MSNBC, Politico Flip Out Over Normal GOP Election Day Operations

In a pearl-clutching report out Wednesday, Politico’s Heidi Przybyla treated normal Election Day operations such as poll watchers and mobilizing election lawyers as an assault on democracy. The reason that this suddenly became a problem was the fact that Republicans were increasing their level of play. But MSNBC’s Deadline for White HouseThis was a show for those who are unable to comprehend the meaning of the word “republican”. The host started the program with the report, and treated the story as serious.

“We start this hour with a deeply unsettling news-making worth piece reporting today in Politico on organized, calculated efforts by the Republican Party that could throw the 2024 presidential election into chaos,”John Heilemann, a fill-in host.

As though he was filling in on an episode of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, Heilemann decided to just regurgitate whole passages of Przybyla’s piece, even though he had Przybyla on hand and would speak to her during the segment (Click “expand”):

“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. The plan as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establish a network of party-friendly district attorneys who can intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.”

(…)

Once again from Heidi Przybyla in Politico, quote, “‘This is completely unprecedented in the history of American elections that a political party would be working at this granular level to put a network together,’ said Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of Issue One, an election watchdog group.

Peddiman goes on, ‘it looks like now the Trump forces are going directly after the legal system itself and that should concern everyone.’  Penniman believes the strategy is designed to create enough disputes to justify intervention by GOP-controlled state legislatures who declined to take such steps in 2020, quote, ‘come election day, you create massive failure of certification’ in Democratic precincts, Penniman said. Quote, ‘the real hope is that you can throw the choosing of electors to state legislatures.’”

Speaking for so-called “election experts,” Heilemann went on to warn that they were “alarmed, horrified, terrified by this effort on the right to undermine free, fair, and non-partisan elections.”

Przybyla suggested that Przybyla’s real terror was how these election lawyers and poll watchers behaved when he finally brought Przybyla on. “being trained in what are called workshops by the RNC.”

Ouch! Training workshops! Say it ain’t so!

She also worried about how “they’re being given new tools that they haven’t had before including, John, a hotline as well as a website”So they are organized for Election Day.

Notice that she’s worried they’re using tools “they haven’t had before.” That implies stuff like this has happened before and they’re just improving how they do it.

Josh Holmes made fun of this dark revelation in response to the ex-chief-of staff to Senator Mitch McConnell, KY-R (which Heilemann wrongly classified as his current advisor). “In the year of our lord 2022 it appears POLITICO has discovered Election Day Operations,” he wrote in a tweet.

Heilemann invited Przybyla, in addition to the Holmes tweet, to try to down it. these tweetsRonna McDaniel, Republican National Committee Chairwoman, slammed Politico’s dubious reporting. “Interesting that they did not address the crux of the story which is they’re not poll watchers and they’re poll workers and there’s a distinction and they know that,” Przybyla whined.

They’re so frightened by the GOP mobilizing election lawyers yet neither of them were this freaked out when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and infamous Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias conspired to steal the House seat of Iowa Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks after she had been duly elected and confirmed.

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Below is the transcript. Click “expand to read:

MSNBC’s Deadline for White House
June 1, 2022
Eastern Time: 4:00:14

JOHN HEILEMANN : Aloha! Namaste everyone. It is 4 o’clock here in Gotham City and I’m John Heilemann, in for Nicole Wallace. Today’s hour starts with an alarming piece in Politico about the Republican Party’s organized and calculated attempts to disrupt 2024’s presidential election. It is a plan that has deep roots in Trump World and is fuelled by the lie that Joe Biden and Democrats stole the last election from Donald Trump.

Heidi Przybyla of Politico is the source. And she says this, quote, “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. The plan as outlined by a Republican National Committee staffer in Michigan includes utilizing rules designed to provide political balance among poll workers to install party-trained volunteers prepared to challenge voters at Democratic-majority polling places, developing a website to connect those workers to local lawyers and establish a network of party-friendly district attorneys who can intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts.”

(…)

Eastern at 4:02 p.m.

HEILEMANN: Election experts are – not surprisingly – alarmed, horrified, terrified by this effort on the right to undermine free, fair, and non-partisan elections. They are also concerned about the possibility of chaos at precinct level leading to an overturning of statewide elections.

Once again from Heidi Przybyla in Politico, quote, “‘This is completely unprecedented in the history of American elections that a political party would be working at this granular level to put a network together,’ said Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of Issue One, an election watchdog group.

Peddiman goes on, ‘it looks like now the Trump forces are going directly after the legal system itself and that should concern everyone.’  Penniman believes the strategy is designed to create enough disputes to justify intervention by GOP-controlled state legislatures who declined to take such steps in 2020, quote, ‘come election day, you create massive failure of certification’ in Democratic precincts, Penniman said. Quote, ‘the real hope is that you can throw the choosing of electors to state legislatures.’”

That’s where we start today.

(…)

Eastern Time: 4:05 p.m.

HEIDI PRZYBYLA – These people are receiving training in workshops provided by the RNC about how to vote, contest voter processes and how to do it. They also get new tools such as John, a hotline, as well as a Zen Desk website. It’s something you may already know. If so, it is possible to chat live with an operator from a website. These people are actually working together with the company to make it possible for those who visit these centers to have real-time access with local lawyers.

(…)

Eastern, 4:07:42

HEILEMANN: Heidi, I want to ask you – I’ll give you a chance to reply here to Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee who has a seven-part thread on Twitter attacking the piece. She says, “Today’s story in Politico about the RNC election integrity operation shows a complete misunderstanding of the law, best practices, and election processes, while exposing an extreme bias clearly distorting facts.”

It’s not my intention to go through all the tweets in this thread. But the core of it is – she gets to a place where she says, “In the state of Michigan, poll watchers are part of the law and legal process to ensure transparency, ensure election integrity est. est. Politico has completely misunderstood this fact. She says, “The RNC is following precedent. the law, and best practices.” She says you “should know better.”

You know, I’ll note Josh Holmes, an adviser to Mitch McConnell weighs in the same way and says, “In the year of our Lord 2022, it appears Politico has discovered Election Day operations.”

I just want to give you a chance to reply to that, which is – to both of those tweets which are essentially saying the same thing. It’s business as usual, Heidi. You can only do what the law allows, and this is what you do. Get up.

PRZYBYLA – It’s interesting that they didn’t address the core of the story, which was that they are not poll watchers. They’re actually poll workers. There’s a difference and they understand that. And so, a lot of the pushback that they gave us in advance – which, by the way we included their response in the story – had to do with poll watchers.

This is what we did in 2020 with the poll watchers and contestants. It’s a different way of doing things because you are recruiting people to these posts so they can have the authority like election inspectors.

(…)