Right-Wing Election Denialism Reaches An Astonishing New Low
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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Is West Virginia Gonna Secede If Kamala Harris Wins?
It’s been our editorial policy for some time not to overemphasize legislation at the state level that has merely been introduced. Dozens if not hundreds of whacky and extreme things are proposed each year in state legislatures but have no real chance of ever passing. Sometimes they amount to little more than gussied up press releases. But every once in a while something comes along that is so representative of the political moment that it’s newsworthy in its own right, even if it never goes anywhere.
Take, for instance, the resolution that four GOP lawmakers introduced Sunday in the special session in West Virginia. It’s as extreme as anything I’ve seen in the last few years. The proposed resolution, inter alia, calls on West Virginia not to “recognize” the results of the 2024 presidential election if “election fraud in any state was a major reason that resulted in a candidate for President obtaining a majority in the Electoral College.”
“Election fraud” is defined in the text very broadly to include a laundry list of bogus right-wing claims ranging from non-citizen voting to “prosecutions for apparent political motives.” By this definition, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing prosecution of Donald Trump could be sufficient grounds on its own for West Virginia to refuse to recognize a victorious Kamala Harris as the legitimate president.
One Democratic lawmaker in West Virginia called the proposed resolution “WILD.”
As secessionist as it would be for a state to refuse to recognize the legitimately elected president (an epic irony considering West Virginia’s own history of breaking away from Virginia rather the secede from the Union and join the Confederacy), it’s another section of the proposed resolution that takes it a whole new level of twisted conspiracizing.
After declaring that “the current Democrat-led regime, has utterly failed, and continues to fail, in a suspicious manner, in its absolute duty to adequately protect the Republican nominee for president,” the draft resolution declares:
That, the State of West Virginia will not recognize any election of the Democrat candidate for President during the 2024 election cycle if the Republican presidential or vice-presidential candidate is assassinated, seriously injured during an assassination attempt, incarcerated, de facto eliminated or barred from the ballot in any states, or is the subject of legal actions that preclude their effective campaigning …
In addition to seeming to contemplate a do-over election if a single strand of Donald Trump’s hair is amiss, the proposed resolution again suggests that the prosecution of Donald Trump – even at the state level – would be grounds to ignore Harris’ election victory because those prosecutions constitute “legal actions that preclude … effective campaigning.”
I’m being only a little tongue-in-cheek about the secessionist vibes of the resolution. Here’s the actual language the proposed resolution uses to prescribe what happens if any of its provisions are triggered: “the Legislature will be called into special session by the Governor to consider actions to preserve the Freedom of our People.”
If West Virginia secedes, does that mean it reverts to becoming part of Virginia again? I have so many questions.
Election Denialism Still Front And Center For National GOP
Sunday on ABC: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuses to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Sunday on NBC: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) refuses to concede that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
New Harris Ad Zeroes In On Jan 6
A new digital ad from the Harris campaign concludes with this line: “And next time, there will be no one to stop him”:
MUST READ
Timothy Snyder on Trump’s Hitlerian month of September.
Photo Of The Year
EXCLUSIVE
Trump allies are threatening to retaliate against government contractor Deloitte because one of its employees shared with the WaPo private texts between himself and JD Vance in which Vance was critical of Trump.
To be clear, Deloitte just happens to be the guy’s employer and had no involvement in the text exchanges, their release, or JD Vance’s since disavowed criticisms of then-President Trump.
Quote Of The Day
Kamala Harris, responding to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), who said last month that her kids keep her humble but Harris has nothing to keep her humble: “I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble.”
2024 Ephemera
NYT goes there: Trump’s Speeches, Increasingly Angry and Rambling, Reignite the Question of Age
WaPo: Vance says Trump administration would end funding to Planned Parenthood
WSJ: Trump’s Plan Boosts Budget Deficits by $7.5 Trillion, Double Harris’s Proposal
Hurricane Helene Disinformation Is Out Of Control
While responding to the immediate catastrophic effects of Hurricane Helene, public officials are also being forced to contend with widespread and persistent disinformation that is hampering relief efforts:
Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) took to X/Twitter and called it a “relentless vortex of disinformation, dialed up by bad actors and platforms like X.”
HuffPost: North Carolina Republican Pleads To End Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About Helene Disaster Recovery
Brian Beutler: MAGA’s Hurricane Helene Lies Are A Trial Run For The Election
One Year Anniversary of Oct. 7 Attack
The U.S. government warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks within this country on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre of Israelis.
AP: “The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project, released Monday on the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel.”
Matthew Duss: Joe Biden Chose This Catastrophic Path Every Step of the Way
And The Grift Goes On
Oklahoma schools Superintendent Ryan Walters plan to buy Bibles for every public school classroom looks, sounds, and smells like another Trump grift. The bid documents for the acquisition of 55,000 Bibles restricts which specific books are eligible for purchase, The Oklahoman reports. A Bible supplier which carries 2,900 versions of the Bible tells the newspaper that none of them met the bid criteria.
Which Bibles are eligible? According to the newspaper:
But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.
Another potential contender? “[T]he We The People Bible, which was also endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. It sells for $90.”
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this kind of sounds like the political equivalent of "I am going to hold my breath until I get what I want". 😂
WVA is a huge drag on federal spending as a net balance of money in v revenue out...who gives a shit about what those MAGA morons are saying about "secession", as what's their plans to keep their shitty state afloat w/o fed largesse?
Disinformation re: Helene....a warmup for the game plan after "they" send Milton into western FL and points north.
Election denialism: It's like rosary prayers or catechisms - the rote signs of a true believer.