'He's just out and out admitting it now'

Today marks the beginning of Black History Month, and the Renew America Movement joins with the rest of the nation in honoring the indispensable contributions of Black people to the American story.  At the same time, we recognize that racism remains a persistent and contemptible part of our society. At RAM, we are pushing back against bigotry and hate by exposing—and ultimately working toward eradicating—racism in our politics. Together we have the ability to affect change in our country. As we embark on Black History Month, let us remember those who came before us and those who continue to work to shatter glass ceilings in order to uphold the founding ideal of our country that “all men are created equal.” And like them, let us refuse to accept as leaders those who seek power by diminishing the dignity and equality of Black Americans. —Miles Taylor, Executive Director, Renew America Movement

Ed. Note: Earlier today, Miles sat down with Rep. Andy Kim for this week’s RAM Chat, to discuss the crisis in Ukraine, his efforts to achieve bipartisan legislation in Congress, and more. If you missed it, check it out on YouTube here.

• Putin: US, NATO 'ignored' Russian concerns in responses to security demands —The Hill

• House Democrats pivot to economy in search of next legislative win —Politico

• Judge rejects plea deal on federal hate crimes charges in Ahmaud Arbery's killing —CBS News

• HBCU bomb threats: At least nine schools are on alert Tuesday —CNN

• Biden to meet with Senate judiciary committee leaders over Supreme Court vacancy —The Guardian

Could this guy have been the adult in the room?

Hard to believe, but on one rare occasion following the 2020 presidential election, Rudy Giuliani may have done the right thing. Yesterday, news broke that Donald Trump weighed in on a December 2020 plan, hatched by conspiracist legal advisers Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell and drafted as an executive order by Texas bar owner Phil Waldron, for Trump to authorize the Pentagon to seize voting machines in search of evidence of election fraud. Giuliani reportedly shot down the scheme, informing the ex-president that the military could be authorized only if there were obvious evidence of foreign interference. 

In the end, of course, it didn't matter much. Trump, Giuliani, and their squad looked for other ways to overturn the election. Trump admitted as much in a Sunday “press release” concerning Vice President Mike Pence and the Electoral Count Act. As George Conway noted, “Every so often, when it comes to his bad intent, he tells the truth. ... He wanted to end constitutional democracy in the United States.” —New York Magazine

• “He'd do it all again if given the chance.” Trump exasperated some Republicans over the weekend when he told a crowd at a Texas rally that he would consider pardoning Capitol riot defendants if he is re-elected in 2024 and called for nationwide protests if prosecutors investigating him and his business "do anything illegal.” Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, summed up his weekend succinctly: “Trump uses language he knows caused the Jan. 6 violence; suggests he'd pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy; threatens prosecutors; and admits he was attempting to overturn the election.” —Insider

• “Security concerns were escalated.” Indeed, Trump's rally rhetoric is causing serious concern in Fulton County, Georgia. District Attorney Fani Willis, who recently won approval to convene a special grand jury to aid her investigation into the former president, has asked the FBI to assess security at her courthouse and provide protective resources. Trump took aim at prosecutors, calling them “vicious, horrible people,” and saying, “They're racist, and they're very sick. … They're going after me without any protection of my rights by the Supreme Court or most other courts. In reality they're not after me, they're after you and I just happen to be the person that's in the way." Pure hogwash. —CBS News

• Pence team cooperating. Marc Short, the former vice president’s chief of staff, who was with Pence at the Capitol during the insurrection, testified before the select committee last week. Short also participated in a critical White House meeting on Jan. 4, 2021, and is thus seen as a potentially crucial witness to the pressure campaign Trump and his allies waged to try to convince Pence not to certify the presidential election. Could Pence himself be next? Not likely. But stranger things have happened. —CNN

MORE: Biden vs. Trump: The makings of a shattering constitutional crisis —Politico

Ed Board: Amend the Electoral Count Act before 2024

“The mob that assaulted the Capitol was riled by Mr. Trump’s insistence that federal lawmakers or then-Vice President Mike Pence could object to counting the electoral votes that states had submitted. Congress should change the law to make clear that the vice president has no power to object, overturn, or otherwise refuse to count states’ electoral votes. Also needed is a curb on the ability of members of Congress to launch similar partisan maneuvers.” —The Washington Post

MORE: Former president says congressional investigators should examine why Pence didn’t reject electoral college results —The Washington Post

Kuleba: Why Ukraine matters

“If Russia succeeds here in Ukraine, that will send a clear message to everyone who wants to rewrite rules on which the world is based, that this is possible. That the United States and the democratic coalition led by the United States are incapable to maintain the current world order. That they are weak. And if you behave in a bold, aggressive way, you will eventually succeed. So, for all Americans, all I can say is that Ukraine is fighting this war for eight years. We have never requested American boots here on the ground. We always said we are fighting this war. This is our land. These are our people. We don't need your boots on the ground, but help us to fight this war diplomatically, militarily. And we will defend the current world order led by the United States and other democratic countries in this part of the world.” —Dmytro Kuleba in NPR

Dmytro Kuleba is a Ukrainian statesman, diplomat, and communications specialist, currently serving as Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine. 

MORE: U.S., Russia spar over Ukraine at confrontational U.N. meeting —Defense One

Guha: A year without democracy in Myanmar

“Since the army took over, the economy has been in shambles. The year-long civil disobedience has added to the military’s woes. Doctors and nurses have walked out of government hospitals, public transport is erratic with drivers and staff walking out of their jobs, banking and other financial services are in a similar state. Education has suffered as students and professors aligning with the democracy movement are either in jail or in hiding. Yet the love for freedom, for democracy, and hope to live without fear, has led to a stubborn resistance that refuses to give in to the army. Having experienced democracy, and hoping that the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party would lead to full restoration of democracy has disappointed the people and made them even more determined to oppose the regime.” —Seema Guha in Outlook

Seema Guha is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist writing on Indian foreign policy and a commissioning editor for openGlobalRights.

MORE: Coups cheered in West Africa as Islamist insurgencies sap faith in democracy —Reuters

Focus on voting and elections

Gerrymandering…it's not just for Republicans. For proof, look no further than New York, where the state’s Democratic leaders have proposed a starkly partisan reconfiguration of the state’s congressional map. The new map would add three Democratic seats and eliminate four Republican seats, offering Democrats an advantage in 22 of the state's 26 House districts this fall. Nick Langworthy, chair of the New York Republican Party, slammed the map as “textbook filthy, partisan gerrymandering” and hinted that Republicans may challenge it in court. —The New York Times

• Arkansas. It's a litigious week ahead, and Arkansas got the ball rolling. U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky heard arguments today in a lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ new state House maps. The Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas State Conference NAACP are asking the judge to block the maps, saying they dilute the strength of Black voters in Arkansas. The groups had previously asked Rudofsky to recuse himself from the case, citing his ties to the state’s Republican governor and attorney general, but Rudofsky rejected their request. —ABC News

• North Carolina. Three North Carolina Supreme Court justices won't step aside from hearing a blockbuster redistricting case this week, rejecting requests from lawyers to recuse themselves for potential conflicts. The litigation surrounds the redistricting maps approved by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which the plaintiffs claim is gerrymandered to dilute the voting power of Black residents. Republican legislators contend that the lines are lawful, created without the use of partisan or racial data. Arguments start tomorrow. —Raleigh News & Observer

• Florida. Civil rights groups are in federal court this week challenging Florida’s restrictive voting law, which was passed last year in a wave of new state laws fueled by the 2020 stolen election lie. The plaintiffs have challenged several provisions of S.B. 90, including limiting the use of drop boxes, requiring voters to request mail-in ballots more frequently, and banning providing voters with food and water while they wait in line to vote. Experts, advocates, election officials, and state legislators are expected to testify. —CNBC

MORE: Sen. Harold Pope, Jr.: New Mexico's pro-democracy voting rights act could set a shining example —Albuquerque Journal

‘A wake-up call to voters’

The Renew America Movement’s executive director, Miles Taylor, warned on Friday that a sizable number of candidates running for office in the 2022 midterms throughout the country have ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory. A Media Matters for America report backs up the claim, finding that “52 current or former congressional candidates…have embraced" QAnon, whose adherents believe that a Satanic cabal of Democrats and societal elites work to control the world through sexually abusing and sacrificing children. "One of the reasons these folks are coming together is because the Big Lie didn't die after Jan. 6. It's actually going to be one of the biggest features of the midterm elections,” Taylor said. “Renew America Movement has identified at least 75 congressional candidates for office this year who believe the election was fraudulent.” Stay tuned. —Newsweek

MORE: Election deniers are running for secretary of state across the country —The New York Times

NATO was formed after WWII to defend Europe from Soviet aggression. Now, here we are, with Putin having taken Crimea and eastern Ukraine against big words but only token resistance from the West. Just a few months ago, the world saw the U.S. walk away from the Taliban in Afghanistan because stopping the growth of international terrorism became too much of a burden. Now, Putin threatens further aggression in Ukraine if his demands are not met for NATO to turn its back on that sovereign nation at NATO's border. (Anyone else see the irony in that?) Why should anyone be shocked that Putin is taking a page from Hitler's playbook? We have been telegraphing for years that, after big talk, we don't have the stomach for standing up when Putin or other aggressors do what they do. That needs to stop before the stakes become any higher. —Paul G., Utah

In Ukraine, I believe we should try sanctions first, but if that doesn’t work, then use the military. —Linda S., Texas

Regarding the current situation in Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO need to have a detailed plan as a response to what if...? and what comes next...? It needs to be made clear to Mr. Putin that invasion of an independent country will not stand, that serious economic fallout will follow any invasion or attempt to overthrow the existing government. This could/would include exclusion from the international SWIFT system, sanctions on the Nordstream pipeline, individual sanctions against the powers that be in Russia (including the various oligarchs who back Mr. Putin), and others. But this needs to be in preparation and not done before any action—those sanctions might precipitate an invasion because of them, not in spite of them.

On the military side of the equation, I am not in favor of putting our soldiers in harm's way. However, I suspect Mr. Putin would not be happy with just Ukraine, with all those other little Easternn European countries just there for the taking. I like the idea of sending significant armor to our allies in Europe (please make sure there are sufficient personnel who can operate said armor) and putting our troops on alert. If an invasion happens, Ukraine would probably be gone before anyone could give a significant military response. But the next country(ies) need to know we would have their back, including any Ukraine resistance. Tyranny cannot be left to prosper without a forceful response. —Steven B., Florida

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, the Renew America Movement, or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.