On this edition of Your Call’s Authoritarian Playbook Series, voting rights attorney David Walbert discusses his new book, Stealing Elections, American Style.
By tracing the US’s long history of voter suppression and stolen elections, he argues that Trump’s attacks on elections, including his push to make it impossible for millions to vote by mail ahead of the midterms, are 250 years in the making.
David Walbert writes: "What President Trump wants is clear, but is he right that people "will not stand up, fight for, and defend" fair elections? The survival of our constitutional values and the survival of fair elections depend on us, the people. If Trump’s cynical view is right and we don’t fight to keep our freedoms, then Trump, feckless Republican legislators, and their post-truth crusaders will sweep those freedoms away. And once gone, they will be hard to recover because freedom comes only once to a people.”
Guest:
David Walbert, voting rights attorney, educator, legal scholar, and author of Stealing Elections, American Style
Resources:
The Guardian, by David Walbert: I’ve spent decades fighting for fair elections. Trump is setting the stage for a grim November
The New York Times: Whistle-Blower Says Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on Voting by Mail
The New York Times: Postal Service Rule Could Bar Millions From Voting by Mail
Democracy Docket: Less than half of Republican attorneys general sign on to defend Trump’s anti-mail voting order in court
CNN: Last-minute doomsday scenarios for the 2026 election
NPR: How Democrats in Congress are preparing for Trump midterm election interference
ProPublica: Inside Trump’s Failed Hunt for Noncitizen Voters
