Conservative Republican State Election Officials Unite to Reassure the Legitimacy of Elections against False Claims of Election Fraud

Conservative Republican state election officials have united to form a working group to reassure voters about the legitimacy of elections and to debunk false claims of election fraud. The effort is led by the Chief Operating Officer of the Georgia Secretary of State and is coordinated by the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the R Street Institute, a center-right thank tank. Several GOP Secretaries of State are participating. Since Donald Trump and his supporters made false claims of election fraud following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, nearly 40% of state, county and local election officials across America have faced bullying and threats. Many state and county election office managers have resigned, causing losses of experience, and there is a shortage of local workers. The false claims, which were rejected by Republican election officials, Republican-appointed state and federal judges, and most GOP members of Congress, undermines confidence in elections. Thus, they further the goal of Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, the ex-Soviet intelligence officer intent on restoring the Soviet/Russian Empire, who had interfered in the 2016 presidential primaries and general election, backing Trump with a “sweeping and systematic” campaign of interference through overt and covert propaganda and disinformation, according to the Republican special counsel, which was validated by the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee. As it does in European politics, Russia interfered in American politics since 2014 to increase support for its policies, back favorable candidates, divide Americans, and undermine confidence in elections and the truth. After Trump, who had defrauded voters when he falsely said he had not been continuing to do business with Russia during the 2016 campaign, asked for Russian interference on his behalf, Russia obliged and his campaign coordinated its messaging with advanced knowledge of leaks by a Russian cut-out, Wikileaks, of information stolen by the Russians. Russia continued to support Trump in the 2020 General Election. Yet the demagogic Trump, who denied Russian interference on his behalf and obstructed the criminal probe of Russian interference, and who had also benefited from deception, intimidation and illegal campaign finance activities, convinced his supporters, who deny or minimize the massive Russian interference by focusing only on the lack of criminal prosecution of Trump campaign staffers, that he was instead the victim of election fraud, despite a lack of convincing evidence. His false allegations of election fraud cost Republican candidates votes and control of the Senate in 2020 because he persuaded voters that their votes would not be counted. Election officials in Georgia were particularly targeted by pressure from Trump after the 2020 General Election, and in several other closely contested States. The Republican Secretary of State of Kentucky won the Profiles in Courage Award last week for resisting such pressure from Trump. Trump’s attempt to stay in power culminated in the January 6, 2021 Insurrection against the congressional certification of the vote of the Electoral College, delaying the process, but failing to overturn the results. Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a conservative Republican who was nominated by the liberal Democratic Governor and confirmed by the divided General Assembly with strong bipartisan support, was not named in the professional media reports as a participant in the state election officials working group, but had expressed similar views as Philadelphia City Commissioner that Trump had falsely undermined confidence in a legitimate election. Like most Trump critics, the elections watchdog faced death threats against him and his family. The integrity of elections have thus become a critical issue in the 2024 presidential election. The efforts of Republican elections officials to reassure the voters of election integrity are essential both for continued voter confidence and particularly Republican voter turnout, but for acceptance of the will of the voters by all, which is essential for elective government. Moreover, the brave work they do to conduct honest elections by preventing election fraud while debunking false claims of election fraud defends representative government from authoritarians who use populism and demagoguery through false claims of election fraud to gain or remain in power, especially while denying the election fraud that benefits them.

Cinfici Has Been Polled Yet Again

I was polled a couple weeks ago for the presidential election, as I have been many times over the years. Having a landline makes me a prime target of pollsters. I gave unfavorable ratings of both major party candidates, except I gave some foreign policy credit to the incumbent President (there was no option provided to give credit for defense, or I would have). For liberal Democratic President Joe Biden, I responded that his policies in general were the reason for the unfavorable rating and for populist Donald Trump, the options for the reasons included “personality” and “legal problems,” but did not include “character,” which I would have chosen for the Republican who dodged the draft through fraud, broke his marriage vow with each of his three wives, cheated in business and taxes, lied about not doing business with Russia during his campaign, engaged in or accepted other election fraud (even from a hostile foreign power), and was never able to put America’s interests, which he does not understand, above his own. Therefore, I chose “foreign policy” as the next best alternative. I responded that I intend not to vote for either one of them or leftwing anti-vaccine kook Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who was the only other named option, but some other candidate, like many other conservatives following their consciences. I had voted in the Pennsylvania Presidential Primary last month for another GOP candidate, who received a respectable result without contesting the election and I continue not to vote for Trumpist candidates in primaries or general elections. As I have posted, Trumpism is a mix of protectionism, nativism and isolationism, while Trump’s character leads to dishonesty, corruption, cruelty and authoritarianism that also typify Trumpism. Because it is a cancer on the conservative movement and a mortal threat to the Republican Party, it must be excised completely by both.

Foreign Digest: Russia and South Africa

Russia: The United States and its Western and European Allies boycotted the inauguration of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin last week because the long-time ruler’s re-election was not free and fair. Putin, an ex-Soviet intelligence officer intent on restoring the Soviet Union, was elected in 1999, but has used authoritarian means to govern as a tyrannical autocrat, using elections in which only parties and candidates who do not criticize him are allowed to participate to provide an appearance of legitimacy. Human rights supporters, journalists and opposition leaders are routinely imprisoned, exiled or murdered and certain basic freedoms are not tolerated. The European Union announced last week that it will use 90% of the Russian funds it has frozen for military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russian aggression and for humanitarian and reconstruction needs. Russia continues to advance its military forces in Ukraine until the defensive aid approved by the United States last month arrives. It had been delayed for several months by isolationist and pro-Russian Republican Representatives led by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, despite strong bipartisan support. Russia invaded the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine in 2014, despite recognizing Ukrainian independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. South Africa: A diverse alliance of opposition parties in South Africa has formed a bloc called the “Multi-Party Chapter (MPC)” to challenge the long-ruling leftist African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled with the Communist Party since the end of apartheid in 1994. The bloc is formed by the leading centrist party, the Democratic Alliance, which earns support from mixed-race people and Whites, especially Afrikaans and English speakers, and which leads in Western Cape, the third largest Province; a right-wing Afrikaans party; the conservative Inkatha Freedom Party, which is the party of the Zulu tribe, the second largest in South Africa and which is the leading opposition party in KwaZulu-Natal, the second-most populous Province; and a newer party led by the ex-mayor of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa and the capital of the third largest of the nine Provinces. The racially and ethnically diverse coalition is united around free market principles and adherence to the constitutional principles of liberty and representative government. South Africa has suffered corruption and economic inefficiency. The ANC remains the most popular party, but for the first time does not enjoy a majority of support in the polls. Two other left-wing parties have splintered from it, thus opening the door to the possibility of a coalition government between either the ANC and one of its bitter rivals on the left, or with the Democratic Alliance, or even of a government coalition among the MPC bloc. Similar blocs of opposition candidates challenged in recent years authoritarian rulers in Hungary and Turkey with strong showings, despite the challenges, and are currently contesting the elections in Venezuela and India.

Persecuted Russian Advocate for Freedom Vladimir Kara-Murza Has Won a Pulitzer Prize

Vladimir Kara-Murza, the Russian historian, author and politician who is a leading advocate for freedom against the tyrannical regime of Vladimir Putin, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for journalism for his columns, published in an American newspaper, that were written from prison detailing his experience as a persecuted Russian dissident. He is serving a 25-year sentence for his speech before the Arizona House of Representatives in which he criticized the ex-Soviet intelligence officer Putin’s aggression against the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine—the longest sentence any critic of the war has received. The British-Russian citizen Kara-Murza’s story is similar to that of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Twice poisoned and then imprisoned by a judicial system controlled by the tyrannical regime, he has been transferred to a prison in Siberia, and sent to solitary confinement for lengthy periods. Kara-Murza’s wife and children live in exile in America and advocate for his release. Other Russian dissidents have won other prestigious awards, such as the Nobel Prize for Peace and the Sakharov Award as Putin, who is trying to restore the Soviet/Russian Empire has supplanted the elective representative government by which he came to power with autocracy under the appearance of legitimacy from elections that are not free and fair, as he has become increasingly authoritarian and tramples on basic freedoms.

Pertussis Outbreak in Pennsylvania

There has been an outbreak of pertussis, also known as “whooping cough,” in Pennsylvania. The number of cases significantly exceeds the normal low number that originates primarily from people who contract it while traveling abroad. Like the outbreaks of measles I have been posting about in Pennsylvania, America, Europe and Central Asia, it is occurring among those, especially children, who are unvaccinated. Vaccine resistance over the last decade has decreased the herd immunity necessary to protect those who cannot be vaccinated or who have immune systems too compromised for vaccines to be effective. For most people, vaccines are effective and safe — far safer than the diseases they protect against. As I have posted, vaccine hesitancy was encourage by since-debunked theories about the safety of vaccines, and is embraced for ideological reasons on both the far left and far right, exacerbated by libertarian resistance to vaccine requirements, and amplified by disinformation from the Russian Federation. As a result, diseases like pertussis and measles, which were nearly eradicated earlier this century in America and Europe, have reappeared, while vaccine hesitancy against the vaccines for Coronavirus 2019 Disease greatly contributed to cases, hospitalizations, long-term symptoms, and deaths during the pandemic, even though the vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.

Foreign Digest: Russian Machinations in Europe, and Georgia’s Russian-Style Law

Russian Machinations in Europe: The Russian Federation, led by the tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer, Vladimir Putin, who is trying to restore the Soviet Union, is one of the most malign forces in the world, as a trio of new allegations proves. The United Nations denounced Russia for war crimes in Syria in support of the Iranian-backed terrorist-sponsoring regime of Bashar Assad against civilians rebelling against the tyrannical Assad. The United States accuses Russia of using chemical weapons in the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine, where Russia has been committing aggression since 2014. And Germany accuses Russian Federation state actors of a cyberattack against the ruling German party in 2023. The European Union condemned Russia for its cyberattacks on government institutions in Germany and the Czech Republic. Russia has murdered exiles in Germany, the United Kingdom, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Moldova confiscated $1million in funds from a group of 150 Russians who were planning to finance pro-Russian political parties. Russia maintains troops in a breakaway part of the former Soviet Republic of Moldova inhabited by ethnic Russians, against the will of Moldova. Russia typically finances political parties or candidates for elective office in Europe and interferes in European and American elections through propaganda, disinformation, stealing and publicizing information, bribery, and other means to promote its policies, disparage the governments of former Soviet Republics it seeks to control, and weaken Europe and America through exacerbating divisions and by undermining confidence in elections and in the truth. Georgia’s Russian-Style Foreign Agents Law: Despite massive protests opposing the bill, the Parliament of the former Soviet Republic of Georgia approved last week a broadly restrictive law against “foreign agents” in the style of a Russian law that can be used to curtail freedoms, including the freedom of association (if any organization is international) and freedom of the press (if the media business is foreign-owned). Under Vladimir Putin, Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, establishing puppet states in two breakaway regions and further encroaching against Georgian territory, while failing to withdraw its troops, as promised. The current Georgian Government has been pro-Russian, despite the threat from Putin, which has exacerbated fears among the Georgian people.

Foreign Digest: Hungary, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Argentina and Iran

Hungary: The European Parliament recently denounced violations of freedom in Hungary, a member State which is ruled by a self-described “illiberal” nationalist anti-migrant far-right authoritarian government. Cuba and Venezuela: The Organization of American States has accused Communist Cuba of complicity in human rights violations in Socialist Venezuela. It cited witnesses of the participation of Cuban intelligence officers in the illegal detentions, torture and sexual abuse of political prisoners by the Socialist regime. Nicaragua: The Marxist Sandinista regime of Nicaragua has now shut down an updated total of more than 3,600 non-governmental organizations, including charities and religious organizations. The United States Department of State accuses Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela of seizing the goods of exiles. It notes the Sandinista regime has denied citizenship to 300 people, holds 100 political prisoners and forced 250 journalists into exile. As I have posted, a particular target has been the Catholic Church, including Bishops and Priests. Even the center-left Brazilian Government recently criticized the Nicaraguan policy of persecuting the Catholic Church. After the Marxist Sandinista dictator Daniel Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua through elections, he has become increasingly tyrannical and not permitted free and fair elections, or certain other basic freedoms. Argentina and Iran: Argentina requested last week the arrest of the Iranian Interior Minister for a massacre at a Jewish association in the South American State in 1994, in which 85 people were killed. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, spreads Shi’ite Islamist revolution around the Islamic world. It has repeatedly targeted Argentina and especially targets Jews.