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Judging by reader feedback, many Topline readers don't like “both political sides are bad” arguments. We get it. While the two-party system as a whole leaves a lot to be desired, there's presently a disparity between the two major parties regarding support for democracy and all that that entails. Duly noted. Nevertheless, we cannot overlook when either side takes actions that could threaten our ever-so-delicate democracy. We previously reported on the dangerous game [ [link removed] ] that Democrats were playing by funding far-right candidates in races around the country to the tune of $53 million. Well, the verdict is in. According to Axios [ [link removed] ], Democrats succeeded in boosting right-wing candidates in six of the 13 Republican primaries they tinkered with. Now, we’re not naive. We understand how politics works in this especially nasty climate. And from a purely tactical standpoint, it’s clear why Democrats would do it: those six races now lean blue. But polls can be a funny thing, and after 2016, they should never be taken for granted. Elevating extremist candidates under the assumption they’ll turn off general-election voters is a cynical, outmoded play that could spell disaster if it backfires. Let’s hope it doesn’t. And let’s do better next time. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor
DOJ charges 47 people with stealing $250 million from pandemic program meant to provide meals to needy children — [ [link removed] ]CNN [ [link removed] ]
Most of Puerto Rico is without power as Hurricane Fiona ripples through the Caribbean — [ [link removed] ]The Wall Street Journal [ [link removed] ]
Videos show Trump allies handling Georgia voting equipment — [ [link removed] ]The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
Texas sheriff opens criminal investigation into DeSantis' flight of migrants — [ [link removed] ]NPR [ [link removed] ]
Biden again says U.S. forces would defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression — [ [link removed] ]CNN [ [link removed] ]
Russia triggers plan to formally annex occupied Ukrainian regions — [ [link removed] ]Reuters [ [link removed] ]
UN Chief: World is 'paralyzed' and equity is slipping away — [ [link removed] ]U.S. News & World Report [ [link removed] ]
This week: Lofgren and Cheney to introduce Electoral Count Act reform — [ [link removed] ]The Hill [ [link removed] ]
Marjorie Taylor Greene among four GOP reps to vote against religious freedom — [ [link removed] ]Newsweek [ [link removed] ]
These male politicians are pushing for women who receive abortions to be punished with prison time — [ [link removed] ]The Mercury News [ [link removed] ]
America’s other virus
The U.S. may be transitioning out of the pandemic phase of COVID-19, but another kind of virus has sickened the body politic and shows no signs of abating—election denialism. Six Republican nominees for governor and U.S. Senate in battleground states affirmatively will not commit to accepting this year’s election results, while another six refuse to answer the question. The six non-committeds are Senate candidates Ted Budd in North Carolina, Blake Masters in Arizona, Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska, and J.D. Vance in Ohio; Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan; and Geoff Diehl, who won the GOP primary for governor of Massachusetts. Further, all of them have pre-emptively cast doubt on their respective states’ vote-counting process. Haven’t we heard this tune before? And how did that end up? —The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
How did we get here? Social media has played an outsized role. A study by New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights faults Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube for amplifying false claims about U.S. election fraud. The report authors say “Big Lie” claims online have contributed to a lack of trust in U.S. elections, and they urge the platforms to be more transparent and consistent in their content policies. —Axios [ [link removed] ]
These glitches didn't help either. Election deniers have also seized on incorrect election results that were initially reported in Antrim Co., Michigan, and Mesa Co., Colorado, in 2020 as proof of a vast conspiracy to steal the presidential election from Donald Trump. The mistakes were caused by county officials who did not properly set up the election system computers in Michigan and properly use them in Colorado. The errors were quickly caught and corrected, but not before a cadre of Trump-allied IT “experts” asserted that the computers had been sabotaged. —The Fulcrum [ [link removed] ]
Big Lie creates a big mess. For election workers, it's hitting too close to home. Ben Hovland, Commissioner for the Election Assistance Commission, says, “Now there are personal threats, harassment, intimidating calls and emails, and the weaponization of information requests, reaching across the country.” And there's another worry. “What is concerning to me nowadays is the prospect of insider threats,” says Natalie Adona, incoming clerk recorder-elect for Nevada County, California. “People who are signing up [to volunteer] for the specific purpose of attempting to mess things up.” —CBS News [ [link removed] ]
MORE: David Travis Bland: Do Republicans care about the consequences of election lies? — [ [link removed] ]The State [ [link removed] ]
Leonhardt: Our unique crisis of democracy 
“Over the sweep of history, the American government has tended to become more democratic, through women’s suffrage, civil rights laws, the direct election of senators, and more. The exceptions, like the post-Reconstruction period, when Black Southerners lost rights, have been rare. The current period is so striking partly because it is one of those exceptions. … The makeup of the federal government [today] reflects public opinion less closely than it once did. And the chance of a true constitutional crisis—in which the rightful winner of an election cannot take office—has risen substantially. That combination shows that American democracy has never faced a threat quite like the current one.” —David Leonhardt in The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
David Leonhardt writes “The Morning” daily newsletter and contributes to the Sunday Review section at The New York Times.
MORE: Parties split over defining threats to democracy — [ [link removed] ]NBC News [ [link removed] ]
Davies: Down about the state of democracy? Then let’s do something
“What kind of reforms should we consider? Ranked-choice voting is one. Open primaries are another. Alaska’s passage of a ballot initiative in 2020 radically overhauled the system, getting rid of the state’s party-run primaries. Today in Alaska, political parties no longer select their candidates to appear on the general election ballot. Instead, open primaries allow for all voters to be involved.” —Richard Davies in The Fulcrum [ [link removed] ]
Richard Davies is the producer and co-host of the podcasts “How Do We Fix It?” and “Let’s Find Common Ground,” a member of the Bridge Alliance, and a former politics, business, and news correspondent at ABC News.
MORE: Scholars ask Congress to scrap winner-take-all political system — [ [link removed] ]The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
Focus on the Trump investigation
Did you catch any clips from Donald Trump’s Ohio rally in support of U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance on Saturday? Hoo boy. The ex-president, desperate to maintain support amid the growing likelihood that he’ll be held accountable for one of a laundry list of presidential misdeeds, went full QAnon. The crowd in attendance was all too happy to oblige, raising their fingers in a QAnon salute as Trump detailed his many grievances with the United States. It was disturbing, to say the least, and another indication that the Justice Department [ [link removed] ] isn’t backing down. —The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
They’re basically admitting he could be indicted. Here’s why Trump might be getting nervous. Last night, his lawyers in the ongoing classified documents investigation insisted he shouldn’t have to formally declare in court whether, as he has claimed publicly, he had used his power before leaving office to declassify the sensitive government materials seized from his Florida home last month. Why? It would harm their “defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment.”
He wants it both ways. Today, his lawyers argued that the DOJ has not proved that those same documents continue to be classified, hinting Trump might have declassified them. To sum up, he is arguing that he and his legal team should not have to state in a legal proceeding, where they could become subject to perjury charges or other penalties, that he declassified the documents, while also telling the courts that they should not accept the Justice Department’s word that they remain classified. Got that? —The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
“I think I'm doing what I'm told.” Even the special master that Trump’s team expressly requested to vet the documents is losing patience. In his first public hearing on the matter today, Judge Raymond Dearie asked Trump's lawyers whether they had any evidence to show Trump declassified the records. Trump’s lawyers argued that Dearie's request to provide a declassification defense went beyond the scope of what the judge has been tasked to do. Dearie said he was "taken aback" by that claim…which pretty much tracks with most Trump claims. Stay tuned. —Reuters [ [link removed] ]
MORE: Trump was warned late last year of potential legal peril over documents — [ [link removed] ]The New York Times [ [link removed] ]
Drutman: The promise of redistricting reform 
“[A]s partisan and racial gerrymandering grow more aggressive, and the Supreme Court continues to remove legal restraints, it is quite possible that [independent] commissions will become more important, and demonstrate greater impacts on fairness compared to partisan state legislatures. Likewise, as more states embrace truly independent models of redistricting commissions that take all power away from politicians, the impacts may become more pronounced.” —Lee Drutman on New America [ [link removed] ]
Lee Drutman is a senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America and the author of "Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America." 
MORE: Voters push to take local redistricting from politicians — [ [link removed] ]San Francisco Examiner [ [link removed] ]
Louis: Conversations are important too
“Be sure to vote in November, of course. But also take time to talk with neighbors, friends, family, and coworkers about the issues, the current threats to democracy, and—most important—the basics of registration and voting. It might be both the least and the most you can do to help fight the good fight.” —Errol Louis in New York Magazine [ [link removed] ]
Errol Louis is a journalist, commentator, the host of New York City’s “Inside City Hall,” and a former politician.
MORE: Interventions to reduce partisan animosity — [ [link removed] ]Nature [ [link removed] ]
It is somewhat encouraging to see recent polling indicating that some 57% of Americans think investigations of former President Trump should continue. It at least suggests a majority of Americans have been sufficiently influenced by the Jan. 6 committee hearings to refuse to accept the claim that the multiple investigations are politically motivated, and that a politically-motivated enterprise somehow managed to get the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago approved by a judge. One may hope as sworn testimony and hard evidence emerges that more Americans will increasingly accept the value of testimony and the constitutional separation of powers over the rampant advocacy manufactured by the information media industry.
At 57%, though, the glass is only slightly more than half full. There are still far too many individuals marinating in their own propaganda bent on a new civil war. We need to understand that there are still many who have provided political cover for insurrection even if they did not personally participate in the Jan. 6 takeover of the Capitol intended to disrupt the constitutional transfer of power. They were used. It is those who provided such political cover who need to understand how they were groomed and cultivated for that purpose. That’s what all the tweeting was about. —Steve J., Pennsylvania
The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Renew America Foundation.

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