Democrats and RINOs have been using J6 and the 2020 election as a cudgel for a long time now. "Election deniers!" they cry. Just the other day, the Washington Post wrote that "Election deniers increasingly dominate the Republican Party—and could soon gain unprecedented power over the nation's democratic system... It's a nationwide problem!" If opinions were the extent of the issue, we wouldn't be where we are today. As many of you know, the Biden administration and their buddies in the media and Big Tech have been carefully crafting a narrative that connects election deniers to the idea that they may pose a national security threat, possibly even domestic terrorists. To be fair, elections are one of CISA's 16 critical infrastructure sectors, which, if threatened, could pose a national security threat. Therefore, to want to protect elections is a reasonable goal. Many of the endeavors to safeguard the security of elections are solid. However, that is not what I am discussing here.
UncoverDC has written extensively on how the Biden administration has weaponized its DOJ, DHS, Intelligence Agencies, and CISA against those who seem to be exclusively associated with Trump's MAGA movement. The playbook is always the same. The language used is specific, using terms like domestic terrorism, white supremacists, mis-, dis-, and mal-information. They then build a narrative, sprinkle the language throughout the various agencies, call their legacy media pals to repeat specific talking points, and collude with Big Tech to censor or suppress anyone on social media who dares to disagree. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on October 3, "We are very, very intensely focused on election security." The NY Times reported in an opinion piece that Trump and his supporters are a "Threat to Democracy Hiding in Plain Sight."
Parallel to these efforts is the weaponization of policies specific to their agenda. With the mid-terms just around the corner, the emerging plan is to protect the security of elections and election workers. To that end, "bi-partisan" task forces have been assembled. Grants have been given to private entities to partner with federal agencies to enforce the election security agenda—some of which may be necessary. Policies and plans have been put in place to specifically protect election workers from "confrontational poll workers," a relatively new initiative.
The Playbook
The first step was to debunk the Big Lie. The same playbook was used. Define linguistics, use media and big tech to message and censor, build policies around the narrative, and execute the plan. CISA plays a prominent role in the process. Its Election Rumor vs. Reality page is masterful.
It lays out three categories of the election process; pre-election, election day, and post-election. Big picture, the page addresses the realities and rumors of things related to the Big Lie (election fraud isn't real) with items like vulnerabilities in election technology, drop boxes, ballot tampering, ballot paper and ballot handling, voter roll and voter registration maintenance, sharpies, etc. Screenshots below show the way CISA and its advisors want you to believe that elections in the U.S are impeccably secure. They use, in many cases, the very questions those pesky election deniers asked to prove that they are nothing more than conspiracy theorists. It lays the groundwork for such questioning in future elections. "Get the facts," they say. The "facts" are theirs. A few examples are below but invite you to look at the page to better understand how information is being manipulated.
[gallery type="slideshow" size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="CISA Rumor Control" ids="44711,44716,44715,44714,44713,44712"]
The page also addresses a second category of voter and election worker intimidation, post-election audits, and the contesting of elections. These items are also related to the Big Lie, but they specifically address a narrative that has been emerging since the Biden administration began to identify election deniers as a national security threat.
[gallery type="slideshow" size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Protecting Polls" ids="44717,44718"]
The J6 event accelerated the ability to push that narrative. Protesters were identified as insurrectionists and terrorists. Accordingly, hundreds were targeted for arrest, and many are still in jail without trial, something almost unheard of in our judicial history—at least on the scale we see today. Parents questioning curricula at school board meetings have also been identified as threats—some were arrested. Presidential Executive Orders, DOJ press releases, and DHS Terrorist Advisories have consistently focused on "MAGA Republicans" as the new emerging root of violence in America. With the linguistics and messaging in place, policies and the organization to enforce them began to form and appear.
Geared Up: Protect the Election Workers and Voters from Violence
The National Election Threats Task Force, formed in 2019 to "protect democracy," now code words for anyone other than Trump supporters. Everyone knows conservatives absolutely do not want an America that protects the rights of all. A quick look at the leaders of the Task Force shows a not-so-nonpartisan group of "stakeholders." The Task Force has at its disposal the full force of the DOJ to enforce the protection of poll workers and voters. It will use a DOJ task force comprised of members from the Criminal Division, the Civil Rights Division, the National Security Division, and the FBI to protect "against threats against election workers." On October 4, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. released a readout of grant funding provided for "physical election security enhancements" to protect election workers. There was a briefing from the FBI and coordination with FBI Election Crime Coordinators for the lead-up to the November mid-terms. A "bi-partisan group" of approximately 300 election officials and workers attended the secret meeting.
Organizations like the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), the Democracy Fund, the Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN), and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) are just a few examples of private and government-run organizations whose business it will be to enforce the protection of election workers and voters at the polls. EOLDN is specifically charged with the legal aspects of protecting the polls. The government uses these organizations and others to launder activities it cannot itself perform, like get-out-the-vote initiatives.
A domestic terrorism unit was also formed to combat homegrown terrorism and will most certainly be activated should the anticipated violence occur at the polls. These examples are a mere dusting of what has been happening behind the scenes to gear up for the mid-terms. By the way, there are already examples of indictments resulting from election commissioners who complained about threatening emails and phone calls during elections in the past year—some of which were valid complaints.
The Disturbing Ramp-Up of the Social Media Machine
The media, Big Tech, and even Election Boards are ramping up their information campaigns. The messaging is also cropping up in local elections. The much contested Maricopa County in Arizona has its own version to control who in the media will report on the election and what content is defined as mis-,dis-, and mal-information.
AZInformer Telegram
And to add muscle to the complaints of voting rights and election fraud, in July United States Attorney Gary Restaino appointed Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Sean Lokey to serve as the District Election Officer for the District of Arizona. Lokey will handle "complaints of voting rights violations and election fraud in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington." Last I checked, the federal government should keep its nose out of a state's election affairs. The press release states:
"The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur."
The media is also ramping up its campaigns to target Trump voters before the mid-terms. On October 5, MSNBC showed a clip of Lincoln Project's co-founder and RINO Rick Wilson talking about anticipated "intimidation tactics" in the upcoming election. He confidently asserts that "violence is wired into that party (Trump's) now." He follows the CISA talking points with precision, adding that "meal-team six strapped up" will be standing just outside the line at the polls to intimidate people. It is just one example of the virtual Ministry of Truth that aims to convince Americans of prescribed violent activity with rationalized consequences should such violence occur. I wish I could say this type of media talking point was a one-off. It isn't. It is full-on mockingbird media at work.
A simple search of Twitter using key words "voter intimidation" brings up copious tweets on the subject, almost all stating it is the Trump supporter who will intimidate at the polls. There are pages upon pages of examples like the ones below. Try it yourself. Many are related to ongoing legal challenges by concerned citizens related to the 2020 election that are framed as "dirty voter suppression + voter intimidation tactics that Republicans play."
The tweets will be disturbing for those who may merely be performing their civic duties in upcoming elections. They are especially worrisome given what we have seen from the policies and private/public partnerships that have been put in place since Biden took office. There is almost no doubt in my mind that this "voter and election worker intimidation" campaign has been rolled out to justify future targeting and possible arrests of people who are sincerely concerned about conducting free and fair elections. Again, I am not referring to arrests of people perpetrating real violence at the polls.
The Federalist column on October 6 quoted former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who said the following about civic engagement at the polls.
"Voters should enthusiastically welcome election observers because they help ensure that no voter's ballot will be diluted or canceled."
He then added, "No election administrator should discourage civic engagement. We are citizens, not subjects. Transparency is an element of good governance."
I hope citizens will not be worried about working at the polls. Citizens should show up, well-trained and ready to calmly exert their right to question anything that might appear to be illegal or untoward in upcoming elections.
No citizen, Republican or Democrat alike, should be fearful of civic participation. I would submit that our own government may be ramping up to intimidate citizens because of their political affiliation or efforts to ensure a fair election. Given how J6 has been handled, FBI raids, the treatment of certain whistleblowers, and the politicized targeting of citizens over the past two years, it is not a conspiracy theory to believe that Americans won't be targeted during elections. Americans should not have to worry that the FBI might show up at their door just because they questioned procedures at the polls.
