The Only Way We Can Lose is if They Cheat

Trump has said that: “The only way we can lose is if they cheat.” But like so much of what he says, it is the exact opposite of the truth. The truth is that the only he can win is if he cheats, and he knows it. And he has many methods of cheating the true will of the people.

Trump has spoken and tweeted almost daily against mail-in voting. Why is he so against it? Not because it will lead to cheating – exactly the opposite. Trump is afraid of mail-in voting because it reduces his chance to interfere with in-person voting on November 3. He and his Republican enablers have multiple efforts in place to intimidate and reduce the number of in-person voters that are unfavorable to him:

1. Using his Russian friends, spread as much dis-information and fear as possible to discourage people from voting for Joe Biden or voting at all.
2. Purge as many voters as possible, especially from areas that are not friendly to Republicans.
3. Reduce the number of polling places so as to discourage voting, and concentrate those who do show up into the least number of locations.
4. Do everything to the risk of exposure to Coronavirus, further reducing the willingness of those from vulnerable communities to show up.
5. Recruit vigilantes to “protect the polls” which is code for showing up with guns so as to intimidate Blacks, Hispanics, or anyone else who doesn’t seem Trumpian.

Trump is also against mail-in voting because it minimizes the possibility of physical cheating – which is his secret plan that nobody is talking about. With in-person voting, all the votes are registered and tallied by thousands of individual voting machines. Tamper with enough voting machines in key locations and you can change the election in real time without anyone being aware of it. But, you say, the machines keep a permanent record of each vote. That can be also tampered with in the middle of the night by anyone who has access to the machines. Think it can’t happen? Read David Pepper’s book “The People’s House”. He describes just how easy it is to steal an election by tampering with a few machines in a few districts. And there are plenty of Districts in the key battleground states that are controlled by Trump loyalists – and available for the Russians to manipulate. Trump’s government says that the Russians tried to tamper with voting machines in 2016 but failed. Does anybody believe them? We know that the Trump Administration dragged its feet on funding to protect the integrity of the vote. That was done to make it easier to subvert this election.

But vote-by-mail is different. Each ballet is a clear, permanent, paper record which is counted in the presence of multiple people, making it virtually impossible to skew the count. Mail-in paper ballots also make it easy to perform a 100% accurate recount. Yes, some mail-in ballots will be lost, some will be thrown out, but the more mail-in ballots, the more this election will reflect the accurate will of the people. So Trump is doing all he can to suppress mail-in voting. And its working.

Trump believes he has a reason to be confident. When he combines these techniques with all the voters that have been removed from the rolls, suppressed, marginalized by redistricting, or otherwise disenfranchised, he has the means to win the election with only 40% of the population on his side. He doesn’t need more voters, he needs voters who are so committed to him that they will do anything to vote. This is why he has made no attempt to broaden his base of support, but instead has done everything to deepen the devotion of his followers to his cult.

Trump knows that the Electoral college gives him a built-in 3-5% advantage over the Democrats. If he can subvert the will of the people by another 3-5%, he wins. That is why Trump and his people are so confident. National polling that shows a Biden lead of 6-8% is in range of Trump’s ability to cheat his way to victory.

Trump has made no secret of his backup plan in case the cheating doesn’t work. In demonizing the mail-in vote, he has already made the pre-claim that the election was illegitimate. He will never concede, no matter the result. He will likely declare victory sometime on election night even as mail-in ballots are slowly being counted. And, no matter how much he loses by, he won’t leave the White House unless he is physically forced to.

The call to action could not be more clear:

1. All eligible voters MUST vote for Joe Biden. Trump is a danger to Democracy. He will unleash more violence before the election. No one can withhold their vote because its too hard, or because it won’t matter, or because Joe is not the perfect candidate. The people of the United States must vote for Joe by such a large majority that all the Republican cheating won’t be enough to overcome the will of the people.
2. Once the election is over and Joe has won a convincing majority, sadly, and unlike ever before, the work will not be over. Trump will do everything in his power to hold onto the Presidency. And many Republicans will assist him. Americans must rise up in massive protests, and with massive acts of civil disobedience to preserve our Democracy. There will be more violence as Trump and his allies refuse to obey the will of the people. For 250 years, Americans have done what needed to be done to preserve our Democracy. Now we will be called upon to preserve it once again.

America is at stake. And we will have to fight for it as never before.