If he wins, fine. If he loses, he gets the Supreme Court to reverse it
Of course Trump hasn’t out and out said exactly that. But he’s come close, saying:
“We need 9 justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they’re sending … you’re gonna need 9 justices.”
And Vice President Mike Pence pretty much did say it, during an interview with Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs:
“With all of the talk about ‘universal’ ‘unsolicited’ mail-in balloting, where we see states around the country that are now extending the deadline, there is a possibility that election issues may come before the Supreme Court in the days following the election.”
Sound like a game plan to anybody?
Also, the only person we ever hear talking about “universal” or “unsolicited” balloting is Trump. And all this kind of talk is actually an attack on Americans, or at least Americans who are not supporting Trump. Because the strong undercurrent here is that non-Trump voters–that is, Biden voters–are inherently untrustworthy.
Trump’s lawyers are already putting special focus on Pennsylvania, which along with Florida is one of the most likely must-win states for Trump. And the Trump campaign has already asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against some leeway the Supreme Court of the state of Pennsylvania is giving to voters there because of an anticipated increase in mail-in ballots due to COVID-19, and potential problems with the Postal Service. The main thing Trump doesn’t like is still counting ballots if they arrive within three days of Election Day, if they’re postmarked by 8 P.M. local time on Election Day, or if the postmark is missing or illegible.
Trump’s been laying the groundwork to disallow mail-in ballots for a while, and more than daily: pretty much every time he opens his mouth these days.
So is Attorney General Bill Barr, who as the nation’s top law enforcement officer (except for Trump), puts the weight of his position behind it when he speaks freely of massive ballot fraud with absolutely no substantiation whatsoever, or even a widespread threat. Yet according to Barr, it’s as easy as “paying off a postman”. And only his absolute arrogance about it to back it up. And the same background message: oppose Trump and your own government will automatically label you a likely cheat. Barr has also used language likening keeping Democrats out of power to a religious crusade.
So with the unlimited resources of the Justice Department in tow, it won’t be hard for Trump to find some mistakes involving mail-in ballots. Especially if that’s what they’re zeroed in on. Take it one step further, it would also not be particularly hard to create some irregularities, or at least appearances of irregularities if they were so inclined, and would stoop so low.
But they probably wouldn’t even have to. Because Trump has already told foreign powers that might be inclined to see him re-elected that they can make that happen for him to help. While keeping him at arm’s length.
Still, when Trump Tweets:
That’s an ask.
And we know Russia’s there for him again. At least that’s what FBI Director Christopher Wray confirms. And the scenario Trump blueprints in his Tweet would be far easier to pull off than for instance, finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It’d be a snap for a warehouse full of fraudulent ballots to materialize, maybe that can be traced back to China as an added touch. Even if there’s no evidence any of those ballots were actually used anywhere, it’d still be enough to kick up a lot of dust. And give excuses to whomever inside this country is inclined to assist Trump in a bankrupt endeavor such as this, to assist him.
Because Trump’s reckoning—maybe because of his “crime boss”-like mentality—seems to be that there may be enough Justices on the Supreme Court now who “owe” him, with one more to come before Election Day. Or at least will be committed enough to not seeing a Democrat in the White House that they’re willing to play his rotten, rotten game.
But really? Is even the most far-Right Justice that easily coerced or persuaded or corrupted or however you want to put it?
Do you want to take that chance?
Which means, as always, that Trump must be trounced. He’s the king of the loophole, so don’t give him one. He’s a litigation addict, so don’t let him get a fix.
How?
- Beat him in early in-person voting.
- Beat him in absentee/mail-in voting.
- Beat him in ballots that are dropped off at county clerks’ offices or city halls.
- Beat him in Election Day in-person voting.
Which means right now, redouble your efforts to get any reluctant friends to vote: we’ve all got a few.
Also:
- Make sure you’re registered. In some states, the deadline is coming up very soon. And some states have been aggressively purging voter rolls.
- Make sure you have the right ID if you need it to vote in your state.
- Make sure you’ve got a plan and a backup plan to vote and so do all your friends.
- Make sure you know where online to find your “ballot tracker”, which many states are providing for absentee/mail-in or drop-off ballots.
- And finally, if you vote by mail or drop-off, know what to do if your ballot doesn’t show up as “accepted” by Election Day.