How the 2024 election will be stolen

The Republicans are now quite far along in their plan to take the US Presidency in 2024 regardless of the outcome of the popular vote. This statement is not alarmist or pessimistic. The evidence is in plain view for all who have the eyes to see it.

First of all, we need to remember that, because of our strange and undemocratic “Electoral College” system, five US Presidents who did not win the popular vote have been declared the winner. Two of the last four Presidents were elected this way.

But this time the minority plan to take the Presidency through deliberate advance sabotage of election procedures. This time, the minority plans to take power permanently. This time, all avenues for legal appeal will be blocked.

Many have already pointed out that the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2020 was merely a dry run of the coup still to come. The conspirators are now better prepared and will be much more organized next time.

Sowing distrust

The first step in the plan has already been accomplished. This was the decades-long effort to sow skepticism and distrust of our government – especially the Federal government. This was done by decades of constant whining, lying, conspiracy spinning, and fear-mongering on talk radio, FauxNews, and from the pulpit of right-wing churches.

The goal was to turn Americans into dissatisfied, resentful, grumblers. Nothing is ever good enough. “I deserve better than this.” “Minorities and immigrants are getting a better deal than I am.” And, especially, “It’s all Washingon’s fault.”

Right-wing media has deliberately worked to bring out the worst in people – their petty jealousies, their selfish narrow-mindedness, their paranoid fears. The insurgents needed an ill-informed, disgruntled, and angry mob to assist with their coup. Task accomplished!

Legal wrangling

The legal framework they have come up with to enable their coup is called the “independent state legislature” doctrine. This dubious theory, concocted by right-wing “scholars,” would give state legislatures complete control over all elections procedures.

The Legislatures in Republican states would have absolute control over voting rules and redistricting. State courts would have no power to intervene in election disputes, and state legislatures could even overrule their state’s own constitution!

Conservative lawyers and Republican politicians have been pushing this blatantly unconstitutional theory for two decades. Currently, no less than four members of the US Supreme Court (Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh) support this theory.

It is likely that sometime in 2023 the Supreme Court will review a case that could decide whether state legislatures have the power to essentially rig Congressional and Presidential elections. At that point, the fate of our democracy could well rest in the hands of Amy Coney Barrett. (!!).

Political manipulation

On the political front, in the nine states where the 2020 Presidential race was the closest, 357 (44 %) sitting Republican legislators have tried to discredit or overturn that race.

The current strategy is to have 2020 election deniers run for attorney general and secretary of state in those swing states. This would put the positions of the top law enforcement officer and the top elections officer in those states in the hands of people who could interfere with and/or deliberately change an election’s results.

If these new officers cannot deliver the desired election outcome directly, they will give Republican-controlled state legislatures cover to submit “alternative” slates of Presidential electors in 2024 who will then give their state’s electoral votes to the popular vote loser.

Sealing the deal

And, finally, to put the finishing nails in the coffin of democracy, it will be extremely difficult (or impossible) to challenge these shenanigans because of the successful, decades-long, right-wing stacking of the state, federal, and Supreme courts.

The current election cycle is critical to blocking this deliberate, well-planned, rigging of our electoral system. If the Democratic Party does not win, and win big, in the 2022 election, at every level from Congress to the counties (where the votes are counted), it probably will not matter who you vote for in 2024. The fix will be in place — and the United States will no longer be a democratic republic.

Sources

Dave Roos, “5 Presidents Who Lost the Popular Vote But Won the Election,” History.com, November 2, 2020.
Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, “Ginni and Clarance Thomas Are Telling Us Exactly How the 2024 Coup Will Go Down,” Slate, May 23, 2022.
Rick Hansen, “Supreme Court Poised to Decide within Weeks Whether to Take Up Case Raising “Independent State Legislature” Theory-with Potential Big Implications for 2024 Elections,” Election Law Blog, May 22, 2022.
Mark Joseph Stern, “The Supreme Court Just Came Perilously Close to Blowing Up Federal Elections,” Slate, March 7, 2022.
Jennifer Senior, “American Rasputin,” The Atlantic, June 6, 2022.