Reality Check: Supreme Court Decisions Signal the End of Free and Fair Elections

Let's not kid ourselves.  What we're seeing in the court system, infected with MAGA appointees from Trump's term in office and the misplaced loyalty of many, if not most, of the pre-Trump Republicans who would rather win than play fair, is just a prelude to what is going to happen during the 2024 election, and afterward, especially if the ballot counts favor Biden, or whoever the Democrats wind up nominating in less than a month, instead of Trump.  And this author thinks that the unpopularity of, and fear of what Trump will do in a second term is the single issue in this election that will lead to his defeat.  

Trump and his MAGA menagerie have been planning on exactly how they are going to steal this election and get back in power since he boarded the plane and left Washington on January 20, 2021.  I'm not speculating or guessing, either, because they have said as much in almost those exact terms.  They have systematically put their plan in place, lined up the co-conspirators, including the federal court justices Trump appointed under the condition that they do favors for him when asked.  

Claiming Electoral Votes Before Congressional Certification

The plan that they implemented, to place fake electors in place of those who were actually elected by the voters failed, largely because the Republican Vice-President at the time, Mike Pence, actually did understand his constitutional role, and fortunately, though he was willing to allow his reputation to be permanently tarnished, and his political career come to an end for putting himself on such a corrupt, self-serving Presidential ticket, he did the right thing and Congress certified the vote in the teeth of a treasonous insurrection led by Trump.  

But it is highly likely that a good percentage of the electoral votes will not get certified at the state level this time around, and that the process will get held up until Constitutional deadlines pass, which will force the election into a Congress where each state gets one vote.  So unless Democrats can recover congressional majorities in several purple states that are intensely gerrymandered on purpose, this presents a major problem.  

This plan is no secret.  It's out in the open.  There are a lot of MAGA members of the House and Senate who are already prepared for this happening.  There have been multiple news programs, podcasts, interviews, at which this possibility has been discussed and explanations given as to exactly how it would work.  And there are poll workers and election officials in virtually every red state who are standing ready for orders from their orange headed buffoon to stop the process in the event that the votes don't go Trump's way.  

That includes county supervisors and local election officials, some of who are facing felony indictments and trials over their deliberate violations of state law in order to prevent votes from being certified.  Two supervisors in Cochise County, Arizona, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, both extremist conspiracy theorists, are facing prison time for their failure to certify vote totals they didn't like, claiming the machine counts, which had been audited four times, were wrong, and demanding a hand count of 55,000 ballots.  They just lost their appeal, and will go to trial in August.  

The Court System is No Longer Capable of Stopping This Injustice

The Supreme Court has already helped Republicans steal one election from Al Gore, by ruling that the state of Florida could certify its vote count before all ballots were received and counted.  The gist of that fiasco wasn't the tiny margin of votes separating Al Gore from George W. Bush that were counted and recounted, it was over 90,000 ballots, some provisional, some absentee, that were left out of the count completely.  Because once they came to an election day count that had Bush with about a 150 vote lead, after a recount, the Secretary of State, who was also Bush's Florida campaign manager, certified the vote, disenfranchising those who had cast their ballots within the provisions of the law, and changing what would have been the eventual outcome of the state's electoral votes, and the Presidency.  

The manner in which this court has ruled on just about everything it had on the table during the past session indicates that it is willing to support Trump regardless of the lack of constitutional support or precedent, and they don't care how many laws he breaks, as long as they are part of his "official duties," a nebulous term which they can rule means whatever they want it to mean to fit whatever situation they need it to fit in order to protect him from the consequences of breaking the law.  

There is no longer any trust that the other side, if the voters make a clear choice, will do the right thing and honor that choice.  

A Dangerous Path for Democratic Party Electors

There have been public statements made from within the swamp of MAGA extremists, that Democrats chosen as electors may have a hard time travelling to the location where electoral votes are cast.  It would not surprise me, in the least, to hear that armed insurgents were actively preventing legitimately chosen electors from casting their votes.  Even in 2020, there were threats, mobs, armed traitors showing up at state capitol facilities to act intimidating, and in some places, attempts by people who were not chosen as electors to pass themselves off as such, or to attempt to interfere.  

How much worse is that going to be this time around?  

Suppose that President Biden wins the state of Georgia by 50,000 votes this time around.  That's not improbable, given that he won it by about 11,000 votes in 2020, that the two Democratic Senators won their run-off elections by about 40,000, and that Senator Rafael Warnock won re-election by a little larger margin than that in the 2022 mid-term.  Georgia still has a Republican dominated state legislature, a Republican governor and a Republican secretary of state.  The current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, angered Republicans for refusing to be corrupt enough to overturn the free and fair election last time around, and Biden got Georgia's electoral votes.  

But suppose the same scenario occurs in a red state with a MAGA secretary of state who simply refuses to allow the state's votes to be certified, or attempts to disqualify enough Democratic votes to throw the election the other way?  Who will stop that?  Is it possible?  

It is not only possible, it is part of the planning.  The fact that they are beyond just considering it, but are ready to implement it can be known because they are telling us this is the case. 

 

Violent Intervention is a Right Wing Plan to Stop an Election

I really hate to be a pessimist, but I believe the incidents of violence on election day, and at places where ballots are counted afterward, will be numerous, tragic and will result in fatalities, especially among the law enforcement personnel who will have to respond to this nonsense.  The open threats of violence are no secret.  The Evangelical groups are justifying their plans by claiming it to be a righteous cause and claiming that God is holding their coat-tails and cheering them on.  A pastor, claiming that he will stand in the doorway of his church, which is a polling place, and physically prevent Democrats from entering the building is no joke.  That's already been attempted, by the way, without consequences to the perpetrator.   

The Heritage Foundation, which is perhaps the most subversive extremist group in the country, has already gone public with its "New American Revolution" rhetoric, and advocates the use of violence in the event that they can't win the election.  As far as they are concerned, the election itself is inconsequential.  They have their agenda and they will move forward regardless, if not peaceably through the ballot box, then violently, in a manner which completely unmasks their Christian veneer. And they're not the only ones.  

I Hope That Preparations Are Being Made for the Worst Case Scenario

No doubt, with every idea that gets floated and every threat that gets made there must be some discernment on the part of those whose responsibility it is to prevent this from happening as to what is a genuine threat, and what is not.  The track record of those making these threats is real enough.  There are multiple cases already, all over the country, of right wingers who are willing to break the law if necessary to get their way.  And it what may very likely be another very close election, there are those who see the opportunity to do just enough damage to steal it for their own cause, because their party nominee, Trump, not only encourages them to do so, but considers it a test of their loyalty. 

In the fight to preserve and protect the integrity of this election, we have no allies in the governors and legislatures of red states, who will be working to undermine democracy and steal the election for their own side, and we have no allies in the Supreme Court, which has become the corrupt institution that the founding fathers feared that it could become if given the opportunity.  It's been poisoned by partisan politics, and its worthless now as a means of enforcing the law.   

And the possibility exists that the corruption of the courts, and the actions of the mob, may be more than can be overcome this time around.  Are there still enough eyes and ears, and enough patriotic Americans, to ensure the integrity of a national election, and then make sure that the will of the people is carried out, and the traitors suffer the consequences of their lawlessness?   

I hope so.  

 

 

A Right Wing Dictatorship is Exactly the Agenda of the Far Right, and Evangelical Supporters of Trump

Six of the current members of the Supreme Court were appointed by Presidents who listened carefully to the extremist Evangelical right [I refuse to call them Christian, since they have revealed to us that they aren't in any way, Christian] and took their names directly off of their approved list.  Five of those six are Catholic, and the sixth, Neil Gorsuch, was a former Catholic who now attends an Episcopalian church.  And while the primary qualification for all six was that they were favorable to overturning Roe v. Wade, something all six lied about when testifying before Congress during their hearings, the underlying agenda is their willingness to support Christian nationalism.  

Many Catholics have a strong interest in Christian nationalism, and in establishing church authority as the primary influence over the civil government because of their long, long, long history of being the state church in most of Europe.  The Protestant Reformation was, in part, a rebellion against the absolute authority that the Pope wielded over monarchies, and against the horrific cruelty with which the church dealt with those who refused to bow the knee.  The Reformation still didn't bring about the separation of church and state, or religious liberty.  In fact, it only made the wars between countries longer and bloodier.  

And that is the legacy of Christian attempts to create a theocracy, resting the principles of the Christian gospel on the political power of the state, and enforcing, by that same power, ideals, principles, doctrine and theology that Jesus himself never intended to be "enforced" at all.  His gospel was a message of redemption, the ideals, principles, doctrine, theology and practice coming out of spiritual conviction and renewal, not because it is ordered by law  

We Are on the Road to the Goals of Project 2025

I'm just a Democrat, a blogger on social media.  I'm no prophet.  But I can see where things are heading.  And if you want to see where they are going, and exactly how your civil liberties are about to be taken away from you, you need to google "Project 2025" and read what you find there.  This is a Christian nationalist agenda and I am quite surprised that, while it has been out there for some time, there are few warnings out there about this.  And yet, this is the agenda that the Trump campaign and the extremist Evangelical right have formed and plan to start implementing if, in fact, Trump winds up winning the election.  

You can thank the Supreme Court for this intrusion into your freedom of conscience and religion. 

I would advise Democrats to use every means possible to educate as many voters as possible about this plan.  These people know what they are doing.  And they've been planning this for a while. 

Evangelical Churches and Denominations are not Democratic, They Are Autocratic 

Most of the Evangelical leaders who are up front and public in their support for Trump are megachurch pastors or they are executives in large ministry organizations that collect millions of dollars, out of which they take a more than fair share.  There is little accountability.  In the bigger churches, the congregation is set up as an oligarchy, called "Elder rule," which is basically the pastor setting himself up with a few of his more enthusiastic supporters as Elders, in order to get what he wants in the way of conducting church business.  Sometimes there is an annual meeting, at which members can theoretically ask questions and provide input, but generally, these pastors face little accountability.  

The salaries are exhorbitant, making these leaders rich beyond the dreams of most of their members.  It comes out of the collection plate.  Aside from building church buildings that are monuments to themselves, the biggest expense is not the missionary activity and ministry which they preach is the most important work of the church, and that betrays the lack of sincerity in their preaching.  

Long ago, I lost any confidence in anything any of these "leaders" had to say.  Their hypocrisy is self evident.  They undermine the credibility of all Christians with their self-centered interpretations of the Bible, manipulating the text to support what they want to support and justify whatever sin they want to justify.  Their support for Trump, who has gone so far as to openly deny the very path to conversion and redemption that they claim to preach, is a sickening display of their contempt for God and for the sincerity of those in their own congregations. 

They claim to believe that the Bible, the sixty-six books accepted by most Protestants, is "inerrant," or without human error in its original writing, and infallible in its content, authoritative in all matters of Christian faith and practice.  But when preaching from the Bible, most of these preachers consider their words as "spiritually inspired," and intentionally leave their congregations with the impression that their interpretation of scripture is the correct one, and all others are wrong.  That's how they justify their absolute power.  So questioning the pastor is equated with questioning God.  

This is how they rule over their congregations.  Fortunately, burning at the stake, which was the typical means used by the Christian church during most of its history as a state church, is against the law, for now.  Now they have to deal with people who just walk away from their authority and leave the church.  A lot of people do that, in fact, Evangelical Christianity has lost a significant number of members over the past couple of decades.  But most people are too mezmerized by the preaching, and convinced that the preacher holds the keys to heaven for them that they are fearful of telling the truth.  

That explains why they are attracted to Trump.  He represents the path to power, money and influence and he has promised to get some of the same for them.  In turn, they've replaced preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ with sermons full of political rhetoric and justification of the anti-Christian, worldly lifestyle he has chosen not only to live, but to brag about and celebrate.  He has succeeded in replacing Jesus as the savior of many people.  

The Will of the People:  Are We Going to Protect Ourselves From the Dangers Trump Poses? 

Right at the very time that Democrats need to be united, on point, and gathering resources to give them the ability to beat Trump into the ground, we are dealing with disarray within our own party.  I sure hope that the events of this past week, specifically, today's Supreme Court decision, serve as a wake up call and Democrats can throw off this funk and unite to defeat the worst enemy our country has faced since Hitler.  

The fact that there are as many Americans as there are who don't see problems with Trump's plans for a second term and Project 2025 is appalling in and of itself and is an indictment of our public education system's ability to teach critical thinking skills and how to develop common sense.  But there are enough Americans who are appalled by this, and who see what is happening, to stop it.  So Democrats have the job of convincing them to vote straight ticket and give us a Congress that will put a stop to this nonsense.  

So my question stands for you to answer.  Are we going to protect ourselves from the dangers Trump poses?

I Don't Want My Country to Lose its Constitutional Democracy

The plan to overturn the 2020 election by inserting the votes of fake electors and then, by a mob intent on making sure Congress didn't count the electoral votes that were legitimately supported by the majority of voters in each state, failed.  At least, it failed on January 6, 2020, to achieve the result of overturning the election by insurrection.  

It appears to have gathered momentum, however, and it has allies in high places, including the United States Supreme Court, the media, the federal judiciary, some state legislatures and courts, and it has what appear to be a significant number of followers and advocates in the electorate at large.  The fight for American Democracy isn't over yet, in fact, it has just started.  

With recent Supreme Court rulings, coming from the most partisan court in American history, one that has most of our founding fathers turning over in their graves, the odds of keeping the Constitution in tact and democracy in place are getting slimmer.  We are at a point where something must be done to curb the power of six judges who were the top recommentations of the most conservative elements of the Republican party, or we are going to lose everything.  

It's not like we didn't see this coming.  Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, a whole collection of extremist right wingers figured out how to control the courts.  Right wing activists like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and others set up the colleges and universities to train lawyers for the purpose of getting them into lifetime appointments on the federal bench.  Conservatives pushed for the election of politicians who were willing to abandon working on both sides of the aisle to get things done in exchange for a "winner take all" attitude.  The problem with that has been that while the Republicans take it all and burn down the house after them, Democrats still play the game of negotiation and compromise.  And so we lost the court that matters most.  

How to Save Our Democracy Now

If we do not win this election, that's the end.  And at the present time, with all of the difficulties that present themselves over getting anything done in Congress, including any possible pressure they could put on the court, this is the only option we have.  

The focus of the Democratic party right now, however, is not on preserving and protecting the democracy, or winning the election.  We're focused on yet another distraction, the same kind of thing that has cost us elections and distracted us, and put is in the position where we are right now.  I don't know what it will take to slap us in the face, collectively, and get the focus back on winning this election, but whatever it will take, that must be done.  

Every American who does not want to see this constitutional democracy dissolved right before our eyes must decide they are going to make sure they cast a ballot which will prevent Donald Trump from being elected.  This Supreme Court has called us to action.  Democratic party members must reach out and make sure independent voters, Green Party voters, moderate Republican voters and every single Democrat registered to vote.  Joe Biden must be relected President.  

Are you with me?  

No President is President Alone

Joe Biden is 81 years old, and he just had a sub-par debate performance.  Well, be honest.  Trump lying through his teeth during the whole debate didn't help him out with any of the voting constituencies he needs to win either.  It was one debate performance.  If that's going to cause the kind of panic and reactionary caterwauling like it appears to have done, like an almost scripted gift to the Trump campaign, then we probably need to just concede now, give it up and get ready for the bloodbath and civil war that's coming.  

But no President serves alone, or at least, no real President does.  Trump tried it, and he failed.  Biden has some of the Democratic party's best people around him.  The cabinet is solid, we have some of the sharpest and most estute governors in the country, and his surrogates among the members of the House and Senate are the best politicians in the nation, head and shoulders in experience, wisdom and knowledge of government over their Republican counterparts.  

I don't have any doubt that Joe Biden is up to the job for four more years, and I am supporting his re-election campaign 100%.  I'd vote for anyone running on the Democratic ticket regardless, because I would also be voting to keep Trump from getting back in the Presidency.  I want to make sure our country remains democratic and committed to the rule of law and to its Constitution.  If his age should somehow become a factor, after he's been elected President, there are capable people behind him who could continue seamlessly to push forward.  

I hope those who have been muttering, complaining, threatening not to show up, or to support the other side over their very specific cause see just how dangerous to themselves and to their cause it would be to make the mistake of feeding their own frustration rather than helping elect the guy who is going to be their best advocate.  We have a great party and our strength is in our diversity, as long as we don't let the diversity become selfish ambition that pulls us apart.  So Gaza supporters, Latino voters, Black voters, Asian voters, women, young voters, Jewish voters, working class voters, Green Party voters, independent voters, moderate Republican voters, voters who disapprove of the SupremeCcourt, voters who are in favor of women making their own health care choices,  and everyone else who stands to lose everything if Trump is re-elected, it is time to unify the party and put up a solid front.  

Joe Biden is the Democratic party nominee, and he's the guy who can beat Trump.  We need to re-elect him and give him a Congress who will start the process of getting the power back in the hands of the people and out of the judicial branch and Supreme Court.  He has the experience and knowledge to fix the damage Trump did during his term, including the balance of the court.  

Are you with me? 

A Sickening Slide into Apostasy, Evil Takes Over American Evangelicalism

 Baptist News Global: Evangelical Emergency Prayer Call Before Debate

A group of Evangelical pastors and self-proclaimed leaders indicted themselves in abandoning the Christian faith last Thursday in their "emergency prayer meeting" on Trump's behalf before the debate.  

As a Christian, I am absolutely sickened by this group's continuous slide into apostasy, because they choose to support a man whose lifestyle and whose very words are an open denial of the Christian gospel, and of Jesus Christ himself.  They've allowed an antichrist to intrude into their churches, an evil personage who has set himself up to receive loyalty that Christians once gave to Jesus, because, as the scripture says, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." [2 Corinthians 11:14]

"For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."  [Matthew 24:24 NIV]

They have chosen to endorse a secular political candidate, and that endorsement means they are also picking up and carrying along the baggage that goes with it.  These evangelical leaders are supporting a man who has just been convicted on 34 felony counts of dishonesty and fraud in business, related to attempts to cover up the fact that he was sleeping with a porn star while his pregnant wife was preparing to give birth to their son.  

They gathered for an "emergency prayer meeting for Trump," who proceeded to debate with some of the biggest whopping lies he repeats all the time, bearing false witness against his neighbor, if I may use that phrase from the Ten Commandments to make the point. They must, in their attempts to justify supporting him, also own the fact that he has repeatedly denied his own need for repentance and forgiveness, which the apostle John defines as "antichrist," and which the Bible that these men claim is inerrant and infallible says constitutes blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  

This is the man whose side they've taken in a political race, which, if they were genuine in their Christian faith, they'd stay away from public endorsements.  That tells me all I need to know about anyone who was participating in that prayer meeting.  They are phonies and frauds themselves, just like their political inamorata.  

But...How Can These Self-Appointed Christian Leaders Miss the Point of Their Own Faith? 

They share so much in common with Trump that it's not surprising at all.  They are lovers of money, lovers of power and lovers of themselves.  Did you catch, in the debate, what determines any decision Trump makes is on how much he can personally profit from it.  We can't support Ukraine because of the cost.  If NATO allies don't pay their bill, then let Putin invade and we do nothing.  It's all about money.  

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  [I Timothy 6:10, NIV]

Evangelicals claim that the Bible is without error, and is infallible in its content.  That's an interesting theological perspective which is not actually supported anywhere in the Bible itself, which is supposed to be the "sole authority" for doctrine in the Christian church.  How that gets translated, from the pulpit to the congregation, is that these pastors convince their congregants that if the Bible is without error and infallible, and they are, of course, "preaching the Bible," then whatever they say and however they interpret the Bible is also infallible and without error.  Any member of a church who challenges some pretense of the pastor is therefore accused of challenging the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible.  

Each of these leaders claims to have been "called" by God to serve in their church, and "illumined" in their preaching by the Holy Spirit.  So they claim they are speaking on God's behalf, even when they step away from the Bible and start commenting on everything else in society, including government.  They have absolute authority within their own congregations, their interpretation of the Bible is the only acceptable one and they demand the loyalty of their congregants.  They have made themselves wealthy off the offerings of their congregants, and they can get most of their church members to do whatever they want them to do, whether its help in lucrative business deals, or help to put down disgruntled, vocal opposition in the church.  

Immorality, and a lifestyle based on the Christian gospel's beatitudes, and fruit of the spirit, is secondary to their acquisition of power.  What power, as an evangelical leader means, is that immorality can be indulged in, and then hidden, as so many of them have done.  That's why Trump appeals to them, and that's why they follow him.  They will become a ruling oligarchy if he wins, the Christian nationalist dictatorship they have always wanted, sans any of the values of Jesus, because they want revenge on all of those who have rejected their message.  Just like he does.  

Like Trump, there are not any of these Evangelical leaders, especially those who have accumulated their wealth by selling the faith, who give a damn about the values of the Christian Gospel.  That is simply the means by which to dupe enough people into them getting into political power to get what they want. They are, as the Apostle Jude describes, 

"Blemishes at your love-feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm-- shepherds who feed only themselves--, they are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees without fruit and uprooted--twice dead.  They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever."  [Jude 12,13, NIV]

A vote for Trump will empower these egomaniacs and false prophets, placing them in control of your life.  Think about that before you cast your ballot.