Farrah Tomazin, an investigative journalist and the North America correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, penned a warning over former President Donald Trump’s attempted coup nearly a year ago. Tomazin writes that Trump and his allies are better organized now, saying that the deadly January 6 Capitol attack was a “dress rehearsal.” He’s not wrong, which is why anyone involved in the insurrection, including the twice-impeached one-term president, needs to be held accountable.
“But there is every reason to think that the January 6 attack was just the beginning for Donald Trump and his allies – and this time, they’re much better organized,” he writes.
“Twelve months after America’s chamber of democracy was stormed by the foot soldiers of a president trying to cling to power at any cost, Trumpists and partisan state legislatures are now working to undermine election processes right across the US,” Tomazin continues. “They’re much less violent than an angry mob descending on Congress after being told to “fight like hell” – but far more insidious, strategic, and potentially damaging to democracy in the longer term.”
He noted in detail the Republicans’ voter suppression tactics that they’ve unleashed across the country after losing the election to President Joe Biden in the electoral and popular votes.
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“And despite losing dozens of legal challenges centered on the baseless claim of a fraudulent result, Trump and his supporters are now working to elect proponents of the myth to powerful positions at state and national level,” the report continues. “If elected, these candidates, who say the 2020 presidential election was stolen, could have significant sway to help overturn the next presidential election result.”
Tomazin writes that Trump quickly labeled Biden as “an illegitimate president,” and he goes on to warn that ‘the seeds of doubt had been deliberately sown for months, starting with a Tweet in July in which he claimed that mail-in voting would result in “the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history.”‘
“By Election Day, millions of Americans genuinely believed that the only way their president could lose was if the system was rigged,” he adds. “It’s enough to make you wonder: were the events of January 6 simply a dress rehearsal for the main event?”
That’s terrifying. Likely because he nailed it.
Featured image via Michael Vadon/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
