Is the Electoral Fix Already In? - Matt Tiabbi

[Geee]

Racket News

The fix is in. To “protect democracy,” democracy is already being canceled. We just haven’t admitted the implications of this to ourselves yet.

On Sunday, January 14th, NBC News ran an eye-catching story: “Fears grow that Trump will use the military in ‘dictatorial ways’ if he returns to the White House.” It described “a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers” that is “quietly” making plans to “foil any efforts to expand presidential power” on the part of Donald Trump.

The piece quoted an array of former high-ranking officials, all insisting Trump will misuse the Department of Defense to execute civilian political aims. Since Joe Biden’s team “leaked” a strategy memo in late December listing “Trump is an existential threat to democracy” as Campaign 2024’s central talking point, surrogates have worked overtime to insert existential or democracy in quotes. This was no different:

“We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy,” said Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, adding that Trump is “a clear and present danger to our democracy.” Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, one of the advocacy groups organizing the “loose” coalition, said, “We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy.” Declared former CIA and defense chief Leon Panetta: “Like any good dictator, he’s going to try to use the military to basically perform his will.”

Former Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice and current visiting Georgetown law professor Mary McCord was one of the few coalition participants quoted by name. She said:

We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to.

The group was formed by at least two organizations that have been hyperactive in filing lawsuits against Trump and Trump-related figures over the years: the aforementioned Democracy Forward, chaired by former Perkins Coie and Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias, and Protect Democracy, a ubiquitous non-profit run by a phalanx of former Obama administration lawyers like Ian Bassin, and funded at least in part by LinkedIn magnate Reid Hoffman.

[Valin]

Note to Readers: "The Fix is In"
Underscoring a point made on last week's livestream.
Matt Taibbi
Jan 31, 2024

Last week on this site, I published, “Is the Electoral Fix Already In?” and held a livestream on the subject that same night. I wanted to make sure I clarified something mentioned on the livestream.

I asked former Department of Defense official and current Georgetown Law professor Rosa Brooks if she was involved with the “loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers” reported on by NBC News in its January 14th article, “Fears grow that Trump will use the military in ‘dictatorial ways’ if he returns to the White House.” Brooks was the co-founder of the Transition Integrity Project profiled in the article, a “loose” group that got a lot of press in the summer of 2020.

(Snip)

Brooks not only said she was not part of the group reported on by NBC (“Nope”), but added, “I am not sure there even is a ‘group,’ as such — just various people and organizations that occasionally coordinate or at least touch base, but often don’t do either.”

Having mentioned it on the air, I thought I should put that answer in print.

Thanks. Stay tuned for a story on different subject, momentarily.