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AMY GOODMAN: That is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
Not content material with spending greater than 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} to elect Donald Trump, we glance now at how the richest man on the earth, senior adviser to President Trump, Elon Musk, is pouring cash into an election in Wisconsin. Musk has spent greater than $18 million to help the Republican Brad Schimel over Democrat Susan Crawford and has been paying Wisconsin voters $100 every to assist flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket. This could enable Republicans to maintain gerrymandered districts in place and management Congress. If Democrats retake the Home, they may examine Musk, DOGE and his tens of millions in authorities contracts.
For extra, we’re joined by Ari Berman, voting rights correspondent for Mom Jones journal, writer of Minority Rule: The Proper-Wing Assault on the Will of the Folks — and the Combat to Resist It. His latest items are headlined “Elon Musk Revealed Why He’s Spending Tens of millions to Flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket” and “The Wisconsin Supreme Court docket Election Is a Referendum on Elon Musk.”
A lot is going on with voting rights. Let’s begin in Wisconsin. Then we’ll transfer on from there. Ari, are you able to lay out what’s at stake, why Wisconsin is concerning the nation, after which, in fact, will have an effect on the world?
ARI BERMAN: Effectively, good morning, Amy.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court docket is essential in its personal proper, as a result of this election on April 1st will decide which celebration and aspect controls the ideological majority of the court docket. And that can determine issues just like the destiny of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, legal guidelines proscribing labor rights, illegality of Wisconsin’s congressional maps, which may determine management of Congress.
But it surely’s taken on rather more significance, as a result of Elon Musk is now spending over $20 million to attempt to flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket, which is a report for any state judicial race within the historical past of america. And it actually has turn into a check of whether or not Musk should purchase Wisconsin, like he purchased the White Home, and might lengthen his plan for oligarchy to the states, or whether or not Democrats can combat again and strike a tangible blow in opposition to him, and whether or not there is usually a response to all the issues that he’s performed in Washington, that he’s now making an attempt to do to the states. And so, it’s a particularly essential race within the state, in one of the crucial essential swing states within the nation, nevertheless it actually has taken on an incredible quantity of nationwide significance since Musk bought so concerned on this Wisconsin Supreme Court docket race.
AMY GOODMAN: And clarify. What does paying $100 to voters imply? What’s that about?
ARI BERMAN: So, Musk is paying voters $100 a pop to signal a petition opposing, quote-unquote, “activist judges.” And I simply noticed that he has now given one million {dollars} to a supposedly random winner of the petition signing, which is only a staggering sum of money. And he’s going to maintain doing that each two days till the election. And that is only a loopy scheme in a state Supreme Court docket race. Keep in mind, Amy, that is about electing judges. These are folks which are presupposed to be neutral when it comes to how they rule.
And mainly, what Musk is doing is he’s taking the playbook that he used, which was very controversial, very legally suspect, definitely ethically doubtful, when it comes to getting Donald Trump again within the White Home, and he’s making an attempt to make use of it in a state Supreme Court docket election in Wisconsin. And we’ve by no means seen this sort of factor in a judicial race earlier than. We’ve by no means seen this sort of cash in Wisconsin earlier than or another state Supreme Court docket race. We’ve by no means seen these form of techniques in a state Supreme Court docket race earlier than. And so, simply the extent of corruption at play right here, the extent of cash at play right here, actually is a warning signal for what’s taking place to our democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re a voting rights specialist journalist. And this comes amidst a slew of different election information. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court docket heard arguments in opposition to Louisiana’s voting map that features two majority-Black districts, that would additionally assist form the stability of energy within the Home. And President Trump signed an govt order Tuesday to overtake U.S. elections and cease the counting of votes after Election Day, together with absentee ballots despatched by mail. And on Wednesday, Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed regulation to finish the state’s in style common vote-by-mail election system. In the event you may discuss all of that?
ARI BERMAN: Yeah, so, I believe essentially the most vital of these three to this point is President Trump’s sweeping and actually unprecedented govt order, which might give the president the authority that he actually doesn’t have underneath the Structure. The Structure provides the states and Congress the facility to set the principles for federal elections. Trump is making an attempt to take that energy for himself, in a very loopy voter suppression scheme that may make it tougher to vote in so many various methods. It might require proof of citizenship to register to vote, which may disenfranchise tens of tens of millions of People who don’t have prepared entry to these paperwork, like a U.S. passport or probably start certificates or naturalization papers. It might hamper vote by mail by saying that if ballots are postmarked by Election Day, they received’t depend in the event that they arrive after Election Day, which is at the moment the regulation in 18 states. It might put Elon Musk accountable for looking out voter rolls and trying to find suspected voter fraud, which may simply result in unbelievable abuse and additional entry of delicate voter data. So, actually, the president is making an attempt to do an unlawful energy seize that would supply voter suppression on steroids and take away a lot energy that’s at the moment reserved for the states and for Congress and make it a lot tougher for folks to vote, at a time that we’re getting into a very essential election cycle.
That’s on prime of the truth that earlier than the Louisiana Supreme Court docket, white voters are mainly making an attempt to dismantle a second majority-Black district in that state to attempt to flip the Voting Rights Act on its head, take away illustration for Black voters. Republicans on the state stage are persevering with to make it tougher to vote, by issues like chipping away at mail voting, like in locations like Utah, the place it’s extremely popular and broadly used.
So, there’s a whole lot of disturbing issues on the democracy entrance. And I believe this all actually matches collectively, which is that there’s simply this five-alarm hearth for democracy taking place all around the nation, and it’s taking many, many varieties. One of the crucial tangible varieties it’s taking is the try to attempt to prohibit participation in elections and to attempt to put in place a type of oligarchy as a substitute of a type of democracy. You see that in Wisconsin with Elon Musk making an attempt to purchase the Supreme Court docket race. You see it in Washington with Trump issuing govt orders which are clearly unconstitutional. You see it on the state stage with how Republicans are ripping away voting rights. So I see a by line to all of those completely different anti-democratic techniques.
AMY GOODMAN: And, in fact, there’s Trump’s new govt order that may require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Ari Berman, I wish to thanks a lot for being with us, voting rights correspondent for Mom Jones journal.
Subsequent up, we have a look at the backgrounds of a few of Trump’s closest and strongest allies, the South African-born billionaires Peter Thiel [sic] and Elon Musk. Again in 30 seconds.
