Mr. Trump is on record opposing mail-in voting. He calls it rift with fraud, and he insists that it puts Republicans at a disadvantage. He tweeted last month:
"Mail in ballots substantially increases the risk of crime and VOTER FRAUD!"
And here I was, totally unaware that the GOP was burdened with some kind of postal phobia. Here’s to new information. As I inquired of a GOP acquaintance, does this pox apply to service men and women, stationed abroad, who’ve been routinely voting by mail, for decades, when stationed overseas?
Apparently, Trump also has reservations about in-person voting, if it’s made available in areas where some residents may not vote for him, and or, for his candidate of choice. Over the weekend, Trump labeled efforts to make voting easier in a Special Election in California’s 25th congressional district, a “SCAM!”, demanding that “These votes must not count.”
A fair question, it would seem, is, does Mr. Trump support voting, of any kind? After all, he has previously railed against voting by mail. Now, he’s arguing against in-person voting. What is his deal?
As is so often the case with Trump, and by necessity, for his supporters, he has glammed onto positions that are polar opposites. As first glance, you may think, well, those two things are not exactly opposites. That, however, is because, there is a third tier to this story; voting by mail. An aspect that, oddly enough, despite Trump’s previous loud (and inaccurate) pronouncements, he finds voting by mail, in the 25th district, completely acceptable. So much so, that he, for all practical purposes, went out of his way to endorse it.
How so? In this case, Trump isn't taking issue with the fact people in California's 25th district -- located in North LA and eastern Ventura County -- can vote by mail if they so choose. After all, he even tweeted that this election was "supposed to be mail in ballots only" -- perhaps because of reports that more GOP voters have mailed in their ballots to date than Democratic voters.
The reality is, experts say that mail-in voting doesn't actually help one party relative to the other. However, as we've learned, over time, it's not Trump's thing to listen to experts -- especially since he claims to know more than anyone us else about a long list of topics from "technology" to Democrats to terrorism.
This stable genius based brilliance, I suppose, explains Mr. Trump’s continuing to spew baseless claims (sometimes known as "lies" when uttered by other people) that mail-in ballots are "corrupt" and "they're forgeries in many cases." As real experts have repeatedly made clear, voter fraud with mail in ballots is "relatively rare" and Factcheck.org has dubbed Trump's claims as "misinformation." Take that for what it’s worth. I understand, Trump supporters prefer the musings and tweets of the self-proclaimed stable genius rather than the meticulously researched data collected by social scientists, trained in the field.
Fast forward to Trump's claim that adding a new voting location in Lancaster, California is somehow about trying to "rig" the hotly contested election to fill a Congressional seat left open by the resignation of Democratic Rep. Katie Hill.
What apparently triggered Trump's claim that Democrats "are trying to steal another election" was that Los Angeles County election officials recently added a new in-person voting location in the city of Lancaster -- described by Trump as "the most Democrat area in the State."
Ergo, why Trump has demanded these ballots cast by real, registered, eligible to vote Americans, "must not count." #MAGA?
How Trumpian. That a President would call for votes not to count because they are cast in a polling location that he believes favors the opposition party, is, well, downright anti-American. It should not be overlooked that giving voice to what would be a transparent act of voter suppression, if carried out, would also make it more difficult for those in one of the most diverse cities in the district -- Lancaster's population is nearly 22% African American – to cast their ballot.
The clearest of ironies in this case is that, with the nearest in-person voting center nine miles away, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris joined Democrats in pushing for this voting precinct to be opened up to in-person voting. Parris, a Republican who supports GOP candidate Mike Garcia over Democrat Christy Smith, last week called for the county's election officials to “immediately” open a polling location in the city, noting that, ”There should not even be the appearance of affecting the outcome by limiting the ability to vote. I don’t want to ‘jimmy’ the election.” Oh yeah, since the city has a Republican mayor, it undermines Trump’s tweeted claim that Lancaster is the most Democratic area in the state.
Just based upon the previous points, this whole matter screams, “Trump doth protest too much, methinks.” But there’s more. It’s quite interesting that Trump’s outrage about Lancaster’s voting location does not extend to the two voting locations set up in Ventura County, which backed the losing GOP congressional candidate in the 2018 election. In fact, one of the Ventura County in-person voting locations for yesterday’s election is the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Imagine Trump’s reaction if it had been scheduled to place at the Barack Obama Presidential Library!
Trump is gonna be Trump. His supporters are insistent that he do so; they love it. If you don’t, it’s up to you to respond in-kind by supporting candidates whom you believe represent you, your values, and interests. Not those of this current regime, which it is increasingly clear, are…”Trump’s Voting Paradigm: Vote For Me, Or Don’t Vote!”
I’m done; holla back!
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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/10/opinions/california-election-trump-threat-obeidallah/index.html
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/05/trumps-voting-paradigm-vote-for-me-or.html
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/05/trumps-voting-paradigm-vote-for-me-or.html
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