It may be instructive to be more granular in presenting the case for the threat Trumpery poses to democracy. And to understand it is a phenomenon that is new, unique to the post Trump presidency.
Colorado Guilty Plea a First for US Election Task Force
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security this month renewed a threat advisory warning of possible violence, particularly for elections officials, workers and other targets by individuals or small groups motivated by conspiracy theories and “false and misleading narratives.”
Griswold, a Democrat, told Colorado lawmakers earlier this year that she and other elections officials have received thousands of threats that have prompted many local clerks to quit or take security training so they feel safe in their public service work.
https://www.usnews.com/news/politic...-threatening-colorados-top-elections-official
Man Charged with Making Threat to Arizona Election Official
A Missouri man was indicted yesterday for allegedly leaving a voicemail containing a threat on the personal cell phone of an election official in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Walter Lee Hoornstra, 50, of Tecumseh, is charged with one count of communicating an interstate threat and one count of making a threatening telephone call.
Man Charged with Making Threat to Arizona Election Official
Campaign of Fear
The Trump world’s assault on U.S. election workers
The people who administer U.S. elections – from poll workers and ballot counters to county clerks and secretaries of state – have endured a year of terroristic threats from supporters of former President Donald Trump, inspired by his false assertions of widespread fraud in the 2020 vote. The result, as Reuters chronicled in this agenda-setting series of reports, has been a campaign of intimidation that is stressing the foundation of American democracy.
The Trump world’s assault on the people who administer U.S. elections
The Biden admin is aware of the problem. But prevention, detection, and punishment are not easy.
What Can The Biden Administration Actually Do To Protect Elections?
The President then offered a declaration: “I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country, the freedom to vote and have your vote counted, be taken from you and the American people.” But what does that actually look like in practice?
“I keep hearing about more election officials that are receiving threats, but I don’t hear about any more prosecutions,” Matthew Weil, director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project, told TPM. Amy Cohen, executive director of the National Association of State Election Directors, testified to Congress last month, “a common refrain I hear from my members is that nobody is going to take this seriously until something bad happens, and we are all braced for the worst.”
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. noted many of the threats are made anonymously with devices that are difficult to trace.
Some Call For More Biden Admin Action To Protect Elections
I follow current events in this country pretty closely and have for decades. I do not recall ever hearing about threats to election workers largely coming from the supporters of one politician, any politician, until Trump. Someone who is on the record having fomented the use of violence and intimidation against perceived political enemies. The enemies list having expanded beyond candidates of the opposing party to election workers carrying out their patriotic duties to the country.
www.reuters.com
