Jim Acosta

The provisions amending the 1887 law — which has long been criticized as poorly and confusingly written — won bipartisan support and would make it harder for future presidential losers to prevent the ascension of their foes, as Trump tried to do on Jan. 6, 2021.

https://apnews.com/article/biden-donald-trump-e4366ca9e350ef87ebbb7638517cbde3

Congress approves new election rules in Jan. 6 response

Congress on Friday gave final passage to legislation changing the arcane law that governs the certification of a presidential contest, the strongest effort yet to avoid a repeat of Donald Trump's violence-inflaming push to reverse his loss in the 2020 election.

Associated Press
Dec 24, 2022 at 2:57pmWeb
Show thread💉😷🌿🏥4️⃣All Dr Steven (he/him)Dec 24, 2022
@acosta we need to abolish the EC altogether.
Show threadBillStewart415Jan 1, 2023
@smFowler @acosta Of course, but we're not going to get 3/4 of the states or 2/3 of the Senators or House to agree to it, and if 2/3 of the states call a concom we've got bigger problems.
Show threadCC Silent KDec 24, 2022
@acosta I can almost guarantee Trump defense teams will try to use this new law as some sort of defense. They will claim his actions were committed before this law was signed, therefore he cannot be prosecuted. It's extremely dumb, and stands no chance in court, so that can only mean it will become the cornerstone of his entire defense.
Show threadmarktaylorDec 24, 2022
@acosta Trump destroyed voter apathy and acceptance. “Everyone” votes and checks everything now to ensure that it’s true.
Republicans are so screwed. lol
Show threadGuy UmbrightDec 24, 2022
@acosta It is a good thing that the update was passed but I am concerned that it is a barn door situation. They are not going to take that path again, they will start looking for some other weak point. So we certainly can't act like we are "safe".
Show threadBeverly WhiteDec 24, 2022
@acosta next they need to focus energies on dumping the arcane electoral college completely and going with the popular vote.
Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022
@acosta
I don't think this functionally changes anything except to cast doubt on whether what Trump and company did to steal the election was actually illegal when they did it. The fact that Congress still refuses to press charges or do anything forceful only underlines that impression.
Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022
@acosta
I can already hear the Trump fans thinking: "They are only trying to outlaw the things he did now because they weren't illegal when he did them. Because they hate us."
They won't know or care that what he did was already illegal.
Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022
@acosta
Making new laws instead of enforcing the existing ones is a really tired look by now.
Show threadMatt SchwartzDec 24, 2022

@RnDanger @acosta

The legislative branch can't file charges. Only the executive can as they're the branch of law enforcement.

Show thread2xfoDec 24, 2022

@randomschmoe @acosta
True. Maga will not care what is proper though. This will be a point against us in their mind.
I'm hopeful that the 20% rule will have an impact, but I don't know if the new law will change anything in 2 years when 10 states can conspire to overcome that threshold.

Right now I expect this news will be used to lend credibility to the idea that what they did was not illegal at that time.

Show threadJ L GatewoodDec 24, 2022
It's about time... I would normally say better late than never, but this one was demonstrably tardy getting here...