The Horse's Ass in Charge of the Bastards in Raleigh

 

Berger told reporters that he doesn’t think swapping political control of the elections board from Democrats to Republicans is about politics.

--Will Doran, WRAL 

Yeah, politics is disavowed. While naked power is in. And if you didn't give the horse laugh to the statement above by the chief horse's ass, then you've not been paying attention.

After the Republican-dominated General Assembly passed its newest power grab (details of which are here), Berger felt it necessary to cover his raw greed for autocracy with some wholly fictional rationalization, as reported by Will Doran:

Berger told reporters Wednesday he was concerned about the vote-counting process in North Carolina being rigged for Democrats .... Berger indicated Wednesday that he was concerned with how Riggs won. Griffin was leading on election night by about 10,000 votes when roughly 98% of the state's ballots had been counted .... Berger suggested not all the votes should’ve been counted, alleging the process was somehow rigged in favor of Democrats. He didn’t explain how .... "We're seeing played out, at this point, another episode of ‘count until somebody you want to win wins,’ ” Berger told reporters at the state legislature Wednesday.

The allegations of fraud certainly caught the attention of Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the State Board of Elections. (Berger's cynical lying ought to infuriate all 500 members of the 100 county boards of election, including the 200 Republicans who sit on them, who participated in all meetings where votes were counted and who signed off on the process and on the final numbers.) Brinson Bell wasn't having it. She wrote an outraged letter to Berger, calling him out for his potentially dangerous stirring of the (cracked) pot, offered to give him a refresher course in how NC elections actually take place, and she made the letter public. According to Doran:

“When you tell your fellow citizens that an election is being conducted fraudulently, they listen,” Brinson Bell wrote to Berger. "I fear for the people running elections in this state, including in your own community, that some misguided people will conclude from your statements that actions must be taken, perhaps through the use of threats or violence.” ...

...she reminded Berger that many people believe what he says and asked him to take back those remarks. “This is an accusation of wrongdoing that has absolutely no basis in fact,” Brinson Bell wrote. “You are a top leader of our state government. What you say matters.”

She used the 2020 elections as a cautionary tale, alluding to disproven accusations of rigged elections that fueled an exodus of seasoned elections workers.

Brinson Bell also told Berger she’d be happy to explain to him how elections work, if he’s feeling confused.

But of course the horse's ass leaders of the GOP in the Age of Trump do not take back anything, nor apologize, nor lose a scintilla of a half-step in their march toward total control over who gets to vote.