"Cheat like hell."
Trump has a system that works. He tells us what he is going to do. He is shameless about it.
Then, when he does it, we aren't shocked. It was already on the table. He normalized it.
President Trump is scrambling for a way to game the 2026 midterm elections. He got the extreme gerrymander done. He is trying to get the Postal Service involved. He has people with a history of election denial working in local election jobs, ready to find pretexts to object to the voting if a Democrat wins. He has posited declaring martial law amid a national emergency. He has mentioned using ICE to cause disruption at heavily-Democratic polling places.
We aren't being forewarned. We are being groomed.
College classmate Erich Almasy read my "Easy Sunday" post that listed two ways to cheat in an election and that got him thinking of others. He sent me these, perhaps in the manner of a person telling a ghost story around a campfire. After graduation Erich Almasy went to Harvard Business School, then had a long career on the consultancy/business management track. He and his classmate wife, Cynthia Blanton, live in Mexico.
Guest Post by Erich Almasy.
I try not to be a doomsayer, but after my comment on Peter’s Sunday column, I have compiled a few potential scenarios that should keep Democrats up at night.
First, my comment that House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t certify Democratic Party wins, opening the way for the existing House to negate them after January 3rd. Various pundits have suggested this, including Bryan Tannehill of Byline. In this scenario, Mike Johnson, as Speaker, would not certify Democratic wins, and the current House configuration, with a Republican majority, would remain. This “rump” House would negate the election, throwing the entire process into the Supreme Court, with who knows what result.
Second, my wife, Cynthia Blanton, believes that the recent firing of qualified military leaders by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a prelude to what would essentially be a coup with troops deployed to polling stations to intimidate or interfere with voters in key locations. By eliminating fair-minded generals and admirals, the stage is set for a “Seven Days in May” scenario in October. She bases her theory partly on what she witnessed in Arizona while caring for her dad. The nearby army bases were infested (my word) with born-again Christians, all avid Trump supporters.
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| Fox News: just a temporary loss for Trump |
Third, will the Supreme Court rule against the United States Postal Service's involvement in screening mail-in ballots? It seems straightforward that this step interferes with the constitutional role states play in administering elections. But reports suggest that, behind the scenes, the Postal Service is steaming ahead (and possibly steaming ballot envelopes) with plans to interfere. Will anyone trust that their ballot actually got to the proper election authorities? Oregon is the only state with 100 percent mail-in voting, but several states are not far behind, and the overall percentage nationwide in the last two elections was 31 percent. Even the president uses an absentee mail-in ballot.
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| Detroit News headline |
Fourth, and possibly the most likely scenario, is that President Trump, who seems to have a penchant for them, declares a national emergency either just before or just after the elections. Many of Trump’s followers, especially the White ones, still buy into his claim of widespread voter fraud in 2020, despite his losing over 60 court cases and there being no evidence of any significant fraud. This has not stopped their belief in fraud, and by playing to that, Trump could offer disinformation regarding voting machine manipulation, foreign country (probably China) interference, non-citizen voting, and/or mail-in ballot forgery. CNN rates this possibility as low, mainly because of the short time left, but the Missouri attorney general’s willingness to defy both his own Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court is dire indeed.
Finally, the president and the Republicans who are willing to tamper with America’s democracy may simply choose to amplify voter confusion. How will anyone make an informed voting decision with so many lies? Will even vigilant voters stay home? Will the results align with expectations? Will challenges diminish future support for voting? If any part of these scenarios happens, we may have seen the last true elections in the United States.
[A note from Peter: My wife and I have never trusted the Postal Service to deliver our ballots. We bring our filled-out ballots to the drop box in front of the county election office. Are we paranoid? I think not. We are being prudent.]
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog by email go to Https://petersage.substack.com. Subscribe. The blog is free and always will be.]
The Supreme Court already ruled against one of these possibilities.
ReplyDeleteI can't be sure whether "essentially a coup" is or is not akin to "essentially pregnant", but I am sure that "Seven Days In May" was about a secret cabal of military officers intending to forcibly remove a sitting President of whom they disapproved. Said President not only did not brazenly announce something sinister he was going to do months in advance--he was unaware he was a coup target until those crucial last days.
ReplyDeleteI suppose sowing electoral disinformation and chaos could be considered a coup of sorts if indeed the result is that we have seen the Last True Elections in the United States. Everyone should pray for the predicted Democratic victory in November, then, and in subsequent elections as well, because that would prove that our elections remain free and fair after all.
Trump was indicted for his illegal attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election. The allegations laid out, including the violent riots on January 6, reveal the hallmarks of a coup. Having done it once, there is good reason to believe he will do it again if he doesn’t like the midterm election results, especially now that he’s gotten rid of anyone in his administration and the Pentagon more loyal to the Constitution than to him.
DeleteNote to voters: You don't need to be concerned if your ballot gets delivered to the County Clerk. There is a website called "Where's my vote?" where you can check online to see if the County Clerk received your ballot. Check it about 5 days after you mail your ballot.
ReplyDelete