Like many of the other distortions, deceptions and outright lies in which the Republican Party has engaged, its flagrant fabrications about “voter fraud” have been exposed for what they are: a desperate attempt to hold on to power. For decades now, Republicans have undertaken a far-reaching effort to suppress the vote among constituencies that tend to vote for Democrats: voters of color, the poor, the young.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends widespread voting by mail to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Republicans — including the president — are engaged in an all-out campaign to prevent voting by mail. The GOP knows that any initiative that makes it easier to cast a ballot will result in more ballots cast. Any genuine patriot — any American who sincerely believes in the ideals of the U.S. Constitution — should want that, right?
Nope. While some Republicans still manage to express their efforts to suppress the vote with less explicit rhetoric — using claims of “protecting the integrity of the ballot” as an excuse — President Donald J. Trump cannot manage the same discipline. In a recent call to one of his favorite propaganda outlets, Fox and Friends, Trump complained about Democratic efforts to expand alternatives to showing up physically at a polling place on a single, specific day. “They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” he said about initiatives that were removed from a stimulus bill because of GOP objections. Continue reading.