Elections belong to the people

“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” ― Abraham Lincoln

Voting. Our most sacred act within our democratic republic. We must not turn our backs on the potential of having our elections stolen from us! 

One of the chief charters of Robert Mueller's investigation was the Russian interference in our 2016 presidential election. His findings are explained in Volume I of his report. As you know, Mueller didn't find any prosecutable charges for conspiracy in his investigation into whether 45's campaign was entrenched with the Russians. There was a lot of stinking rot found, but nothing that Mueller felt could be successfully prosecuted. But he did find that Russia interfered in our election in "sweeping, systematic fashion." The Russians targeted the Democratic party by stealing emails and data and worked to bolster TЯUMP's campaign, while sowing societal and political discord, through social media.

So, what has been done in response to this assault on our election, and what has been done to ensure that our free and open democratic elections are not tampered with in the future?

Less than two months before the 2016 presidential election, Congress revealed to the nation that Russia had interfered in our election process. There was no doubt that it was the Russians. Every one of our intelligence bodies agreed. In response, after the election and about a month before he was to leave office, President Obama wrote an executive order to impose sanctions on Russia, and expelled 35 Russians from the United States.

TЯUMP, on the other hand has never once acknowledged that Russia interfered. To this very day, he calls it "the Russian hoax." In fact, he has worked to sow seeds of doubt in his base, saying the interference could've been anybody, including "somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds." Lord Dampnut has also said that he had talked to Putin and Putin reassured him that Russia wasn't involved. Donocchio simply took this dictator and enemy of the United States at his word and furthered Putin's lies. Just a few days ago, he shared a long telephone call with Putie and among many topics of conversation, Russian interference did not come up, but the "Russian Hoax" -- the Mueller report -- did.

Steve Sack

Several congressional committees began investigating the matter in early 2017, but the investigations became contentious and unwieldily. When suspicions arose that TЯUMP or his campaign worked with the Russians, and shortly after Fuckface von Clownstick fired Comey, the Special Counsel was appointed on May 17, 2017. Robert Mueller assembled a crackerjack team of FBI agents and skilled attorneys and got to work. During the course of his investigation, Mueller brought charges against 28 entities and people from Russia. The charges he brought against Amercians (chiefly, those in the Commander-in-Grief's inner circle) were for lying about contact with Russia, not for conspiring with them.

According to Politifact:

In February 2018, the special counsel charged 13 Russians and three Russian entities with conspiring to defraud the United States and interfere with the 2016 presidential election. Mueller targeted the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-linked company that engages in influence operations and aimed to spread distrust toward candidates and the American political system. By mid 2016, the Internet Research Agency had established a strategy of supporting Trump’s candidacy and disparaging Clinton.

In July 2018, the special counsel indicted an additional 12 Russian intelligence officers for their role in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Clinton campaign, and leaking of emails and documents. 

The special counsel also charged Richard Pinedo, a California resident, with identity fraud. Pinedo sold bank account numbers over the internet to the Russians. His lawyer said he had no connection to Trump and was unaware that customers were involved in the Russia influence operation. Pinedo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison in October 2018. 

Maria Butina, a Russian living in the United States, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal foreign agent in December 2018. Butina has been accused of trying to infiltrate Republican power circles by reaching out through conservative groups such as the National Rifle Association. The indictment doesn’t mention Trump, although the New York Times reported that she tried to help broker a secret meeting with Trump and Putin during the 2016 campaign. Butina was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. and not Mueller; however, she is cooperating with the Mueller investigation and in February federal prosecutors sought to delay her sentencing.

And that's about the extent of the consequences for Russia.

Seriously, in the last two-and-a-half years since we've known about the interference, Obama's sanctions and expulsions and Mueller's charges have been the only responses from the United States.

Our intelligence community firmly believes that the Russian efforts to influence our election go all the way to the top, to Vladimir Putin, so saying in a report released on January 6, 2017. And more recently, as late as last week, the FBI did announce that they are beefing up their counterintelligence operations. FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledges that the threat still exists and that the U.S. must get one step ahead. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats agrees. Given that the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence are under the Executive Branch, one could technically say, as that article does, that "the administration" is working to combat foreign interference into our elections.

But 45 himself has never once condemned the actions. Just the opposite. He has denied that Russia was involved, outright praised the actions, and fawned over Putie every chance he gets (read my post about their love affair). In fact, his son-in-law and Secretary of Busy Work Jared Kushner recently downplayed the interference, saying during Time's 100 event, "it was just a couple of Facebook ads." Obviously he didn't read Mueller's report.

Sidenote: It seems that no one in the inner circle has read it. I'm not convinced that A.G. William Barr read the entire report. He admitted that he didn't read the evidence. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), holding up what looked to be about half of the report, admitted he hadn't read the entire report. It's seriously disgraceful that one of the most senior lawmakers of our nation has not read one of the most important government documents of a generation. Disgraceful also, but not surprising: we can be fairly certain that Baby Fingers himself hasn't finished with the cover yet.

Andy Borowitz

Lindsey Graham, sometimes a reasonable Senate Republican and sometimes a screaming banshee, has made concerning noises about Russian interference, has pushed back on Kushner's statements, and has called for more sanctions. His voice seems to be echoing in the Republican void, though. In 2018 the GOP House and Senate voted against renewing funding to to beef up election security. There really hasn't been a lot of legislation introduced. There are three pieces of current legislation that I could find. The Defending Elections against Trolls from Enemy Regimes Act (DETER Act), The Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act (DASKA Act), and The Honest Ads Act have been introduced, but none has gotten past the introduction phase. One piece of legislation, The National Defense Authorization Act, which has become law, which includes a section outlining an Department of Defense offense for foreign hackers. There are a few other bills that have been introduced by Congress that address election security. You can read them for yourselves, but none of the bills, to my reading, really have teeth. I was dismayed that close to diddly-squat has been done in the last two years.

There is speculation that the motivation for Hair Twitler to deny with all his being that the Russians interfered goes to his fear that the truth about Russian interference threatens the legitimacy of his presidency. Psssst... Mr. SCROTUS sir? That train has left the station! 

We'll never know if the interference really and truly changed the course of the election, but given its immensity, its relentless attack on Secretary Clinton and targeted support for TЯUMP, along with sowing social and political discord among us, I believe it did. Given those facts and the fact that he did not win with a majority of the popular vote, he is very much correct that the legitimacy of his election is in question. Unfortunately, we don't have a constitutional roadmap for do-overs, so our hands are tied.

We must look forward and acknowledge that interference is not going to stop; it's only going to get more sophisticated. What are solutions?

Facebook, home of much of the discord-sowing, has done a little to combat propaganda and fake news, but I wonder if it's enough. Tangentially, Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram have banned most ultra-right-wing extremists in an effort to stem misinformation and hate.

Though there is no evidence that the Russians hacked into actual election computers at the voting point, there is no reason to think that they won't try. The Brennan Center for Justice has many suggestions for defense against interference. They've published several papers on aspects of shoring up our election integrity, including advocating for a return to more audit-able ballots. I encourage you to read all of the Brennan Center reports. They are written by smart, knowledgeable citizens. The Council on Foreign Relations suggests a three-prong approach for combating foreign interference. Little Sister Resister believes we need a bipartisan task force -- or a whole new Congressional committee -- devoted to looking deep and wide at all aspects of our elections and making strong recommendations to Congress and the states for immediate action.

We must do more, and quickly! We can't let 45 and his indifference and his lies set the narrative and embolden Putin any more. Read those papers, and if any of those, or other, solutions make sense to you, talk to your state representatives as well as your members of Congress to urge action to make our sacred ballots unbreakable and unquestionable. Our elections belong to us, and we must ensure that is the truth forever.


Stay informed, be an active citizen, and don't turn your back on the fire!

#RESIST!