Man, that’s GOTTA hurt…
While there have been a few rational actors in the Michigan Republican legislative caucus who have refused to subscribe to The Big Lie that Donald Trump won more votes than Joe Biden in Michigan and, in fact, across the entire country, most have been vocally all in on it. The only the way The Big Lie isn’t a lie is if there was widespread voter fraud, the likes of which this country has never seen.
The happy fact is, our election system is so distributed, run by local municipalities with no central controller, stealing an election through voter fraud would be, as I said on the pod last week, like robbing a bank one dollar at a time. Even ballot tabulation equipment is different different from place to place so voting machine hacking would still have very little impact and would be virtually impossible to conceal.
But none of this has kept most Michigan Republicans from fawning and preening before an audience of one — Donald Trump — parroting his ridiculous Big Lie claims. Michigan Senate Republicans held a tour de farce hearing where they brought in Rudy Giuliani – who today lost his New York law license due to his mendacity about the 2020 election — to essentially run the show, calling witnesses, cross examining them, and turning our senate chambers into a complete clown show, once again making our state a national embarassment.
Senate Republicans vowed to get to the bottom of it with a serious investigation that many of figured would start with the conclusion and then work backwards. However, it turns out they actually did a valid examination and came to a non-subtle conclusion. Rather than put that conclusion in my own frame, we’ll let their report speak for itself. These are actually excerpts from the 55-page report:
- This Committee found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election.
- At this point, I feel confident to assert the results of the Michigan election are accurately represented by the certified and audited results…All compelling theories that sprang forth from the rumors surrounding Antrim County are diminished so significantly as for it to be a complete waste of time to consider them further (That is a quote from Michigan Senate Oversight Committee Chair Ed McBroom.)
- [T]here is no evidence presented at this time to prove either significant acts of fraud or that an organized, wide-scale effort to commit fraudulent activity was perpetrated in order to subvert the will of Michigan voters.
- There was no evidence presented to the Committee indicating that hundreds of thousands of absentee voter ballots were mailed to Michigan voters without previously being requested.
- The chance of encountering [an] attempted double vote scenario is so statistically unlikely as to make impossible even a small effort to do so.
- [T]he Committee found no evidence fraudulent activities were undertaken or that such actions led to irreparable harm to ballots or vote counting.
- The Committee states that the data…clearly and concisely shows that ideas and speculation that the Antrim County election workers or outside entities manipulated the vote by hand or electronically are indefensible. Further, the Committee is appalled at what can only be deduced as a willful ignorance or avoidance of this proof perpetuated by some leading such speculation.
- The Committee recommends the attorney general consider investigating those who have been utilizing misleading and false information about Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends.
- The Committee finds those promoting Antrim County as the prime evidence of a nationwide conspiracy to steal the election place all other statements and actions they make in a position of zero credibility.
- The Committee finds these postulations [about illegal votes] strain credulity and are simply preposterous.
- The Committee finds insisting [that there] is evidence of a cover up, “Destruction of election artifacts prior to end of 22-month archival requirement,” is incredibly misleading, demeaning, and irresponsible.
- The Committee can confidently assert that it has been thorough in examination of numerous allegations of unlawful actions, improper procedures, fraud, vote theft, or any other description which would cause citizens to doubt the integrity of Michigan’s 2020 election results. Our clear finding is that citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan. The Committee strongly recommends citizens use a critical eye and ear toward those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain.
That list reads like a list you’d see from a Democratic caucus investigation as it so thoroughly refutes all of the adherents to The Big Lie, at least as it relates to Michigan, that Senator McBroom and all of the other Republicans who signed onto it have probably ended their careers in what’s left of the Republican Party. The GOP is no longer a political party that permits dissent or contrary views. You either toe the line or you are banished into the political wilderness like Liz Cheney and others.
There are a number of recommendations in the report that might possibly save them. Some are valid, others seem to give some breathing space for the voter suppression bills Republicans will invariably pass and that Governor Whitmer will invariably veto. However, given how safe, secure, and legitimate the 2020 election was here, they seem entirely unnecessary.
At any rate, the recommendations in the report are little more than drop in an ocean of OUCH! for Michigan Republicans.
Man, that’s gotta hurt.
