Utah shows the way

On the heels of a long week of detailed revelations about efforts by sitting Republicans—including Utah Sen. Mike Lee—to assist Donald Trump in overturning the 2020 presidential election, came a bit of historic news. RAM co-founder Evan McMullin, now running an independent campaign for Lee’s seat, won the endorsement of the Utah Democrats. Recognizing both the threat Lee poses to democracy and the unlikelihood of defeating him in the deep-red state, the Democrats voted not to put a candidate forward and to back McMullin instead. As a political strategy, it's unusual in the U.S., but for times such as these, it's the best hope we have of defending democracy. If you're a longtime Republican who feels a little uncomfortable with the idea of allying with Democrats, consider this: the House select committee’s investigation has revealed that members of the GOP chose to ally themselves with white supremacists and other extremist groups, anti-government militias, conspiracy theorists, and grifters in an effort to throw out your vote and the votes of tens of millions of Americans. If strategic alliances such as Utah’s are the politics of the future, choose your alliances wisely. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

• Kamala Harris positive for COVID-19, Biden not 'close contact' —Associated Press

• Federal judge temporarily blocks Biden from ending Title 42 —USA Today

• Elon Musk is taking Twitter’s “public square” private —The Economist

• Manchin and Murkowski trying to revive climate and energy bill that would need 60 votes —Axios

• Macron overcomes Le Pen, and apathy —The Economist

Utah Dems endorse McMullin

Is this the beginning of a new way of doing politics in America? Could be. At their convention on Saturday, Utah Democrats voted 57% to 43% not to back a candidate to face Sen. Mike Lee in November. Democrat Kael Weston had sought his party’s nomination, but a group of party members, including former Democratic congressman Ben McAdams, convinced delegates not to nominate anyone, and instead to support independent candidate Evan McMullin. As a former Republican, McMullin is seen as having a stronger chance to defeat Lee in the historically red state—especially now, with a political alliance standing behind him.

• Once a Trump-skeptic, Lee got over his moral objections to Donald Trump. By 2020, he was actively assisting Trump’s efforts to overturn his presidential defeat. While that’s not unusual for many in the GOP, it’s not universally appreciated in Utah, which has maintained an independent conservative streak. Fellow Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, for example, voted twice to remove Trump from office.

• There was some Republican grumbling about Lee too. Though he has been endorsed by the state GOP convention in his renomination for a third term, he will face two Republican opponents who qualified for an August primary by voter petition.

• The Senate race isn’t the only Utah Republican split. Trump’s demonization of vote-by-mail—which was central to his plot to declare victory after Election Day votes gave him an early lead—has created a rift in the state over its once-universally popular, Republican-backed vote-by-mail system. The Lee-McMullin contest may show whether Trump can impose his will on this very conservative but occasionally rebellious state. Stay tuned. —New York Magazine

MORE: Evan McMullin says he won’t caucus with Republicans or Democrats if elected —The Salt Lake Tribune

Charen: Utah gets serious about democracy 

“The Utah Democratic Party has demonstrated flexibility, too rare a trait in today’s politics. Utahns now have a rare opportunity to strike a blow for democracy and the Constitution. A McMullin victory would signal that there are consequences for betraying your oath and making a mockery of appeals to the Constitution.” —Mona Charen in The xxxxxx

Mona Charen is policy editor of The xxxxxx, a nationally syndicated columnist, and host of the “Beg to Differ” podcast.

MORE: Jennifer Rubin: Democrats are supporting Evan McMullin's bid in Utah. It could serve as a model to save democracy —The Washington Post

Focus on voting and elections

Independent candidates may see success in 2024, if polls are any indication. Fifty-eight percent of voters say they are open to supporting a moderate, independent presidential candidate in a contest between President Biden and Donald Trump, according to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll. Additionally, the survey found that majorities of voters say they do not want Biden or Trump to run in 2024. “America wants to move forward, not back, and if they are faced with a Trump-Biden choice, there will be an unprecedented opportunity for an independent candidate to run and win,” said Mark Penn, the co-director of the survey. “I’ve never seen a number this high for an independent run.” In some states, they're already taking steps to give independent candidates a better shot at competing. —The Hill

• Ranked-choice voting. Missouri and Nevada voters will have a say on ballot initiatives this year as to whether the states should adopt a form of ranked-choice voting. In Missouri, the top four vote recipients would advance to the general election. In Nevada, the top five vote recipients would advance. Voters in both states would then use RCV to determine who among the four or five candidates wins the election. If financial support is any indication, the initiatives are popular—the Nevada Voters First PAC has raised $2.26 million through March 31, and in Missouri, the Better Elections PAC received $4.3 million through March 31. —Ballotpedia

• Open primaries. More than 350,000 additional Maine voters could vote in primary elections starting in 2024, after lawmakers approved a bill to allow for semi-open primaries for presidential, congressional, and legislative elections. The bill would open future primaries to the roughly one-third of Maine voters who are unaffiliated with a political party—and wish to remain so. Both chambers of the Maine Legislature voted to advance the bill yesterday. It now heads to Gov. Janet Mills’ desk. —Bangor Daily News

• Election police force? Leave it to Ron DeSantis to spoil the voter reform party. The Florida governor signed a bill yesterday to create a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud claims and other alleged election crimes. DeSantis is one of several Republican governors who have embraced the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump and has made it a key legislative priority. —The Guardian

MORE: Building the “Big Lie”: Inside the creation of Trump’s stolen election myth —ProPublica

Texts reveal extent of GOP plot

A trove of 2,319 text messages that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and President Biden's inauguration reveal how Donald Trump's inner circle, supporters, and Republican lawmakers worked behind the scenes to try to overturn the election results. Meadows was at the nexus of sprawling conspiracy theories baselessly claiming the election had been stolen and attempts to stop Biden's certification on Jan. 6. One of the Republicans who communicated with Meadows was Divider Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who advised him to talk to Trump about invoking martial law. Greene testified on Friday under oath that she couldn't remember if she ever advocated for martial law. —CNN

• Sitting lawmakers were in on it. The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol filed deposition excerpts on Friday that detail how other Republican lawmakers, such as Reps. Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, and Louis Gohmert, plotted with Trump to stop Joe Biden from becoming president. They either met in person or dialed into meetings discussing ways to usurp Biden's victory. —Insider

• Meadows was warned. The Friday filing by the panel also shows that Meadows was forewarned that the events of Jan. 6 could turn violent. Cassidy Hutchinson, a special assistant in the Trump White House, said Meadows received information before the day of the attack that “indicated that there could be violence.” —NBC News

• What did McCarthy say and when did he say it? Another line of investigation for the House select committee surrounds a particular comment made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, expressing concern to fellow Republicans that former Trump would seek a pardon. “Now, this is one personal fear I have,” McCarthy said on Jan. 10, 2021. “I do not want to get into any conversation about [former Vice President Mike] Pence pardoning.” Experts say that exchange shows that Republicans at the highest level may have been worried about the legality of Trump’s actions. —The Hill

MORE: Judge finds Trump in contempt in legal fight with NY AG —Associated Press

Obradovich: Disinfo isn’t an R or D problem; it’s a US problem

“Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican who was recently president of the National Association of Secretaries of State…spoke on Iowa PBS over the weekend about the need to build confidence in the election process by making sure the public is informed of how the voting and counting processes work and what has been done to secure the vote. Pate said if misinformation goes unchallenged, people who want to undermine elections may win the dialogue. ‘And when they win that, basically the Russians or the Chinese or whoever you want to identify here win without firing a single bullet. They won, democracy will be something of the wayside, and we can’t let that happen,’ Pate said.” —Kathie Obradovich in Iowa Capital Dispatch

Kathie Obradovich is the editor of Iowa Capital Dispatch and was formerly a political columnist and opinion editor for the Des Moines Register.

MORE: Putin alleges Ukraine and CIA are plotting to kill Russian journalists in latest conspiracy theory —Forbes

Rack: We are authoritarianism’s worst enemy

“The true mortal enemies of democracy, I think, are those who seek to prevent government from serving and answering to the voters, those who seek unfettered economic and political power for their personal benefit free from restraints or other priorities that might be imposed by the voters. Diminishing the ability of the electorate to govern through elections is a deliberate project playing out on multiple fronts that include: undermining public confidence in the integrity of elections processes and results; impeding rather than facilitating access to voting; gerrymandering to undermine fair competition; and refusal to abide by legitimate election outcomes. If democracy’s political enemy today is authoritarianism, the authoritarian’s worst enemy is the voter, the all of us.” —Robert Rack in The Cincinnati Enquirer

Robert Rack is a former chief circuit mediator for the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is the co-founder of Beyond Civility: Communication for Effective Governance.

MORE: Dennis Aftergut: Putin teaches us why we must fight for the truth —The Fulcrum

Regarding Donald Trump's attempts to destroy Rep. Tom Rice and others: Tyrants attack anyone who questions their authority. A few examples: Anyone disloyal to Lenin was expelled from Russia (e.g., Nikolai Berdyaev). Anyone who crossed Stalin was expelled and murdered (e.g., Leon Trotsky). Anyone disloyal to Mao was dismissed from his position and then expelled from the party (e.g., Ai Qing). Anyone disloyal to Trump is stripped of assignments, censured, and purged from the party (e.g., Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger). Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Trumpism—they are all the same. —Tim P., New Mexico

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