Let's start with the well known rumor about Obama's Presidential win in 2012. According to this story, Karl Rove had a hack in for the election results that, at a certain time, would switch a majority of Democratic votes over to Republican votes, thus giving Mitt Romney the win. Rove built a firewall around his hack.
Supposedly, the group Anonymous emailed Mr. Rove, saying they were aware of his plans to steal the election for Romney, and warning him that his firewall was laughably fragile. They said they were much better hackers, and should he go ahead with his hack, they would easily block the changeover with their own hack.
It has never been established, or even investigated, whether this is myth or fact.
However, there was a genuine, provable time period when servers went down while tabulating votes in some of the most important states. This was when Rove's vote switching was supposed to take place. But, according to the story, Anonymous blocked that code, allowing the genuine voting results to be counted unimpeded.
Allegedly, that explained Rove's disbelief and denial when Fox finally called the election for Obama. Rove's shock led to his well known 'meltdown' on Fox News.
Go with this scenario for a moment and think about that situation. If you were an elite Kingmaker with unlimited billions, what would you do if you were defeated in a battle by those you had dismissed as a 'peasantry' of hackers? You lost a battle. But this was just one battle in an ongoing war.
The war has the goal of putting Western civilization under a feudal system of government, with corporations as Lords of the Manor, and those with the very most money, like the Kochs, as Monarch. Other elites who also have great wealth are the nobility. The rest of us are, of course, serfs. We have no power. Look at large amounts of legislation quietly passed into law over the last decade, expanding the rights of corporations, while cutting the rights of consumers. There is a very clear pattern.
Considering this as background, the question is: what would be the Kingmaker's next action ? An obvious answer: Kingmaker would find and purchase the very, very best hacker in the world, probably someone from China, to hack the 2016 Presidential election. Someone who has greater skills than the entire group of Anonymous put together. Well worth the billions he will be paid.
This time, again, to steal the election for Romney. But a different Romney. A designer image change from the stiff and dubious politician that people didn't connect with, to a convincing all- around-guy, the kind of guy you'd like to sit down and have the proverbial beer with. Likeable.
This quiet and very intense campaign has 18 months to reach its goal. That's a year and a half, an eternity when it comes to PR and image and the memory of the American people.
The work has already started. Wasn't Romney a fun guy in his fake fight with Holyfield? Who knew he was so likeable!
The campaign continues with more and more likable-Romney moments, until the current dislike of Romney gradually starts shifting to a new opinion of him as a terrific dude who makes a lot of 'sense' in the statement-like comments he frequently makes. No one will ever, ever ask him if he has been rehearsed in his movements until even the tilt of his head conveys 'likeable.' No one will ask him if he has taken acting lessons since the last election.
The public's admiration and acceptance of Romney keeps growing as the plan keeps working, bolstered by masterful GOP media manipulation. Thus, it will be no suprise that at the very last moment, Romney steps onto the roof of the clown car containing the unsatisfying array of Republican Presidential candidates and announces, "I'm in."
If this tale turns out to be an accurate prediction, Romney will beat Clinton, and only an ignored minority will be angry or upset or demanding that the voting machines be checked. This time, the hack will be undetectable, servers will not go down, and nothing will be able to stop the results. President Romney and the corporate GOP will have at least four years to lock in a constitutional creation of the feudal system of government in the United States.
The rest of the tale will be the new history of America, with the working class---the 97 per cent of us living as low paid servants to the new aristocrats.
What is so frightening is not only the credulity of our citizens, but the provable hackability of the voting machines. Only a hand vote can stop the sadly predicable outcome. But if the tale is a true one, it goes without saying that the denizens of ALEC-land will never permit the accurate counting of a hand vote.
Progressives and others who are aware that 'President Romney' may be a distinct possibility have only one course of action to stop it: public opinion. Wherever Romney PR is observable, comment widely about it. Wherever Clinton is being reviled, or public opinion is being manipulated to paint her as 'untrustworthy,' complain widely. The more people who drum up opinion and talk about a possible GOP con job regarding Romney for President, the less likely that scenario will happen.