Friend of C&L Cliff Schecter appears on Mary Trump's podcast this week, talking about the Michigan Republican Party and how they have been caught instructing poll workers to cheat, how the courts are protecting Republicans (see SCOTUS & Aileen Cannon) and how Democrats, meanwhile, are not using enough of their power to punish Republicans who break the law. (He cites Republicans who ran the clock out to make sure legislative and congressional maps weren't as fair as they were required to be by a 2018 referendum supported by 75% of Ohioans.)

"The courts couldn't draw the maps themselves, but with Republicans state legislators and executives, including Governor DeWine, in contempt of court, they could've thrown these lawbreakers in prison until they adhered to the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling. Why didn't they? We know Republicans would've done this--hell, they did when Susan McDougal wouldn't answer three questions-- three!--on Bill Clinton for their sham impeachment. She spent 22 months in prison," Schecter said.

"Why will our state Supreme Court here not use the power and instead say, 'Well, we'd rather just be nice and okay I guess they're going to delay and not listen to us, so Democrats will get 25 to 50 percent of what they should get, as opposed to 100 percent if that map was well drawn."

Cliff's got a point. Republicans do everything legally (and illegally) in their power to get their way. Democrats are starting to get the message but they still have a lot to learn about wielding their power, and they need to get up to speed damn quick to protect our democracy. (To subscribe to Cliff's channel, The Takedown, click here. Don't miss this week's interview with Stutterin' John Melendez.)