In the battle over voting rights, an idea is starting to move around in Republican circles: designated police forces designed to hunt down voter fraud. On the basis of available evidence, this is a solution in search of a problem. It is another example of what comes from former president Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has put a proposal for such a force in his new budget. In Georgia, former U.S. senator David Perdue, who is running as a Trumpian candidate in the GOP primary for governor against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (R), says he wants something like it to assure that only legal votes are counted.

DeSantis’s new budget calls for $5.7 million for his Office of Election Crimes and Security. The money would pay for 52 staffers, including 20 sworn law enforcement officers and 25 non-sworn investigators, with field offices around the state. The team would go after “election crimes and irregularities” and have the power to refer findings to a statewide prosecutor.

What a fucking maroon!

why do I believe this is real? I'm just surprised it's not in Mississippi

I believe I have mentioned previously that Dan Patrick is an idiot. He was a goofball local sportscaster, he was a dumbass as a rightwing radio host, never let the facts get in the way when you think you're on a roll.(please reference Bluto in "Animal House")

And he has rolled further down the hill on a daily basis as Lt Governor

When he was president, Trump sought to project his strength in his own ways, regularly trying to exert his will over federal judges, Congress, media and other institutions in ways that violated long-standing American norms but were cheered by his supporters as a show of strength.

Now some of his supporters see an admirable figure in Putin. That includes Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state under Trump and recently called Putin “savvy” and “very talented.”

“I have enormous respect for him,” Pompeo said in a Feb. 18 call with the Center for the National Interest. “I’ve been criticized for saying that.” And he told Fox News: “He’s a very talented statesman. He has lots of gifts. He was a KGB agent, for goodness’ sakes. He knows how to use power. We should respect that.”