Trump’s efforts to undermine integrity of elections aren’t funny
President Donald Trump may win reelection in November. And if he doesn’t, it would be naive to expect him to graciously accept defeat.
He made that abundantly clear on Thursday with a tweet asserting that the election will be compromised and suggesting that it should be delayed.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA,” Trump tweeted.
“Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” he continued.
This wasn’t the most overtly vitriolic tweet that Trump has sent since being elected president. Nor is it as alarming as, for example, his 2018 tweet bragging about the size and power of his “nuclear button,” compared to that of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.
And some Republican leaders were dismissive, when chased down by reporters asking for comment on Trump’s latest missive.
“I think it’s a joke, I guess, I don’t know how else to interpret it,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas’ senior senator, told reporters. “Obviously he doesn’t have the power to do that.”
He speculated that the president may simply have been having a bit of fun, at the expense of the media.
“So, I mean, so, all you guys in the press, your heads will explode and you’ll write about it,” Cornyn said.
Trump has received poor marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has now claimed more than 152,000 lives across the country. He currently trails former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits in national polls, with the two running neck and neck in traditionally red Texas, which Trump visited on Wednesday.
And what was once his campaign’s greatest advantage — a thriving economy — has been scuttled by our scattershot ef
forts to contain the coronavirus, which has taken a grievous toll on industry. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the nation’s gross domestic product plunged 32.9 percent in the second quarter — the most abrupt economic contraction in modern American history.
Faced with such headlines, Trump might well be looking to change the subject. Or perhaps he can see the writing on the wall, and is seeking to save face by asserting, preemptively, that the election was rigged against him. Regardless, Trump’s motives are irrelevant because, as Cornyn said, the president can’t delay the presidential election. Only Congress can do that. And Republican leaders in Congress, most of whom rarely oppose the president on anything, were quick to reject his latest suggestion.
“Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, in a radio interview.
Many Republicans in the Texas delegation said similar things, in some cases before they were even cornered by an inquisitive journalist.
“Election fraud is a serious problem. We need to fight it and stop it. But no, the election should not be delayed,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas’ junior senator.
“No, it’s not even a question. No delays,” said U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, the telegenic freshman who represents the 2nd Congressional District.
Within hours, Trump had gotten the message. But he continued to try to undermine the integrity of our elections on a day when three former U.S. presidents were honoring the memory of John Lewis, the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon.
“Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election,” Trump said at a briefing Thursday afternoon. “These elections will be fraudulent. They’ll be fixed. They’ll be rigged.”
The president may well believe that. He has often cast himself as the target of a “WITCH HUNT” being perpetrated by his political adversaries, and complained of being treated “very unfairly” by various actors. It’s debatable, in general, whether Trump is a well man.
But the truth is that the election is not being “rigged” against Trump, and it’s incumbent upon Republican leaders to say so. They may scuff
Trump’s ego, or elicit his wrath. But by turning a blind eye to his baseless claims of rampant voter fraud — or worse, seconding Trump’s concerns along those lines — they’re doing a grave disservice to all Americans.
The number of voters who blindly believe in whatever Trump says is relatively small and dwindling. But such Americans exist — Trump retains a 91 percent approval rating among self-identified Republicans, according to Gallup’s latest survey — and the president is effectively arguing that the election is being rigged against those believers and him.
Some will harbor that grievance if Trump is defeated, especially if his claims to victimhood go unchallenged by his fellow Republicans.