Election concerns

PRRI asked Americans about major problems facing our elections. Most Democrats said disenfranchisement. Most Republicans said voter fraud. https://t.co/hNbFd2auiz

— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 17, 2018

One Country, Two Narratives: A new survey suggests that Americans have become radically split in their basic perceptions of reality, especially on controversial topics such as Russian interference in the 2016 election (@emmaogreen @PRRIpoll) https://t.co/cqF928Wsc0

— OpinionToday.com (@OpinionToday) July 17, 2018

You can’t say Russian meddling didn’t affect the election results

Republicans keep saying Russian meddling did not have an effect on the election. It doesn’t appear to have affected actual voting but certainly changed people’s minds. The Russians obviously think it worked – why would they keep doing it if it didn’t?

The truth is we will never know how much of an impact Russian interference had. Trump certainly could have won without Russia but we’ll never know if that’s true or false.

Paul Ryan on Russia's 2016 meddling: "it's clear that it didn't have a material effect on our elections"

actually it's not clear, and can't be because it's impossible to measure. nobody knows either way

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 17, 2018

Trump’s claim that Russian meddling didn’t impact election also untrue. DNC/Podesta emails generated thousands of stories & Trump made Wikileaks cornerstone of fall message. He won w/80,000 votes in 3 states. If you believe his message mattered, you believe Putin helped him win.

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) July 17, 2018

Dark money groups won’t have to disclose donor names

From the Wall Street Journal article linked to in a tweet below:

“The Treasury Department will allow some nonprofit groups to provide less information about donors on their tax forms in a win for conservative organizations engaged in politics.”

Dark money just got a lot a darker. https://t.co/kzoHs3x2Yc

— Philip Hackney (@EOTaxProf) July 17, 2018

New IRS guidance no longer requires some 501(c) tax-exempt nonprofits—including 501(c)(4) “dark money” groups spending money on politics—to disclose donor names & addresses (already not public under exisitng policy) in annual 990 tax returns’ Schedule B https://t.co/eaPbqSa61L pic.twitter.com/KLDN2ttmYo

— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) July 17, 2018

Who's happy about tonight's Treasury decision on nonprofit donor disclosure?

Mitch McConnell.
https://t.co/wa7YqNjU0p via @WSJ

— Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) July 17, 2018

U.S. Treasury moves to protect identities of 'dark money' political donors https://t.co/KY5AD6wyGP pic.twitter.com/g6QeZOjwhE

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 17, 2018

Thanks- and yes- Kochs' flagship political org. AFP pushed this change at IRS. https://t.co/jbC6Gujpwz

— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) July 17, 2018

From me & @jstein_wapo: What you need to know about the new Treasury rule for so-called "dark money groups https://t.co/9tmQfEjMa3

— Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) July 17, 2018

.@SenatorTester understands what so many Americans already know to be true – that we need more, not less, disclosure in our elections. Thank you, Senator Jon Tester for listening to the American people and introducing the “Spotlight Act.” https://t.co/iyCFxdWCcs

— End Citizens United (@StopBigMoney) July 24, 2018

Interesting timing: On the same day that a Russian woman, Maria Butina, was indicted for infiltrating a pro-gun rights organization believed to be the N.R.A., the administration says groups like NRA no longer have to report who their big donors are. https://t.co/0zfPsxH6qN

— Patricia Cohen (@PatcohenNYT) July 17, 2018

Another voter fraud conspiracy theory

I bet Trump uses this to try to invalidate election results in border states if he doesn’t like them.

Tucker Carlson says that Mexico has been more successful at interfering in US elections and does it more routinely than Russia by "packing our electorate" pic.twitter.com/vYk0jyVFUZ

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 16, 2018

Senate race results are similar to presidential votes

The results of U.S. Senate elections increasingly are aligned with states’ party preferences in presidential elections – a trend that could have major implications in this year’s battle for control of the Senate. https://t.co/jFJ0dGefy4 pic.twitter.com/EdtuQW7tfn

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) July 16, 2018

I still think Blackburn wins in the end, but if Bredesen pulls this off it may be a sign a. candidates really do matter. b. our memory is often too short. Maybe prez vote shouldn't be weighted so heavily in determining Senate outcomes just cause it worked well past few years… pic.twitter.com/QiB1PG9pKU

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 16, 2018

Trump wants to use oil reserves as a political tool

In a move that would represent a remarkable use of emergency oil reserves for political purposes, the Trump administration is weighing releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to moderate gas prices ahead of midterms, Bloomberg reportshttps://t.co/FDCRyrP5Rr

— Axios (@axios) July 14, 2018

SCOOP: The Trump administration is actively considering taping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as gasoline prices rise

— Ari Natter (@AriNatter) July 13, 2018

Secret donors financed more than 40% of TV ads for congressional candidates

This is what happens when you let big money increase their role in politics thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Secret donors financed more than 40% of TV ads for congressional candidates.

That’s just wrong. https://t.co/Rx9QBN7MiJ

— End Citizens United (@StopBigMoney) July 14, 2018

Trump is making no effort to prevent Russian meddling in the 2018 elections

He believes Putin more than US intelligence agencies.

DHS Secretary says elections are still targets of Russian cyberattacks

And yet still no direction from the president to counter this interference. https://t.co/ttrvQBYSqI

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 14, 2018

On Feb 13 2018, the chiefs of the @NSA @FBI and @ODNIgov testified before the Senate that @realDonaldTrump had NOT directed them to counter Russian election hacking. https://t.co/P0JnH1QbVS

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 14, 2018

update 10/17/18:

The midterm elections are in serious danger of being hacked, thanks to Trump https://t.co/3815bNM7R6 pic.twitter.com/cH8pE7Wzil

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) October 17, 2018

In the 2016 election, Russian hackers attacked voter registration databases in 21 states, election management systems in 39 states and at least one election software ventor—and that’s only what the government’s intelligence services know about. https://t.co/YFqQpUN39E

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 17, 2018

2018 House polls

Super-interesting thread. Basically @ForecasterEnten is citing a file-drawer effect. If a poll does not favor your side, you don't release it. The fact that Republican pollsters are not releasing data suggests that they don't want to talk about the results. https://t.co/KqF6tPbKjR

— Sam Wang (@SamWangPhD) July 11, 2018

Trump will let Putin lie again about election interference

I’m not ready to go this far yet, but other than Russia having something on Trump, it’s impossible to understand why he is so willing to believe him. It’s obvious Trump won’t push back when Putin said he didn’t interfere. I am sure US intelligence agencies could give Trump proof of Russian meddling he could show Putin…if he wanted to. He treats this enemy much worse than our allies. I am concerned about Russian meddling in 2018 and 2020 elections.

Saying this is “all I can do” is all but a confession on Trump’s part. The attacks on US elections were a joint project. They helped Trump become POTUS. He welcomes Putin’s help with midterms and 2020 re-elect. Why else meet Putin in secret, with no read-out to Americans? https://t.co/Esyn1YDBdk

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 12, 2018

Trump’s “I’m helpless if he keeps claiming what he claims” remarks about Putin are especially notable because of how much he loves talking about how he brilliantly sees through the claims of Trudeau and European leaders. https://t.co/B40SC7JEea

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 12, 2018