Dear fellow MoveOn member,
We face a serious risk that American democracy as we know it could come to
an end in 2024.
That's not hyperbole. It's a sober recognition of a terrifying reality.
Donald Trump has spent the past year obsessing over how and why his 2020
coup attempt failed. He blames the state and local elections officials who
refused to throw out votes so that he could win the election.
That's why, for months, Trump has been laying the groundwork to install
himself in the White House in 2024 by building an apparatus of election
theft at the state level. His plot centers around using the 2022 elections
to install right-wing loyalists to one of the most obscure, but important,
jobs in politics: secretary of state—the officials who control voter
registration, oversee the counting of the votes, and declare the winners
and losers of elections.
If Trump's plot succeeds, Trump-backed secretaries of state in key
battleground states will have the power to disregard the will of the
people and throw out the necessary number of ballots—thousands or perhaps
millions—to ensure that Trump is declared the winner. And the Trump-packed
Supreme Court would be poised to uphold this gross manipulation of votes.
You might never have heard of the office before, but today, secretaries of
state are at the very center of the struggle to ensure the survival of our
constitutional democracy.
That's why MoveOn just announced it's launching a big, powerful campaign
to defeat Trump-backed candidates for secretary of state and to elect
individuals who will count every vote and ensure free and fair elections.
In just the past two weeks, tens of thousands of MoveOn members have
stepped up to be a part of this new campaign. Will you join them by
starting a monthly donation of $5 today to support MoveOn's
effort to stop a Trump coup?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Trump came closer than anyone could have imagined to overturning an
American election earlier this year.
Now, he's preparing in plain sight to do it again in 2024—except this
time, the effort will be more sophisticated and better funded.
Before this year, Trump had never endorsed a single candidate for
secretary of state anywhere in the country. But Trump has already endorsed
several candidates for chief elections jobs in states that could play
major roles in determining the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump's aides don't deny the strategy. "Our top priority is endorsing
strong fighters" who promote the Big Lie, said Trump spokesperson Liz
Harrington.^1
And the Republican funding machine is taking notice. Bloomberg reports
that the "once-obscure state-level job of overseeing elections has emerged
as a prime target for wealthy donors."^2 The right-wing billionaire
Richard Uihlein has already begun pumping his wealth into the secretary of
state race in Georgia.^3
Uihlein is helping bankroll Jody Hice, a Trump-backed candidate and
sitting U.S. member of Congress who voted to overturn the results of
Georgia's election and proudly proclaimed the January 6 insurrection to be
"our 1776 moment."^4 Make no mistake, Hice would be ready, willing, and
eager to throw out ballots—especially those of Democratic-leaning voters
including people of color and young people—in order to lead Trump to
victory.
And if we don't act, the same could be true in other key states.
John, I've not seen this kind of methodical, coordinated
assault on our democracy in my lifetime. Please, if you are able, will you
chip in $5 a month to MoveOn to take down Trump's plot to
put his loyalists in charge of overseeing elections?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Sources:
1. "Trump endorses 'big lie' proponents for state election posts," ABC
News, September 20, 2021
[link removed]
2. "State Election Officials on Rich Donors' Radar, Thanks to Trump,"
Bloomberg, September 15, 2021
[link removed]
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
Want to support MoveOn's work? The GOP is launching an all-out campaign to
take down the Democratic majority in Congress and reinstall Mitch
McConnell as Senate majority leader in 2022. To defeat the GOP, MoveOn is
going all-in with TV ads, a nationwide grassroots organizing campaign, and
more.
Will you chip in to power MoveOn's effort to defeat McConnell and the GOP
in 2022?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
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