EXCLUSIVE: The Federalist’s Molly Hemingway has some tough medicine for conservatives about election integrity

Depending on who you are, Molly Hemingway may be best known for her regular appearances on the Fox News All-Star Panel on “Special Report,” or perhaps you know her as a senior editor at the conservative publication The Federalist. Or maybe her incredible 2021 book, Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Hijacked Our Elections.

That last one is even more incredible thanks to Elon Musk ripping off the mantle of Big Tech censorship.

Recently she took time to speak to the Claire Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women in Virginia, specifically touching on how conservatives should approach electoral integrity in the future.

The mission of the Claire Boothe Loos Center for Conservative Women is to “prepare women for effective leadership and promote prominent conservative women,” making Miss Hemingway an ideal speaker for the organization.

Ms. Hemingway took a few moments to sit down with me for a one-on-one interview to discuss the truth about Big Tech/Deep State censorship, the new landscape created by COVID voting rules, and how independent journalism has allowed for increased public debate.

Our conversation is not just academic, but full of valuable common sense analysis not found in the mainstream media.

The hysteria and confusion from the DC press corps in the presence of – gasp – real and meaningful *debate* from representatives in the *House of Representatives* this week is truly juvenile, stupid and un-American.

— Molly (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2023

The threat of debate

If you don’t follow Twitter files, please do so even if you don’t use Twitter.

As I mentioned earlier, not being on Twitter not It doesn’t mean that what happens on Twitter doesn’t affect your life. Very, very opposite.

The sad truth is that newsworthy is determined by major outlets, and much of the federal government’s focus is directed at the Twitterverse, so understanding how easily social media, and thus the mainstream media, has become corrupted has become crucial to understanding what content you’re being fed on your nightly news.

As Molly pointed out in our interview:

“The release of the Twitter files shows that press control is a major goal of the left.”

To understand what she means, it’s important to first go back and remember how news was gathered and delivered to the American public.

Molly explains:

“Decades ago, there were fewer stores and they all adopted a particular party line.”

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I’m old enough to remember when CNN used to go to 24/7 newscasts. Even before that, I remember the family tradition of watching Peter Jennings on “ABC World News Tonight” and “60 Minutes” with Andy Rooney.

Nowadays, things are very different; Thanks in large part to the Internet, as Molly puts it, there has been an “explosion” of independent media, which began:

“…interesting, vibrant debates in culture, and it threatens a lot of people in the establishment.”

So what can we do? In short, independent journalists must continue to do what we have always done, report the truth and shed light on important issues that the mainstream chooses to ignore.

But that only goes so far, as we now know. While the deep state has a relatively easy time capturing some of the media at the time, you might think it would be difficult to control the many, many outlets.

Not so, now they are trying to control delivery Outlets – i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Campaign press claims Austin Chip Roy is “far right.” Only if you are a deranged or lunatic leftist will you be sensible and principled and generally called “right wing”. And not even then. https://t.co/IQkPx8J1B4

— Molly (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2023

lying beneath the surface

Americans, regardless of political flavor, often universally care about the same big-name issues; Rising crime, the economy, illegal immigration, and of course, election integrity. But more than we’d like, it’s the issues beneath the surface, only to inevitably rear their ugly heads in the news cycle, that matter just as much.

Take, for example, the baby formula shortage and the deep state’s complicity with Big Tech.

So I was curious if Molly had any thoughts on what could be significant news events for conservatives and Americans in general in the coming year.

This week the man who helped Joe Biden brag about his legislative victories says he will now begin to “check and balance” Democrats. https://t.co/2DwoJod8ma

— Molly (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2023

The first thing Molly thought about was how, even with the federal government shut down, state governments are starting to show signs of getting involved in fighting government overreach.

His description of these excesses expertly describes the underlying threat to our democracy:

“We’ve gone from a constitutional republic to an administrative state where we have this branch of government that’s not really constitutional.”

He used Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as an example of how the state has decided to push back against the DC regulatory bureaucracy, which he hopes we’ll see spread to other states.

Another area they believe could gain increased coverage is something we touch on a lot; She wonders:

“…we are reaching a breaking point with social movements that hate you and your country. People are beginning to see what the fruit of not teaching people established principles and patriotism has brought, and they don’t like it.

With recent polls showing kids are indifferent to the American flag and military academy cadets being taught to acknowledge their white privilege, it’s hard to understand how this hasn’t already reached a boiling point.

RELATED: Stanford University declares calling yourself ‘American’ offensive

Play the game to win the game

Of course, Molly took some time to chat with me about the topic of the day, election integrity. Like me, Molly firmly believes that the best way to run an election is to go and vote in person on Election Day.

When I was in the military I missed almost every election because I had to file an absentee ballot, so this year I was proud to go in person and cast my vote. However, many argue that perhaps the Republican Party needs to embrace the idea of ​​early voting and vote harvesting Democrats are experts at, and Molly’s argument is thought-provoking to say the least.

Basically if we want to win the game, we have to learn to play the game. Again, using a sports analogy, she is given a good example by a friend.

Say you play in a league that allows performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). You can rightfully oppose the practice, leaving you with two options: stand your ground and not take PEDs and never play, or take PEDs and fight to make the game better.

In his event speech, he used Florida as an excellent example of how it can work in real-life practice. While we should all remember the 2000 election debacle in Florida, many don’t know that since that embarrassment, the state has worked every year to reform its election laws, making, as Molly puts it, “significant incremental reforms” to its election system.

Every governor with a pulse should do this https://t.co/1VjTozIOsG

— Molly (@MZHemingway) January 5, 2023

And while early voting isn’t what Molly or most of us prefer, Florida’s GOP has proven they can work this past midterm just as Democrats do, but legally to their advantage.

By tracking Ballot papers And not just votes, and by putting laws in place to prevent voter fraud, the Florida GOP has been able to manage their election results efficiently, effectively, and with a wide margin of success over Democrats.

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Takeaway

Molly’s speech at the Center for Conservative Women drew many attendees, a packed house, many standing back to hear what she had to say.

Of course, not everyone agreed with everything Miss Hemingway offered, myself included. Still, it sure is…it sparked a vibrant debate that this country desperately needs.

Having civilly difficult conversations is key to growth in any system, be it a family, a business or a nation. Last week we saw Republicans debate and negotiate to make our government work more for the people and less for the politicians.

All the while, the mainstream media was quick to judge the incident as everything from chaos to terrorism in some cases. But as Molly explains, debate is healthy and good, and if the establishment is afraid of it, that’s probably a good thing.

Amen! https://t.co/uuMIAh0D8U

— Molly (@MZHemingway) January 7, 2023

We continue to spark debate, uncover truths and report on stories others have ignored. Dear readers, it is your duty to continue reading, asking questions and discussing.