Obama Calls Out The GOP Traitors For Blatant Election Sabotage

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During a town hall event on Monday alongside former Attorney General Eric Holder, former President Barack Obama starkly criticized Republican opposition to the landmark voting rights and anti-corruption legislation known as the For the People Act. As he put it, “whatever else we may argue about, the one thing we should agree on — the bedrock idea that we as Americans have been taught to take pride in” is “the fact that we’re a democracy.” Yet, Republicans in the Senate prepared themselves this week to vote against even considering the For the People Act, thereby distancing themselves from that fundamental idea.

The Senate’s filibuster rules demand the agreement of at least 60 Senators in the 100-member chamber before moving forward, including to a final vote, on most legislation, and with the current party breakdown in the Senate, that requires at least 10 Republicans to back a particular bill. As this week got underway, there was no indication that 10 Republican Senators were intending to back moving forward with the For the People Act. Republicans have characterized the legislation as overstepping appropriate federal government authority — although for decades under the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, federal authorities reviewed certain proposed changes to the administering of elections before their implementation, so there’s clearly a precedent.

During the Monday event, Obama called the filibuster a “tool for obstruction.” The former president observed as follows:

‘Republicans in the Senate are lining up to try to use the filibuster to stop the For the People Act from even being debated… Think about this: In the aftermath of an insurrection, with our democracy on the line and many of the same Republican senators going along with the notion that somehow there were irregularities and problems with legitimacy in our most recent election, they’re suddenly afraid to even talk about these issues and figure out a solution on the floor of the Senate… That’s not acceptable.’

Obama also said that Americans “as a people should all say Senate, Congress: Do something.” As he put it, “the violence that occurred in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th should remind us we can’t take our democracy for granted.” If the For the People Act fails in the Senate — for now, there’s another looming opportunity for action when the Senate considers the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act later this year. That legislation would re-impose the demand for federal review of certain changes to the conducting of elections.