Highly Recommended Election Eve Read
That would be Thomas Lifson's article at AmThinker today:
Well, we'll forgive Lifson the misspelling. The article itself is a nice overview of Dem miscalculations in their too-smart-by-half election strategy
The plan that seemed so smart once they realized that COVID was a golden opportunity to distract from President Trump’s massive foreign policy and economic triumphs is backfiring.
The plan, in short, was to terrorize Americans with fear porn over the purported dangers of COVID (despite it being 99%+ survivable for all but those over 70, and despite huge progress in therapeutics driving the survival rate even higher), while emphasizing mail-in voting for their base. Republicans, they thought, could be discouraged from in-person voting on Election Day, and with compliant state governors, AGs, and secretaries of state extending deadlines for mail-in votes, the margin of victory could be manufactured in the days afterward.
Lifson goes on to explain how this strategery has failed spectacularly. In doing so he cites Larry Schweikart at some length. Among Schweikart's many point, I want to focus on one:
Several things began to severely damage that plan. First, the GOP won 11/14 court cases, with the remaining 3 likely headed to the USSC. Most of these drastically limited the time and/or conditions under which these votes can be counted and for how long.
Then the anvil fell. RBG died. That meant that there would be NO appeals related to fraud that could succeed.
Schweikart, without mentioning Mitch McConnell by name, is highlighting McConnell's enormous role in this momentous election. That role began with facing down Obama and the MSM over the Merrick Garland SCOTUS nomination--keeping that spot open for a potential GOP president: Trump as it turned out.
Trump was undoubtedly not McConnell's choice for POTUS, but since Trump's election McConnell has steadfastly supported Trump's THREE picks for the SCOTUS and shepherded those nominations through to confirmation, maintaining party unity against all odds. With Justice Amy taking her seat on the high court bench this morning, the transformation of the SCOTUS has entered new and unheard of territory. Republicans can look to those 3 cases likely headed to the SCOTUS with a new measure of confidence, without the doubts over what role Roberts will play.
Beyond that, however, McConnell has also played a major role in the 11/14 court victories this election season (so far). This is because, faced by determined obstruction by Chuck Schumer, who has refused to allow judicial confirmations to be expedited through unanimous consent , McConnell has focused on obtaining confirmations of federal appeals court judges. McConnell's strategy is a very smart most-bank-for-your-buck move. While many district court vacancies remain unfilled, the effect of the remake of circuit court benches has been striking. In particular, we have seen the effect throughout these election law cases.
The result of McConnell's efforts is that a major part of the Dem strategy for disrupting the elections--through jiggering of local elections laws--has been short circuited (pun intended). And now we have the promise of quick resolutions of any post election disputes, as well.