Trumpist coup maneuvers

About

The Trumpist coup maneuvers are a series of efforts to disable the democratic process by various methods, the most visible of which has so far been the January 6 insurrection (1/6I). Some of these efforts involved Donald Trump or were in part orchestrated by him (such as 1/6I), but as his power has faded he has become less relevant to the process and others who share his philosophy of government (Trumpism) have taken the lead.

A large part of these efforts involves Trumpists installing obedient supporters into key positions within the electoral system where they can declare Trumpist political candidates to be the winners in elections they actually lost. Using false claims of rampant voter fraud and that the 2020 election was stolen as justification, they have also pushed for draconian changes to state election laws giving them more and direct control over the process. A great deal now hangs on how far they can get with this by the time of the 2022 midterm elections.

The Trumpist plans are also completely in sync with the longstanding Republican strategy of disempowering voters unlikely to support them, through various vote suppression methods including restricting poll access, voter intimidation, voter ID requirements, and gerrymandering.

They also appear to be making a concerted effort to take over local school boards.

Key Events

events are oldest-first; links are newest-first

• 2021.03.25- US/GA/2021 county election board purge
• 2021.12.20 Steve Bannon pledges a takeover, citing imaginary 2020 voter fraud as justification: «“And hey, all they want to talk about all day long is Omicron and 6 January. And we love it. Cuz nobody cares. We care because we care about the legitimacy of our process. We are a constitutional republic. And guess what, we are going to take over the election apparatus.”»
  • TDB: Steve Bannon Threatens to Take Over Entire U.S. ‘Election Apparatus’
  • Independent: ‘Evil takes no breaks’: Warnings as Steve Bannon vows to take over America’s entire ‘election apparatus’
  • MSN: Steve Bannon Threatens to Take Over the ‘Election Apparatus’ and ‘The Secretaries of State’
• 2022.01.28 GOP-dominated PA court strikes down a PA amendment allowing anyone to vote by mail, ruling it as violating the PA Constitution. The applicable section of the Constitution, however, clearly says «All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot or by such other method as may be prescribed by law» (emphasis as added by dissenting judges). The ruling will be appealed.
  • 2022.02.02 BallotPedia: Pennsylvania court strikes down state’s no-excuse absentee/mail-in voting law
  • 2022.01.29 Spotlight PA: A court just struck down Pennsylvania’s mail voting law. Here’s what you need to know. The suit was in large part «brought by a group of Republican state lawmakers [...], including 11 who voted to approve mail voting when the law was first passed».
  • 2022.01.28 Politico: Pennsylvania voting fight escalates as court strikes down mail ballot law
• 2022.02.25 Republicans file an argument with the Supreme Court that the North Carolina Supreme Court does not have the power even in reliance on the state Constitution, and despite precedent, to rein in partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts when done by a state legislature.
  • 2022-02-25 Slate: North Carolina Republicans Ask SCOTUS To Decimate Voting Rights in Every State (h/t)
• 2022.04.23 NC: Surry County GOP chair Keith Senter threatens job of Surry County elections chief Michella Huff if she doesn't illegally grant him access to voting machines

Links

• 2022-04-15
  • DKos: Texts show they were all for Trump overturning the election – until a lack of evidence got in the way
  • CNN: CNN Exclusive: 'We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend.' What the Meadows texts reveal about how two Trump congressional allies lobbied the White House to overturn the election.
• 2022-02-15 DKos: Tina Peters was arrested twice last week. Now she’s running to control Colorado’s elections « This comes months after the actual Secretary of State has exposed Peters for serious breaches of election security...»
• 2022-02-10 Y!/HuffPo: Peter Navarro Gets Testy When Asked If Kamala Harris Can Throw Out Election Results «Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro apparently thinks it would have been OK for then-Vice President Mike Pence to challenge the 2020 election results , but not for current Vice President Kamala Harris to do the same in 2024.»
• 2022-01-21 AP: Wisconsin GOP lawmaker calls for election cheating in video Wisconsin state Representative Elijah Behnke (R) «was recorded on video saying that Republicans need to “cheat like the Democrats” to win elections and that he’d like to punch Democratic Gov. Tony Evers over pandemic restrictions.»
• 2022-01-15
  • Guardian: Texas county rejects half of mail-in ballot applications amid new voter restrictions «The voter identification rules have led to the rejection of about half of the 700 mail-in ballots requested in Travis county for primary elections in March, according to the county’s clerk. / The denied ballots in Travis county follow a similar trend across Texas, with officials in Harris county, which includes the city of Houston, and Bexar county, which includes San Antonio, also turning down a substantial number of mail-in ballot applications.»
  • NPR: Trump officials interfered with the 2020 census beyond cutting it short, email shows «Former President Donald Trump's administration alarmed career civil servants at the Census Bureau by not only ending the 2020 national head count early, but also pressuring them to alter plans for protecting people's privacy and producing accurate data...»
    • 2020-09-14 the email
    • 2020-10-13 Census Bureau Statement on 2020 Census Data Collection Ending: this is apparently being used in right-wing circles to downplay Trump's interference
• 2022-01-12 HuffPo: Ohio Justices Toss GOP Statehouse Maps, Order Fix In 10 Days: a small setback for the coup
• 2022-01-10 NC Policy Watch: Conservative groups target state, local voter registration rolls with multiple lawsuits «North Carolina’s voter rolls are like a refrigerator that needs to be cleared periodically of rotting milk and other items past their expiration date, according to Jason Torchinsky.» Why? Honest Elections Project
• 2022-01-04 NPR: Here's where election-denying candidates are running to control voting
• 2021-12-21 Lincoln County looks to eliminate all polling places but one «The move was made possible after the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year disbanding the Lincoln County Board of Elections. The chief sponsor of Senate bills 282 and 283 was Sen. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown, whose district includes Lincoln County. The newly-appointed board agreed to move forward with the “consolidation” plan and was expected to vote on it last week, but appeared to lack a quorum, several said.»
• 2021-12-20
  • Daily Beast: Steve Bannon Threatens to Take Over Entire U.S. 'Election Apparatus'
  • Newsweek: Millions of Angry, Armed Americans Stand Ready to Seize Power If Trump Loses in 2024
    • Let's talk about the Newsweek article and Trump.... (video, 7:57, Beau of the Fifth Column): argues that the article was kind of irresponsible in that it could encourage others to rally around this cause by giving it credibility and failing to put the numbers in context
• 2021-12-18 Washington Post opinion: 3 retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection$ (archive.org) (via, via)
  • 2021-12-31 Retired general warns the U.S. military could lead a coup after the 2024 election
  • 2021-12-21 Let's talk about the op-ed from the generals.... (video, 11:04, Beau of the Fifth Column)
• 2021-12-14
  • Daily Kos: The DOJ has warned them, but Trump supporters continue to go door-to-door demanding voter info
  • Axios: Secretary of State races become fundraising cash magnet
• 2021-12-06
  • The Atlantic: Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun (long) «January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to subvert the next election.»
  • AP News: Trump-tied group pushing for voting changes in Wisconsin «...a ballot measure that would bypass the state’s Democratic governor to change how elections are run in the battleground state.»
• 2021-12-01 Washington Post: How Trump-backed secretary of state candidates would change elections in the United States$ (archive.org) «The ultimate win for [the Trumpists] would be to put in place secretaries of state, who oversee how elections are conducted in most states and sign off on the results. More than any other category of elected official, secretaries of state could be instrumental in overturning the popular vote in their state — an unprecedented move in American history — or take other actions that throw results into question.»
• 2021-11-29 Washington Post: Trump allies work to place supporters in key election posts across the country, spurring fears about future vote challenges$ (archive.org) «The effort goes far beyond the former president’s public broadsides against well-known Republican state officials who certified President Biden’s victory, such as Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. 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...»
• 2021-11-03 AP News: GOP chair funds Michigan ballot drive to toughen voting law «The primary funder of a ballot drive to toughen Michigan's voter identification law and restrict mass mailings of unsolicited absentee ballot applications is Ron Weiser, chairman of the state Republican Party.»
• 2021-09-09 Daily Kos: When Proud Boys show up at local school protests, they’re following a larger far-right blueprint
• 2021-03-22 NBC News: Trump endorses challenger to Ga. Secretary of State Raffensperger: Trump supports Jody Hice to replace Raffensberger