Members-only edition

Join us for a members-only live podcast recording with Marc and Al Franken — renowned comedian and former U.S. senator — as they discuss the right-wing legal strategy and how Marc is fighting back in court. Expect a lively and informative conversation with plenty of insights — and a few jokes along the way. You can register for the event here.

The biggest news of the week was delivered in the 88th minute of a debate and on page 156 of a legal brief. During Tuesday night's debate JD Vance was smooth as silk as he ducked and dived, disassembled and lied, for nearly an hour and a half. But when asked if Donald Trump had lost the 2020 election he had nowhere to hide.  

Everyone in the studio knew the right answer — yes, Donald Trump lost. But Vance knew what happened to the last Trump running mate who dared admit the obvious truth. When pressed if he would accept the results of a fully certified election in 2024, he became even more incoherent.

Two days later, it was Trump’s turn to be further exposed as an election fraudster when Special Counsel Jack Smith released his immunity filing. Among the shocking revelations was this quote from Trump in 2020: “It doesn’t matter whether you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”

One month from Election Day, Republicans are fighting like hell and their election denier allies are still spreading lies. Those efforts will shape the month ahead and likely beyond. To understand what is happening, we need to be willing to look beyond the headlines and focus on the most important stories you probably missed.

THE SCOREBOARD

YOUR WEEKLY SNAPSHOT

YOUR WEEKEND READING LIST

Republicans are expanding their attack on mail-in voting to include military and overseas voters. The latest, but not the last, salvo was filed this week in North Carolina. Meanwhile, a group of Republicans filed a similar case in Pennsylvania. Expect the GOP to escalate these attacks in the weeks to come.

The DNC filed a key lawsuit challenging the Georgia Election Board’s hand count rule. This is in addition to the lawsuit Democrats filed challenging the certification rules. With these, and other lawsuits pending, expect Georgia to be a busy place for litigation this month.

Even as they falsely claim that voter rolls need to be purged, Republicans are attacking the leading inter-state compact dedicated to keeping state voter lists clean and up to date.

That’s all for this week. Bode is giving me side eye for being too busy fighting back against all these Republican lawsuits!