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Are We Watching Failure Theater? Because Team Trump’s Actions Don’t Make Any Sense.
Maybe Giuliani, Murtaugh, Stepien, etc. have some different, better course of action planned that I cannot begin to guess at, but otherwise what’s happening (or not happening) isn’t making any sense.
Let’s be honest; everyone knew from the onset that no judge is going to set aside the results, or delay the certification of the election, and no state legislature is going to send a different slate of electors without incontrovertible evidence of election fraud in sufficient volume to change the outcome.
One would think the Trump legal team would therefore prioritize the pursuit of that evidence, and try and secure court orders to state and local authorities to provide full access to *everything* (documents, records, the ballots themselves) so that the Trump Campaign can conduct a full in-depth audit of the vote and forensic examinations of ballots in the suspect counties in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
I am not in the loop on what the Trump team’s strategy is, but I have yet to see any filings in any state making such a request. At the very least we should be seeing requests for court orders to impound the records, documents, machines, and ballots. Instead, we’ve seen Trump suffering predictable defeat after defeat from lawyers aiming for the impossible. You cannot expect a judge to order a remedy, especially one like setting aside election results, based on a criminal allegation you cannot readily prove in court.
What bothers me even more is the lack of any evidence of the logistical ramp-up to carry out audits across multiple states that we should be seeing now. I’ve not seen anything like the level of recruitment and mobilization of equipment and manpower that will be needed to carry out the sort of investigation that can prove the election was stolen (or not).
It’s already been almost two weeks since the election and the clock is ticking. The only way this can be done within the timeline is by a massive mobilization of volunteers, crowdsourcing, data analytics, and forensic analysis on an industrial scale.
So where is the call for volunteers, for data and forensics experts, software testers, investigators, and auditors? Where are the logistics pros to orchestrate this operation?
The Trump Campaign is right now supposed to be recruiting folks like RedState’s Scott Hounsell*, data analysts and statisticians, to help identify locales with statistical anomalies and other red flags – e.g. 95% turnout, incredible vote swings, impossible margins – for investigation.
✱ Please read Hounsell’s analyses of the results in GA, WI, MI and PA.
Once so directed, investigators can do the document tracing and investigate and verify the audit trails. Who took custody of this ballot box? Who delivered it? How many people voted in the precinct? How many ballots were inside when it left the precinct? Where’s the voters’ register? Who received the ballot box at the counting center? When? How many ballots arrived at the counting center? etc.
Volunteers can be coordinated to methodically verify addresses (physically and otherwise) and check information against public records, identify potential signature mismatches, with separate verification teams and AI/ML applications to validate the data.
Volunteers in their thousands can also be deputized by the campaign to physically sort out ballots and identify the suspicious, e.g. ballots with only the Presidential race marked. These (and others) can then be subjected to extra scrutiny by forensic teams.
Out of the President’s 70 million voters, there are certainly more than enough who know something about ink forensics and the use of spectrophotometers and other forensic equipment. Thousands of people using the exact same pen brand in the exact same color in the exact same patterns across multiple jurisdictions with different races, particularly when it comes to absentee ballots, is incontrovertible evidence of fraud.
I also expect that the President’s 70 million supporters include computer forensics experts and software analysts who will only be too happy to examine the tabulating machines’ logs and validate the software.
In other words, this should be a coordinated endeavor involving a massive number of people, akin to a military operation. Even without Big Tech, with Parler, MeWe, Signal, etc. and 70 million passionate supporters from all walks of life, there is a no lack of avenues for coordination, manpower or expertise.
Given the deadlines, and the fact that even the very best logistics experts know you must respect the one most unforgiving resource, time, the lawyers need to start convincing some judges (Justices, preferably) that this is an accounting/audit problem; red flags mean we get to take an in-depth look at the books, it serves the public’s interest, and it can be done within the necessary deadlines. Most helpful would be securing the support of the Republican leaders in charge of the affected State Legislatures (GA, MI, PA, and WI) as amici for their petition.
The best time for this, mounting up the resources for the audits and filing the necessary suits, was last week. The next best time is *now*, and the very moment Alito, Kavanaugh and Thomas are able to receive petitions in their chambers.
Again, maybe there’s a better plan that we’re not privy to and I’m wrong, and we’re not seeing failure theater.
But bitter experience and Occam’s Razor suggests otherwise.
I just hope I’m wrong.
Published in Elections
How can you be sure of something you can’t prove? Especially something so outlandish and convoluted as a scheme to steal a federal election across three or more States in full view of everyone? This is some serious “Jews pulled off 9/11” or “the CIA made HIV in a lab” level of conspiratorial BS.
I sort of knew the moment that the Fake News declared that Trump had lost and Biden was the President elect, that there would be a lot of people on Ricochet who creep out of Gary Robbins extended family tree.
You lost me when you stated that Trump needed to submit the evidence 12 days ago.
I hope you never get to be a Comptroller of a large corporation where extensive embezzlement has occurred, and then find out you are living somewhere where you are not allowed to present a court case regarding the embezzlement because you didn’t present the evidence of who did it and how they did some 10 hours after you realized that your company had suffered that fate.
What about caricatures of progressives/liberals/Democrats/Never Trumpers/Leftists?
Right now that’s kind of a side show at one level – the overwhelming majority of the 76 million Americans that voted for Biden weren’t Muslim. Caricaturing them in one’s thoughts has no significant concrete price.
But at another level it’s indicative of a habit of thought that grows best in a bubble – and that is not a side show, because a lot of 76 million that voted for Biden (or against Trump) were progressives or liberals or Democrats or Leftists or Never Trumpers.
Caricaturing them in patterns of thought does come at significant cost.
(The fact that many of them may do the same to you doesn’t make it better, imho, it makes it worse.)
If you think he is going away aftermath White House, you are mistaken.
If you think 70 million voters are going to go away or join the likes of you, you are mistaken.
Your day is past, Gary. Yours and all the GOPe like you.
If they lose the political battle, the legal battle is irrelevant.
Much as it pains me to agree with anything Gary says on the subject of Trump, in this case he’s got it exactly right.
It’s time to face facts. Trump lost, the election wasn’t stolen, and the failure of Trump to admit it is hurting his legacy and discrediting his supporters for the future.
Then please just go away. Form your own party.
I realize you live in your own little dream world, but while the suits are going on, why should he? Why should he run his schedule according to your dictates? I realize you think you are Winston Churchill or something, but get over yourself.
Unfortunately, the incentives that exist within the conservative movement right now are to accept wild conspiracy theories.
Yet the people criticizing Trump thought that was a good appointment, lol.
You seem nice.
I just have a hard time getting worked up about the campaign’s legal strategy. I’m pro-Trump, but figure it’s a long shot that we can reveal enough cheating to change the election. Tuesday went better than I expected, so I’m pretty happy about it overall.
I particularly don’t understand those who are strident that he should throw in the towel now. I don’t see a significant downside to fighting this thing out to the last possible moment. The left has already made a hash of the election with their irresponsible changes to the voting process, Trump will get no less popular with the people who despise him already, and our republic won’t be harmed by exhausting potential legal remedies, any more than it was when Gore did it in 2000.
I would like whatever evidence of wrongdoing actually exists to eventually be made public. I do hope that happens, and that there are consequences for it.
I find it all amazing. Of course huge numbers of votes were phony. But it’s probably over, so the question is will this bunch allow real elections in the future? What is the evidence that they will? They were over confident with Hillary, she was an idiot and they spent 4 years trying to keep Trump on the Defensive so their fraud wouldn’t be uncovered. Knowing they could fabricate what they needed they kept this failing old fraud in the basement and changed the voting possibilities so fraud was easy. So the question is what now, just watch the Republic die?
IMO the reason there is rarely an investigation and prosecution of voter fraud cases is because voter fraud cases are rarely investigated much less prosecuted ostensibly because law enforcement does not want to appear to be “interfering” in the electoral process.
The financial and ideological stakes of winning elections are enormous, therefore committing election fraud when it is easy to commit(ie: unsolicited mail-in ballots), in most instances very difficult to detect(ie: actually tracing millions of unsolicited mail-in ballots back to the actual mail-in voter), and most important the voter fraud is seldom criminally investigated and prosecuted, make committing election fraud well worth the effort and risk.
If there are criminal enterprises involved in manufacturing chemicals to make drugs and smuggle the drugs across guarded borders because the financial reward is so great, why would it be so conspiratorial for criminal enterprises to commit voter fraud when the financial stakes are so enormous, not to mention the Left’s willingness to win at all costs to move their Leftist agenda forward.
Pronouncing voter fraud investigations as chasing a conspiracy theories is at the very least naive, or wanting a certain result so much you trade your rationality for (D)/MSM talking points.
I believe Trump will most likely lose the election …. AND ….. I want the voter fraud allegations investigated to inform the public of the need for stronger internal controls(ie: no unsolicited mail-in ballots mailed to every address known to man) to make voter fraud less easy to commit in the future.
Trump has changed his legal team in Pennsylvania.
Marc Scaringi, an attorney and radio talk show hosts has taken over the legal proceedings for the Trump campaign in Pennyslvlania just hours before an important court hearing.
Talk about flying by the seat of ones pants.
Speaking for myself, the Republican Party is my party. It was subject to a hostile takeover by Trump. But Trump has self-immolated. In 64 days, Trump will become only the third elected President in a century to be rejected by the voters. America and the Republican Party will move on, with Trump being branded as a Failure and a Loser.
The worse is yet to come. The State of New York and the District Attorney in Manhattan are both busy with criminal indictments. Soon Trump will be branded as a Criminal.
It gets worse. There are lawsuits by a couple of women who raped and/or molested by Trump, who he then defamed. Those cases will go to trial. Trump’s volitional acts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Trump has personally guaranteed hundreds of millions in loans. His properties are being scorned by the public who want nothing of the Trump name. Soon Trump will be branded as a Broke Deadbeat.
Trump is overweight. He doesn’t exercise. Soon he will be a Dead Failure, Loser, Criminal, Broke Deadbeat.
Maybe Trump was too incompetent to hire election law attorneys before November 3rd.
In Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court ruled that the designation of the members of the Electoral College and their voting in their respective State Capitols was a “Safe Harbor” date. Whatever Trump has to do in the Courts must conclude by Monday, December 14, 2020, only 27 days away. The designation and certification of the election of the members of the Electoral College by the Secretary’s of State are presumed to be valid, and most of the two dozen lawsuits filed by Trump or Trump allies have already been dismissed.
How about we wait and see what the actual evidence looks like before we arrive at definite conclusions? Has anyone here personally reviewed, say, the hundreds of depositions that have been filed, or the code and documentation on the electoral software at issue?…Or studied a seriously detailed analysis of same?
Or would we prefer the Red Queen’s approach ‘sentence first–verdict afterwards’?
Also, it does not take a national conspiracy to skew a national election, only a sufficient number of state and local officials who are ideologically aligned.
More from @valiuth‘s bio: “I was born in Romania under Communism, though I was too young to either understand or appreciate what I lived through I have heard the first hand accounts of totalitarianism, that have forever made me a bitter enemy of that political and philosophical system and its various adjacent ideologies,” I would, with respect, think that with this background, you would be more keen than most to see the tyrannical and totalitarian regime coming with the corrupt, rotten, racist Biden and his truly abhorrent partner in crime, or did you just miss the Kavanaugh hearings at which her cruelty and domineering characteristics were on full display? But, then I realize that one who pontificates in a most distasteful manner about what “fools” his fellow citizens are who have the temerity to disagree with him may not, after all, be the brightest bulb in the lamp as he is not even aware that Sidney Powell is, most decidedly, not a “Mr.”, but is quite obviously a “Ms.” Guess you didn’t catch that but then even brilliant people miss things now and then, don’t they?
One final note, Sir. While I am sure I am wasting precious digits even trying to make this point, but, and I say this as a Son of the Deep South, where we do not take kindly to being called fools. I would strongly suggest that you consult the C of C, and cease this kind of thuggish language.
This is the sort of comment that is behind my saying that NeverTrumpers just pose at moral superiority. Supposedly Trump with his tweets and boorish behavior lowered the dignity of our politics. I never heard Trump look forward to the death of someone. But the NTers let the mask slip occasionally.
There is an old Texas saying for someone like Ms. Sidney Powell, all hat, no cattle.
I am not an attorney but I would assume that any responsible officer of the court would include descriptive words such as “who were allegedly raped and/or molested “, or “possible criminal indictments”, for example.
Moreover as a family lawyer in Flagstaff, AZ how would you be privy to the actual goings on in the State of NY and the Manhattan DA’s office, you may want to qualify this statement with a “could be”, or “I hope they are” busy with criminal indictments.
You are a practicing attorney Gary, you of all people should write more carefully when discussing the alleged legal proceedings of your fellow US citizens.
TDS.
There are more than I like, but probably not as many as I expect. Certainly it seems worse on the other social media platforms I frequent.
Probably. The exception may be the unfortunate instance of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
I agree. By the time you have scores of millions of people voting for each candidate, it’s silly to believe that those large collections are each relatively monochromatic, opinion-wise. Which isn’t to say that there might not be large, unifying themes in each group: a strong tendency toward patriotic conservatism among the Trump voters; a comfort with technocratic reinvention among the Biden people. Since this election was really about Trump on both sides, I suspect the two groups are probably a bit more polarized than normal.
Incidentally, about “bubbles.” They get a lot of criticism, as does “tribalism,” a word I’ve come to dislike hearing. The human animal evolved to socialize locally, surrounded by members of its own group — its own tribe — with which it shared a lot of perspective and belief. Fast forward to 2020 and human animals are connected to half a billion other human animals, as able to share a thought with someone half a world away as with someone half a mile away. That isn’t natural, and probably isn’t something for which we’re well equipped. Self-selecting virtual tribal companions — creating and occupying bubbles — might be how we maintain the conceptual and social frameworks which suit our evolved capabilities.
“Citizen of the world” is a garbage concept.
That’s the point; it *isn’t* impossible to prove – it simply has never been tried. I see no reason to believe that election/voter fraud is the one crime that is invulnerable to forensic science.
It is interesting to see the NeverTrumpers pull off their masks and show us who they really are. Thank you, Gary.
Yes. We are called Republicans.