April 18, 2022

Never be the first to stop clapping. 

This was the unwritten but well-known rule in Stalinist Russia.  If one was at a formal function and an important dignitary walked in, everyone in attendance was obligated to applaud until the dignitary took his seat.  This awkward clapping might go on for ten or more minutes, with nervous desperate glances to one’s left or right, while the object of adulation would just stand there, coolly appraising his admirers, waiting for someone to break ranks.

Why not be the first one to stop clapping?  Because that’s how the regime would identify those who weren’t loyal and would promptly ship them off to the Gulag. 

Never one to be accused of being the first to stop cheerleading for the DNC, Andy Kroll of Rolling Stone Magazine recently published a piece titled “Wisconsin Is Ground Zero for the MAGA Effort to Steal the Next Election.”

Pieces like this are always written the same familiar format.  Republicans = bad.  Democrats = good.  Democrats who say or do something that supports Republicans are treated as DNC turncoats (see how they treated senators Manchin and Sinema for not supporting the Democrats’ latest voting legislation).  Republican turncoats get the “good guy” treatment: they’re “heroes,” “mavericks,” “independent,” “brave,” “reaching across the aisle,” etc.  (See how they treat Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their work on the J6 committee.) 

The most important player on the stage is the “nonpartisan” because such people are free from bias, which is the space the media would have us believe they occupy.  The nonpartisan is never to be questioned.  His motives are beyond reproach.  Most important, the nonpartisan always, without fail, will support the Democrats’ argument.  Because if he doesn’t, then he is obviously a covert Republican, and, in that case, he just gets treated like every other Republican. 

Mr. Kroll treats the “nonpartisan” Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) official Meagan Wolfe this way by saying she has spent her entire career in election integrity.  In relaying a conversation he had with a Republican attorney named Richard Heuer, he says Heuer “called its nonpartisan administrator, Meagan Wolfe, a ‘very dangerous person.’”  Heuer didn’t say Wolfe is “nonpartisan” — that is Mr. Kroll telling his audience that, so they know that Wolfe is beyond question.  Heuer is a Republican and therefore not to be trusted.  And since Heuer can’t be trusted, the “nonpartisan” election official can’t be “dangerous.”

Kroll goes on to glow: “In person, [Wolfe] comes across as a pure elections nerd, her laptop festooned with voting-themed stickers, her expression brightening when she talks about voter databases or the auditing of voting machines.  As the nonpartisan chief of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Wolfe implements the guidance of six board members and ensures the agency runs smoothly. She is a public servant, not a partisan operative, and she says that makes her a convenient target.”  Translation: Anyone who says otherwise will get the media attack dogs.

Does Mr. Kroll do any further digging to see why Ms. Wolfe may in fact warrant Mr. Heuer’s criticism?  No. 

According to the Wisconsin Election Manual , the municipal clerk’s duties include, but are not limited to, “supervision of elections and voter registration in the municipality, equipping polling places, purchasing and maintaining election equipment, preparing ballots and notices, and conducting and tracking the training of other election officials.”  Is that what Ms. Wolfe and her staff did during the 2020 election?  Not according to the OSC Second Interim Report filed by Justice Gableman.