Following his failed attempts to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election, which was won by Joe Biden, Donald Trump and his followers are pursuing a “ambitious plan” to install loyalists in crucial positions regulating elections.
“In Michigan, local GOP leaders have sought to reshape election canvassing boards by appointing members who expressed sympathy for former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 vote was rigged. In two Pennsylvania communities, candidates who embraced election fraud allegations won races this month to become local voting judges and inspectors,” reported Monday. “And in Colorado, 2020 doubters are urging their followers on conservative social media platforms to apply for jobs in election offices.”
The news comes as Trump continues to promote his “Big Lie” of election fraud, publishing a statement on Sunday falsely alleging that the “2020 Election was rigged and stolen.”
“Citing the need to make elections more secure, Trump allies are also seeking to replace officials across the nation, including volunteer poll watchers, paid precinct judges, elected county clerks and state attorneys general, according to state and local officials, as well as rally speeches, social media posts and campaign appearances by those seeking the positions,” the newspaper reported. “If they succeed, Trump and his allies could pull down some of the guardrails that prevented him from overturning Biden’s win by creating openings to challenge the results next time, election officials and watchdog groups say.”
Rachel Hamm in California, Jim Marchant in Nevada, Kristina Karamo in Michigan, Mark Finchem in Arizona, and Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) in Georgia are among the QAnon-affiliated candidates running for secretary of state to supervise elections.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) expressed concern that the emphasis had switched from overturning the last election to overturning future elections.
“The attacks right now are no longer about 2020,” Griswold explained. “They’re about 2022 and 2024. It’s about chipping away at confidence and chipping away at the reality of safe and secure elections. And the next time there’s a close election, it will be easier to achieve their goals. That’s what this is all about.”
In an interview with Deadline, ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl said that if Donald Trump runs for president again in 2024, it will be one of the “greatest challenges” media have ever faced.
Karl was asked what the future holds for the former president should he run a third time — and how the press should cover it in light of how the ex-president left office casting a cloud of suspicion over the 2020 election results — in the interview where he explained how he was able to write his bombshell book “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.”
According to Karl, Trump has grown more hazardous, and journalists should act with caution.
Noting how Trump was able to sow confusion late in the 2020 election by stating he would win even when the results revealed otherwise, Karl remarked, “How do you cover a candidate who is effectively anti-democratic? How do you cover a candidate who is running both against whoever the Democratic candidate is but also running against the very democratic system that makes all of this possible?”
“I think it’s tremendously challenging because you know that — especially now, more than ever — that he is just saying things that are not true, that are designed to misinform, that is designed to erode credibility and belief in our electoral system. And it’s actually dangerous,” he told Deadline. “So how do you cover a debate? How do you cover a speech? How do you sit down for long live interviews with him as a candidate? I think these are really difficult questions because he is obviously not a typical candidate.”
Karl argued that Trump will bring fresh challenges after four years in office and the manner in which he departed office, adding that the New York mogul was never a “typical candidate.”
“Now he has been demonstrated to be a candidate that is trying to destroy the very system that makes this election possible. And yet we cover campaigns. That’s what we do,” he explained before warning, “It is a very difficult, precarious situation, and I don’t know how it is going to play out, to be honest.”
During an interview last week, Karl stated that Karl, former President Donald Trump shows “no remorse” for the Capitol insurgency.
“I was looking for something,” Karl said of his interview with Trump. “I wanted to see any hint of regret, any hint of remorse for what happened on Jan. 6. … Absolutely none.”
Karl claimed that Trump was in a “good mood” and became “excited” while discussing the “awful things” that fellow Republicans, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and former Attorney General Bill Barr, had done to him.
Joy Reid, the show’s host, then questioned Karl if Trump came across as “somebody who is rational (or) mentally all there.”
“It’s a very strange thing,” Karl responded. “He comes out — he’s gregarious. He’s got a way of trying to charm you. He doesn’t seem like he’s somebody who’s completely insane at all. He conducts himself, he conducts his business. But it’s the lack of any sense of remorse, I think, that really comes across as, there’s something that’s just not right.”
According to Karl’s new book, Trump issued an angry statement through his spokesperson on Monday, denying a report from ABC’s Jonathan Karl that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) plotted with fellow Republicans to “disinvite” him from Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremonies out of fear he would cause a ruckus.
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