The Trump Regime's Domestic Election Interference

Certainly, we must be very concerned about foreign interference in the upcoming midterm elections, especially since the Trump Regime has comprehensively failed to hold the Kremlin accountable for its interference the last time around.

We must also, however, be concerned about the domestic election interference care of the aggressively anti-democratic Trump Regime.

To wit: Alexander Nazaryan at Yahoo News reports that the White House has blocked a Senate bill that would protect the integrity of U.S. elections.

A bill that would have significantly bolstered the nation's defenses against electoral interference has been held up in the Senate at the behest of the White House, which opposed the proposed legislation, according to congressional sources.

The Secure Elections Act, introduced by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., in December 2017, had co-sponsorship from two of the Senate's most prominent liberals, Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as well as from conservative stalwart Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and consummate centrist Susan Collins, R-Me.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., was set to conduct a markup of the bill on Wednesday morning in the Senate Rules Committee, which he chairs. The bill had widespread support, including from some of the committee's Republican members, and was expected to come to a full Senate vote in October. But then the chairman's mark, as the critical step is known, was canceled, and no explanation was given.

We can make a pretty darn good guess at why the White House interfered to block the bill, though: "Perhaps most significantly, the law would mandate that every state conduct a statistically significant audit following a federal election."

Can't have that.

Because even with gerrymandering and voter suppression and felon disenfranchisement and voter ID laws and Citizens United and foreign collusion and every other cynical strategy the GOP has used to try to undermine elections, they still risk losing the legislative branch in November — unless they steal it.

This is a timely reminder that the biggest threat to U.S. democracy remains the Republican Party.