The following is an op-ed by Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post:
In case you thought President Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020, the ensuing investigations of armed insurrectionists and the work of the House Jan. 6 select committee had deterred future attempts to sabotage democracy, think again.
Politico reports: “Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with grassroots activists provide an inside look at a multi-pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as regular poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys.”
This self-described “army” of 2020 election deniers, coupled with lawyers ready to throw the election into chaos, should set off alarm bells at the Justice Department. While this evidence comes from Michigan, it is a scheme that former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, among others, has been pushing nationwide.
Democracy defenders are taking note. Norman Eisen, who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, tells me: “Elections and government officials, nonprofit groups, pro-democracy political actors, and, if necessary, law enforcement and the courts, can and will rise to the occasion as they’ve done before to respond to these kinds of nefarious activities.” He adds, “To the extent that [district attorneys] and other officials are planning to suppress voting rights in cahoots with extreme partisan actors, federal and state law enforcement officials will certainly be monitoring the situation closely.”
As a preliminary matter, the ongoing threat of election subversion should remind Attorney General Merrick Garland of the need to prosecute all those involved in the insurrection, including the former president, both for the violence that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, and the machinations to pressure local election officials, state legislators and the vice president to undermine the will of voters. Garland’s lackadaisical pacing means any prosecution of high-level Trump officials is likely to occur after the midterm elections — if it happens at all. Perhaps the Justice Department should think about the need for deterrence beforethe next election coup attempt begins.
The ongoing plot to disrupt democracy also underscores the importance of the Jan. 6 committee’s upcoming hearings. As Eisen puts it, the hearings could have "an important role to play in exposing the fact that, in a sense, the insurrection never ended.”
In addition, the new schemes underway should impress upon state bar associations the necessity of disbarring lawyers who filed frivolous lawsuits to keep Trump in power. Michael Teter, who heads the 65 Project’s efforts to discipline Trump’s lawyers who filed such suits or participated in the coup attempt, tells me, “Lawyers remain a central part of the Trumpian scheme to sow unwarranted doubt about the our democracy and to disrupt our elections. They’ve taken the lessons they learned in 2020 and are going to redouble their efforts.” He adds, “The state bars need to provide another lesson: that any attorney who lends their law license and the profession’s integrity to the effort will face severe discipline.”
Multiple judges have already meted out punishment to Trump attorneys, from license suspensions to heavy fines. But bar associations need to pick up the pace. The need to deter like-minded attorneys from trying to upset another election has never been stronger. Teter notes that bar proceedings are underway against, among others, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, former Trump counsel John Eastman, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark.
The Politico report is “just another stone on what is already a mountain of evidence that an anti-democratic faction is intent on subverting future elections if they don’t like the choice of the voters,” said Ben Berwick, counsel for the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy. “They are proposing new laws and installing people in key positions to make sure they can succeed in future elections where they failed in 2020. While the tactics are new, this is not the first time a faction has tried to obstruct their fellow Americans from voting.”
Ultimately, the widespread assault on democracy can only be stopped by voters. Last month, when receiving the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage award, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) warned that “we face a threat we have never faced before — a former president attempting to unravel our constitutional republic.” It is not only Trump, but an entire party that has taken up that cause.
It is worth underscoring Cheney’s admonition:
At this moment, we must all summon the courage to stand against that. The question for every one of us is in this time of testing, will we do our duty? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics? Or will we look away from danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies, and enable the liar? …I ask all of you to remember this sacred duty that has passed to us; to remember that in our republic some things have to matter. That the defense of our republic, the defense of the constitutional foundations of our nation have to matter. In a republic, there are no bystanders, there are no spectators. As citizens, every one of us has a duty to set aside partisan battles and stand together to perpetuate and preserve our great republic.
That means honest election officials must thwart such plots. It means the Justice Department must act swiftly to prosecute insurrection. It means bar associations and judges must make clear that lawyers who participate in unfounded fraud claims face significant consequences. And it means the media must be candid that the threat to our democracy comes from a radicalized GOP (and treat Republicans accordingly in interviews).
And it means voters who perceive the threat to our democracy must turn out in overwhelming numbers. Nothing less than the survival of democracy is at issue.