Putin’s Playbook
Putin’s PlayBook
Lou Ford
With the pandemic still in play Trump is now trying to rig the election once again. He is doing it with a play from Putin’s handbook.
The President is taking a play from his idol's playbook. Trump is behaving just like his idol, Putin. The president is trying to interfere with our upcoming presidential election. He is doing this openly, and boldly. He is doing this as a follow-up to his statement of how he might not accept the results of the upcoming election. He won’t accept it if he loses. How is he doing this? He is doing this by attacking the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Now before We go any further, let me clear about a few things. The first thing is that it is no secret that the Postal Service has been financially strapped for some time (Bogage). It has been waiting for help from the government for some time. However, when the pandemic hit the situation only got worse. While business went up for the USPS because the employees are front line workers, many have been become infected with Covid-19. With a workforce cut down, they have been further hindered by Trump and his Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy.
There is also another very important fact that needs to be brought up; and that is that many conservatives are against the very idea of the Postal Service, and it is for one very simple reason: postal workers are unionized. Conservatives have traditionally had a bad time with unions. And one might say that the reason is unions are political (Ray). Unions are the ones who tell their workers that it not just your boss who is an asshole, but the system othat allows him to be an asshole; and that they should collectively change that system. Unions are also traditionally a source of support for the Democratic Party (Ray). In terms of the postal service, many conservatives have sought to break up that federal union and privatized it ( Ray ). Now Trump has taken the steps to further this goal by cutting funding, allowing DeJoy to take away over time, and remove more postal vehicles already needed to deliver mail. This is all being done to prevent mail-in ballots, and Trump says, voter fraud. Why is pressing that idea, the idea that of that mail-in ballots are going to result in fraud can be interpreted as Trump’s efforts to interfere in our elections? One reason why that could be seen that way is due to Trump’s insistence on opening schools regardless of the risk, yet his almost refuses to allow people to mail in their ballots despite their demand for it to be done for their safety.
It is also important to note that Trump was also was willing to postpone the elections rather than let the people have their voices be heard even if it was through the mail. This is the man who said he might not accept the results of the election ( King ). The fact is that his attacks on the post office are a direct attempt to sabotage our democratic elections. And while that may be true there is one fact that we should keep in mind: an actual problem with mail-in ballots.
The problem with mail-in ballots is the difficulty counting them if the state is not ready to do so ( McKinley ). There is a very real issue with mail-in ballots and one that Trump is correct about. What he is correct about is the fact that if there is not enough preparation then there will be and usually are mistakes made. Those mistake result in ballots not being counted and sometimes bring outright thrown away. This can be a consequence of something as simple a voters forgetting to sign the form in the correct place, or not sending it out early enough. States like New York had trouble with mail-in ballots during their most recent primary and the number of primary ballots were not even close to the number of ballots that will need to be dealt with correctly. That means that a portion of votes weren't counted, and it will only be worse during the upcoming presidential election. The reason that is is due to the fact that many more people participate in presidential elections than local or state. That means that there is a good chance that unless States are given the resources needed to ensure that they can count the paper then the real voice of the people will not be heard. That is how Trump is sabotaging our democracy.
Trump is trying to rig the election through tampering with the system that will work best for people during this time of a global pandemic. He is beating the post office like a red-headed stepchild in an effort to prevent democracy from occurring. Trump and his supporters are, to a degree, shredding up some of the constitutions, and the foundations that have constructed our nation. The census is literally something that is in the constitution, as well as the post office. The post office was and is an essential piece of our nation that helped to establish what our nation is today. By direct interference, our current so-called president is trying to illegally per se stay in power. The president is acting like his idols, Trump is taking a softer play from Putin’s playbook.
Bibliography:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/nyregion/nyc-mail-ballots-voting.amp.html
Comments
Post a Comment