Friday, January 27, 2017

GOP in a panic as Donald Trump begins dismantling the juggernaut starting with “voter” fraud


After years of the GOP falsely claiming “voter” fraud in the form of felons voting, illegal aliens voting, people voting in more than one state, and using those claims to codify into law ALEC’s (American Legislative Exchange Council) “voter” fraud laws.  Election fraud not voter fraud is rampant in America and has disenfranchised possibly millions of voters. 


There have been claims that due to Motor Voter, the law that allows employees of the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to register people to vote when they are issued a drivers’ licenses, have registered ineligible voters and illegal aliens allowing them to vote.  However having a Republican president launch an investigation into the GOP’s much repeated allegations of voter fraud is a good thing. From Anti Media:

Excerpt:

(ZHE) Having stunned the media with his Monday night announcement before members of Congress during a private reception that Trump only lost the popular vote due to vote fraud, the president refused to back down the next day, when on Tuesday the White House said Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the U.S. election.

“The president does believe that,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters. The press secretary said the president had said “3 to 5 million people could have voted illegally, based on the studies that he’s seen” although he did not quote the studies.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning when anyone who wondered if Trump would let go of this particularly sensitive issues which attacks the legitimacy of his presidency, got their answer with a series of two tweets by the President, who shortly after 7am said that he will request a probe into US voter fraud to resolve the ongoing back and forth once and for all:

“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

The Republican Party of California is planning on suing the state for voter registration fraud.  From Breitbart:


Excerpt:

California Republicans: Online Registration Allows Voter Fraud

The California Republican Party is considering taking legal action to force the State of California to adopt a more secure system for online voter registration, alleging that the current system is too lax and allows for potential voter fraud.


The California GOP has not produced evidence that any voter fraud actually took place through online registration in 2016. Recently, President-elect Donald Trump claimed that “millions” of people had voted illegally nationwide, and said there had been incidents of voter fraud in California, among other states.


“The [California] secretary of state’s website does not track the IP addresses of the people who register to vote,” Harmeet Dhillon, a former state party official, told the Los Angeles Times. “You could literally register hundreds or thousands of people from the same computer …

California’s voting system, however, has been technologically backward for many years. A Pew study in 2014 ranked California 49th out of the 50 states in election administration. The system of online voter registration dates to 2012, well within the scope of the study…  The poor job that the Golden State does in managing voter databases and other election data is ironic, given the fact that the state’s high technology industry leads the world, and that Silicon Valley is a global hub of innovation in database management.

The task of managing voter registration in California is complicated by the fact that the state is home to a high proportion of the nation’s illegal aliens, some of whom volunteered openly for the Hillary Clinton campaign to register others to vote.

Senator Ron Johnson, the Republican Senator from the dismal Dairyland, Wisconsin where numerous courts have found the redistricting maps drawn by Republicans unconstitutional doesn’t feel voter fraud should be a priority.  Obviously Johnson, as well as Speaker Paul Ryan and Chief of Staff and former head of the GOP, Reince Priebus, all from Wisconsin, are quite pleased with the current “voter” fraud meme that has served them well.  Of course they don’t want in investigation into “voter” fraud.  From The Atlantic:

Excerpt:

Trump Abandons the Secret Code of 'Voter Fraud'

In telling an anecdote about alleged illegal votes, the president broke one of the unwritten rules of his party.

There’s a long history of using false claims of voter fraud to justify voter suppression. The practice has enjoyed a resurgence as of late, especially since the Supreme Court weakened federal oversight of voting laws in 2013, states like North Carolina and Texas have used trumped-up charges of voter fraud to implement voting laws and voter ID that have since been determined to be racially discriminatory.

These arguments exist within a tradition of using the specter of fraud to legally suppress votes on a racial basis. But for decades that tradition has relied on a wink and a nod—openly stating the discriminatory intent of laws that had the clear effect of disenfranchisement could be legally troublesome. The dog whistle is the key.

Just days into his term, President Donald Trump opened a new chapter in this long history, using the White House pulpit to make claims of massive voter fraud, and calling for changes in voting law. But in relaying an anecdote to congressional leaders intended to support his wholly unsubstantiated claims of millions of fraudulent votes from undocumented immigrants, Trump directly referred to the perceived ethnicity and nationality of suspect voters, instead of actual suspicions of fraudulent acts. In doing so, Trump broke the longstanding taboo of relying on racial insinuation to carry the implied threat of suppression.

For years the Republican establishment with complicity has cried “voter” fraud and have convinced a large segment of the electorate that our elections are rigged.  From Politico:

Excerpt:

Poll: 41 percent of voters say election could be ‘stolen’ from Trump

The American electorate has turned deeply skeptical about the integrity of the nation's election apparatus, with 41 percent of voters saying November's election could be "stolen" from Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud.

The new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll -- conducted among 1,999 registered voters Oct. 13 through Oct. 15 -- shows that Trump’s repeated warnings about a “rigged” election are having effect: 73 percent of Republicans think the election could be swiped from him. Just 17 percent of Democrats agree with the prospect of massive fraud at the ballot box.

The DNC has claimed that “election” fraud is rampant and a number of investigations by investigative reporters and lawsuits against the GOP’s redistricting maps and held up by the courts have proven there is rampant election fraud.  The GOP has disenfranchised millions of voters through redistricting, repressive voter ID laws, cross check, caging lists and a number of other nefarious ALEC written laws.   It is estimated that millions of voters who vote for the Democrats have been illegally scrubbed from the voting rolls.  From The Federalist:

Excerpt:

Nearly Half Of Democrats Think The 2016 Election Was ‘Rigged’

After spending weeks attacking Trump for highlighting voter fraud, Democrats have completely changed their tune when it comes to "rigged" elections.

Nearly half of Democrats think the 2016 presidential election was “rigged,” according to a new poll released this week by YouGov. The poll found that a whopping 42 percent of Democrats believe the election was rigged. Only 58 percent of Democrats responded that Donald Trump was “legitimately” elected on Nov. 8.

The Democratic belief that the 2016 presidential election was rigged in President-elect Donald Trump’s favor is especially ironic given the myriad attacks on Trump for suggesting that voter fraud could potentially swing an election. Just weeks before the election the Washington Post‘s Philip Bump declared in the headline of one of his articles that Trump’s “voter fraud claims are ridiculous.” Vox claimed that Trump’s voter fraud claims were “baseless” and “based on a lie.”

Whether the investigation Trump has ordered will examine election fraud remains to be seen.  But the bottom line is American voters don’t trust either party and don’t believe in the integrity of our elections.  Since President Trump has called for an investigation into the election process in America, the establishment is fighting back, with many in the media calling Trump a liar.  Reuters has reported that “The announcement drew rebukes from both Republicans and Democrats who said the Republican president's unsubstantiated claims of large-scale fraud could undermine voting rights efforts as well as confidence in the new U.S. chief executive.”

I guess this goes under the category of be careful what you wish for, both parties are scared to death what the investigation will uncover.  One thing is for sure, GOP and DNC are in a panic as Donald Trump begins dismantling the juggernaut starting with “voter” fraud. 




By Patricia Baeten

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