Rs blocked the #SAFEAct, which would have banned internet connectivity to voting systems. Rs apparently thought such connectivity wld help them given Russia’s bromance w/ Trump & it’s attack on our infrastructure. They complain now only bc Trump lost. 1/ https://www.axios.com/gop-senator-election-security-blocks-3f432161-42f4-4fa2-9207-d281ec857058.html

The #SAFEAct passed the Democratic-led House, but Rs blocked it. It wld have required manual election audits. The fact is that Rs wanted our election equipment to be connected to the internet & to leave electronic results unverified. They insisted on it. 2/

Republicans are able to play victim now only because the Democrats suck at messaging and did not want to provide specifics & sound the alarm for fear of “undermining trust” in an untrustworthy process. The media likewise failed to give this issue the attention it needed. 3/

This created a messaging vacuum re: election security, giving QAnon free reign to fill it w/ garbage: 1/10 true, 9/10 false or inverted = the magic formula for them & Trump’s other cohorts. 4/

Contrary to popular belief, the messaging vacuum was never bc the issue wasn’t “sexy” enough. Those in positions of power & influence wouldn’t touch it for other reasons. Because they abdicated, the narrative has been hijacked, cherry-picked & weaponized by bad actors. 5/

It has made a bad situation much worse. Silence cannot stop this narrative warfare, but who’s going to believe the truth now? And are Ds even going to try to correct the narrative? Lying about how “secure” the election was won’t fool anyone bc the vulnerabilities are real,... 6/

... and the GOP blocked the #SAFEAct, which would have required robust manual audits of all federal races. Frankly we needed audits down ballot too. For all we know, these races could have been rigged against the DEMOCRATS, which at least would harmonize with the polling. 7/

The Republicans are complaining about vulnerabilities that they deliberately enabled, despite doing better—not worse—than the polls expected. We are truly through the looking glass now. 8/

Rs were criminally negligent in refusing to pass election-security legislation banning internet connectivity to voting systems and requiring manual election audits. TV networks should have reported on this and related concerns every goddamn night for the past few years. 9/

Democrats should also have made election integrity a core campaign issue. Had they done so, everyone would know how ludicrous it is for Republicans to play victim now. 10/

But the TV networks and Democratic leaders didn’t do it. Wouldn’t do it. Despite everything that happened w/ the 2016 election. Goddamnit. 11/