字号 ·· | 护眼
洛杉矶时报

巴拉巴克:战争游戏与诉讼草案:民主党人努力为11月大选防范特朗普Barabak: War games and draft lawsuits: Democrats work to Trump-proof November election

点「原文对照」整页切到原文,或双击某段只看那段的原文。

科罗拉多州总检察长办公室位于丹佛市中心上方10层。从这处高处,菲尔·魏泽可将城市天际线、金色圆顶的州议会大厦尽收眼底,偶尔还能看见一只红鹰振翅飞过。然而,展望11月,魏泽看到的却是更为阴暗的景象:联邦探员成群涌入投票站;选民受到恐吓,或被阻止投票;一名专横的总统正利用其真实存在和想象中的权力,破坏或企图推翻11月3日的选举。魏泽在晴朗正午的丹佛说:“本届政府让我们意识到,不能把想象力局限在……可能会发生哪一类伤害上。”为此,科罗拉多州总检察长以及全国各地的民主党总检察长已花费一年多时间,通过电话、视频会议,有时还亲自会面,研究如何让中期选举不受特朗普干扰。他们研究历史和法律,推演各种可能情形,划分各自职责,并起草紧急诉讼文件和临时限制令,以便随时提交法院。魏泽说:“我们已经为各种可能情况做好准备……这样一旦需要,就能立即采取行动。”他补充说:“我们不会在事情发生时临时应对,也不会通宵达旦地仓促处理。我们会落实已经制定的各项计划,因为我们已经审视了所有可能发生的情况。”魏泽、加利福尼亚州总检察长罗布·邦塔以及另外20多名民主党总检察长的这些努力,是一场大规模动员的一部分,旨在挫败特朗普前所未有的企图,扭曲并破坏11月中期选举的投票。在这片自由之地、勇敢者之家,竟然需要采取这种“筑起路障”式的行动来维护和保障选民的投票权,实在令人震惊。

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.

但在权衡了各种威胁后,韦泽表示,他最担心的选举干扰并非来自海外的恶意行为者或恐怖组织,而是来自我们自己的联邦政府,“以及本届政府可能会采取的行动”。所以,情况就是这样。为了抵御这种来自内部的威胁,全国各地的民主党正计划招募1万名志愿者,以防备武装联邦特工出现在投票站。各方赞助者已经发起了教育宣传活动,旨在解释选举规则,并为投票遇到困难的选民提供热线电话。民权团体和捍卫民主的组织也举行了各自的桌面推演,集思广益并预演了各种可能出现的情景。一群民主党联邦参议员也做了同样的事情。

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.

“我们所做的是为这样一个事实做准备:唐纳德·特朗普在2020年提前就选举撒谎,事后又撒谎,诉诸法庭……然后他在我们所在的这座大楼里煽动了一场暴力叛乱,”民主党选举律师马克·埃利亚斯在7月于国会大厦接受MS NOW采访时说道。“所以我认为,我们需要认真且字面意义上地对待2026年中期选举前夕的这些威胁。”

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.

在一个更勇敢、党派偏见不那么盲目的世界里,共和党人本应与民主党人合作,共同制衡权力膨胀的特朗普。(众议院和参议院本应构成一个独立且平等的政府分支,拥有其自身的权力、特权等。)但正如韦泽所指出的,这个由共和党领导的国会“缺乏骨气,在制衡作用方面表现不足”。

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.

这使得州检察长不得不填补这一真空,走上法庭,实际上扮演了制衡一个无视法律且经常霸道的总统的角色。" 全国24位民主党籍检察长仅在特朗普第二任期内就提起了125多起诉讼,对抗他在贸易关税、能源和移民政策以及削减或取消项目和整个政府机构方面的举措。在已裁决或和解的案件中,他们在绝大多数案件中胜诉。甚至在特朗普再次当选之前,一些检察长就开始商讨应对他们预期第二届政府会出现的过激行为的方法。"谁要是没看出来他们会来,就是没留心," 魏泽说,他极有可能在11月3日当选科罗拉多州下一任州长。(他在科罗拉多州民主党初选中的胜利,很大程度上源于他在法庭上对抗特朗普的战绩。)"最坏的情况是,特朗普总统会着手实施'2025计划',并试图终止出生公民权,试图干扰邮寄选票的投递,会试图以一种根本违背法治的方式使用移民与海关执法局(ICE)," 魏泽说。"所有这些事情都发生了。" 那么为什么不预期11月会出现更多同类情况呢?特朗普在宪法层面(小写"c")上无法承认任何他未赢得的选举结果。他公开敦促支持者"不择手段地作弊"。因此,当总统试图肆意清洗选民名册、劫持美国邮政服务以阻碍邮寄投票、并通过联邦化11月大选来凌驾宪法(大写"C")之上时,人们只能推断其存有恶意。有人可能会称这种担忧为危言耸听或夸大其词。但正如魏泽所说,"我们需要保持警惕,保持警觉,因为[看]这位总统所展现的一切,1月6日事件就是一个说明性的例子。" 这位检察长说,特朗普拒绝接受选举结果"是历史性的"。

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.

它独一无二。它是一种威胁。正因如此,我们必须保持警惕。去投票,让这位桀骜不驯的总统俯首帖耳。保持警觉,确保每一票都算数。这是本次中期选举的两条良好准则。

The office of Colorado's attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver. From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing. But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker. Federal agents swarming polling places. Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots. A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov. 3 election. "With this administration what we have seen is it's important that we not limit our imagination to what ... type of harm could happen," Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City. For that reason, Colorado's attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election. They've researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment's notice. "We have prepared for a range of contingencies ... so that we're ready to act," Weiser said. "We're not going to be reacting in real time" or pulling all-nighters, he added. "We are going to be following through on plans we've made, having looked at what's possible." The efforts of Weiser, California's Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November’s midterm balloting. It's remarkable that kind of man-the-barricades action is needed to preserve and protect the voting franchise in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. But having weighed the threats, Weiser said his greatest fear of election interference comes not from a bad overseas actor or some terrorist group, but rather our own federal government "and what this administration might do." So here we are. To fend off that threat from within, state Democratic parties across the nation are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in the event armed federal agents show up. Various sponsors have launched education campaigns to explain election rules and offer hotlines for voters who have trouble casting their ballot. Civil rights groups and democracy-defending organizations have staged their own tabletop exercises brainstorming and rehearsing various scenarios. A group of Democratic U.S. senators has done the same. “What we’re doing is preparing for the fact that Donald Trump, in 2020, lied about the election in advance, lied about it in the aftermath, went to court … and then he instigated a violent insurrection in this very building,” Marc Elias, a Democratic elections attorney, told MS NOW in a July interview at the Capitol. “So I think we need to take these threats in the 2026 midterm run-up … both seriously and literally.” In a more courageous, less heedlessly partisan world, Republicans would be working with Democrats to keep the power-drunk Trump in check. (The House and Senate supposedly comprise a separate and equal branch of government, with its own power, prerogatives and such.) But, as Weiser noted, this Republican-led Congress "has been lacking in backbone, lacking in the role of checks and balances. That has left it to state attorneys general to fill that vacuum, going to court and essentially playing the role of a check on a lawless and often bullying president." The nation's 24 Democratic attorneys general have filed more than 125 lawsuits in Trump’s second term alone, fighting his moves on trade and tariffs, energy and immigration policies and efforts to gut or eliminate programs and whole government agencies. They’ve prevailed in the overwhelming majority of cases that have been adjudicated or settled. Even before Trump was elected again, some attorneys general began conferring on ways to fight the excesses they anticipated in a second administration. Anyone who didn't see them coming wasn't paying attention, said Weiser, who, most likely, will be elected Colorado's next governor on Nov. 3. (His victory in Colorado's Democratic primary stemmed in good part from Weiser's record battling Trump in court.) "The worst-case scenario was that a Trump presidency would work to implement Project 2025 and would do things like try to end birthright citizenship, try to interfere with the delivery of ballots in the mail, would seek to use ICE in ways that were a basic affront to the rule of law," Weiser said. "All those things have happened." So why not expect more of the same come November? Trump is constitutionally (small "c") incapable of acknowledging the result of any election he didn't win. He's openly urged supporters to "cheat like hell." Thus, one can only assume malign intent when the president tries to wantonly purge voter rolls, hijack the U.S. Postal service to gum up mail balloting and override the Constitution (capital "c") by federalizing November's election. Some might call such fears melodramatic, or overblown. But as Weiser said, "We need to stay nervous and stay vigiliant because [of] what this president has shown, Jan. 6 being one of the telling examples." Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of elections "is historic," the attorney general said. "It is unique. It's a threat. And it's why we have to stand our guard." Vote, to bring this rogue president to heel. Stay vigilant, to make sure that vote counts. Two good watchwords for this midterm election.