May 2, 2021

Cindy McCain to Republicans: “The Election Is Over”

She has no patience for Trump’s fantasy of overturning Arizona’s election results.

Cindy McCain wants Republicans to get over Donald Trump’s 2020 loss. When asked on Sunday about an ongoing Republican-backed election audit in Arizona, the wife of late Republican Sen. John McCain called the ordeal “ludicrous.” “The election is over. Biden won,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union. “I know many of them don’t like the outcome. But, you know, elections have consequences.”

McCain’s distaste for Trump is no secret. She endorsed Biden in 2020—the first time she’s ever voted for a Democrat—saying she had “had enough” of Trump’s insults, specifically citing reports that he had called injured and fallen soldiers “losers” and “suckers.” The former president also repeatedly attacked her husband before and after his death.

In addition to other tactics, the firm leading the audit, a Florida-based company called Cyber Ninjas, is reportedly using ultraviolet lights to inspect ballots in Maricopa County. Trump, holed up at Mar-a-Lago, has taken an interest in the effort, the Washington Post reports:

Ensconced at his private club in Florida, Trump asks aides for updates about the process multiple times a day, advisers said, expressing particular interest in the use of UV lights to scrutinize Maricopa’s ballots — a method that has bewildered election experts, who say it could damage the votes.

“He talks about it constantly,” said one person who recently visited Mar-a-Lago and listened to Trump discuss the recount for about 45 minutes, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Unfortunately for Trump, it’s not likely the audit will expose any mass voter fraud. Previous independent ballot reviews led by the state and Maricopa County have confirmed the election’s integrity.

According to Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, a reported promoter of election conspiracy theories, the company will release a full report of the audit within 60 days, though officials have said there is “no deadline” for the audit.

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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