Eastman sent included $10,000-per day charges for eight days in January 2021. That included efforts on January 4, and January 5, when Dr. Eastman and President Trump pressed Vice President Pence to throw out all the electoral votes that Mr. Trump didn’t like. Election-denying had proven lucrative – assuming Trump came through and paid his bills – always a shaky proposition.

493. Rudy also submitted an invoice for services. In his case, he was charging the Trump campaign $20,000 per day.

(For that much dough, you can purchase a lot of lying.)

For $256,000 you can gain one (1) vote in a recount.

494. July 16, 2022: Wherever right-wingers can be found, conspiracy theories abound. Tina Peters, a Colorado candidate for secretary of state, losses her primary by a “razor thin” margin of 14 points. Ms. Peters washes up on Steve Bannon’s podcast and claims there has been “extensive malfeasance” in the race, and demands a recount. The dupes begin donating, and she forks out a quarter of a million dollars for a recount.

What does she get for $256,000?

She gains one (1) vote in a test county – but the winner gained two, as did the third-place finisher. Peters got nothing but heartbreak for her money.

(Actually, “their” money, which came from silly folks who believed her, and regularly believe in Steve “I Got a Pardon” Bannon.)

For that kind of money, you could have bought the Ferrari F8 Spider.

495. Nor was Peters the only GOP kook to demand and pay for a recount and still end up toast. Also in Colorado: Dr. Rae Ann Weber picked up five votes – but not enough to close the 31-point victory margin for the winner in her race.

496. Peter Lupia picked up three votes, but his opponent gained two. So he still lost by 28 points.

497. Finally, a third Republican primary candidate trumpeted the “Stolen Election” claim. Zamora Wilson gained zero votes (0) in her recount. Her opponent notched one, padding his 32-point win.

498. Finally, finally: Peters herself soon gets arrested and charged with tampering with voting machines – and then suborning perjury from members of her own staff, to cover up her crimes. She gets her dumb, right-wing ass convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. And zero voter fraud proved.

The same warping could be seen in South Carolina, where GOP officials control all major levers of voting. Two primary challengers, gubernatorial candidate Harrison Musselwhite and attorney general candidate Lauren Martel, claimed something was fishy in how they went down to defeat.

499. Musselwhite, who goes by the nickname “Trucker Bob,” campaigned on a promise to end “medical tyranny,” and conduct a “forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election” in the state. He lost by 66 points.

500. Martel ran a closer race – but still got doubled up by the incumbent, who outpolled her, 168,330 to 82,085.

“Surprised to learn that they were allegedly deceased.”

501. On August 2, 2022: Attorney General Mark Brnovich, issues his final report on voter fraud in 2020, in Arizona.

There wasn’t any.

Our agents investigated all individuals that Cyber Ninjas reported as dead, and many were very surprised to learn that they were allegedly deceased. In addition, we received dead voter reports from other sources that were also reviewed. Three reports were submitted to the [Election Integrity Unit] that combined alleged 409 dead voters. One additional report, making no distinction between dead voters and dead registrants, included 5,943 registrations. Once again, these claims were thoroughly investigated and resulted in only a handful of potential cases.

502. Brnovich went on to say of such claims, “Some were so absurd the names and birthdates didn’t even match the deceased, and others included dates of death after the election.”

R.I.P. “Stolen Election” lie. The story of dead voters in Arizona had been hauled off to the morgue.

503. In related election-denying news, Ryan Kelley finishes fourth in the GOP gubernatorial primary in Michigan. Naturally, he claims it was a “predetermined outcome.” The sap lost by 25 points. (He is later sentenced to sixty days in jail for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill.)

504. In another “nail-biter,” Michigan Senate candidate Mike Detmer, who carried the coveted Trump endorsement into the GOP primary, posts on social media that he is “not buying” voting results. And, oh, so close! Detmer lost his challenge to incumbent Sen. Lana Theis, by 16 points.

505. In Arizona, Kari Lake, running for governor on the idea that the state’s 2020 election results were fraudulent, warns that fresh fraud is coming in the GOP primary. On Election Night, Lake claims her campaign is “already detecting some stealing going on,” but disdains to provide proof.

And, lo, did, the fraudsters prevail … and … WTF! Lake piles up a 12,000 vote lead, with 82% of results counted, and goes on to win.

Mike Lindell and Kari Lake, right – two election-denying nuts.

506. Congressman Scott Perry is stopped by federal agents – while traveling with his family. The Republican lawmaker is allegedly involved in the same voter fraud conspiracy as Rudy – the one that hinged on sending fake electoral votes to Congress and gifting Donald an unearned second term. Under yet another court-ordered search warrant, he was forced to give up his phone.

507. We know today that Rep. Perry eventually went to court to block authorities from using anything they might find on his device. He claimed 2,219 records should be protected. The first judge to hear his case said 90% of those records should not be protected. That’s another loss for Team Trump – in particular, Rep. Perry – and the matter goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

In September 2023, a three-judge panel issues a ruling, which remains under seal, limiting access to some of those records.

(Yay, Team Trump! You got a win!!!)

508. That win doesn’t last long. In December 2023, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg rules that Rep. Perry may shield 396 records on his phone. Then again, he must turn over 1,659 records to investigators – which are likely to reveal loads of election-stealing plotters’ fun.

Boasberg is the dreaded “Obama judge” of Trumpian lore; but it’s worth noting that when he was chosen to fill a spot in the federal judiciary, he was approved by unanimous U.S. Senate vote, 96-0.

509. August 10, 2022: Joey Gilbert, loser of the GOP primary for governor of Nevada, goes to court again. He demands the results of the primary be tossed. Alas, his suit is tossed instead.

510. Gilbert appeals his loss next to the Nevada Supreme Court. Once again, his suit is tossed.

511. Another year will pass before the highest court in the state rules against Gilbert once more. This time justices uphold sanctions ordered by a lower court. Joey and his lawyer must reimburse the state $250,000 for wasting election officials’ and the courts’ time. Election fraud allegations filed by Gilbert and his attorneys, the Nevada Supreme Court rules, “fall far short of being legitimate.”

Only the mob – and Donald J. Trump – take the Fifth.

512. Meanwhile, the former president is required to show up and give a deposition in New York City, related to possible financial trickeries involving the Trump Organization. So, how did that go?

Let Mr. Trump tell the story: “Under the advice of my counsel ... I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”

This would be fine if you were a fan, as is Mr. Blogger, of the U.S. Constitution and the rights and privileges guaranteed to defendants under the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Amendments. We don’t want innocent people to be dragged into court and convicted unfairly.

(See: Trump and the Central Park Five.)

513. Sadly, if you have kept your wits about you, you may recall a happier time when, in 2016, Candidate Trump repeatedly barked at rallies about how, if people who worked for Hillary Clinton were innocent, “Why were they taking the Fifth?”

In those days, Trump scoffed at the rights of “every citizen” under investigation. “Only the mob takes the Fifth,” he would shout.

With that, his fans would start chanting. “Lock her up!” Then the howl would build. “Lock her UP! LOCK HER UP!”

It was the roar of the mob – and Trump loved it immensely – and promised, as soon as he was president, he would lock Hillary up. (Don’t forget that whenever you hear Republicans whining now about how President Biden “weaponized” the Justice Department. That was Trump’s plan.)

This might be funny now, were Trump’s loyal fans not so impenetrably uninformed, regarding how the justice system works.

514. So, Trump shows up in NYC, partly under threat of a criminal contempt order. And, lo, doth he sayeth that he is innocent. And the investigation is a “witch hunt.” And he will proveth it by “pleading the Fifth,” to every question, saveth one. In fact, he taketh the Fifth on more than 440 questions.

(Once again, MAGA folks, that’s a lot.)

515. Meanwhile, Mr. Blogger learns something new. Under New York State law, if a defendant in a civil case takes the Fifth, as did Donald, a jury can draw the inference that the defendant is liable.

That is: a liar and a crook.

516. August 12, 2022: If you still believe in the “Stolen Election” fairy tale, as Donald, the delusional former president, does, you are going to be even sadder at a report out of Wisconsin. State Assembly Leader Robin Voss, a Republican, has ended a review of that state’s 2020 voting results. After more than a year devoted to looking for fraud, at a cost to taxpayers of $1 million, Voss pulled the plug, since nothing of note had been discovered.

Ballots aren’t loaves and fish.

517. We also have fresh evidence that right-wing types will never lose another election without claiming to have seen Bigfoot the Illegal Voter stopping to poop in the woods. Kansas voters just blew up a GOP bid to amend the constitution and take abortion rights away. The margin of victory, for the pro-choice side, was a whopping 165,000 votes.

Nothing fazed, Melissa Leavitt, an anti-abortion activist, asked for a recount, insisting in a social media post that she had seen “data…that there were irregularities” on election night. This was Kansas, folks, a bright red state, where Republican officials control all levers of power.

But Leavitt had her pet conspiracy theory, and launched a campaign to raise the $275,000 required to pay for a recount of all 922,000 ballots.

She doesn’t get all the money she needs, but does get enough to pay for a partial recount in nine Kansas counties, including Johnson, the most populous, and Douglas, home to the University of Kansas main campus.

There are 105 counties in the state.

In Kansas a large majority voted for abortion rights.

518. God “rewarded” her efforts with a net change of 63 votes in her favor – just short of enough to close the 165,000 gap.

519. I couldn’t resist doing a little more digging. The nine counties where recounts were conducted had polled 542,977 votes. So the error rate averaged out to one mistake for every 8,619 votes.

(Recounts continue to show that voter fraud is extremely rare.)

520. August 17, 2022: Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleads guilty to fifteen felonies. He admits he committed tax fraud. He admits he committed grand larceny. He admits he falsified business records. Finally, he admits to having taken part in a conspiracy.

The guy is a one-man crime wave.

Allen planning his next felony.

(He, too, earns his place on the Team Trump “Wall of Shame.”)

522. Once again, a Republican in a losing election fight cries “voter fraud wolf!” This time, it’s Laura Loomer – disdained in decent GOP circles (which still exist) as a hateful white nationalist and proud Islamophobe – who lost a primary in Florida.

“I’m not conceding, because I’m a winner!” Loomer cried, even though the vote count showed she wasn’t.

Dan Webster: 43,471 (51.2%)

Laura Loomer: 37,612 (44.2%)

“Loomer the Loser” wasn’t having it. “We are losing our country to big-tech election interference,” she claimed – without offering a morsel of proof. “And I am pleading with the Republican Party to please start taking this issue seriously, because the American people deserve representation.”

Which in fact, the “American people” got by giving the incumbent a chance to go back to Congress, while sending Loomer home to do more hating on minority groups.

Loomer, left, and that other election-denying oaf.

523. Speaking of hating on minority groups, Carl Paladino suffers defeat in a GOP primary in New York. Even before polls close a spokesperson for his campaign starts warning about “statistical irregularities in a number of counties that we will be looking [into] in the coming days. We want every single legal vote to count.” Here, we might note that Paladino’s chances for victory had been dented when he suggested that Adolf Hitler was “the kind of leader we need today.”

He had also previously suggested that Michele Obama go back to Africa, live in a cave, and mate with gorillas.

And he still got 47.9% of the vote.

Fox brings the “Fake News!”

August 27, 2022: Let’s be clear about something of great import. It’s not “Fake News,” if the free press helps expose political corruption. No matter which party (or none) the crooks in office represent, honest Americans should rejoice when they’re exposed.

(See, for example, Senator Bob “Gold Bars” Menendez, a Democrat.)

We also want the free press to do a good job, and, as a liberal blogger, I would argue that as long as Fox News is functioning, even if it attacks ~~Joe Biden~~ Kamala Harris daily, we should be happy to live in a country with a working democracy, where differing political opinions cannot be suppressed.

Having pitched in favor of a free press, I should note that Fox may need to fumigate its sets. The massive $1.6 billion defamation suit filed against the company and some of its biggest names continues to move forward in the courts. Dominion Voting Systems, the boogie man in endless “Stolen Election” stories on Fox, has asked the courts to punish the media giant for making baseless allegations that Dominion helped rig the 2020 election.

The following Fox hosts (and ex-hosts) have already been ordered to appear in the matter and give depositions:

Tucker Carlson

Lou Dobbs

Steve Doocy

Sean Hannity

Jeanine Pirro

According to The New York Times, the chief executive of Fox News media, Suzanne Scott, may also be deposed, along with the president of Fox News, Jay Scott. Laura Ingraham is also named.

Dominion would appear to have a compelling case – since no election fraud of any significance has been found – and none of the marginal fraud so far discovered has anything to do with Dominion.

There are First Amendment issues at stake. And Fox may prevail. But it’s worth noting, several defamation cases in recent years show that the courts still consider sustained lying out of bounds.

524. Alex Jones has been held liable, in one defamation suit, for $49.2 million in damages.

525. Hannity and Fox have even paid before. Back in 2016, Hannity pushed the idea that Seth Rich, a young Democratic operative, had been killed by kingpins in the party, after he supposedly leaked damaging emails to Wikileaks, which published them in the run-up to the election. Fox had to retract a good chunk of its “reporting” – which in this case we can definitely describe as “Fake News.”

With Hannity and Lou Dobbs both scheduled to be deposed by lawyers for the Rich family, and embarrassing details sure to be revealed in court, Fox agreed to pay “millions” and settle in 2020.

526. Unfortunately, as part of the settlement, the Rich family agreed that nothing would be revealed until after November 3, 2020, when voters would have gone to the polls – many swayed by ridiculous stories they had listened to on Fox News.

“Have a new Election, immediately!”

527. If you missed it, Trump went on a wild rampage on Truth Social again, posting eighty-eight times, including one truly bonkers idea. Claiming yet again that he had prevailed in the last election, he insisted he should be reinstated as president!

“Declare the rightful winner or – and this would be the minimal solution – declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised,” he demanded, “and have a new Election, immediately!”

Since there are no provisions in the U.S. Constitution, or in federal law, or in reality, that would allow this to happen, you have to believe that Donald was suffering some sort of hallucinatory episode.

Several of his other posts are almost as nutty, but we can’t possibly keep up with every twisted idea he has.

Trump “attempted to remain in power illegally.”

529. September 10, 2022: Yet another person who used to work for Mr. Trump weighed in today, regarding his old boss’s legal problems. This time the voice of sanity spilled from the lips of Ty Cobb, who defended Trump during the Mueller investigation. Mr. Cobb offered his thoughts on the search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and investigations in Congress related to the January 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill.

“I think the president is in serious legal water,” he tells CBS News, “not so much because of the search, but because of the obstructive activity [emphasis added] he took in connection with the Jan. 6 proceeding. That was the first time in American history that a president unconstitutionally attempted to remain in power illegally.”

Cobb goes on to blast the former president for spreading the “Big Lie” of a stolen election.

Interfering with Pence, saying Mike deserves this when people are shouting “Kill Pence,” I think that’s outrageous. I think interfering with what the vice president was obligated to do, trying to persuade him in a very aggressive effort not to certify the election, and to send certain electors back, I think that was criminal.

530. The Justice Department has subpoenaed dozens of the former president’s aides and associates as part of the federal investigation into an alleged election fraud plot. (The idea being: to create fake electors in seven key states, send in fake votes to gum up the January 6, 2021, count, and pressure Mike Pence to go along, and throw out real votes.)

(This is not to be confused with the Georgia investigation into election fraud.)

We don’t know all of the lucky recipients – but we do know Boris Epshteyn and Mark Roman had phones seized. Epshteyn is known to have copied on emails sent by Professor John Eastman, believed to be the mastermind of the plot. We know Eastman has already refused to answer questions in two investigations, one in Georgia, one before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Dan Scavino, Trump’s former social-media director, also had a subpoena delivered to his hands.

According to CNN, former Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien and Sean Dollman, chief financial officer of the campaign, were served too.

(Not all of these individuals will be charged.)

Stephen Miller, who bills himself as “Senior Advisor to President Trump,” insists that none of Trump’s aides or allies have broken any laws. (See: Ellis, Chesebro, Weisselberg, Stone, Manafort, etc., above.)

Rather, he and they are in a fight to save the country from “irreversible decimation.” Miller paints himself as a victim, tweeting Friday, “The DOJ is now an extension of the Democrat Party – armed with the power of personal destruction.”

531. In point of fact, DOJ isn’t destroying anyone. It’s investigating a plot, and judges keep upholding the efforts of various investigators – such as agreeing to issue search warrants – across this great land.

532. While editing my posts, in June 2023, I note that Mr. Roman has accepted a deal of some kind and is cooperating in the federal investigation into the plot to steal the election, not from Trump, but for Trump.

Invoking the Fifth Amendment 440 times.

September 21, 2022: In New York, Donald Trump has been sued for his role in an alleged $250 million fraud scheme. This is the same scheme which led Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, to plead guilty to a baker’s dozen, plus two, of felony charges.

533. Donald, of course, is in a jam from the start. In a civil case, in the State of New York, as previously noted – a defendant who refuses to answer questions, by pleading the Fifth, can be considered to be admitting wrong. And we already know that Donald invoked his right against self-incrimination a whopping 440 times.

534. If the astute juror failed to catch the drift, they might have noticed when Eric Trump, a co-defendant, took the Fifth 500 times.

535. In that regard, Eric tied Mr. Weisselberg, who still had to cop to a deal in a separate criminal trial, and pleaded to fifteen felony charges.

Eric Trump sets a family record for pleading the Fifth!

New York Attorney General Letitia James soon announced that her investigation had uncovered “staggering” amounts of falsified business information and fraud in the case. Also implicated were Donald Trump Jr., Weisselberg (again) and Jeffrey McConney, the controller at the firm.

536. In one curious example from the 222-page case filing, Ms. James noted that Donald Sr. had claimed his penthouse apartment was 30,000 square feet, and estimated its value at $327 million, when using it for collateral and asking for huge business loans.

Someone should have handled Melania a tape measure, because the apartment was a third that size. Mrs. Trump, we must note, has not been charged, and I would say there is no reason why she should be.

Yay, Melania!

FUN FACT: The real penthouse was closer to 11,000 square feet – still impressive – but more evidence that Trump Math, like Trump Truth, is always malleable.

Team Trump can't even measure.

537. When I edit this post, in March 2024, Weisselberg has pleaded guilty again! At the business fraud trial, in which Donald Trump was the primary target, his old CFO just couldn’t help himself. He committed perjury again and he’s going to jail. Again. Five more months in the slammer – kind of an occupational risk of working for Trump.

538. September 22, 2022: Mike Lindell, the QAnon-spouting MyPillow guy, is in a pickle over his role in an alleged plot to commit election fraud in multiple states. He was stopped in the drive-thru lane of his local Hardee’s, when federal agents surrounded him, served a warrant, and confiscated his phone.

539. Meanwhile, Kelli Ward, head of the Arizona GOP, gets slugged in the legal jaw by U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa – who rules that she and her husband must turn over phone records, since they are alleged to have been part of the plot to submit bogus electoral votes.

540. Court defeats continue to stack up for members of Team Trump. In September 2022, Mr. Giuliani skips out of a court appearance. Hiding out didn’t help. He was ordered to pay $225,000, plus legal fees, to his third ex-wife, and do so within two weeks or go directly to jail.

541. October 1, 2022: Finally, we have a snippet of election-stealing activity to report. Trump fans will be…

Huh?

James Donald Holkeboer, of Kent County, Michigan, has been charged with tampering with voting machines during the 2022 primaries. If you believe all recent elections have been rigged by evil Democrats, we can report that Holkeboer is a Republican. He is staring at a felony rap.

542. October 3: A clip of General Michael T. Flynn turns up on YouTube. Trump’s ill-fated first choice for National Security Advisor can be seen explaining at a campaign event for Mark Finchem, who wants to be Arizona’s new Secretary of State, that “governors can declare war.”

Which is wrong, by the way.

543. Flynn warns that we are “probably going to see that.” He meant governors were going to declare war on…the United States! I think Flynn was auditioning for the role of Gen. Braxton Bragg in 1861.

The reality of a Civil War.

Ventriloquist dummy doesn’t speak.

October 4, 2022: While the U.S. judicial system may be flawed (every judicial system is, some fatally), we can be thankful that under the Fifth Amendment no one can be forced to give testimony against him-, her-, or theyself. (I guess that’s a word.)

Still, it might seem suspicious if multiple Trump allies implicated in multiple alleged plots to steal the 2020 election, keep having to show up in court, and keep invoking the right not to say anything about all the laws they may have tried to break. The latest example would be Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. When hauled before the Jan. 6 Select Committee, Ward decided she’d rather not talk.

544. “Dr. Ward was deposed…and she declined to answer on every substantive question [emphasis added] and asserted her rights under the Fifth Amendment,” a lawyer for the congressional panel said.

She was like a ventriloquist dummy – if the ventriloquist had killed her husband with a machete.

“In furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S.”

545. October 20, 2022: Former President Trump and Possible Future Felon Trump had a rough time in court today. First, Donald was ordered to give a deposition in the E. Jean Carol rape lawsuit – a civil matter accusing the former president of defamation.

546. Second, a judge in California ruled that additional emails, from Dr. Eastman to Trump, and the reverse, are evidence of probable Trump crimes and must be turned over to the January 6 Committee in Congress.

“The emails show that Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud [cited in dozens of legal challenges] were wrong but continued to tout those numbers,” the judge pointed out, “both in court and to the public. These emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the U.S.”

547. Rudy Giuliani has been seeking to have a defamation suit filed against him by two Georgia poll workers thrown out. Today his request was shredded in a 27-page ruling – which a reasonably intelligent Trump fan could read for him- or herself, and probably figure out was very bad news.

At issue was a suit filed by Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, Freeman’s daughter. In their filing the women claim that repeated accusations made by Giuliani and other toadies on Team Trump – that they had been involved in counting tens of thousands of illegal ballots during the 2020 election – had been made with “reckless disregard” for the truth, and repeated with “actual malice.”

Those accusations of crookery in the counting resulted in both Freeman and Moss facing multiple death threats, and fearing for their lives. Moss’s 14-year-old son was also recipient of multiple threats, with one caller stating that he “should hang alongside [his] nigger momma.”

You could almost smell Judge Beryl A. Howell’s outrage when she issued her ruling, denying Rudy’s request. In the plaintiffs’ original suit they also named “One American News Network, its owners and its chief White House correspondent” as defendants. Howell notes that those defendants were dismissed in May 2022, after “reaching an undisclosed settlement with Moss and Freeman.”

548. In other words, Moss and Freeman had already won once in court. Because the people at OANN were lying.

(We will learn later that OANN paid a stiff price.)

549. Judge Howell explained that Rudy and other members of Team Trump had stirred up “outlandish paranoia,” insisting against all credible evidence that the vote had been rigged. Freeman and Moss, Judge Howell said, were victims of a “false narrative [emphasis added unless otherwise noted].”

Three vote counts in Georgia had shown the same result – Biden wins, Biden wins again, Biden wins again, again. Rudy did not care. Nor did Donald J. Trump. They accused Freeman and Moss of pulling a hidden “suitcase” stuffed with votes out from under a table late at night. Rudy insisted, repeatedly, as did the president, that there was video proof that tens of thousands of votes were “stolen.” Giuliani figured it was at least “30,000.” Donald would later insist there had been 18,000 votes inside the mythic “suitcase,” and claim they were run through scanners three times.

Presto: 54,000 illegal votes.

Judge Howell pointed out that multiple investigations had disproved that claim.

Howell focused next on the plan put together by Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team. This plan had one goal.

Getting to the truth was not that goal.

“Strategic Communications Plan[,] Giuliani Presidential Legal Defense Team” (the “Strategic Plan” or “Plan”). A section of the Plan was dedicated to exposing the alleged voter fraud schemes in Georgia. Freeman was named in the Plan as being “under arrest” and part of “coordinated effort to commit voter/election fraud.” Giuliani specifically accused Freeman and the other workers in the Edited Video of “ballot stuffing” by rolling out “suitcases” filled with ballots when “press and all third parties were required to leave the premises” – an event the Strategic Plan calls “Suitcase Gate.”

550. Yet, we know Georgia officials had already torched such claims. There was no “suitcase,” but only a regular bin to hold ballots.

551. There was no “stuffing.” The recounts proved that.

552. Freeman had never been arrested at all.

553. Howell supplied an extensive list of claims Giuliani made, none supported by fact. For example, Rudy claimed:

During that videotape, that we can all see right in front of our eyes, we can see them stealing the votes. We can see them throwing out the people [the Republican poll watchers]. We can see them counting it four and five times. We also have the statistics during that period of time, 120,000 votes for Biden, couple hundred votes for Trump, no observers, makes it totally illegal. That alone changes the election. . . . For a hundred years, this film will show that the, the 2020 presidential election, there was an attempt to steal it.

554. Even a true MAGA might note that Donald and Rudy couldn’t even get the idea of how many times the votes were counted right. In one case, Rudy said it was “eight” times. Here he switches to “four and five.”

In January 2021, we know Trump placed a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which he made numerous claims of “stolen” votes, claims multiple officials from the Department of Justice had repeatedly told him were untrue.

Truth didn’t matter to the president. As Judge Howell explained, “He stated Freeman’s name ‘no less than 19 times,’ calling Freeman ‘a vote scammer,’ ‘a professional vote scammer and hustler,’ ‘known scammer,’ ‘known political operative,’ and ‘ballotteer[.]’”

555. Raffensperger cautioned the president. “You’re talking about the State Farm video [where the votes were being counted, and the “suitcase” was seen],” he said. “And I think it’s extremely unfortunate that Rudy Giuliani or his people, they sliced and diced that video and took it out of context.”

None of this stopped Trump – and none of this stopped Giuliani, who was toiling in his service.

(As noted above, Rudy was charging Team Trump $20,000 per day.)

Rudy appeared on multiple occasions on OANN, in months following the 2020 election, and repeated his claims – that the video of the women counting votes was “clear evidence” of massive fraud.

He was still repeating that claim in January 2022, when during a podcast he said the two women had been in clear “violation of the law.”

“Ample circumstantial evidence of a civil conspiracy.”

556. Even though there was no truth to the allegation that Freeman “had been arrested/had a criminal record regarding voting fraud” Rudy kept repeating that claim. Not because it was true, but because it fit the narrative he and others were spinning. Judge Howell pointed to evidence to suggest “that Giuliani fabricated Freeman’s arrest and criminal record out of whole cloth.”

Howell continued to give Rudy and others a legal tongue lashing, and then upheld the right of the two poll workers to sue.

(As we now know, it will not go well for poor Rudy.)

A “cult” with “no set of central principles.”

November 1, 2022: As an inveterate poll-watcher, the blogger admits it’s looking grim for Democrats. They’re facing the possibility of losing control of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

557. November 2, 2022: The former Republican governor of New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, tells reporters she hopes “all the crazies do win,” in next week’s midterm elections. And by that, she meant all the election-denying “crazies” backed by the former president, election-denying, crazy Donald J. Trump.

Then she catches herself.

She explains that while she wants Americans to understand the drastic consequences of electing this sorry crew before the 2024 election, it might make for disaster in the end if they did win power next week.

“But then I realize no,” she continued, “I don’t want to live in that world, and I don’t want to leave it for my grandkids either, the damage they can do.” Whitman warned that her beloved Republican Party had become a “cult,” adding, “there’s no set of central principles on which it’s based.”

558. Speaking of which, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has come out and called election deniers running for office in his state “clowns.” That would include Kari Lake, GOP candidate for governor. Brnovich has labeled her claims that the 2020 Arizona election was rigged against Donald “horseshit.” In an interview on 60 Minutes, Brnovich explains that he voted for Trump himself. He had wanted Trump to win. He said he looked hard for proof of election fraud – but basically found none.

559. Twelve Arizonans, one fraudulent vote per, were charged as a result of investigations into the last presidential election.

All these voter fraud cases don’t equal one big case in Georgia.

I like facts, as I often say on my blog. So I like to check up on all the evidence piled up so far, indicating that at least eight billion fraudulent votes were cast in the 2020 election, and the 2016 election, and all the other elections Republicans have lost, going back to the dawn of the Neolithic Age.

(Neolithic voters chipped their choices on stone tablets.)

(Did Neanderthals need voter ID’s?)

559. So, let’s start with beet red Texas, where Attorney General Ken Paxton devotes his finest efforts to hunting down vote-stealing Democratic scum. It turns out there have been 534 successful prosecutions related to voter fraud in Texas – but that includes cases from every election, and every office up for grabs in that state, since 2005.

This blogger has no problem with prosecuting those who double vote, or violate election law in sundry ways. When you look for big cases – like someone harvesting a hundred ballots, or a thousand, you come away mostly empty.

560. In Texas what you find are people like Crystal Mason, who voted in 2016, thinking she was eligible, but was not, as a result of a previous felony conviction. Small potatoes, considering that election deniers insist millions voted illegally – and will again – unless we make voting harder for everyone.

Or shoot all the Democrats.

561. In Ohio, a state where mail-in ballots are readily accessible, you figure the red state election police must be locking up tens of thousands of scofflaws. Frank LaRose, the Secretary of State, says illegal voting is “exceedingly rare.” The tally of illegal Ohio voters, as of last month: seventy-five individuals who allegedly voted in one state, then voted a second time in Ohio in 2020. LaRose says the total number of possible cases his office has uncovered since 2018 would be 630.

562. In Florida, a tipster turned up evidence of 282 potential double-voting state residents, and then another batch of 45. How many actually voted illegally remains to be seen. We do know – and this is fun – that in several proven cases, the illegal voters were big Trump fans. As for prosecutions, Gov. Ron DeSantis was proud to announce that his Election Integrity Unit had vacuumed up twenty illegal voters, many of them convicted felons, who thought they were eligible. That included several who had been issued voter registration cards … by the State of Florida.

This, DeSantis promised, was only the “opening salvo,” of what this blogger suspects will end in a fabulous fizzle.

Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, let’s assume all of these cases are proven in court. We include the 155 Texans, specifically, who may have voted illegally in 2020. We count the possible 630 in Ohio, and the 282 in Florida, and the other 45. That gives us 1,112 cases. Even if we figure each of those individuals cast two illegal votes (most suspects cast only one) then we have 2,224 illegal votes in total.

563. That’s not even close to the one big case of alleged voter fraud in Georgia. That’s the one where Donald J. Trump called on state officials to “find” 11,780 votes, just enough for him to “win” the state.