Full and Fair Elections? Trump Will Never Let that Happen!

 

Full and Fair Elections? Trump Will Never Let that Happen!

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

Trump is watching the same town hall reactions were all are. Even now, he is becoming aware that Republicans are extremely unlikely to hold a majority in either house of Congress in the midterms, even with the Democrats in complete disarray. Unless the elections are “fixed.” Even as he issues his standard executive-orders-as-law to rig the election to his liking, he is equally aware that the courts will probably slap him down… but his MAGA lackies in Congress will get the hint and redefine requirements for voters of federal candidates. Trump insiders are bending over backwards to get Trump’s vision, even these new “fire everybody in sight” policies, implemented. Some suggest that DOGE operatives are even sabotaging agency software to prove their point, particularly at that “Ponzi scheme” (Musk’s words) Social Security Administration:

“Insiders at the Social Security Administration are accusing billionaire Elon Musk of deliberately sabotaging the agency as the changes he's demanded to protocols have resulted in repeated webpage crashes and interminable phone waits for beneficiaries… In interviews with the Washington Post , current and former SSA employees said they believed Musk and his minions at the Department of Government Efficiency were trying to break Social Security to justify privatizing it… ‘They’re creating a fire to require them to come and put it out,’ said one former high-ranking SSA official who took an early retirement offer earlier this year.´” Raw Story, March 25th. So, it’s not surprising, as reported by ABC News (March 25th), that consumer confidence continues to plunge as Trump’s unpopular economic policies a are scaring an increasing number of voters. Trump is aware that if the midterms were held today, the GOP would be crushed.

Ensuring victory in the next the election has become a Trump goal. And yes, as I have suggested in several blogs, it is actually happening. Trump will do what he has often, falsely accused others of doing: rigging elections so he does not otherwise have to find an excuse to delay or cancel them for “national security” reasons. With reports (Reuters, March 25th) that operatives from China are targeting disgruntled fired federal employees as potential spies, with high-ranking Trump appointees using unsecured platforms to communicate highly sensitive military attack plans, you have to wonder exactly how seriously the Trump administration really cherishes genuine national security. According Joseph De Avila and Mariah Timms, writing for the March 25th The Wall Street Journal (a conservative newspaper), Trump has begun to fix the midterms:

“President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday [3/25] that aims to reshape how elections are carried out in the U.S. by setting new identification requirements for voter registration and prohibiting the counting of absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

“The order marks a significant push to increase the executive branch’s influence over elections, which are administered by the states. Trump’s latest action threatens to pull the small amount earmarked by Congress for elections from states that fail to meet the provisions. It will likely be challenged in court.

“The order creates new proof-of-citizenship requirements for people attempting to register to vote through federal forms. Most people register to vote via their state. The requirements include providing documentary proof of citizenship like a passport or a Real ID-compliant drivers license for national mail voter registration. The order also enlists the Justice Department and the commissioner of Social Security in efforts to find ineligible voters.

“Trump has tasked the Department of Government Efficiency, which is advised by Elon Musk, with wading into sensitive voter registration data to look for inaccuracies. Earlier this month several federal judges blocked DOGE members from accessing other federal databases that contain Americans’ personal information.”

This result would be especially harsh for less affluent Americans, those unlike to vote for Republicans anyway: people not born in hospitals, those who don’t hold passports because they cannot afford to travel and others whose life from birth has not required government IDs. It has been a standard MAGA ploy, where gerrymandering is not enough, to cull voter roles either on technicalities or categorical exclusion… or by requiring in-person voting and then making sure the voting stations are nowhere near minority neighborhoods. Even as courts reject this order, a GOP congress lurks ready to obey the master.

“Portions of [the Trump executive] order mirrors the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which was supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-La.) and was reintroduced this year after failing to make it out of the Senate in 2024. Critics of the bill say implementing it could block U.S. citizens who have changed their names or haven’t updated their passports from registering. They say it would also place unwieldy burdens on state administrators to create or expand policies and access to sensitive information databases.

“Trump doesn’t have the authority to issue an executive order establishing new identification requirements to register to vote, said Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning advocacy organization.

“‘This would actually harm eligible American citizens,’ Weiser said. ‘This would be tens of millions of American citizens who could be excluded from registering from voting.’… Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee, applauded the order… ‘Requiring proof of citizenship, paper ballot trails, and investigating fraud are all commonsense steps to protect the vote,’ Whatley said.” WSJ. Yet after each election, as “voter fraud” is always touted by the MAGA right, there is never any measurable fraud ever found. The myth persists because it sounds good.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the only “good news” from these Trumpian unlawful manipulations is that, so far, Trump expects there to be elections.