The Gravedigger of Democracy makes his intentions clear
by digby
During the Bush years I remember Republicans used to commonly suggest that the congressional Democrats' weak critiques of the administration demonstrated that they were all they cared about was power. Here is one memorable line from John Hindracker:
By "the left" I'm including almost the entire Democratic Party, you can count the exceptions on your fingers, you can name them, Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman...The whole mainstream of the party is engaged in an effort that is a betrayal of America, what they care about is not winning the war on terror...I don't think they care about the danger to us as Americans or the danger to people in other countries. They care about power.
That was in 2005 when the war in Iraq was obviously a total debacle and the Democrats, a majority of whom who had previously voted authorized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, were only belatedly starting to push back against the clear failure of the policies. They won the congress back in 2006.
Fast forward to today and see what we are dealing with. This is from Dana Milbank:
Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset.
This doesn’t mean he’s a spy, but neither is it a flip accusation. Russia attacked our country in 2016. It is attacking us today. Its attacks will intensify in 2020. Yet each time we try to raise our defenses to repel the attack, McConnell, the Senate majority leader, blocks us from defending ourselves.
Let’s call this what it is: unpatriotic. The Kentucky Republican is, arguably more than any other American, doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding.
Robert Mueller sat before Congress this week warning that the Russia threat “deserves the attention of every American.” He said “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in our election is among the most serious” challenges to American democracy he has ever seen. “They are doing it as we sit here, and they expect to do it during the next campaign,” he warned, adding that “much more needs to be done in order to protect against these intrusions, not just by the Russians but others as well.”
Not three hours after Mueller finished testifying, Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, went to the Senate floor to request unanimous consent to pass legislation requiring presidential campaigns to report to the FBI any offers of assistance from agents of foreign governments.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) was there to represent her leader’s interests. “I object,” she said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) attempted to move a bill that would require campaigns to report to the FBI contributions by foreign nationals.
“I object,” said Hyde-Smith.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tried to force action on bipartisan legislation, written with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and supported by Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), protecting lawmakers from foreign cyberattacks. “The majority leader, our colleague from Kentucky, must stop blocking this common-sense legislation and allow this body to better defend itself against foreign hackers,” he said.
“I object,” repeated Hyde-Smith.
The next day, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the minority leader, asked for the Senate to pass the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, already passed by the House, that would direct $600 million in election assistance to states and require backup paper ballots.
McConnell himself responded this time, reading from a statement, his chin melting into his chest, his trademark thin smile on his lips. “It’s just a highly partisan bill from the same folks who spent two years hyping up a conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia,” he said. “Therefore, I object.” McConnell also objected to another attempt by Blumenthal to pass his bill.
Pleaded Schumer: “I would suggest to my friend the majority leader: If he doesn’t like this bill, let’s put another bill on the floor and debate it.”
But McConnell has blocked all such attempts, including:
A bipartisan bill requiring Facebook, Google and other Internet companies to disclose purchasers of political ads, to identify foreign influence.
A bipartisan bill to ease cooperation between state election officials and federal intelligence agencies.
A bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on any entity that attacks a U.S. election.
A bipartisan bill with severe new sanctions on Russia for its cybercrimes.
McConnell has prevented them all from being considered — over and over again. This is the same McConnell who, in the summer of 2016, when briefed by the CIA along with other congressional leaders on Russia’s electoral attacks, questioned the validity of the intelligence and forced a watering down of a warning letter to state officials about the threat, omitting any mention of Russia.
No amount of alarms sounded by U.S. authorities — even Republicans, even Trump appointees — moves McConnell.
On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray — Trump’s FBI director — told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Russians “haven’t been deterred enough” and are “absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections.”
This year, National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats — Trump’s intelligence director — told the Senate Intelligence Committee that “foreign actors will view the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests. We expect them to refine their capabilities and add new tactics.”
And on Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a bipartisan report finding that “Russian activities demand renewed attention to vulnerabilities in U.S. voting infrastructure.”
The committee concluded that “urgent steps” are needed “to replace outdated and vulnerable voting systems.” (The $380 million offered since 2016 is a pittance compared with the need.) “Despite the expense, cybersecurity needs to become a higher priority for election-related infrastructure,” the report concluded.
But one man blocks it all — while offering no alternative of his own.
Presumably, he thinks whatever influence Russia exerts over U.S. elections will benefit him (he’s up for reelection in 2020) and his party.
I will obnoxiously point out that I wrote about this too on Salon. It's not just McConnell. It's all of them.
Immediately after the hearing Republicans blocked two bipartisan election security bills that would require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance. On Thursday, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked two more, one to require a paper ballot back-up and the other to fund the Election Assistance Commission saying that Democrats wanted to give themselves a "political benefit" which is actually true. They would like the benefit of free and fair elections.
At this point, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Donald Trump isn't the only politician willing to accept foreign interference in our elections. The entire Republican Party now welcomes it as well.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the first volume of its report on the 2016 election interference Thursday and it contained a fairly shocking revelation. The election systems in all 50 states were targeted, a far bigger attack than we knew and apparently something that went almost completely undetected at the time. The report says that they did nothing with the information they gleaned but darkly suggest that its possible they may have been collecting information for a future date. This is, apparently, fine with President Trump and the Republican leadership.
Former solicitor general Walter Dellinger appeared on All In with Chris Hayes on Thursday night and made the important point that not all crimes are impeachable offenses, "nor does it need to be a technical violation of federal criminal code." But he noted that a president who consciously fails to defend the US against a foreign military intelligence attack for his political benefit is surely impeachable. But the Democratic leadership is convinced that the best course for dealing with Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors is not to impeach but to beat him fair and square at the ballot box.
Considering all we have learned from both the Mueller Report and the SSCI about Russian election interference and sabotage, as well as the continued unwillingness of the president and Republicans to do anything about it, that seems willfully naive.
We have a huge problem. The people are losing (or have lost) faith in our election system. The right has been propagandized to think millions of unauthorized immigrants are voting for their political enemies. (This is a lie, of course.) So they no longer believe that any election that doesn't result in a GOP victory is suspect. Even if the victory is huge, they find a way to persuade their voters that the result was illegitimate --- birtherism, for instance.
This is a political tactic that is not based upon reality.
On the other hand, our elections truly have been compromised. And it's not just because of Russian interference and cyber-warfare. This goes back to the vote suppression efforts of the Republicans and their demonstrated willingness to use any and all political leverage to seize power in 2000 --- by refusing to count all the votes.
We have now had two GOP presidential victories won by tiny margins in the electoral college under dubious circumstances in the last 16 years. The latest is a previously unimaginable escalation in which a foreign adversary worked to install a friendly Republican president. We know it is planning to do it again and the Republicans led by the president, the Attorney General and the Majority Leader of the US Senate are welcoming their help.
And here's the rub, people. If the Democrats happen to win anyway, I hope you know that they will immediately flip the script and say the new Democratic president was the one helped by a foreign adversary and is an illegitimate president. After all, they have left the door open to the interference. Even if the Dems manage to win in a landslide they will say it was the combination of all the "illegals" voting and the help of the Chinese, or the French or our new enemy, the Swedes.
They don't care if people think they are benefiting from Russian help. Their voters don't believe it and even if they do, they don't care. They are shameless. But they know the Democrats do care about legitimacy and also have a tendency to fight amongst themselves --- and they will exploit that.
Just saying. Be prepared.
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