Smash and Grab

Artwork by Michael DiMilo

By Geoff Carter

There has been an upsurge in the epidemic of “smash and grab” robberies in the last few weeks, crimes in which groups of thieves, sometimes as many as eighty, will swarm into a usually high-end retailer, smash glass cases and grab as much merchandise as they can before making their getaways in multiple vehicles. Nordstrom, Burberry, and Bloomingdale’s stores outside of San Francisco, as well as a Louis Vuitton in Chicago, were all victimized. According to a CNN report, in some cases the crooks made with as much as $100,000 in merchandise that will—authorities believe—make its way to the black market. 

But these robberies are hardly as daring and audacious as they might seem. Understaffed and overworked law enforcement simply cannot keep up with recent spikes in crime—along with the fact that theft is not simply not their most serious concern. So, the thieves barge in, and—like antelopes going to the watering hole—feel secure by dint of their sheer numbers, all the while knowing there are neither the resources nor manpower to catch them. 

These grabbers have taken a play directly from the Republican Party playbook, whose representatives have been brazenly (but systematically) robbing citizens of their constitutional right to vote—for years. Legislation aimed at limiting early voting, gerrymandering voter districts, purging voter rolls, requiring photo ID for voters, curtailing absentee ballots, and—in a law just recently passed in Georgia—forbidding the distribution of water to voters standing in line, which, in Georgia, can be upward of seven or eight hours, has been rampant. According to The Guardian, Republican state legislatures have inked 250 bills aimed at limiting voter rights.

This legislation has been aimed almost exclusively at voters who lean Democratic: especially people of color, college students, and urban populations. Voter suppression is nothing new in this country and, at one time or another, has been practiced by all political parties. Since November 2020, however, the Republican Party has shifted its attack from specific voter blocs to the election process itself. 

Despite the fact he was defeated by a margin of seven million votes, Donald Trump refused—and still refuses—to admit defeat, claiming the election was rigged and that he was the actual winner. Beginning at 2:30 am on election night, despite the fact millions of votes had yet to be counted, Trump proclaimed that even though he had won, “some very sad people” were stealing the election from him. He made the ridiculous demand that all tabulations of ballots stop immediately, and that he would ask The Supreme Court to rule on the result of the election. 

While this diatribe might easily be dismissed as the ravings of a delusional megalomaniac, the Republican Party has since then set about systemically discrediting and—when possible—dismantling the electoral process, especially (although not exclusively) in the battleground states of Arizona and Wisconsin. 

Arizona Republicans called for one audit, and then (when the first one didn’t provide the results they wanted) another, and then (when that one came back normal), finally ordered an election review by a private corporation headed by a Trump supporter and donor. This last–highly suspect operation–still did not find any election irregularities. 

On to Wisconsin. The State Legislature there, controlled by Republicans since they swept into power during the 2010 elections and which has since—due to their criminally partisan redistricting—stayed there, has authorized an investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 election. Last summer, they hired former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, a conservative scion, to head an investigation into these unfounded allegations of irregularities. According to WPR, Gableman, a staunch conservative, has since come under fire for hiring a former Trump administration official and issuing an excessively wide swath of subpoenas to dozens of election officials and hundreds of requests for records from numerous municipalities—all this at a cost of $680,000 to Wisconsin taxpayers. Not surprisingly, this investigation has yet to uncover any irregularities. 

And yet, despite the overwhelming and persistent dearth of evidence, the zealots persist. Trump followers still refuse to acknowledge the truth that the election was legitimate, but unable to overturn the election, they have resolved to smash and grab the whole process. 

On January 6^th, 2021, Trump called his faithful to stop the certification of the election in Congress, to literally smash and grab the election. Thousands of his followers stormed the Capitol in the now infamous insurrection—or terrorist attack, resulting in five deaths and dozens of injuries. After Mike Pence refused to halt the process and the attempted coup failed, the Republicans have turned their attention to overrunning the election process itself. 

Election officials across the nation have been threatened and terrorized by “Stop the Steal” adherents to the point where many have resigned their offices. Those who have defied Trump, like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, will likely not be elected to a second term. After a family member’s home was broken into, Raffensberger had to move to a safe location. Trumpist Republicans are putting up their own candidates to run for these local election positions with the long-range strategy of manipulating election results—or failing that, the electoral process. 

Like patrons and workers witnessing the smash and grab robberies, American citizens have stood by helplessly as these criminals have attempted to destroy our electoral process and grab the levers of power for themselves—forever. This is happening now, daily, hourly. Due to fears for themselves and their families, dozens of election officials have left office. They will be replaced by whom? The thugs and bullies who forced them to leave? 

We can’t let our democracy be broken and pillaged. It came close to falling once and those who perpetrated that obscenity will not stop. 

The Republicans have been attempting to tilt the playing field for decades; now they want to be the only team playing.