In this post I link to The New Yorker‘s article, The Big Money Behind the Big Lie, [at this link you can also listen to the audio podcast of this article] by Jane Meyer*, August 2, 2021.
Articles like the above are why I subscribe to the New Yorker. I have not seen this issue discussed in the New York Times or Washington Post
*Jane Meyer is also the author of the outstanding book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right Paperback – Illustrated, January 24, 2017. The book is a must-have for political science enthusiasts.
What follows is excerpts from the initial part of the article:
Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.
Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and one of the country’s foremost election-law experts, told me, “I’m scared shitless.” Referring to the array of new laws passed by Republican state legislatures since the 2020 election, he said, “It’s not just about voter suppression. What I’m really worried about is election subversion. Election officials are being put in place who will mess with the count.”
One of the movement’s leaders is the Heritage Foundation, the prominent conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. It has been working with the American Legislative Exchange Council (alec)—a corporate-funded nonprofit that generates model laws for state legislators—on ways to impose new voting restrictions. Among those deep in the fight is Leonard Leo, a chairman of the Federalist Society, the legal organization known for its decades-long campaign to fill the courts with conservative judges. In February, 2020, the Judicial Education Project, a group tied to Leo, quietly rebranded itself as the Honest Elections Project, which subsequently filed briefs at the Supreme Court, and in numerous states, opposing mail-in ballots and other reforms that have made it easier for people to vote.
Please go now to the link and read this critically important New Yorker article. And please let others know about the article.
