The entire country is still disappointed and in chock after watching the presidential debate couple nights ago, of course people defer in their criticism and accusations, but a general theme shared by most Americans is obvious. Republicans or Democrats, left or right, conservatives or liberals, religious or not, they all somehow condemn the president for losing it and making a mockery out of the institution. To address this issue, I decided to copy almost verbatim parts of an excellent report by the NY Times' D. Leonhardt .
There is a theme that has run through president Trump's entire re-election campaign ; He is afraid that he cannot beat Joe Biden. It explains his extraordinary efforts last year to prevent Biden from becoming the nominee, and it explains his more recent efforts to discredit the elections. Rather than running against Biden, Trump now seems to be running against democracy itself.
It's useful to think and analyse the 2020 Trump campaign in 3 distinct stages. The first was during the run up to the Democratic primaries, when Trump used the powers of the presidency to pressure at least one foreign country, Ukraine, to smear Biden, (An effort that led to impeachment) while Trump took no similar steps to damage Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Kamala Harris.
Why ?? Trump often acts on instincts, and he probably have done so in this case, he believes in polls, and polls consistently showed him fairing worse in a hypothetically match up against Biden than against any other Democrat. The second stage began after Biden clinched the nomination, Trump doubled down on efforts to damage him. He portrayed Biden as a corrupt old sleepy politician. not so different from Hillary Clinton, or any closet socialist. It hasn't worked, Biden's lead over Trump has remained stable.
That has led to the third stage; Try to prevent a normal election, Trump with help from other leading Republicans, and his loyal oligarchy and family, has increased his efforts to make it difficult to vote. His campaign has filed lawsuits in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to restrict voting by mail. (Mike Pence played a big role there).
In recent weeks, Trump also began what seems like an obvious attempt at voter intimidation, encouraging his supporters to show up at polling places, purportedly to prevent voter fraud, which almost never occurs. Donald Trump junior has released a video calling for an "army for Trump's election security operation."
At least for now, Trump refused to allow a normal debate, constantly interrupting Biden, and even refusing flatly during the debate to condemn white supremacy groups, like the proud boys, a violent far-right fascist group. Even major Republican Senators like Lindsey Graham or Mitch McConnell, came totally against him denouncing his refusal, and putting these groups on standby for further action. The whole episode proved to be a chaotic jumble and a laughable scene. But for Trump it was one more attempt to undermine the normal functions of Democracy.
There is still roughly a month until election day, an eternity in politics, at this point the picture for the past couple years is remarkably consistent, Trump seems to believe he would lose a normal election to Biden, and most people close to him are blunt that the president knows he's losing and is scared and panicky about it. But in an abnormal election, with low turnout and protracted fights over ballot eligibility, who knows what could happen !!!
And even if Trump does lose, he is surely laying the ground work to make the false claim that the election was rigged, and consequently cling to power. For him it's more than winning and glorifying his name, as some legal experts say ; No question about it , Trump and daughter Ivanka could face up to 5 years in jail time for tax fraud after leaving the White-House, the only thing saving them now is the Department of Justice's guide line that says "you cannot indict a sitting president."
Finally, the funny side of this election or re-election is that all radical right-wing organisations and all Republican electoral machines in all States are strategising to win the election not by luring voters to their side or winning the undecided voters with their policies, but by suppressing their votes, and intimidating minority voters, and making it very difficult for the majority of Americans to cast their ballots. ONLY IN AMERICA ......
As always my many thanks to all my readers, stay safe.
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