Another abuse of power


Yet again, the Republicans demonstrate their fondness for voter suppression. They’ve scheduled a Trump rally for the day of the New Hampshire primary, with the explicit goal of screwing up traffic to hinder voters.

The president relished the idea of dominating the stage in New Hampshire and stealing some of the media oxygen from the Democrats. Advisers hoped that Secret Service moves in downtown Manchester to secure the area for the president’s arrival would make it harder for Democratic candidates and their supporters to transverse the state’s largest city in the hours before the primary’s first votes are cast.

This is legal? And sweet Jesus but I’m tired of this president’s incessant bigotry rallies, which seem to alternate with his golfing weekends. When does he actually do the work we elect a president to do?

Comments

  1. Sonja says

    The reason Mitch McConnell loves Trump so much is that, while Trump golfs and campaigns, Mitch is free to defund the social safety net, deregulate polluters, increase military spending, and confirm young, anti-choice judges.

  2. says

    I’m not sure about the effectiveness of this tactic. Trying to disenfranchise Democrats in a primary that only Democrats can vote in seems like it would only lower the turnout across the board and not effect the actual outcome. Maybe this is a dry run, in a mostly white state so they can weaponize it down the line. I can see this being effective in a state that has a primary before Super Tuesday that also has highly stratified demographics. That said, if they are trying to do this for real, then Trump is going to hold a rally in South Carolina on February 29th, and they’re going to use it to deliberately disenfranchise poor and minority voters.

    We’ll see. The only rallies Trump has scheduled for now are in Arizona and Colorado, and nothing is set past the 20th. I’ll be watching things and if a South Carolina rally pops up, and it’s in a less than conventional place, they they may be trying to influence the Democratic Primaries. That’s a lot of ifs and maybes, but I’m willing to entertain the theory. We’ll see if I’m right in a couple of weeks I guess.

  3. Ridana says

    Sonja @1 wrote:

    The reason Mitch McConnell loves Trump so much is that, while Trump golfs and campaigns, Mitch is free to…

    You say that as if Prez Forever Impeached would stop him if he weren’t busy golfing and campaigning. oO McTurtle loves him because Twittler’s totally on board with that agenda, while actively assisting him and his wife in their own grifting schemes.

  4. Larry says

    Between his Nüremberg rallies and his “winter rules” golf games, he fills in the rest of his day watching Fox and sent hundreds of tweetrants. So the correct answer to what work does he do, the answer is none.

  5. steve1 says

    I’m OK with Trump being out on the golf course.
    The less he is in the Oval office working the better.

  6. Artor says

    “When does he actually do the work we elect a president to do?”

    That would be never. At no point has Trumplethinskin actually been concerned with doing any work.

  7. sebloom says

    “When does he actually do the work we elect a president to do?”

    After watching him for the last three years I’m glad that he doesn’t actually do the work we [sic] elected him to do!

  8. says

    From Trump’s rally in New Hampshire last night: “I hear a lot of Republicans tomorrow will vote for the weakest candidate possible, of the Democrats. Does that make sense? You people wouldn’t do that” — Trump encourages Republicans to ratf*ck the Democratic primary in New Hampshire [From Aaron Rupar]

    From Wikipedia:

    Crucially, the New Hampshire primary is not a “closed primary”, where voter participation is limited by voters’ past or recent party registration. … This system is not a fully open primary, because people who are registered with a party (Republican or Democratic) on voting day cannot vote in the other party’s primary.

    There are a lot Republicans in New Hampshire that can vote in the Democratic primary election. For one thing, many voters in that state remain “undeclared,” which means they are not, officially at least, Democrats or Republicans.

  9. says

    At his rally last night, Trump also peddled a debunked conspiracy theory that he has repeated many times before. Repetition doesn’t make it true:

    On Monday night, […] Trump pushed yet again his evidence-free conspiracy theory claiming out-of-state voters illegally cost him New Hampshire in the 2016 general election.

    “We should have won the election, but they had buses being being shipped up from Massachusetts,” he told his booing supporters at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Hundreds and hundreds of buses. And it was very, very close even though they did.”

    There is zero evidence of this claim, which Trump and his allies have been peddling for years.

    Trump’s unfounded conspiracy theories positing that he was the victim of voter fraud in 2016 go beyond New Hampshire. Shortly after he was sworn into office, he launched a bogus “election integrity” commission (which was later shut down) after he claimed he would’ve won the popular vote were it not for “the millions of people who voted illegally.”

    Link

  10. microraptor says

    Ray Ceeya @2: Presumably it’s to make it disproportionately hard for some voters and thus skew the results. Or open the possibility that the results are skewed, leading to more arguing and infighting among the candidates.

    Or something.

  11. unclefrogy says

    When does he actually do the work we elect a president to do?

    hahahahahahahahahahaha!~!
    it makes no difference what ever if he does not do it his authorized henchmen and toadies will do it.

    uncle frogy

  12. Pierce R. Butler says

    They’ve scheduled a Trump rally for the day of the New Hampshire primary…

    Fact check: From the linked story –

    Trump’s rally comes a day before New Hampshire Democrats head to the polls … [emphasis added]

    The Repubs intend this to rtfck “Democratic candidates and their supporters” by making them go around the downtown area instead of through it. I suspect they’d like to do this on Primary Day itself, but either Manchester authorities or someone in the campaign with a remaining trace of sensitivity to looking bad in front of the locals managed to put the kibosh on that.

  13. says

    For those who asks when he does the work he was elected to do, he does it all the time and a great deal of it. He has stuffed the Federal Judiciary, he has released war criminals, Ihe has cut benefits, he has lowered taxes on the wealthiest, he has managed to get through the “enemies” Democratically controlled House an extension of the Patriot Act and money for his Space Force.

    Do not famke fun of him because he is lazy or stupid. He has accomplished everything he as wanted to accomplish so far. If he is stupid and lazy, what are we?

  14. says

    @#10, Lynna, OM:

    It’s a brilliant rhetorical tactic, because it encourages Democrats to bicker over the results — by not naming a candidate as “the weakest”, everybody can claim their favorite was shafted by Republicans voting for the opposition. Like Sanders? Buttigieg was “the weakest candidate” and got those Republican votes! Like Buttigieg? Sanders must have been boosted by Republicans! Like Warren? Sanders and Buttigieg got Republican voters! Bloomberg? Uh… well… everybody else got Republican support!

    (Seriously, for all the money he’s putting into it, Bloomberg is getting nothing out of this race. Last results listing I’ve seen went down to candidates with one third of one percent of the current tally, and he still was lumped in as “other”, meaning he can’t be ahead of tenth place, if he’s even that high.)

  15. John Morales says

    Ronald:

    For those who asks when he does the work he was elected to do, he does it all the time and a great deal of it.

    Yes, he’s the figurehead. But I’m not so sure he was elected to show the USA’s political system as a joke, nor to buy now and pay later, as will inevitably be the case.

    He has stuffed the Federal Judiciary, he has released war criminals, Ihe has cut benefits, he has lowered taxes on the wealthiest, he has managed to get through the “enemies” Democratically controlled House an extension of the Patriot Act and money for his Space Force.

    You imagine he personally did all that? Heh.

    Do not famke fun of him because he is lazy or stupid. He has accomplished everything he as wanted to accomplish so far.

    Yes, he’s gotten notoriety, loot, and is still not in jail. So far, so good!

    If he is stupid and lazy, what are we?

    Not as useful to the Republicans or the Evangelicals as he is.