Lying, and Consequent Harassing

TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION, according to Ivanka Trump, she was approached by her father at the White House. He told her that "No matter what happens in the election, well just say that we won. Fuck it." Thus was the genesis of the "big lie". Thus began our most recent national nightmare, a nightmare which nearly destroyed American democracy, a nightmare which is, tragically, ongoing, and shall remain with us as long as the Unitd States aspires to democratically elected governance. It began the night of the election, when Trump fulfilled his promise to his daughter and declared himself the winner of an election in which the votes had not yet been counted. Then, the harassment began. The victims were, and still are, election workers. As of now, more than one third of all election poll workers have been subjected to it. The harassment proceeded apace in the off year elections of 2018 and 2022, and can only be expected to intensify in twenty twenty four. Gangs of irate Trump supporters gathererd outside polling places on the night of the 2020 election, certain that their candidate was being unlawfully deprived of his just election victory. He wasn't. It beaars repeating that not one shred of evidence has been presented to substantiate Trump's false claims, which he still makes, of victory, claims that are still repeated and amplified by tens of millions of Americans. Election poll workers have been threatened with violence, guns pointed at them, rocks thrown into and through their car and home windows. They have been tailgated incessantly, and have received innumerable threatening phone calls and text messages and social media posts. So much so that many have been forced to quit, and many more are still considering that course of action. It is uncertain whether enough poll workers will be found in 2024 to properly operate thousands of precinct polling places. People are simply too intimated by and afraid of what might happen to them if they do decide to offer their services. Though this problem is widely and well known, it has not received a great deal of attention in the media, but, as the campaign converges towards the selection of the two finalists, it almost certainly will gain much more attention, especially if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. Most tragic of all is that in the likely event of another los b either Trump or any other Republican presidentail candidate, the nation is quite likely to be subjected to more of the same, violent insurrection and all. After all, we have had our dress rehearsal.