The Washington Post reports, Republican-commissioned hand recount of ballots in Arizona close to concluding; no results expected until later this summer:
A widely criticized hand recount of 2020 presidential ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest jurisdiction, is nearing completion, an official associated with the effort said Monday, but results from the process are not expected to be announced until sometime this summer.
The GOP-commissioned review of ballots began in late April, after Arizona’s state Senate seized the ballots and voting machines from the county using a legislative subpoena. Senate President Karen Fann has said the goal of the review is not to overturn President Biden’s win in Arizona but to look for ways to improve future elections. [B.S.]
But former president Donald Trump has embraced the process as a path to undoing Biden’s win and called for similar audits to be conducted in other states. In recent weeks, Republican elected officials and candidates from other states who want to capture the enthusiasm of Trump’s crazy base have been trekking to Phoenix to review the process.
Republican officials in Maricopa have decried the process as inept and accused its backers of promoting falsehoods, undermining faith in elections and defaming election workers. The review is being run by a Florida firm whose chief executive has previously endorsed Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen.
In a text message, audit spokesman Ken Bennett said workers will largely complete the hand recount of the county’s nearly 2.1 million ballots on Monday. Workers will continue inspecting the paper on which ballots were printed for the rest of the month. The inspection is an ill-explained process that has at times included shining UV light at ballots. Bennett said no results or conclusions from the audit will be released until a final report comes out later this summer.
Despite those official pledges, Trump allies have been aggressively trading rumors on social media and elsewhere that the recount has identified hundreds of thousands of fewer ballots than were originally reported by the county in November. Bennett Randy Pullen called the notion that large numbers of ballots are missing “crazy.”
In case you saw people on social media, including one from a faux news organization that gets special access to the audit in exchange for fawning coverage, claiming there were a bunch of missing ballots, audit spokesman @rpullen says they're full of it. https://t.co/BUZ4fJfD1H
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) June 14, 2021
I wonder if we'll get any retractions from the people who spread this rumor. Certainly any legitimate news organization or anyone with even the slightest pretentions of being a credible journalist would be mortified to learn they spread such a falsehood. https://t.co/MBNJH3jB3S
— Jeremy Duda (@jeremyduda) June 14, 2021
Tim Miller, former communications director for Jeb Bush 2016 and a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, now the writer-at-large for The Bulwark, warns Get Ready for the Shitstorm That Will Follow the Arizona “Recount”:
At some point during our schooling we were all met with a frustrated social studies teacher who was forced to fall back on the old saw about how those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it in order to implore a class of checked-out brats that the history lesson before them is not without value to their imagined future lives as architects/importer-exporters.
Generally this argument is employed to make the case for learning the lessons of the Holy Roman Empire, or Cromwell, or some other travail of a long-dead Caucasian. But today I am the annoying teacher, the Republican party and its enablers are the checked-out students, and the historic event that they need to learn from happened all of six months ago.
In the months between Trump’s electoral schlonging and the January insurrection, the GOP establishment participated in the coup two-step, during which they tried to ignore Trump’s antics when they weren’t actively enabling it by just asking questions. This strategy was a failure of historic proportions, resulting in the disruption of America’s practice of peaceful transfers of power, a violent siege of the Capitol, and the deaths of their own supporters, who had bought the lies they were fed.
You would think this history lesson would be something Republicans might learn from.
But no.
Today the insurrection is ongoing and the next potentially violent inflection point will come in the weeks after the results of the Arizona “audit” are revealed. The audit, which is being conducted by the “Cyber Ninjas” and funded at least in part by my old pal Lin Wood, is set to deliver some type of result soon. The state senate’s audit “liaison” Ken Bennett (congrats on the fancy title, Ken) said that they expect the process will take most of the “rest of this month.”
Trump has been telling a number of people he’s in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn’t how it works but simply sharing the information). https://t.co/kaXSXKnpF0
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
Much like Trump’s Four Seasons Total Landscaping coup attempt, the Arizona audit is being ignored by Republican leaders such as Mitch McConnell and Kevin Mccarthy, who are not engaging on the subject publicly and privately consider it shambolic sideshow. This while conservative allies dismiss those of us who are alarmed about the ongoing risks to democracy.
Meanwhile the whole Arizona circus is being taken deadly seriously by Trump himself—he called Republican pols who are ignoring the audit “weak”—and by his radicalized supporters who still want to “stop the steal.”
Doesn’t this all sound a little too familiar?
There’s more.
Activists in the QAnon movement have described the audit as the first step in “The Great Awakening.” And Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward has threatened “arrests” of those who did not comply with the audit. (N.B.: The Arizona Republican Party does not yet have the power to detain citizens for crimes against MAGA.)
One Arizona GOP precinct committeewoman, Gail Golec, has quit her job as a real estate agent to focus on uncovering “fraud” full-time, which she details on her Facebook and YouTube pages.
One America News has hired a local propagandist, Christina Bobb, to “cover the audit”—while also fundraising for it.
I’ve launched Voices & Votes! Join us in the fight for the AZ Election Audit. This audit is crucial to know the truth about 2020. $5, $10, $20 will help the AZ senate finally complete the audit. DONATE TODAY! And thank you for fighting with us! https://t.co/EGUIFNpSww
— Christina Bobb (@christina_bobb) April 9, 2021
Now that’s some journalisming.
Steve Bannon’s War Room, which was the official podcast of the “Stop The Steal” rallies last fall, is playing the same role in unofficial fashion in Arizona and has found an audience for the grift. (At the time of this writing, War Room was the tenth-biggest news podcast on the Apple charts.) The thirstiest and craziest MAGA Republicans around the country have all made the hajj to Maricopa to either learn how they can bring the insurrection to their states or signal their allegiance to primary voters. The frontrunner in the Missouri race to succeed the retiring Senator Roy Blunt, Eric Greitens, is the latest of this latter group.
Again, I ask: Doesn’t this all sound pretty fucking familiar?!!!
Sometime soon the results of the Arizona audit will be brought forth. It seems quite likely, given the participants, that the auditor ninjas will claim that Donald Trump won Arizona. Or probably won Arizona—who can say! Or would have won Arizona, if not for those meddling kids.
And if this happens, the former president and his MAGA media echo chamber will once again stoke the flames of insurrection. Q-adherents will convince themselves that one of the seven seals has been revealed. Millions (tens of millions) of Republicans throughout the country will believe it. And some of them will demand action.
So when the Arizona audit bell tolls, what exactly is McConnell and McCarthy’s plan?
Because it sure looks as though they are dooming us all to repeat the same history we just lived through, humoring Trump’s delusions and hoping that none of their supporters die in their imaginary fight for freedom this time.
It’s only six weeks until August when the crazies, 3 In 10 Republicans Believe Wacky Conspiracy Theory Trump Will Be ‘Reinstated’ As President This Year, Poll Shows, believe that their “Dear Leader” will be “reinstated” as president (this is not an actual thing).
CNN reports FBI warns lawmakers that QAnon ‘digital soldiers’ may become more violent:
The FBI has warned lawmakers that online QAnon conspiracy theorists may carry out more acts of violence as they move from serving as “digital soldiers” to taking action in the real world following the January 6 US Capitol attack.
The shift is fueled by a belief among some of the conspiracy’s more militant followers that they “can no longer ‘trust the plan” set forth by its mysterious standard-bearer, known simply as “Q,” according to an unclassified FBI threat assessment on QAnon sent to lawmakers last week, which was obtained by CNN.
But the report suggests the failure of QAnon predictions to materialize has not led to followers abandoning the conspiracy. Instead, there’s a belief that individuals need to take greater control of the direction of the movement than before.
This might lead followers to seek to harm “perceived members of the ‘cabal’ such as Democrats and other political opposition — instead of continually awaiting Q’s promised actions which have not occurred,” according to the assessment.
“Other QAnon adherents likely will disengage from the movement or reduce their involvement in the wake of the administration change,” it adds.
Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that former President Donald Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities.
Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 had ties to QAnon.
Titled “Adherence to QAnon Conspiracy Theory by Some Domestic Violent Extremists,” the public FBI threat assessment was provided at the request of Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, who earlier this year revealed that the FBI had provided lawmakers with version of the document in February that was designated “for official use only.”
“The participation of some domestic violent extremists (DVE) who are also self-identified QAnon adherents in the violent siege of the US Capitol on 6 January underscores how the current environment likely will continue to act as a catalyst for some to begin accepting the legitimacy of violent action,” the unclassified FBI assessment obtained by CNN says.
“The FBI has arrested more than 20 self-identified QAnon adherents who participated in the 6 January violent unlawful entry of the Capitol. These individuals were charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct in a restricted building and obstruction of an official proceeding, according to court documents and press reporting based on court documentation, public statements, and social media posts,” it reads.
Heinrich, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, requested a threat assessment on QAnon in December, one month before the January 6 insurrection. They received a response from the FBI in February Heinrich said during the World Wide Threats hearing earlier this spring before asking FBI Director Christopher Wray why he “cannot or won’t tell the American people directly about the threat.”
Now you know. You’ve been warned about this domestic terrorist threat. What, if anything, is being done to prevent it?
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Heather Digby Parton adds at Salon, “A second insurrection: The real mission behind Republicans’ absurd Arizona ‘audit'”, https://www.salon.com/2021/06/18/a-second-insurrection-the-real-mission-behind-republicans-absurd-arizona-audit/
As Salon’s Amanda Marcotte noted yesterday, Trump and his loyal servants in the right-wing media (or is it the other way around?) have whizzed past delusional and have moved into full-blown insanity. She wonders what the Democrats are going to do about it and I agree with her that it doesn’t look like much. As Marcotte says, “the [Republican] party has reorganized itself entirely around the goal of making sure that next time Trump tries to steal an election, he pulls it off.”
But I actually think it may be worse than that. The various undemocratic power grabs in the state are raising expectations among the faithful to such an extent that they may actually be leading to another insurrection.
The Washington Post’s Philip Bump and the Bulwark’s Tim Miller both wrote pieces in the last week or so taking a look at the way the “audit” in Arizona and the flurry of similar activity in some of the other states (including those Trump won, which means the point is nothing more than to further discredit the entire electoral system) and they concluded that energy these gambits are producing may inevitably result in more violence.
Phillip Bump of the Washington Post adds his take, “Is Arizona the next post-Capitol flash point?”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/06/15/is-arizona-next-post-capitol-flashpoint/
(excerpt)
In the days after the 2020 election, Maricopa County was first a focus of attention by pro-Trump activists. The close results in that state brought a number of protesters to the streets in an effort to exert pressure on vote counters. At one point, the group tried to push inside the building where votes were being tallied. Some of those in attendance were armed.
Eventually, the votes were all counted, and the results certified for Biden. The focus turned to the Capitol and Jan. 6. But now, the “audit” being conducted on behalf of Arizona Republicans returns the spotlight to Phoenix, where conspiracy theorists now pin all of their hopes for being proved right and for Trump returning to power. An announcement seems imminent.
A place. A moment. An energy. Just like the Capitol.
Guessing that by not releasing the fraudit results until late summer it’s going to take that long for the fauditeers to cook the results until they get the one they want. At which point they’ll beat the chests (or their blessed pointy little heads) that the former guy actually won & the mainstream media will feel obligated to give it equal weight to the truth.
The Biden administration says it will enhance its analysis of threats from domestic terrorists, including the sharing of intelligence within law enforcement agencies, and will work with tech companies to eliminate terrorist content online as part of a nationwide strategy to combat domestic terrorism. ” Biden Administration Pushes Plan To Combat Domestic Terror”, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-national-security-council-domestic-terrorism_n_60c8b642e4b0e25921b813cb
The National Security Council on Tuesday released the strategy plan, which comes more than six months after a mob of insurgents loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win.
A report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found that domestic violent extremists posed an increased threat in 2021, with white supremacist groups and anti-government militias posing the highest risk, officials said.
The new strategy includes enhancing the government’s analysis of domestic terrorism and improving the information that is shared between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Administration officials said the Justice Department had also implemented a new system to “methodically track” domestic terrorism cases nationwide within the FBI.
The Justice Department was also evaluating whether the administration should recommend Congress pass a specific domestic terrorism law, which does not currently exist. In the absence of domestic terrorism laws, the Justice Department relies on other statutes to prosecute ideologically motivated violence by people with no international ties.
But that has made it harder to track how often extremists driven by religious, racial or anti-government bias commit violence in the U.S and complicates efforts to develop a universally accepted domestic terror definition.
.The government’s new plan also includes an effort to identify government employees who may pose a domestic terrorism threat, with a number of federal agencies working on new policies and programs to root out potential domestic extremists in law enforcement and in the military.
Officials said the Justice Department had also formally made domestic terrorism a top priority and had been reallocating resources at U.S. attorneys’ offices and at FBI field offices across the U.S. to combat the threat from domestic extremists.