KM asks why the GOP leadership is terrified of losing.

(Both Lindsay Graham and Matt Gaetz said if the GOP loses this election, they'll never win again.)

GOP is a minority party. If they lose power, they lose the ability to manipulate systems to keep minority control.

1/

The Authority Figure Defense

My latest for the Washington Post with @reichellaw

https://t.co/QwdXVmXXuk

The Public Authority Defense will make it harder for the Trumps, Giuliani, and pals to squirm out of facing consequences.

1/

Here’s how the defense works. If the chief of police tells you that you could ignore “no parking” sign, you could evoke the Public Authority Defense.

You could point your finger at the authority figure who invited you to commit the illegal act.

The spotlight then turns to the authority figure: Did the chief of police have the authority to waive the parking restriction?

If not, was it reasonable for you to believe that he did?

See where this is

Each day, more evidence emerges that Trump and other elected officials instigated this riot.

Every day, more evidence emerges that the lies told by people like @tedcruz, @HawleyMO, and @KellyannePolls led to the

The public authority defense doesn’t mean the rioters are off the hook: They can still be arrested, charged and brought to trial.

But depending on the circumstances, a defense like this one can mitigate or even eliminate their culpability or lessen their punishment.

5/

(Thread) Over the Cliff Notes: Impeachment #2

Let’s start with the Article of Impeachment itself: https://t.co/KRiPGstRwi

The charge: Incitement of Insurrection.

Spoiler: This is a slam-dunk in the impeach-and-convict department, and will create a moment of truth for the GOP.

1/ The basics:

🔹Impeachment requires a majority vote in the House. 

🔹Impeachment is followed by a Senate Trial.

🔹Conviction requires 2/3 of the Senate.

After conviction, preventing Trump from holding office again requires a simple majority vote.

2/ This is not a criminal trial.

The Constitution specifically says that a criminal trial may be appropriate AFTER impeachment and removal.

Defendants in a criminal trial have special protections because they stand to lose their liberty, property, or even their life.

3/ An impeached president stands to lose his job and the ability to hold the job again.

Therefore certain requirements for a criminal trial, such as the requirement that allegations be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, do not apply.

4/ In addition to charging Incitement of Insurrection, the Article invokes the 14th Amendment (sec 3) and Trump’s duty to faithfully execute the oath of office. 

Notice the 14th Amendment doesn’t give the procedure for determining when Section 3 applies.

That new attack piece about Seth Abramson is full of easily debunked false claims. Whenever the mainstream media gets annoyed at an indie pundit like Seth, it just publishes a bunch of bullshit about him, and most people mistakenly believe it. They've done the same thing to me.

The sad part is that when the author of that piece tried to smear a bunch of mainstream media journalists for daring to compare notes with him, they all responded by lying and said they've never compared notes with him. Even though Abramson has proof that they have.

This is the EXACT same strategy that certain mainstream media outlets used against me in 2017-2018. First they lied about me. Then they attacked my mainstream media associates for associating with a "fake news" pundit like me. Then some in the media felt compelled to disown me.

Sadly, it didn't matter that I had overwhelming proof that everything said about me in those attack pieces was false. When you defend yourself, no matter how factually, the average observer merely decides you're being "defensive" and therefore guilty as charged.

Ask yourself why the mainstream media is choosing now to dishonestly attack Abramson. The media's ratings are way down now that Trump is gone. Abramson presumably still has his entire niche audience intact. So the media gets jealous and takes it out on him.

Happy New Years y’all...

I was going to take a little nap until morning but that can wait 😅

So much has bothered me but nothing more than how everything has been manufactured, everything...

We are literally living in an illusion...

(THREAD) The main problem with that @DanDrezner piece in the Post is that it's an international politics prof writing about the field in which I'm a professor—communications. No one in communications would *ever* compare the blogosphere to either Twitter or Substack. Here's why.

1/ Back in the mid-aughts, I was a Koufax Award-nominated political blogger (I don't know what Drezner was doing then; I first heard of him about a year ago). So I was into the blogosphere pretty deep, as I also ran a second high-traffic blog that was focused on the art world.

2/ The "blogosphere" was an outgrowth of MySpace and LiveJournal, inasmuch as in the heady early days of the internet people suddenly realized that they could engage in private diaristic writing—a very specific subgenre of writing—in the public square, and it was suddenly "okay."

3/ So the blogosphere as such had *nothing* to do with journalism, which needless to say was in a different state just 15 years ago (note: unlike Drezner, I also teach writing and journalism at the university level, so this thread is squarely "in my area," unlike his Post piece).

4/ The blogosphere was a manifestation of the transformation of the public-private binary at the dawn of the internet—and *also* connected to the "creative writing" explosion (what I did a PhD on); in the aughts, creative writing was the fastest-growing discipline *in the world*.

THREAD: Following multiple defeats in the 2020 election, Georgia Republicans are returning to their voter suppression tactics to hold onto waning power. #HB531, presented by voter suppressor Rep. Barry Fleming, includes several rollbacks on voting rights. ⬇️ 1/ #gapol

#HB531 could:

❌Eliminate Sunday Voting
❌Slash 108 Total Available Hrs of Early Vote
❌Remove 1 of 2 Saturday Vote Options
❌Force Counties To Raise Taxes To Pay For Elections
❌Slash Time Counties Can Mail Ballots
❌Prohibit Early Voting on Holidays

2/ #gapol

Slash Mail Ballot Application Window By 113 Days
Require Photocopy of ID for VBM App If No Driver's License
Set Restrictive Ballot Return Deadline of 11 Days Before Election

3/ #gapol

Allow Counties To Set Arbitrary Time For Ballot Return On New Fri Deadline
Require Counties To Pay For 24/7 In-Person Drop Box Security Official
Limit Drop Boxes To Only In EV Locations Only During Voting

4/ #gapol

Ban Use Of Drop Boxes After Early Vote Has Ended
Reject Every Single Out of Precinct Ballot
Allow Problematic Precinct Splitting That Will Confuse Voters
Ban Mobile Voting Used Primarily At Nursing Homes During Pandemic

5/ #gapol