Hey there, this episode contains just the tiniest bit of salty language. Okay, here's the show.

Ari Berman's outlook on the world, you could call it a little cynical. Can I swear on this podcast?

Do it. I'm always trying to think of the fucked up thing that's going to happen next.

To be fair, this is Ari's job. He's a reporter at Mother Jones.

I cover attacks on democracy. I cover attacks on voting rights. And usually they don't say,

I'm going to suppress the vote X, Y, and Z two or four

ten years ahead of time. The way voter suppression works is you try to surprise people.

It's sort of a stealth tactic, so you don't know it's coming.

Ari came into the studio to tell me about the stealth tactic he thinks we're all going to be talking about next.

One that could reshape whose votes count in this country for years.

Thank you very much, everyone.

Okay, so I'm going to play this tape.

This is July 11th.

Okay.

Are you a citizen of the United States of America?

Oh, gee.

I'm sorry.

I just can't answer that question.

For Ari, the first sign of this new voter suppression tactic, that first surprise move.

He saw it back in July, when the president gave a press conference.

There used to be a time when you could proudly declare, I am a citizen of the United States.

Now they're trying to erase the very existence of a very important word and a very important thing, citizenship.

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