So I procrastinated finishing the newsletter this week until — serendipitously — some really fantastic news broke. I'm talking about the civil lawsuit two Democratic presidential electors have filed against the 10 Republican imposters: Penebaker et al v. Hitt et al. The infamous 10 have now admitted that Biden won! The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a rather anodine version of the story. Much better is the one in the Washington Post (gifted to bypass the paywall): Wisconsin Trump electors settle lawsuit, agree Biden won in 2020.

You can read the whole settlement agreement and attendant documents, if you like (it looks like it's 184 pages!). The key points in the Washington Post story show that several of the 10 imposters were uneasy with what they were being asked to do but went ahead anyway. For example, "one of the Wisconsin Republicans appeared to refer to the attempt to install Trump for a second term as a 'possible steal.' That Republican expressed skepticism about the plan but told others he was going along with it in part because he feared he would face blowback from Trump supporters if he didn’t." Significantly, the lawsuit against lawyers Jim Trupis and Kenneth Chesebro will go to trial next fall. And as part of the settlement, the fake electors "promised to assist the Department of Justice with its investigation and help the Biden electors as they continue their lawsuit against Troupis and Chesebro."

The criminal trial alleging that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results still seems to be on track for a March 4 starting date. For one thing, Newsweek reports that "potential jurors in former President Donald Trump's election interference trial may have been sent a pre-screening document." A Rolling Stone article describes "a notice of evidence to be introduced in the trial." In it special prosecutor Jack Smith foreshadows a plan "to present the court with a far-reaching historical review of Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, some of it dating back years before Trump even assumed the presidency." The piece mentions a Trump tweet from 2012 in which he stated as "fact" that voting machines switched votes from Romney to Obama. Needless to say, he had no evidence supporting the allegation. There is more, of course. An ABCNews article provides extensive detail.

To buoy your spirits about the looming catastrophe many predict (see the current issue of The Atlantic: If Trump Wins), Greg Sargent has an antidote: Enough with all the fatalism about a Trump dictatorship.

Let's Take Action

The best response to anxiety and those doom-y feelings is to get busy with some useful work: circulate nominations papers. Local candidates who want to compete in the April 2 election have begun circulating nomination papers. Under the Elections 2024 tab on our Grassroots North Shore website, you will find a link to a page with the names of the candidates who have sent their papers to me for distribution. If you go to Nomination Papers for Spring 2024, you can download and circulate each candidate's form. To be a circulator, you do not need to be a resident of the district in which the candidate is running. To sign the form as a nominator, you do have to reside in the relevant district. To sign nomination forms for the judicial offices, you need to reside in Milwaukee County.

Donate items to the Democrats "Christmas is for Kids Holiday Toy Drive." They're collecting new, unwrapped toys for kids of all ages plus donations of new towels and washcloths, children's socks, child and adult sized t-shirts, and travel sized toiletries. This drive is for the benefit of St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care Bucyrus Campus and Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge Homeless Outreach. Donations can be dropped off at the Milwaukee Democratic Party Office (2999 South Delaware Ave, Milwaukee) Monday through Wednesday from 10:00am - 2:pm and on Thursday from 9:00am - 12:00pm. Items can also be dropped off at the Coordinated Campaign Office (8405 W Lisbon Ave, Milwaukee) Tuesday through Friday from 12:00pm through 8:00pm and Saturday from 9:00am - 5:00pm.

Join the Milwaukee Voter Project at DMVs in Milwaukee. Everyone! Join us to register voters inside three Milwaukee DMV's, 2701 South Chase, Teutonia & Florist and 73rd & Mill. During the months leading up to the Supreme Court Election we produced 3168 paper registrations, thousands of online registrations and made 50,000 voter contacts. We work year around and will give you the simple training and supervision you need. Contact us at our email: [email protected] or phone (414) 218-5944. See more information on our website.

How about writing some more postcards? Activate America is sponsoring a postcard drive to make sure that Democratic-leaning voters in Arizona know that the Biden administration capped the cost of insulin for diabetics. According to the email Activate America sent me, "83% of Americans support this policy, but only 29% know it happened." So why Arizona? "We’re especially excited to reach voters in Arizona, because Native Americans and Mexican Americans have some of the highest rates of diabetes, and they are well-represented in this targeted outreach." Sign up for lists.

In case you were wondering about the effectiveness of sending postcards, Postcards to Swing States shared recent research on that. "The latest data show that writing postcards is the most effective way to make a difference from your own home!" The research is in the 5th edition of Get Out the Vote, published in 2023. The analysis of various methods "suggests that handwritten postcards generate an average of one vote per seventy-one postcards, which is about three times as effective as conventional nonpartisan GOTV mail." See their website for more analysis of their postcard programs, including their 2020 Wisconsin primary postcard experiment.

EVENTS

Friday, December 8

Saturday, December 9

Sunday, December 10

Tuesday, December 12

Thursday, December 14

Friday, December 15

Saturday, December 16

Monday, December 18

SAVE THE DATE

Wednesday, December 20

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