Trump Gives New Meaning to a No Vote

Yes, it's well-known that Trump wants to take control of elections, contrary to the U.S. Constitution.  And that he wants to suppress voting as much as possible.  And undermine voting as much as he can.  But one didn't expect him to be as upfront vocal about it -- and against his own party!

Putting aside how dictatorial this is (which is a whole lot to put aside), it's incredibly stupid -- but not just for the obvious reason, but for several reasons, one in particular, that don't immediately appear.  More on all this in a bit.  So, let's jump in and head down Trump's twisted path deep into the heart of Texas.

Yesterday, Trump posted an authoritarian, fascist, and egomaniacal statement online.  (And yes, I know that "authoritarian, fascist, and egomaniacal" were unnecessary to include before "statement," but sometimes it's good to keep reinforcing the obvious so that it doesn't get accepted as normal.  Next to nothing about Trump is normal -- unless you consider it normal how his dementia is degenerating.)  The statement began:

"The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer.  IT MUST STOP NOW!"

The needy and deeply uncomfortable angst that permeates Trump just drips out of him so much that you're surprised he isn't perpetually dehydrated.  And a mushy ball of spineless nerves.  Though that may be coming.  But what I almost most-love is the opening of his next sentence --

"We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent.."

Have you seen James Talarico?

​No, to be clear, that isn't his college graduation photo. That's James Talarico today. He's a Presbyterian seminarian.  His grandfather was a Baptist minister.  But to Trump, he's a "Radical Left Opponent."  But then, in fairness, to Trump almost anyone to the left of Attila the Hun is a Radical Left Opponent.  I don't bring this up as just a quip, but that when you are someone who sees James Talarico as "Radical Left", you have a view of reality so warped that you can't deal with issues in any way that will resolve them, and will only serve to twist you into corkscrew knots of hate.  Further, although James Talarico isn't deeply known in Texas -- he's known.  He's been a state representative for eight years, and a reasonably high-profile in the state, as far as state reps go.  He's certainly known significantly enough to have won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator after campaigning for many months and raising $24 million.  So, when you try to paint someone like James Talarico -- someone whose whole career...and life...is based on nurturing, compassion, and bringing people together -- as being "Radical Left," then you only end up looking foolish to even most of your base and destroying any last semblance of credibility you might have dangling to convince people in the middle or the moderate edge of your own party and pushing them away.

Not to mention Trump laughably saying that Talarico is "easy to beat."  Quite a terrified whopper given that in the Texas primary, 200,000 more Democrats vote than MAGOPs!

And we haven't even gotten to the point of Trump's online posting, about suppressing the vote in his own party and rigging MAGOP elections.  Which makes his "easy to beat" cry for help all the more notable, since his fear of Talarico is most surely the whole point behind his terrified plea to rig his party's election.

So, let's go there now.  That's when his statement began by -- as always -- touting himself and his supposedly great record of endorsing candidates who win.  "My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable!' he started.  "It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot."  (NOTE: This doesn't including his endorsement of Phil Berger, the powerful, 15-year president of the North Carolina senate last night, who lost.)  Of course, that "within the Republican Party" provides a wide swath of wiggle-room disclaimer that he created to protect himself.  A MAGOP president endorsing a MAGOP candidate in a MAGOP-only race is not the highest-hurdle in the world to struggle over. (Phil Berger, notwithstanding.)  Of course, being as successful endorsing in general elections is another matter entirely -- as results of his endorsements in Special Elections since he took office have shown.

Anyway, it was then that Trump took his megaphone and told his party that he wanted to rig their election and take away their right to vote on his say-so.  He wrote --

I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!"

So, if you're a Texas MAGOP and want to vote for the person other than who Trump wants, sorry, Trump doesn't want you to have that chance.  Even if it's John Cornyn, who slightly won the race, who you want, and Trump endorses Ken Paxton who finished second.

Or to put it another way, Trump wants to cancel the MAGOP election run-off.  It's just so Trump.

By the way, while Trump saying this out loud (rather than threatening in private) is to put pressure on the person he doesn't endorse to drop out -- which he's doing to hopefully escape the embarrassment of seeing the candidate he doesn't endorse win -- the huge risk for Trump is if it backfires and the person he doesn't endorse doesn't back out.  And that's the stupidity of all this -- it is improbable that either candidate will drop out.

And to be clear, it's not just that they won't drop out because the two candidates are only 1.2% apart, separated by just 23,000 votes out of 1.7 million cast -- what's so stupid of Trump is that neither candidate has absolutely anything to gain by dropping out.  John Cornyn is the incumbent senator.  If he drops out -- he's out of the Senate and his career is over.  Ken Paxton is the current Texas Attorney General whose term is up in January.  If he drops out -- he's out of his job, and his career is kneecapped. 

But worse -- even if one of these men feels so threatened by Trump that they drop out, the 850,000 Texas MAGOPs who voted for him are going to be furious that Trump blocked their right to vote for the candidate they want to represent them.  

You know that whole "Don't mess with Texas" flahooey, well, a whole mess of Texans live by that.  And not every MAGOP in Texas extreme-right.  Many this election already peeled off and registered to vote in the Democratic primary.  So, Trump is given those on the moderate-edge reason to be infuriated -- and even if they don't vote for James Talarico, they might be so angry that they don't vote in the race at all.

And it's not like Texans don't already have reason to be upset with the MAGOP messing with Texas.  After all, Ken Paxton (acting from his position as the state's Attorney General) asked the Texas Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling to allow Texans to vote a short while longer in a Dallas Country because of a screw up.  And Paxton got his way and many Texas voters -- including MAGOPs -- were disenfranchised, pending an upcoming hearing.

So, that's the starting point where Trump jumped in -- to rig an election that his party had already rigged the night before.  And that doesn't even count Trump getting Texas to rig the election by gerrymandering districts -- which, for all we know (and which I have written I believe will happen, not that my belief means anything...) will backfire, as Democrats are gaining an average of 16 points in every Special Election.

I should note that even in Texas, Trump's approval is under 50%.  In a poll by the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project, he only had 45% who either "strongly" or "somewhat" approved of him.  (Moreover, "strongly approved" were just 27%.)  On the other hand, a massive 43% strongly disapproved of Trump.  In Texas!!  An additional 6% "somewhat" disapproved of him, for a total of 49%.  Which is more than the 45% who approved.  Again -- in Texas.

But what the hey, if Texas MAGOPs want to follow an unpopular Trump in their own state off edge and rig their own election and suppress their own vote, who are any of us to say no?  Even if it's a really horrible look for the MAGOP across the entire country.

There's a long-standing joke about Chicago.  "Vote once.  Vote Twice.  But Vote."

That and "Vote Early and Often."

It turns out that Trump has turned that completely on its head and is telling his own party:  Don't even vote at all.

Who am I to say no?