It is said that you can have two thoughts at once, and Democrats are living proof of it. Idea #1: Democracy is the most important thing in the world. Idea #2: We should manipulate democracy so that Democrats always win.
For five years, Democrats have warned that Republicans are a threat to democracy.
First, there were the bogus stories that Republicans didn’t install voting stations in minority neighborhoods. (At the rate Republicans are winning over minorities, Democrats might actually try this in a few years.)
Then, there were kooky stories in 2020 of how the Trump administration was stealing mailboxes to cheat. (But as you know, it’s the right that has a conspiracy theory problem.)
Then, in 2021, democracy was supposed to die because people weren’t allowed to give food and water to those in the voting line. (But somehow, democracy had survived the same restrictions in New York for decades.)
And then, it was the end of democracy when ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ Republicans, like Mitt Romney, opposed nationalizing our elections as Joe Biden demanded in 2022.
And for the last two years, they said that Donald Trump’s return to the White House would not simply end democracy but also make America a fascist dictatorship.
And Trump’s threat to democracy was so serious that, to save democracy, you had to suspend democratic rules.
There was a series of third-party candidates and potential bids this cycle, and there were reasons to believe that these were bigger threats to Biden (when he was still running) than to Trump. There were also threats to him from within the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party apparatchiks took them on one by one.
First, they changed the rules to protect Biden’s nomination. Biden appointed the DNC chair after becoming president. The DNC chair then appointed a committee to revamp the Democratic primaries process. Mo Elleithee, one of the committee’s members, said that the group’s reform was intended to protect the incumbent, Joe Biden. The result was nixing New Hampshire and Iowa—the two states where Biden struggled in 2020—as early primaries and caucuses. South Carolina, which saved Biden’s campaign four years ago, became the first primary state instead.
Then, Democrats moved on to taking on third-party candidates.
They went after No Labels first. People like Biden’s first chief of staff, Ron Klain; Clinton administration alumnus, Matt Bennett; former senator Doug Jones; and former Republicans Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell, and Rick Wilson got together to stop No Labels.
They ran a media campaign to defame No Labels and its employees. They also decided to intimidate donors, vendors, and others affiliated with No Labels. Matt Bennett, leading the charge, said in a private meeting:
What we want to do with [No Labels’] donors is continue to build the idea in the minds of the political elites and the people that they talk to . . . [is] that if you get involved with this, you are throwing, you’re really risking your entire reputation and your legacy.
He added:
Through every channel we have, to their donors, their friends, the press, everyone — everyone — should send the message: If you have one fingernail clipping of a skeleton in your closet, we will find it. If you think you were vetted when you ran for governor, you’re insane. That was nothing. We are going to come at you with every gun we can possibly find.
There were also other tactics. Democrats tried to keep No Labels and third-party candidates off the ballot.
The Arizona secretary of state, Adrian Fontes, lost a lawsuit trying to remove No Labels from Arizona ballots.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, a bipartisan commission, unanimously voted to have Jill Stein on the ballot last February. Then, in August, the DNC sued to have her removed from the ballot in Wisconsin over a technicality that Stein hadn’t nominated any electors. It was so ridiculous that the state supreme court refused to even hear the argument.
The biggest target, though, was RFK. In New York, state supreme court justices are elected. Democratic advocacy groups sued to get Kennedy off the ballot. A state justice who ran as a Democrat ruled to keep RFK off the ballot because, according to the justice, Kennedy’s primary residence was in California. (Kennedy has multiple residences, including in New York and California, but apparently, a partisan justice gets to decide where someone really lives.)
Over similar technicalities, Democrats sued to keep Kennedy and others off the ballot in Nevada, Georgia, and other states. Campaign filings are complicated and very common. Wealthy parties can easily knock independents off the ballot because independent candidates can’t afford expensive lawyers to fight back.
The funniest story, though, happened after RFK dropped out and endorsed Trump. He asked for his name not to be on the ballot anymore. It makes sense. Why would you have the name of someone not even running on the ballot?
Democrats then refused to remove his name in some states because they realized that keeping him on the ballot would take more votes from Trump than from Kamala Harris. So, RFK had to sue in states like North Carolina to remove his name. Go figure!
Democrats are all about the will of the voters and democracy—unless it doesn’t go their way. Democracy is the most important thing—unless a candidate is a threat to you. Then, you should deny people that option through bullying.
These lawsuits are exactly that: bullying. Wealthy campaigns can fight them off and overcome these technicalities. But independents like Kennedy and Stein can’t afford expensive lawyers. Too often, they lose winnable cases in court because Democrats have better lawyers.
There is a little-known story about a guy who used these dirty tactics decades ago. In 1996, a first-time candidate for Illinois state senate faced two challengers. Instead of running a campaign against them, he fought them in court and disqualified both. He ended up getting “elected” without an opponent. That’s how Barack Obama won his first race and entered politics.
There is a little-known story about a guy who used these dirty tactics decades ago. In 1996, a first-time candidate for the Illinois state senate faced two challengers. Instead of running a campaign against them, he fought them in court and had both disqualified. He ended up getting “elected” without an opponent. That’s how Barack Obama won his first race and entered politics.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.
