Trump campaign says it will deploy 'soldiers' to polling places

[riversedge]

Source: raw story



David Badash, March 26, 2024 11:18AM ET





The Trump campaign says it plans to change tactics from 2020 when Joe Biden beat the then-incumbent president by more than 7 million votes, and this time go on "offense" by having "soldiers" and "poll watchers" at polling places.

Despite the Trump campaign's relentless claims of voter fraud, more than 60 court rulings found those claims to be unsupported by facts: there was no significant voter fraud. Last year The Brookings Institution cited an extensive report from the right-wing Heritage Foundation, which found, for example, voter "fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast."

Vowing to "to play offense this time around," Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday, appearing on "The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show," said they are "investing a lot of money into voter integrity efforts to ensure that every American knows their ballot will be cast and counted and matter."

"We're not going to play defense, like we unfortunately did in 2020. We're going to have soldiers, poll watchers on the ground who are making sure that there are no irregularities and fraud like we saw in the last election."..................................................







Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-campaign-says-it-will-deploy-soldiers-to-polling-places/

---

No doubt MAGA fans will jump to the occasion when Trump says JUMP.

Link to tweet

?s=20

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Karadeniz]

1. That sounds like voter intimidation......

[JohnSJ]

5. It is.

[riversedge]

6. It will be if there are enough of them.

[Arne]

2. Firstly,

Oh my god she has a show?
Secondly,
Onward Christian Soldiers.

[NBachers]

3. "The Kimberly Guilfoyle Show"

[johnnyplankton]

19. My thoughts exactly...

I wonder if she starts each show by maniacally shouting, "THE BEST IS YET TO COME"

[EarthFirst]

4. With every passing day the language gets more and more virulent...

Chilling.

We absolutely must prevail.

[EarnestPutz]

7. I did the math for Texas. It's about eleven votes out of eleven million cast in 2020. Soldiers my ass.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. I don't think the "soldiers" thing will work in NJ.

This is how it happens:

1. Each party (Republican and Democratic) can have one challenger apiece in the polling room. They are supplied with a list of registered voters and their addresses for that particular voting district. When a voter presents, the poll worker repeats the name in an audible and clear voice. The challenger will scour the list for that voter to see if his/her name is on the list. If it isn't there, the challenger can register an objection which will be examined at the county BOE after the polls close. The challenger may not speak to the voter directly or indirectly.

2. If any person(s) wish to have encounters with voters, they are restricted to being separate and apart from the polling place, maybe 100 feet. That includes campaign workers and "soldiers". They can't come into the polling place and they can't disrupt and/or interfere with a voter.

Best part about where I work the polls: it's the same building as the municipal police, who will patrol and won't hesitate to tell someone to leave where legal and necessary.

[sybylla]

21. Wisconsin has similar statutes addressing "observers."

They have to sign in and say whether they are there representing a particular campaign (one per campaign is allowed) or as a casual public observer. They have to sit in a segregated area. No one, not even voters, are allowed to wear campaign gear of any form within 100 feet of a polling station door or inside the polling station. None of them can interfere with the conduct of election activities.

That doesn't stop them from objecting to a voter, but Wisconsin requires they have some damn good cause for that or they are overruled.

[LudwigPastorius]

9. Go fuck yourself, General Dementia J. Diaperload.

Do it today!

[Freethinker65]

10. Soldiers? Rag tag unpaid ignorant gullible volunteers like the failed insurrectionists? At every polling place??

[GAJMac]

11. Why won't that motherfucker

just drop dead! So many real humans are totally sick of his bullshit.

[BlueKota]

12. But he's just a normal every day candidate,

who shouldn't already be behind bars, and who absolutely should still be allowed to run for President.

[bahboo]

13. hmmm...might have to vote in person instead of by mail this year...

just to check this shitshow out. Of course, I doubt if they'll try it where I live...true blue...

[SouthernDem4ever]

14. Sounds like DOJ should put together an voter anti-terrorism group to police this shit

And throw the assholes in jail if they are caught acting intimidating - even in the slightest. Or is this a job for Homeland Security?

[mahina]

24. yes and yes

both of those things.

[WinstonSmith4740]

48. That's what I was thinking.

Trump and his "soldiers" (Meal Team 6) forget that he doesn't control the military anymore. I envision REAL soldiers at polling places to make sure shit doesn't hit the fan.

[sir pball]

63. No need for a special force, plain Federal anti-terrorism police will suffice.

The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team would be perfect Federal poll monitors. They are legally police, civilians who are deputized with law enforcement authority, so no problems having them around. They are not soldiers.

That said, they are not your regular beat cop. They're just a little bit more selective…"Both the selection course and NOTS are near mirror images of the 1st SFOD-D ( "Delta Force" ) selection and training courses, with some minor adjustments for mission differences." They're considered a Tier 1 Special Mission Unit…the same kind of guys who killed Bin Laden. Their training and threat response is so disproportionate to anything the frothing right can even THINK of doing…park two of them at every polling place and let the MAGAts have at.

Here's a few of them working with the Austrian counterterror police…again, these guys are all "just" cops:

[pecosbob]

15. Not on my fucking watch.

[BaronChocula]

16. I'm just dyyyyyying to hear

their prison rendition of the national anthem.

[EllieBC]

17. So he's going to pay for voter intimidation.

The state governments will need to be ready to respond to this shit.

[mahina]

25. lol

he is not going to pay squat
They will try to rouse the boneheads and some will zombie shuffle in. We shall overcome, by a mile.

[Ford_Prefect]

18. As I said elsewhere the GOP plan is to overwhelm the voting system to enable the various GOP legislatures to intervene

in the election so as to declare Trump the winner regardless of any legitimate count.

The essential claim will be that anywhere there is doubt expressed MUST be also fraud enough to overturn any count. It will be Secession by means of ignoring the US Constitution wherever the GOP controls the legislature to create the means of declaring Trump, and possibly other GOP candidates winners.

This is what they are preparing to do. All the correct procedures and lawyers waiting to defend us won't mean a thing once this starts. Trump, Abbott and so many others are laying the groundwork now. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has been speaking along these lines as well.

The "troops" on the ground will be ordinary GOP voters who don't believe Biden was elected president. It will be the nationalization of January 6th.

[Mr.Bill]

20. Yeah, they had lots of lawyers in 2020, too.

And they lost every time they went into a courtroom.

[Ford_Prefect]

23. The intention is to flood the system all at once. Not to wait until the votes are actually counted.

Stage one will be challenging voter registration before the polls open. On the day there will be thousands of challenges issued in every precinct they can. Then there will be challenges and faked allegations while the count is going on. The whole point is to create an environment where the perception is an unreal level of interference in the system caused by nefarious outsiders, rather than the fact that the allegations are bogus. It is what they did in Florida so successfully in 2000.

In this case it will be nation-wide and coordinated behind the scenes by ALEC or some other similar outfit along with GOP AGs or Governors. It won't look like only a few voters have complaints. It will appear as if there is something going on across the country. There will be challenges by GOP officials, by groups of GOP voters assisted by selected and trained lawyers. It will look like what we had in 2020 times 100. Then there will be the rabble rousing a-la Jan. 6th, and this time it will really be ugly because they have already been told to defend their rights with violence, and they will try to.

[Mr.Bill]

30. I don't think they have the numbers

or the organizational skills to pull something like that off. If nothing else, they've probably already been infiltrated by various federal and state law enforcement agencies. The smart ones are the ones running the Federal government. The idiots are the ones trying to please Trump. Compare the current House of Representatives to the one Nancy Pelosi ran. These people are clowns. I mean how stupid does one have to be to think their god sent Trump to rule the country?

[Ford_Prefect]

32. The AGs of 22 GOP dominated states would disagree with you. This is not being put on by the locals. They are being lead

Last edited Wed Mar 27, 2024, 10:01 AM - Edit history (1)

RNC staffers and new hires asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen
Source: CNN Politics

Published 11:34 PM EDT, Tue March 26, 2024
CNN — Current and potential staffers at the Republican National Committee have been asked in recent job interviews whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen, according to two sources familiar with the questioning.

Over the past few weeks, Trump advisers have asked current and potential RNC employees about their views of fraud during the 2020 election, with the question serving as an apparent litmus test for hiring, the sources said. Use of the question comes after the Trump campaign has effectively merged its operations with the RNC. The Washington Post first reported the substance of the interview questions.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143216507

[LiberalFighter]

49. They don't have enough to flood it.

Their best chance of flooding states/districts would be hard core maggots. It wouldn't matter there.

It won't be anywhere near 100 times. They don't have the resources. Not when the RNC and some state parties having problems financially.

There are also restrictions on what can be done at polling places and local election headquarters.

[mahina]

26. They will try in some places.

This is a really big country and morons are in the minority. Not a small minority. Still.

[Ford_Prefect]

31. I live in the middle of them and there are not so few that it won't matter. This in not about having more actual votes

and voters. This is about creating the impression that there are enough complaints to fool people into thinking that there are.
They do not expect to win based on the count. They expect to disrupt enough of the system that they can steal it as I mentioned above.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

22. He mean vigilantes

Look for Meal Team Six

[Enter stage left]

33. Or maybe "The 102nd Chairborne".

[Ocelot II]

78. Y'all Qaeda.

[Eugene]

27. By "soldiers" he means goons. Classic voter intimidation.

[Silent Type]

28. Poll Watchers have been around 50+ years. Both parties have their guys there.

Now, I am concerned about white wing terrorist strikes.

[orangecrush]

29. BRING IT

FAFO

[Diraven]

34. Yahoos with guns

Are going to be menacing inner city polling places again.

[sakabatou]

35. Nothing like a lil voter intimidation, am I right?

[Hope22]

36. Vote by mail and tell your friends to do the same!

My ballot comes to me but I hand deliver my voted ballot to the BOE. I do not trust the postal service or outside collection boxes. My state has a website to track the returned ballot so I can see that it has been processed to be counted. These folks will be up to buffoonery and I want no part of it!

[Deuxcents]

55. I agree. I get my ballot thru the mail and I have time to look each candidate up

Then make my decision and return it to the polling station. This year, I’ll go to the BOE location so I’ll miss the crowds. My county is as red as it comes but I have hope that things change. If the 10th district in Alabama can elect a Democrat, so can this Florida district 🗳️

[Hope22]

64. My best to you.

I hope Florida can save itself. I understand completely. I’m in Ohio and the people vote but the state legislature does not implement the voting results. It is surreal. Take care!💗

[Deuxcents]

65. I know Ohio doesn't want to honor the voters' will and I think we're gonna have the same fight

On our ballot this election is changes to the school board elections, legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, provide a constitutional right to abortion before fetal viability..about 24 weeks. Homestead exemption stuff but we’ll see if our governor likes the outcome on any issues and we go from there. Voters may or may not get their wish..it goes just about like Ohio. 😡

[Hope22]

66. This exactly.

Our victories were resounding at the polls! We are collecting signatures to put gerrymandering solutions back on the ballot for the third time this spring! I think it has been ten years since the vote was a resounding yes but the Rs refuse to abide by the rules. I will be watching your state and pulling hard for you and yours!

[Deuxcents]

68. And I'll be watching Ohio as I have good Dem Buckeye friends there

And Samplegirl and now you on here. We just keep fighting the good fight and cannot give up. Meet ya at the victory party !

[Hope22]

69. Sounds great! 😁N/t

[samplegirl]

79. I certainly hope your

Right. Ohio has suffered such pushback from Republicans. They have quite a system here where
I live. They are like Nazi's in our county!

[Think. Again.]

37. This is just one of the...

....supression/intimidation/interference tactics they'll be using.

They will be trying everything they can think of.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

38. Soldiers?

Meal Team 6? Early Bird Special Forces? The Walker Brigade?

The first attempt at voter intimidation should be met with immediate arrest. The second attempt should be met by overwhelming force. It’s time to let the cretins know where they stand.

[niyad]

45. I nearly spit out my coffee! Thank you!

There is a reason my purses weigh what they do!

[Novara]

39. Voter intimidators

Report it like it is, media.

These motherfuckers will stand outside polling places strapped with weapons, I'll bet.

[CousinIT]

40. aka terrorists. Voter intimidation. It's illegal. Except for Donald. n/t

[Maeve]

41. They have tried this crap before and failed

We had poll watchers hanging over our shoulders in 2012 and all they found out was that the elections are as fair as we said they were. We put up with more than we should have then, but these weren't MAGA aggressive, just clueless. Ours bought us pizza (which is technically illegal and I don't think anyone ate it! )
There will be push back and calls to the BOE and/or Sheriff's office if needed.

[LiberalFighter]

50. Definitely should not eat it. Never know if something is wrong.

[Maeve]

51. It was delivery, but even so..in one sense it WAS tainted

And I almost never turn down pizza!

[LiberalFighter]

52. How are election workers at polling places assigned in Ohio?

Here in Indiana, the Democratic and Republican county parties assign them. There is an Inspector that is assigned by the party receiving the most votes for Secretary of State in the county. Otherwise, there are Judge and Clerk positions from both parties.

In Wisconsin, I noticed that counties do not conduct the elections. Cities and villages have their own election "boards". Outside of cities and villages the townships conduct them.

[Maeve]

54. Hired by the county board of elections

Divided up so there are equal numbers of R and D, always one of each take the results to the BOE for counting. If there are any questions that arise, you call over an opposing party member to observe. I'm usually the paper ballot judge and so the Ride-Along and the Dem called to assist (paper ballots are seldom used unless for provisional voters so I am less busy than most).

[LiberalFighter]

58. If more people understood the process there would be less doubt.

I was never an election worker. I created a database to help keep track of our election workers and theirs. That included their voting history, positions worked each election. Any issues. Providing a list and a sheet of each worker from the last election and others for the group that did the calling. We generally got our positions filled before the Republican Party did. That would involve 200 to 300 positions.

I filled in once for a judge the night before the election to certify machines at a polling places. I attended one training session to get better idea on what was involved. I reviewed state election laws as well.

That is how I learned members of both parties are involved together. Which would make it difficult for fraud.

The sign in is also intended to prevent double voting. At least within a county if not the state too.

Printouts of results are when the polls close. Which are available to both political parties. Printouts and cartridges from each machine are delivered to election hdqtrs. Meaning results are known by several people before delivery. They get posted and each party keeps track. Results then go from the county to SOS office.

All making it difficult to manipulate the results.

[Maeve]

61. Ohio precincts also post a print out of results

Taped to a public facing window so anyone can add the figures themselves. And the parties do come around and check(print out is also signdd by both parties) I totally agree, if you work the election, you know how foolish some of these claims are

[niyad]

42. STROKE OUT ALREADY, you F'n, demented, murdering, orange, RAPIST, TRAITOR**!!!

Forget my pepper spray, I am ordering skunk spray! And taking my oak staff! And, there is a reason my purses weigh what they do!

This is but one of the many reasons they fight mail-in voting. Nobody to intimidate, unkess they hang around the drop boxes. Note: See above.

Every person with a cell phone or video camera should be prepared to record.

[Irish_Dem]

43. Just like Putin does.

[niyad]

44. freudian slip, karoline? offensive is certainly the correct word! And,

looking at the still image in that tweet, what is that bulge under her sweater right under the cutout?

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

46. I firmly believe Trump's brownshirts will be out in force.

I read an article yesterday that said the administration is setting plans in place to deal with this type of thing. I sure hope so. I don't think county sheriffs in a lot of red areas will be too helpful. The potential for real violence/harm is there. Remember, people with this type of fascist mentality are the same type of people who bomb churches/synagogues. I really believe this will be Trump's last line of action, violence.

[LiberalFighter]

62. Additional oversight need to be blue areas in red states...

and swing states.

[lark]

47. He said the exact same thing in 2020, they would have poll watchers everywhere, challenge everything.

DeSantis said the same and I live in FL and there was nothing weird going on here. My husband and I voted at 2 different places, and zero problems. Of course, we always vote early, but our daughter voted on election day and she saw no problems either. Hope this is just the same fantasy. I was really worried about violence at the polls in 2020, but not so much this time.

[Vinca]

53. Not a bad idea, actually. Protect us from MAGA crazies with guns.

But Trump shouldn't take his planning too far. Nice Alabama election yesterday. ALABAMA!

[Marthe48]

56. Hopefully unarmed except for a high-powered magnifying glass

what they need to see actual voter fraud. Be sure to scrutinize rwnj voters who cheat more than Dems.

Talk about straining a gnat and swallowing a camel.

[RobinA]

57. Trump

has his own private army now?

[twodogsbarking]

59. Citizen's arrest, citizen's arrest.

[onetexan]

60. Buncha idiots

[Hekate]

67. Right. Bully-boys to intimidate people coming and going, and inside as well...

I had several retired lady friends who absolutely loved volunteering at the polling places for years. Then came the Trump Years, and big lurking males were empowered by the Right Wing to act as “observers” which meant they hung over my elderly friends’ shoulders, looking at the signatures in the books of voters.

One of my friends was very explicit about the first time she experienced that intimidation being the reason for making it the last year she ever engaged in that civic exercise.

So, what kind of uniforms are Trump’s “soldiers” going to wear? Will they have badges and weapons? How will we know if they are who they say they are? Will state, county, and local officials be empowered to keep them out of the building, and indeed, keep them 10 feet away from the doors?

[jmowreader]

70. Meal Team Six members are not soldiers, Donnie...

I figure what'll happen is Trump will have his thugs strap on guns and try to get into polling places where they will stand in the voting room to "prevent voter fraud." They will be turned away and, often, arrested for causing a breach of the peace. Trump will announce that the "poll watchers" were refused entry because they were on the verge of detecting massive voter fraud. Trump's fans will not care that the "poll watchers" were really refused entry because you aren't allowed to bring deadly weapons into polling places no matter who you are. He will use this as pretext to have his cultists invade the Capitol to prevent President Biden's reelection from being confirmed.

If he goes that far...fuck this shit, declare what he did an act of war against the United States, charge him with treason, convict him, find a deserted island in the Pacific, and maroon him with fishing gear so he can feed himself and some Amish-level carpentry tools so he can build himself shelter. If he can't figure out how to surf fish or do carpentry real fucking quick...oh well.

[Kablooie]

71. Oh good. Crazy, gun wielding, MAGA goons at every voting place.

It worked for Putin so why not try it here?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

72. During an election in California in 1996, Rep. "B-1 Bob" Dornan (R-Asshole)

posted men dressed like immigration officers near polling places in predominantly Hispanic precincts. The purpose was apparently to scare even legal citizen voters away.

It didn't work, and his Democratic opponent, Loretta Sanchez, won the seat by less than 1,000 votes. She held it from 1997 until 2017.

[CTyankee]

73. Ah, fond memories of Sen. Doorknob, as he was called here on DU, I believe...

hubby and I had fun with his name...

[Akoto]

74. No authority to do so, and it'd be voter intimidation if he did, anyway. n/t

[samplegirl]

75. This is the bloodbath

He speaks of!

[NoMoreRepugs]

76. I call Bullshit. A broke campaign is going to have the wherewithal to organize and deploy thousands upon thousands

of dufus deplorable magats across the country - yeah right.

[Bengus81]

82. Hell....aren't most of them in PRISON??

This is nothing but Trump wanting to keep his name flying in the news--for FREE. He never cares if it's good or bad,just mention him.

[Turbineguy]

77. Impersonating public officials

sounds like more people are going to get a chance to go to jail for trump.

[mdmc]

80. "investing a lot of money into voter integrity efforts to ensure that every American knows their ballot will be cast and

who's paying?

[Bengus81]

81. I vote by mail so who cares Trump??

This is all BS by that fat ass clown. He's not sending anyone anywhere. Where the hell were all his soldiers when he had to go to Georgia for a mug shot?? All I saw was 20-30 people holding Trump 2024 signs. Big whoop.....