BREAKING: Conservatives Have Been Planning This Legislative Coup Since Feb. 2020

[berni_mccoy]

This just in from Jennifer Cohn, Election security advocate & writer; attorney;

Link to tweet

“Newly Surfaced Recording Reveals ALEC and GOP Election Attorneys [and the CNP] Working with State Legislators to Question Validity of Election” — in February, long before the election took place. By ⁦
@JamieMCorey 1/5

“Nelson, who runs... (ALEC) & is a member of CNP, told the group [in February], ‘obviously we all want...Trump to win...But it’s very clear..that really what it comes down to is the states & the state legislators.” 2/5

I and others have been sounding the alarm about the CNP for years. I wrote this on Medium. The CNP is a frightening & stealth group, an alliance between so-called “religious freedom” Religious Right leaders and so-called “economic freedom” billionaires. 3/5

Link to
@anelsona
’s book, Shadow Network, about the CNP. 4/5

I first heard about the CNP from
@amandablount2
who has some great threads on it. 5/5

Good thing it’s failed, but holy shit...
⁩

[unblock]

1. In short, it's a fraud fraud.

They planned to cry fraud all along, and they planned to make it all up.

[SunSeeker]

9. Of course.

Every poll told them they'd lose in a fair election. The fraud fraud was always the game plan, to disenfranchise Dem voters before the election and disqualify Dem ballots after the election.

[rickyhall]

32. I hate to ask, Is there any verification of this story yet?

[berni_mccoy]

45. Click the link.

They have recordings from the meetings. It’s blatant attempt to overthrow the election.

[RicROC]

61. definitely a conspiracy, then.

[Philostopher]

2. Just think about this, if you would ...

They've been planning it since February, working with conservative election lawyers ...

All that ALEC money ...

And what happened was the best they could do?

Don't get me wrong - I'm glad they looked like five monkeys romancing a football, in the end. But cripes. How utterly pathetic.

[berni_mccoy]

6. I know. And also that they knew since February that Trump couldn't win.

The insiders knew how bad COVID would be and it would be damning to Trump’s reelection bid.

[justgamma]

3. And the orange anus

has been shouting fraud since 2015. He can't imagine people not buying his BS.

[Harker]

18. +33...

It's worth remembering he "won" an election he had been squawking about being "rigged".

[AllaN01Bear]

4. alec needs to be targeted but i have no idea.

[StClone]

16. ALECSeditious Group Crying Fire in a Movie theater

It should be seen as one of the leaders hell bent on U.S. Government overthrow and part of the new Confederacy. ALEC's attempt to "redo" the Civil War with their side winning this time.

[jalan48]

5. The Koch Brothers and other wealthy individuals and corporations are big contributors to ALEC.

This is info from 2009 but it gives and idea who has been funding ALEC


For example, the foundations controlled by the billionaire Koch brothers gave ALEC over $200,000 in 2009. (The Claude R. Lambe Foundation, which Charles Koch, his wife and kids help run, donated $125,000 to ALEC. His own Charles G. Koch foundation kicked in an additional $75,000.) That $200k is before whatever is the undisclosed amount of membership "dues" paid by Koch Industries, which is run by Charles and David Koch. There is no public disclosure of annual gifts the company gives to take part in the one-stop shopping ALEC conventions provide to meet with legislators from every state about their wish list.

Is It Just a Koch thing?
No. Other right-wing foundations have also supported ALEC, far beyond the "dues" paid by any legislator. For example, the Castle Rock Foundation, which is run by right-wing beer heir Peter Coors, gave $50,000 last year and in prior years. The right-wing John M. Olin foundation has also been a donor to ALEC. Another of the big right-wing foundations, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, has been a funder and, for example, gave ALEC $50,000 in 2009 to fund "budget reform" work. Similarly, right-winger Richard Scaife has given ALEC over half a million dollars the past decade or so, through his Allegheny Foundation. Some of the organizations that support ALEC, like Scaife's, are also deeply invested in the profits of corporations that sit on ALEC's board. The Allegheny Foundation has held over $11 million of ALEC board member Altria's stock, along with major stock holdings in other ALEC corporate board members like Kraft, Coca Cola, AT&T, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon.

Many global corporations and trade associations. ALEC claims to have over 300 corporate "members," and each pay between $7,000 and $25,000 or more to be members, plus fees to have a vote on a task force and for other sponsorships. The names of all of these entities is not known. We do know that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group that aids the largest companies in the world like Koch and Exxon, gave ALEC $50,000 last year. And, as GreenPeace has documented through public filings, the Exxon corporation and its foundation have given a combined total to ALEC in the past decade or so of over $1.4 million. Other current ALEC corporate leaders have given an undisclosed sum to ALEC this year and before.

These companies include: CenterPoint 360 (a firm that helps companies "manage legislation&quot , Altria (formerly Phillip Morris tobacco), the American Bail Coalition (the trade group for for-profit bail bonds), AT&T, Bayer (aspirin), Coca-Cola, Diageo (Crown Royal and other liquor), Energy Future Holdings (Texas electricity), ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline (Tums and other brands), Intuit (Quickbooks), Johnson & Johnson (lotion), Koch Industries (Georgia Pacific paper products and other brands), Kraft Food (Macaroni and Cheese dinners), Peabody Energy (the largest private coal company in the world), Pfizer (Viagra), PhRMA (the pharmaceutical trade group), Reed Elsevier (Lexis/Nexis legal research), Reynolds American (tobacco), Salt River Project (energy), State Farm Insurance, United Parcel Service, and Wal-Mart (world's largest retailer).





https://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10887/cmd-special-report-alecs-funding-and-spending

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Planned for months, so yes it's a coup attempt

to invalidate voters' franchise in a democracy?

[Pantagruel]

8. CNP who's who list from 2017

A frightening number of these people have been working with and for Trump.....

https://extranewsfeed.com/americas-taliban-the-council-for-national-policy-to-which-kellyanne-bannon-the-devos-family-7465f1754ca4

[stillcool]

11. great link there...

so much info I've been glossing over for years, but now it reads so differently.

22. Here is a guerilla tactics manual from Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation, which states in part that, “We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them. *** We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment’s rest. * * * We will use guerilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime.” http://web.archive.org/web/20010713152425/http://www.freecongress.org/centers/conservatism/traditionalist.htm#3a
25. Weyrich was also a member of the Kriegel Institute for Freedom and Democracy in Russia. In 2000, he attended the World Russia Forum, with then Senator Sessions and Senator Grassley (among others). http://thegopwatchdog.com/from-russia-with-love/
26. Weyrich “bemoaned the Bush/Cheney administration’s failure to draw closer to Russia…” http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/weyrich_paul/

[58Sunliner]

38. Thanks.

[HUAJIAO]

25. Here's more, some dupe info, I am sure

But just look at that list of fascists..


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_for_National_Policy


Members of the CNP have included: General John Singlaub, shipping magnate J. Peter Grace, Edwin J. Feulner Jr of the Heritage Foundation, Rev. Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Jerry Falwell, U.S. Senator Trent Lott, Southern Baptist Convention activists and retired Texas Court of Appeals Judge Paul Pressler, lawyer and paleoconservative activist Michael Peroutka,[8] Reverend Paige Patterson,[9] Senator Don Nickles, former United States Attorneys General Edwin Meese and John Ashcroft, gun-rights activist Larry Pratt, Col. Oliver North, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, philanthropist Elsa Prince (mother of Blackwater founder and former CEO Erik Prince and Trump Administration Secretary of Education Betsy Devos), Leonard Leo,[10] Virginia Thomas (wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas),[10] and former California State Assemblyman Steve Baldwin.[11]

[erronis]

62. Thanks for giving us the link to the CNP info.

Anyone ever notice that the real people, the workers who just have to earn a paycheck to survive, are never invited to these cabals?

This ain't any form of democracy or free speech. It's a way to try to overturn those concepts.

Citizen United, my ass.

[DSandra]

10. I hope that will be a key investigation starting point to the GOP's conspiracy to commit sedition,

Treason, and an attempted coup.

The party leaders should be arrested and the party dissolved at this point.

[flibbitygiblets]

51. ☝🏼💯

[dalton99a]

12. This hoax about election fraud was preplanned and orchestrated by Trump and the GOP

It's clear as day

[kairos12]

13. ALEC has long been the agenda behind all the Reich Wing Agenda.

They are fascists.

[Rural_Progressive]

14. They attribute the saying to Twain, who knows if he actually said it but

"History doesn't repeat itself but it sure does rhyme" Sort of sounds like something Twain might have said

Anybody remember a fella by the name of Smedley Butler? If you do, then this current attempt at a coup should seem sort of familiar, if you don't, look him up, a true American hero.

[erronis]

63. Smedley Butler is pretty well known on DU. And yes, the analogies are there.

But it never hurts to mention those that were heroes. We need some right now.

[mtnsnake]

15. Gotta give it to the crooks

They're always thinking ahead.

They've known for a long time that there was no way Trump could win a fair election in 2020. Disgusting.

[Lonestarblue]

27. It's likely he didn't win in 2016 either, so they were preparing.

How on earth do we combat this?

[NRaleighLiberal]

17. evil

[Fla Dem]

19. Treason, that's what it is. A full blown plan to over throw the Constitution.

[rickyhall]

23. Exactly. This is well planned attempted Coup De'tat. Totally seditious treason. Lock them up.

When Cuomo comes in he should indict every fucking one of them.

[tinrobot]

29. Actually it's closer to sedition, might also be considered racketeering.

Treason is selling your country out to a foreign power.

Sedition is inciting discontent or rebellion against a government.

Racketeering is organized criminal activity. Interfering with an election is criminal activity.

[TwilightZone]

33. Good luck

There probably isn't a word more misused on DU than "treason". No declared enemy, no active hostilities.

[StarfishSaver]

47. Right behind it is "sedition"

[Harker]

20. And Lindsey Graham will block any AG nominee

who would investigate Trumpsky?

These traitors won't likely go to jail, let alone go up against a cold stone wall.

They'll be back.

[Cha]

21. Rt.. it Took A whole Lot of Hard Work

by so many people & the SC & Fed & State Judges siding with Democracy for it to work.

Is it any wonder trump did exactly what he wanted.. selling America & her People OUT.. because he thought he would fucking Cheat like he Always does & WIN Anyway!!!!

[erronis]

64. And it's scary that all of these pieces had to work. The RW has tried to gum up the machinery

for years. They'll keep on trying.

Until they are severely punished for their misdeeds. And probably even after that.

[Cha]

66. I agree.. they should be

punished severely somehow!

[kurtcagle]

22. A bit of history

If anyone is wondering what Trump's game plan is:

Adolf Hitler is sentenced for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch of November 8, 1923. The attempted coup in Munich by right-wing members of the army and the Nazi Party was foiled by the government, and Hitler was charged with high treason. Despite his conviction, Hitler was out of jail before the end of the year, with his political position stronger than ever.

Germany was in the midst of a national crisis in the early 1920s. After World War I, its economy was in shambles, and hyperinflation caused widespread discontent. Hitler and the Nazis stepped into this breach with often-racist demagoguery that attracted a significant following throughout the nation.

The failed coup turned out to be quite a boon for Adolf Hitler. His trial brought him more attention and publicity than ever before. With a crowd of thousands-including press from around the world-watching the proceedings, Hitler made the most of this opportunity by going on the offensive.

Taking every chance to turn the subject away from the putsch itself, Hitler frequently made speeches about Germany’s postwar plight. He blamed the Jews, Marxism, and France for all of the country’s problems, repeatedly returning to his theme of hypernationalism. The conservative-leaning judges did nothing to stop Hitler or keep the focus on the attempted coup. The prosecutors, who had been threatened by Hitler’s student followers, shrank from challenging the defendant.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/beer-hall-putsch-secures-hitlers-rise-to-power

When narcissists are exposed as the frauds that they are, they frequently employ the technique of making themselves the prosecuted martyr. Hitler took advantage of that status to convince German financiers and businesses that he would grant them exceptional access once he regained power. I'm not sure that Trump expected to lose by February - I believe he would taken a different path if he had truly comprehended how severe the pandemic was going to be, but he let the short term opportunity to profit from the virus take away from the longer term view that had he played his cards right, he could have easily skated into a second term, at which point he would have likely neutered Congress and the Courts and become President for Life.

Trump's biggest failing is that he's fundamentally greedy, which means he concentrates on the immediate short term profit even if it means disadvantaging himself down the road. As such he keeps undercutting himself.

[58Sunliner]

43. Attention span of a gnat.

[c-rational]

24. Now is the time to not only not let your guard down but to go on the offensive. Attack,attack amd

Last edited Mon Dec 14, 2020, 03:14 PM - Edit history (1)

attack using all means and guerrilla tactics like they use.

[tirebiter]

75. Guerilla warfare

Leave the apes alone.

[c-rational]

76. You are correct - corrected. Thanks.

[bringthePaine]

26. thus revealed: unassailable evidence of conspiracy at all levels! this obviates any call for mercy

or leniency when meting justice for every single one of the seditious Republican traitors, as well as
all foreign agents and agencies joined in their cause; this requires the harshest punishments and
banishments we can bring to bear, with no harbor of mercy - the twisted insurrectionist gorgon must be sundered, its resources co-opted, its minions burdened with ruin, even as the phoenix of democracy rises anew, restoring promise of a fair, democratic future hard-won by true hearts

[lastlib]

69. Strongly agree!! This nest of vipers needs to be soaked in accelerant and burned out!

Democracy is at stake!

[LessAspin]

28. They would have gotten away with it too..

Of course Roger Stone has been stealing elections since 1972.

And 'Stop the Steal' began in 2015..


'Stop the Steal' campaign has long ties to Roger Stone

[tinrobot]

30. ...if it weren't for a pandemic and mail-in paper ballots.

[niyad]

31. Colour me soooooooo NOT surprised.

[Aussie105]

34. Republican forward planning!

We can't win the next election in 2020 fairly, because Trump has done nothing remotely useful, so we got to cheat!

After all, we have a birthright to the power and money that comes with the 'R' brand, right? So cheating is ok!

Honestly though, Democrats caught on, and are now immune to the barbs fired out, the ones that started with birtherism and Pizzagate, and besides, they are all out of barbs to throw at Democrats to see which stick.

Republicans are firing legal blanks, and Trump is doing his 'not fair, you are making me sulk!' act.

In disarray, the Repugs are, time to hit them hard with big words like 'sedition', 'traitors', 'un-American activities', 'fascists under the bed' etc - make them squirm!

[KatK]

35. Need petition to expel and try for sedition

We need a petition to expel from the House the 106 seditious Republican collaborators. And prosecute them for sedition.

We need a petition to prosecute all active conspirators, including GOP, ALEC and the CNP.

We also need a huge movement (social media, ads, etc.) telling people to phone their elected representatives and tell them, "We must not tolerate sedition in any form."

[Bobstandard]

36. Not doing so well against the cyber war Panetta warned us againsy

But Leon Panetta was an Obama appointment, competent, forward looking. So of course we ignored his warnings and spent our money on, well, I’m not sure where all that defense money has gone. But we’re sure being beaten in cyberspace as anybody but a Trumpist can plainly see.

[Hekate]

37. KnR

[Evolve Dammit]

39. A re-vamped DOJ has a lot on their plates come January 20.

[Volaris]

40. Does this meet the legal definition of a conspiracy

[Takket]

41. i look forward to the media covering this story as a huge breaking news scandal across the nation

LOL Sorry i couldn't say that with a straight face..........

[58Sunliner]

42. I didn't think it was spontaneous.

Seditious shits.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

44. MAGAts need to see this!

Oh wait. Facts don't matter to them.

[JudyM]

46. K&R. Important OP.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

48. Further background reading ...

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/meet-the-economist-behind-the-one-percents-stealth-takeover-of-america

[cp]

56. A must read!

Thank you. Sent to some of my friends. Wow.
We've lived this in Wisconsin.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

50. Sedition. I hope the Biden DOJ investigates Kelli Ward, GOP chair in AZ, to

see if she is involved in this plot.

ALEC has been an insidious, powerful anti-democratic presence in AZ state government for many years, and Kelli Ward appears to fit the CNP profile perfectly.

12/11/2020

Arizona GOP Chair Takes Voter Fraud Lawsuit To Supreme Court

Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward will appeal a lawsuit alleging voter fraud and attempting to overturn the state’s election results to the U.S. Supreme Court, the chairwoman said Friday, marking the third Republican-led challenge to President-elect Joe Biden’s win that the court will weigh in on as the Electoral College vote rapidly approaches.
snip----
The GOP chair’s lawsuit was struck down in both Arizona’s Superior Court and Supreme Court, with the state Supreme Court finding Ward’s case did not provide any evidence of “misconduct” or “illegal votes” or “establish any degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results.”

In her petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ward alleged the lower courts did not give Republicans enough time to inspect ballots and prove “uncounted” or “flipped” votes for Trump because they wanted to resolve the case by the “safe harbor” deadline on Dec. 8 and when the Electoral College meets Dec. 14.

Ward is asking the Supreme Court to declare that the safe harbor deadline, which ensures states’ election totals cannot be challenged by Congress if submitted by that date, and Electoral College vote are “unconstitutional restrictions” for resolving election disputes in state court, and to send the case back to the lower courts with enough time for Ward to inspect the ballots as she wants.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/12/11/arizona-gop-chair-takes-voter-fraud-lawsuit-to-supreme-court/?sh=29728c314cea

[JHB]

52. A reminder that this is not "Trumpism". These are lobbying groups and think tanks...

...that are answerable only to their funders and are not interested in democracy nor the nation as a whole. They want their agenda, and they will bully, bulldozer, lie, cheat, and steal to get it.

Why do you think they back Trump? Except for his manners, he's their perfect guy.

[BadgerMom]

53. I'm certain they are doing all they can to steal the Georgia Senate run-offs.

[judy]

54. Please please stop using the word "conservatives"!

These people are extremists. "Conservative" means you respect tradition and want to "conserve" it.
I don't see anything conservative about people asking to install a dictator instead of respecting the will of the voters.

[BobTheSubgenius]

60. The very idea I've been behind since the George W years.

I think the term "regressives" suits them very well.

[judy]

77. Or plain "fascists",

with a little hint of White Supremacy...gag...

[Bettie]

55. This is their trial run

next time, they will have refined their processes.

[Kid Berwyn]

57. Remember, we must be open-minded and forgiving.

It’s not like treason.



It IS treason.

[dawg]

58. This is why some Republican legislatures wouldn't allow early counting of absentee ballots.

There's no other plausible explanation. They needed Trump to be ahead based on same-day vote totals in order to set up their narrative that the election was "stolen" from him. It's pretty easy to be ahead when you count Republican votes first.

[usaf-vet]

59. The way i see it with NO additional info. except for years of watching the shift starting in 2000...

Bush v Gore. That the repugs have been of one mind and focused on one-party dominance, there have been a few setbacks, the Obama years, the 2018 Democratic win to take over the house to mention two key points... BUT they have never given up their long term goal of total power in their hands.

The thief of the POTUS in 2016, with the help of Russian interference with voting, put them at a point of seeing the light at the end of their devious tunnel. I believe that they believed that tRump in 2020 would cap the success of their long term goal. One-party rule with no chance of ever again losing control of the three branches of government.

I have no doubt the tRump believed the FIX was in for 2020 just as it was for 2016. His handlers and IMHO he has them given that he alone could not have thought of and pull off the maneuvers that moved levers of power that we have seen in his term.

tRump, not unlike G.W.Bush was a POTUS in name only. W had and demonstrated some of his own independence that, in small ways, benefited Americans. tRump, on the other hand, was and is only interested in grifting to enrich himself personally. He does not and will never give a SHIT about everyday Americans. He clearly is one greedy sick SOB. Who seeks power and money for his own interest. He is a user of people and will throw them under the bus when they no longer serve his interest.

IMHO I believe he is dragging out this post-election foolishness because, like any spoiled child, he has been told that he can take what is his without any repercussions.

tRump will continue until there is ONLY one POTUS with the power to order the disruption to stop that tRump is inflicting on our democracy.

Let's all hope that there exists the will to confront tRump and his enablers to make it stop no matter what it takes to hold THEM accountable for their crimes.

[Kahuna]

65. I said two years ago that the only way trump could overturn the election is

with the help of his gop enablers and that they would be down with it.

[orangecrush]

67. This must be stopped.

Last edited Sun Dec 13, 2020, 05:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Dems must finally, at long last, go after these criminal organizations tooth and nail.

Don't think they've given up.

Trumps loss was just the beginning.

It has been proven that they cannot win in a democracy, and their next step is going to be to kill that democracy by every means at their disposal.

We are in a fight for our survival as a free nation, against concentrated wealth.

[muriel_volestrangler]

68. Not actually 'breaking' (article from Oct 26); but interesting in that it's before Covid problems

It was on DU back in October, too: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016275237

In February, they couldn't have said "states will be changing voting procedures", but they were presuming they'd be challenging the validity of the election. HuffPost in October got a quote:

ALEC’s plan to challenge, with an eye to overturning, the election if it goes against Trump is consistent with its efforts to undermine a democracy ruled by the majority, ALEC expert and Columbia University assistant professor Alexander Hertel-Fernandez told HuffPost. ALEC is “seeking ways to control by a minority,” he said.

ALEC official Bill Meierling told HuffPost in a statement that with “new, rapidly developed voting plans, it’s no surprise state legislators would request ‘action items,’ and information to ensure election security and ballot access,” which Nelson provided.

He added: “States and their state legislators ... have an obligation to ensure our nation has a free and fair election.” He did not explain why ALEC was automatically preparing back in February to challenge a Trump loss — or why a Trump defeat wouldn’t constitute a free and fair election.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alec-challenge-trump-loss-corporations_n_5f99cf20c5b61d63241ee6dd?ri18n=true

[mdbl]

70. This proves how much they suck at planning anything.

[Budi]

71. Oct 11, 2016

Last edited Sun Dec 13, 2020, 10:30 PM - Edit history (1)

As a political insider, 1st Lady, Senator & Sec of State, & one who felt directly the blows leveled at her husband, her self, her country & her Party, she knew.

[Blue Owl]

72. What's that saying about best-laid plans again...

[yuiyoshida]

73. The Biden Justice department will have its

hands full for the next year and a half chasing down all the illegal shit the GOP has employed.

[bluestarone]

74. THIS THREAD is exactly the reason we ALL need

To have eyes and ears open, to do EVERYTHING possible to get the vote out AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN. That's the ONLY way to stop these RUSSIAN RETHUGLICONS we have in the senate, and House. For our kids and Grandkids, it has to be stopped!