Resistance Brief 12.17.25

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is serving a prison sentence after being convicted of four felony counts and three misdemeanors related to breaching election security in Colorado.

Yet Donald Trump and his allies are now claiming she’s innocent, abused by the system, or even “pardoned” — something a president has no authority to do for state crimes.

In this video, I explain who Tina Peters is, what she actually did, why a jury from a heavily Republican county convicted her, and why more than 30 Republican election officials in Colorado said she violated her oath and deserved prosecution.

This isn’t really about Tina Peters. It’s about how authoritarian movements attack elections, courts, and prisons to make Americans lose faith in democracy itself.

As historian Timothy Snyder warns in On Tyranny, we must defend institutions. This is what that warning looks like in real time.