U.S. Senate aspirant Katie Porter is being chided by liberal Californians for using a Trumpian term “rigged” as “not a good look for us” after exposing the dark money in the race for California Senate, which Adam Schiff appears to have won.
"Wow! I had a ton of appreciation and respect for Katie Porter, but why on Earth would she build on "rigged election conspiracies" knowing full well that's what MAGA uses to undermine our democracy?”
“I want the old Katie back!”
"So, according to Katie Porter, an election can be “rigged” without physically changing the vote count? I hope the media remembers that nuance when they go after Trump supporters who feel the election was “rigged.”
"This is ridiculous. After we have decried (rightfully) Donald Trump’s calling his electoral loss rigged, it is baffling to see Dems now do the same where there is no such evidence. Katie Porter needed a better political operations team if she wanted to win.”
“Katie Porter has lost me as a fan, she had too much of a Kari Lake/Donald Trump ‘it was rigged’ feel after losing her bid for the Senate seat. She should of just gracefully admitted she lost and endorsed Schiff.”
Does Trump own the language? Didn’t Hillary claim the 2016 election was rigged by Russians? What’s wrong with Katie Porter saying the California Senate race was rigged by billionaires?
Maybe it’s because we don’t care. Maybe, to those with critical thinking skills, Porter is using the word “rigged” to get money out of politics.
So, yesterday Katie went on the offensive and rig-splained the difference between what has come to be known as “rigging an election” and her notion of “rigging an election” - just to be clear.
And just to be clear, the full vote count still isn’t in, a day and a half later. That’s nothing because in 2016 it took five weeks and that was before RIGGING was a thing. That was when people like Bernie Sanders got robbed in broad daylight and no one fretted over the use of the R-word.
“I've had a hard time forgiving Bernie Sanders for his nonsensical claims that the primaries were "rigged" against him, helping create the false narrative of Democratic "rigging" that Trump has relentlessly exploited ever since. Katie Porter is being grossly irresponsible.”
So now Katie, a progressive in a progressive state, had better learn to kiss the ring of one of the slimiest Neoliberal war-hawk Democrat to ever be seated in the Senate and not complain about how he rigged the election by using dark money to manipulate the electorate.
Because, Katie - just like Bill Barr told Trump - “you bet your sweet ass it was rigged, it just wasn’t rigged enough to make a difference.”
The difference between "the difference" and "not making a difference" — is the gray area in every election exploited by every politician. How much cheating is too much? And in this case “dark money” and “billionaires influencing elections” have been normalized - so what the fuck is Katie talking about?
Right? We can’t see “dark money” like we can’t see “algorithms” and that which we can not see isn’t there —not really. Unless Katie is specific about who, what and how much, she’d better shut up.
But there is a silver lining here. Voters reeling from Porter’s condemnation can take solace in the difference between what Porter means and Trump means when they use the term “rigged.” Trump meant ballot-box stuffing, illegal votes, electronic machine manipulations, and last-minute law changes. Katie meant “dark money.” That’ll be the new difference. What Porter means is less hurtful and damaging and insurrection-y.
Give them a day or two and it’ll all go away.
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Welcome to Michael’s Newsletter. Writer of contemporary political/social commentary, parodies, parables, satire. Michael was born and raised in New York City and has a background in theater and film. His plays have been staged in New York, London, Boston, and Los Angeles.
He also created the hit web series Double Espresso Web Series.
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