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Celerity

(42,646 posts)
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 12:04 PM Apr 2020

Trump Will Use Coronavirus To Steal The 2020 Election

It’s the nightmare scenario we’ve all been thinking about since November 9, 2016.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/trump-will-use-coronavirus-to-steal



WASHINGTON, DC -- One of the ongoing issues with liberal activists, not to mention Democrats in general, is that we tend to be a little slow-on-the-uptake when it comes to either Republican shenanigans, or liberal causes that deserve more attention. Specifically, we too often jump on board with an event, court decision, or scandal after it’s too late to reverse the course of whatever’s happening. I’m not a futurist, but this last-minute reaction time on the left is one reason why I sometimes warn about possible catastrophes perhaps a year or more ahead of schedule. I’m not always right, but I figure if we have a road map -- some sort of heads up for what’s next, it’s easier to be prepared when some of these eventualities hit the fan. Donald Trump is a crook, and as we’ve seen with performance-enhancing-drugs in sports, the crooks are always one step ahead of the regulators. We need to reverse that, especially given the political stakes of the November election.

Specifically, one of the most terrifying things I’m seeing on the horizon is the possibility that Trump will somehow exploit either the courts or the coronavirus or both to disrupt the November 3 election. It’s the nightmare scenario we’ve all been thinking about since November 9, 2016, and now, there are circumstances that might allow it to come true. It’s important to note here that the president doesn’t have the authority to simply postpone or cancel an election. But he can certainly disrupt an election. Hell, Trump disrupted the 2016 election and he wasn’t even president at the time. Instead, it was his boss, Putin, who handled that as Trump’s proxy. This year, however, he’s got Putin, plus his disinformation “Death Star” accosting Facebook users with agitprop, and now he’s also got the coronavirus and our collective urge to protect ourselves from getting it. Trump also has the federal courts, which have been stacked with hundreds of Trump loyalists, thanks in part to Moscow Mitch.

There’s no way of knowing exactly how he’ll do it, but it could involve all of those things as well as a propaganda campaign that’s already underway by the White House and the conservative entertainment complex to drive down voter turnout by demonizing mail-in balloting. For the past several episodes of the Trump Show, he’s been falsely suggesting that mail-in ballots are corrupt, and the only method of voting he’ll accept as valid is Voter ID supported in-person voting. Ironically, the most notorious example of absentee ballot “corruption” was by North Carolina Republicans who criminally tampered with mail-in voting to elevate Mark Harris in the 9th congressional district race back in 2018. It’s also worth noting here that voter fraud is statistically nonexistent here, leaving Voter ID as nothing more than another way for Republicans to suppress turnout. And suppressed turnout tends to benefit the GOP.

Nevertheless, Trump’s talent for repeating the same bullshit on endless loop will help to inject his anti-mail-in nonsense into the softened skulls of at least 40 percent of the voting population, perhaps more, given how Voter ID has also been confoundingly popular among some Democrats. Meanwhile, knowing that coronavirus cases could surge again when the weather turns cold, say mid-October in many parts of the nation, Democrats and secretaries of state will be planning ahead with alternative methods of voting on and before November 3, including mail-in ballots. It’s safe to assume that many of the states run by pro-Trump governors or states controlled by pro-Trump courts will repeat what happened with the state supreme court in Wisconsin, refusing to accommodate alternative balloting and forcing people to the polls, despite the harrowing circumstances. In other words, many of the traditionally blue states will roll out alternative voting systems, while Trump states will insist on in-person voting, even if the virus returns for another round.

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Celerity

(42,646 posts)
3. the article goes into great detail about the mechanisms and actions he could try and use
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 12:26 PM
Apr 2020

Also, things like disinfo and Russian interference are beyond the purview of the states in many cases.

Takket

(21,424 posts)
2. so... here is how i see this.......
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 12:23 PM
Apr 2020

Putin/Fox News and their trolls are going to continue to pollute the airwaves and social media as they did in 2016, and we can't really do anything about it....

but here is the good news......

Biden is polling ahead in WI, MI and PA...... the three states that arguably gave drumpf the win in 2016 by razor thin margins where Clinton was robbed by fake news, putin and cambridge analytica.

Michigan in 2018 guaranteed "no excuse" absentee balloting by statewide ballot initiative, since the GOP legislature fought HARD to suppress it. Wisconsin already has it.

PA has absentee balloting but you need an "excuse". I think the DNC's focus needs to be on getting PA to have mail in or no excuse balloting.

While you'll get no argument from me that we need this EVERYWHERE, if we can get it in the most important swing states, THAT can be "just enough" to make sure voter suppression doesn't steal another election for drumpf.

Celerity

(42,646 posts)
8. As well may be replies to said blog posts that offer no rebuttal other than an attempt to cast
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 01:06 PM
Apr 2020

doubt and/or limit discussion with no underlying statements backing them up.

 

not_the_one

(2,227 posts)
7. I am tired of the "voter id" canard...
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 01:04 PM
Apr 2020

We were bitching about it 4 years ago. If someone can't get a valid voter id in 4 years, maybe they don't want to vote bad enough.

The Democratic Party should MAKE SURE that all Democrats have valid voter ids. If they can't, just exactly what is their job?

We whine, complain and kvetch over issues that can be dealt with, then sit back and do nothing about them. That is so typically DEMOCRAT-like (intentional spelling). Republicans are on top of issues, we are always too late, and a dollar short.

If someone may have a hard time doing what is necessary to get the id, HELP THEM. We are ALL on this possibly sinking ship. Let's help each other out. If necessary we should even share life jackets.

Every time I vote I present my state driver's license AND my voter registration card.

They usually say "we don't require those" and I reply, "but I am showing them".

I also take a photo of my scan, ballot, screen (whatever the case) WITH my two ids included. I WILL have proof of how I vote. If ALL of us said we were doing just that, they would freak out that we could PROVE our votes. Of course they would try to stop us, saying it was, somehow, illegal. Can you imagine the optics of THAT? I say let's freak them out!!!

If you don't drive, states usually give state id cards for just this reason. If someone has a hard time doing that, help them out. Drive them to the DMV.

If they are registered to vote, they have, or can get a voter id. If they have difficulty in doing so, help them get one. Drive them to the local voter registration office.

If we want to be the party that makes sure we can't be charged with a bogus "voter fraud" charge, then let's do what is necessary to address it.

ELECTION FRAUD, on the other hand, is what the republicans depend on to win. That INCLUDES voter suppression. If we can PROVE our eligibility with the appropriate identification, that takes THAT particular issue out of their arsenal. Let's spend our energies fighting them, and THAT.

Then there is the issue of republican state legislatures cancelling the election due to the virus. But rest assured, if the virus has run its course by then, and we no longer have to practice social distancing, they will come up with some other excuse to try to cancel.

Trump is DESPERATE.

Every one says it is impossible... Just how many times have we said THAT recently, only to eat crow later when they DO EXACTLY WHAT WE SAID THEY COULDN'T?

They CAN'T WIN, if they have to play fair, and we HAVE TO MAKE SURE THEY MUST PLAY FAIR.

Cue the posts of OUTRAGE in 3.. 2.. 1..

edit for spelling

brush

(53,467 posts)
10. Voter IDs have to be produced when registering to vote. I've done voter...
Thu Apr 9, 2020, 08:21 PM
Apr 2020

reg the last three presidential cycles and prospective voters have to present a current state driver's license, a passport, etc. that the registrar records on the voter reg application, so the current repug talking point of requiring a voter ID is bullshit.

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