I have come to the conclusion that whenever Trump starts making a big deal about something and accusing others of doing something, it is more than likely he is directly or indirectly engaged in the same behavior on a more egregious level. Lately he has been railing against voting by mail and continues to argue that it is a source of great election fraud. Virtually all election experts dispute that statement and point to the fact that there is very little evidence that voting by mail is subject to large scale fraud.
On the one hand, this is simply part of Trump’s ongoing strategy to discredit the election results in the case that he should lose the election. As an aside, should he win, I wonder if he will continue to question the legitimacy of the election results? Hmm! Perhaps he hasn’t thought that far ahead. Regardless, he continues to rant about the potential fraud associated within mail in voting.
Interestingly, the new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, is an ardent Trump supporter and major campaign donor. He has no experience, whatsoever, in the postal business. He has already, since his recent appointment, instituted new policies that appear to be delaying mail delivery and creating a backlog of mail. Given that mail-in ballots must be delivered according to strict timelines to be counted in an election, that would seem to be a potential problem coming into the 2020 election.
When the potential adverse impacts on these new policies were questioned, a spokesman for the Postmaster was insistent that there is no coordination between the White House and DeJoy, and that the Postmaster operates completely independently from the White House. We can certainly take comfort in that statement. Of course, Attorney General William Barr is adamant in his independence from Trump although his actions seriously undermine that argument. Why should we believe that DeJoy is any different?
When you put this all together, one could draw the conclusion that the biggest adverse impact to this election caused by mail-in voting will not be caused by any foreign entity, but rather by the Trump administration itself. It is a given that low voter turnout tends to favor Republicans, e.g. Trump and that a larger voter turnout tends to favor the Democrats. If thousands, or tens of thousand ballots, in key districts were ‘lost’ or ‘delayed’ to such an extent that it affected the election, and challenges were mounted in court, that would probably take months to work through the process. Think it’s not possible – think again.
The postal system is now under the control of an ardent Trump supporter and has also recently been forced to have closer ties to the Department of the Treasury under Secretary Steve Muchin, also an ardent Trump supporter. What could go wrong?
As I stated in the beginning, it seems that the more Trump rants against something, the more likely it is he is engaged in the same behavior – only worse. There is almost zero credible evidence that mail-in voting is subject to wide spread fraud, but there could very well be a huge threat from within this administration.
A Final Word: There was an article published in Vanity Fair stating that early in the pandemic a team led by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, developed a national testing plan which was about to be rolled out. According to the report, the decision was made to not roll out the plan because, at that time, it appeared that the areas most affected by the coronavirus were primarily ‘Blue States’ and it would be politically advantageous to be able to blame the governors of those states. The reporters and Vanity Fair stand by the veracity of this story and, if true, is unconscionable. The result of this calculated political decision was the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. If true, people responsible for this decision should be prosecuted. What kind of a country have we become where American citizens are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency and the desire to retain power at all costs? “Make America Great” – what a joke!
President Trump a Suspense Novel
The plot: Trump always wanted to be a leader like Mussolini. So, he read how Mussolini came to power. Demonize the establishment by fear and hatred. Produce your false narrative and claim the establishment is the “The Deep State”. That all their leaders are evil and you are the one who will save the establishment by claiming to “Drain the Swamp”. Control the media by claiming that only you have the true news and every other news media is “Fake News”. Eliminate the opposing party to produce a dictatorship. Convince your party of the evil of the other party. Hillary and Obama will become the focus of their hate. Use derogatory adjectives on their names when you ever talk about them. Find a foreign power to infiltrate your political structure with misinformation. Make friends with that foreign party’s leader that has a dictatorship and get mentored by him on how to accomplish your goal. Convince your party and supporters that this leader is a great person to be trusted even though he is an arch enemy of your country.
Unfortunately, this is not a suspense novel but is a fact. I know that a book will be written when Trump is out of office and it will become a top seller.