He’s claiming that “fraud” and “irregularities” occurred in a state he easily won. (Read story here.) Really?
Yes. “Despite my big win in Texas, I hear Texans want an election audit! You know your fellow Texans have big questions about the November 2020 Election,” Trump spat out at Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, himself an energetic election conspiracy theorist and vote-suppressor.
Why? What’s the point? Well, isn’t it obvious?
Trump wants to discredit all elections, to destroy public trust in our voting processes, in order to clear the path for an American dictatorship, which unfortunately is the direction the Republican Party also is going now.
Americans who treasure our democracy, and don’t want to be ruled by a rightwing dictator who’s crazier than a character from Alice in Wonderland, can’t be complacent. The assault on our freedom didn’t end with Biden’s inauguration. It continues today. The GOP isn’t trying to win the 2024 election; it’s trying to rig it.
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley sends raised fist salute to Capitol rioters
They know they’re unpopular, and the majority of Americans are against them, so instead of trying to compete at the ballot box, they’re pouring their resources and energies into neutralizing ballot boxes. This includes attempts to empower legislatures to overrule the voters. They aren’t just gaming elections, or maneuvering for advantage. They’re trying to overthrow democracy itself.
(The January 6 insurrection, and blatant GOP support for it, should have dispelled any doubts about that.)
The best defense we have against this is voting. No matter how difficult they make it to vote, we must vote. Even when they throw people in prison for trying to vote. (It’s not “fraud” to cast a provisional ballot in good faith, especially when that ballot isn’t counted.)
And no matter how much you may disagree with Democrats, feel frustrated with them, or even oppose them, if you want to keep your right to choose your leaders, you must turn out to vote, and vote against Republicans, until they abandon Trumpism and recommit to upholding our democratic principles and processes. Otherwise, we could lose it all.
Sound alarmist? I wish it were.