The co-founder of center-left think tank Third Way told Axios that Democrats must fight a two-front war going forward: they must work to get their candidates elected and fight to ensure that Republicans don’t engage in election theft.

Matt Bennett said America is facing “a Paul Revere moment” and that Democrats must respond to the Stop the Steal movement with “the size, scope, and seriousness of a presidential campaign.”

In addition, Bennett explained, his group is calling on Democrats to recruit and protect nonpartisan election workers.

“We must provide them with physical protection (from law enforcement and others) if they are threatened or harassed,” a new Third Way blueprint contends. “We must offer legal representation.”

Bennett told Axios that his group’s blueprint is designed “to lay out a cohesive story in an easy-to-follow format” about the threat posed to American democracy.

The document, inspired by Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, tells readers “YOU are not worried enough. Not nearly enough.”

It encourages people to look past the “clown car” antics of Trump supporters like Sidney Powell and Lin Wood and focus on where the real threat is coming from: “the core of the Republican Party.”

“Their plan? To steal the 2024 presidential election –and it is well underway,” Third Way claims, adding “It is a systematic, sophisticated, and serious plot to execute a coup.”

The group asserts that the GOP is engaged in a five-part plan to undermine democracy, including “suppressing the vote,” “installing Big Lie vote counters,” “threatening election efficials,” “seizing legislative control,” and “sabotaging the Electoral College.”

To fight this effort, Third Way writes, Democrats need to launch a major campaign involving “former Presidents and First Ladies, congressional leadership, party chairs, top state officials, former office-holders, etc.”

The pro-Democracy movement must have four “core elements”:

  • Coup Protection: Enacting federal vote suppression/theft laws.
  • Electoral Firewall: Beating seditionist Republicans.
  • Poll Defenders: Shoring up non-partisan election administration.
  • Democracy Army: Supporting legal, elections, and grassroots efforts.

Third Way warns that Democrats “are starting from behind” and that a successful defense of elections requires that “all sectors of society must be united, organized, and devoted to the fight.”

We encourage you to read their full presentation.