Backwards or Forwards We Go, Pt. 1
So after the arthritic knee diagnosis, the bout of covid, the ultrasound of my other leg and a kaleidoscope of symptoms and side effects rotating daily, I seem to have emerged only slightly worse for the wear (where’s that wood to knock on?). It looks like I’ll just have to live and get back to this newsletter again after 12 days off.
Autumn approaches and the air is full of speculation about inflation, the midterm elections, every move made by DJ Trump, forthcoming court events and more. I’ve had a full plate at home but have maintained my reading, sufficient to highlight the more noteworthy events.
(Reuters) - A group representing the top judges in all 50 states is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to shield actions taken by state legislatures affecting federal elections - such as reconfiguring electoral districts and imposing voting restrictions - from the scrutiny of state courts.
The bipartisan Conference of Chief Justices filed the brief on Tuesday in a closely watched case involving a map drawn by the Republican-led North Carolina legislature of the state's 14 U.S. House of Representatives districts. The state's top court struck down the map on Feb. 4, concluding that the districts were crafted in a manner intentionally biased against Democrats, diluting their "fundamental right to equal voting power."
The Conference of Chief Justices argued that the U.S. Constitution does not prevent state courts from reviewing such congressional maps for violations of state constitutions, as the Republican state legislators defending the map argue.
The SCOTUS seems intent on resurrecting states’ rights in areas like this because states’ rights worked so well in 1860. If state legislatures get to decide redistricting without court overview and get to decide which electors to seat in presidential elections, the impact will be to continue to thwart the popular will of voters in perpetuity and in the current polarized political climate, the SCOTUS justices know full well what they’re doing, tossing out democracy in favor of authoritarian rule. Their decisions next June will determine that.
So this advice of the conference of chief justices is unprecedented in trying to head off that negative outcome.
Couple that with the also unprecedented warnings coming from military leaders, (several generals and former Secretaries of Defense) that’s intended to let other members of the military know to avoid taking sides in political events and not to follow illegal orders from presidents. They didn’t mention Trump by name though it’s clear that’s the point of their letter.
It’s still a little early to predict midterm election outcomes though it gets clearer every day how much effort is being put into rigging those outcomes. Not only are election deniers running for Secretary of State in several swing states (where they could control vote outcomes in 2024) and not only are fresh restrictions being put in place to make voting harder (especially in blacker and browner and poorer neighborhoods), but there’s also the usual cast of foreign leaders playing games - again - as well.
Vladimir Putin cutting off gas supplies to Europe and raising prices, for example. That occurred the same day that the Saudi Prince Bonesaw announced pumping cuts to bolster higher oil prices, ensuring that inflation will continue running high through the midterms, which can hurt Democratic congressional candidates.
Then there’s the impact of Deep Racist Trump mooks like Stephen Miller spewing out fear and lies like this:
The official Twitter account for U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations in the West Texas region pushed an argument by controversial former Trump aide Stephen Miller that America no longer has constitutional government.
On Saturday, CBP West Texas retweeted two tweets by Miller, who was reportedly subpoenaed to testify about Donald Trump's unsuccessful coup attempt. Miller attempted the fake electors scheme on Fox News in December of 2020.
"The media’s greatest power is its ability to frame what is a dire national crisis (eg 'cops are racist' summer ‘20) and what is not. Biden’s eradication of our border means we are no longer a Republic—he’s ended nearly 250 years of constitutional government. The media is silent," Miller argued in one of the tweets CBP West Texas retweeted.
Miller has actively opposed immigrants from Mexico and Central American nations since he was in high school, even those who conform to the rules entirely and become legal citizens. Even an uncle of his publicly rebuked him for his white supremacist words and deeds.
But he still provokes fear and spreads his falsehoods to government agencies known to be riddled with race haters, like the Border Patrol and rural sheriff offices., along with the Deep Racists looking for support via Fox News.
Current polls indicate even incumbent Arizona Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly in a tight race (within 3 pts). In Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the senatorial races are equally tight. And in Georgia, where a minister spent his first term sponsoring and succeeding with legislation at a surprisingly busy pace? He’s down 3 points against a former running back with a history of domestic violence who only rarely can utter a coherent sentence. Taken at face value, the outlook is pretty grim at the moment.
And that doesn’t include the extremists calling themselves Christians but modeling their actions like the Romans who put Christ to death, who are trying to tear down the wall between church and state and create a religious autocracy not unlike Iran or Nazi Germany. Like a convicted former general who Trump pardoned.
It’s all very depressing and worrisome. And even moreso when you weigh the fact that for 3 decades - well before Trump - the groundwork for all we’ve witnessed in the past 7 years was being laid by the GOP, the NRA, the Federalist Society and its quieter partner, the Council for National Policy:
Via Wikipedia:
About the CNP, Marc Ambinder of ABC News said: "The group wants to be the conservative version of the Council on Foreign Relations." The CNP was founded in 1981. Among its founding members were: Tim LaHaye, then the head of the Moral Majority, Nelson Bunker Hunt, T. Cullen Davis, William Cies, Howard Phillips,[8] and Paul Weyrich.[9]
Members of the CNP have included: General John Singlaub, shipping magnate J. Peter Grace, Edwin J. Feulner Jr of the Heritage Foundation, Rev. Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Jerry Falwell, U.S. Senator Trent Lott, Southern Baptist Convention activists and retired Texas Court of Appeals Judge Paul Pressler, lawyer and paleoconservative activist Michael Peroutka,[10] Reverend Paige Patterson,[11] Senator Don Nickles, former United States Attorneys General Edwin Meese and John Ashcroft, gun-rights activist Larry Pratt, Colonel Oliver North, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, philanthropist Elsa Prince (mother of Blackwater founder and former CEO Erik Prince and Trump Administration Secretary of Education Betsy Devos), Leonard Leo, and [1] Virginia Thomas (wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas).[1] Former California State Assemblyman Steve Baldwin was CNP's executive director from 2000 to 2008.[12] Conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell sits on the board of governors for the organization. (my bolding)
And:
In May 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a leaked copy of the membership directory for 2014.[17][18]
A membership list for September 2020, leaked a year later, revealed that members, who could attend meetings together, included elite Republicans, wealthy entrepreneurs, media proprietors and pillars of the US conservative movement, and anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists. It was reported that members of the secretive CNP are instructed not to reveal their affiliation or even name the group.[4][19]
The leaked September 2020 list of members included:[4]
Jerome Corsi, author and conspiracy theorist, member of CNP's board of governors
Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute†
Michael Farris, president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom† (ADF)
Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of ACT! for America† (AFA)
Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy† (CSP)
James and Amapola Hansberger, co-founders of Legal Immigrants for America† (Lifa)
Margaret H Hartshorn, chair of the board of Heartbeat International
Charlie Kirk, co-founder and executive director of Turning Point USA.[20] He is the William F. Buckley Jr. Council Member of the Council[21][22] and a spokesperson for CNP Action (est. 1987), the political arm of the CNP.[21][23]
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council†
Mathew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel†
Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association†
(Those with a cross at the end are defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups)
So by 2016, the GOP held the majority of seats in so many state legislatures that they were close to having enough to calling a Constitutional Convention where they could create a theocratic state while stripping away hard won individual liberties and any family social safety nets (including Social Security and Medicare).
By 2020, they succeeded in their effort to pack the federal judiciary with conservative ‘originalists’ which means ‘let’s go back to the founders’ aims of monied white male dominance, but we’ll make exceptions when we wanna’.
Fake Christianity and fake originalism, coupled with institutional racism and misogyny is now proving to be a pretty toxic mix.
But hey, it’s not all bad unless you’re only looking backward. The next 8 weeks till election day should provide a lot more excitement and positive outcomes. Which I’ll lay out in the next newsletter.
Enjoy the Storm