Donald Trump reaches a whole new level of desperation
Donald Trump’s desperation to save himself from dying in prison continues to reach new levels. It has gotten so bad that the Trump administration is no longer attempting to hide its fear. Whether it’s at Trump’s frequent rallies, or on the daily propaganda shows of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, there is an increase in the frequency of begging Trump supporters to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. While they claim this is to prevent Trump’s impeachment if Democrats take back the House, and this would indeed happen, they are also worried about Democrats gaining control of all House committees, which would allow real investigations into Trump-Russia treason.
In a blatant move to try to save himself, Trump has now pressured Senate Republicans to block the advancement of a bipartisan bill that would strengthen election protections and deter further Russian interference. While the Secure Elections Act was introduced by Republican Senator James Lankford in December, it was reported Thursday that the White House is stopping Republican Senator Roy Blunt from advancing the bill in the Senate Rules Committee. The bill was set to advance and be brought up for a vote in October. With bipartisan support from Senators Lankford, Lindsey Graham, Kamala Harris, and Amy Klobuchar, the bill was expected to pass.
The purpose of the bill was to provide security clearances to top election officials from all fifty states, as well as “formalize information-sharing between the federal government — including the Department of Homeland Security — and states regarding threats to electoral infrastructure.” It would also create best practices involving election security through a technical advisory board.
While this bipartisan bill would benefit voters by better ensuring the midterm elections are legitimate, the Trump White House obviously felt that keeping Russia out of the election would harm its chances of protecting itself. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told Yahoo News that while the administration “appreciates Congress’ interest in election security, [the Department of Homeland Security] has all the statutory authority it needs to assist state and local officials to improve the security of existing election infrastructure.”
Republicans in the Senate have at least pretended to care about election security, but we cannot even say that about GOP members in the House. As Palmer Report documented last month, House Republicans added language to a bill to authorize appropriations for intelligence agencies that “would zero out election security grants that help states to fortify their systems against hacking and cyberattacks.” While Trump, and his most complicit supporters in Congress are doing everything they can to try to save themselves, it is crucial that all Democrats vote in the midterm elections to ensure our democracy remains intact long enough to remove Trump from office and get America back to normal.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.