Trump, Testing His Limits

WITH TYPICAL ARROGANCE and disregard for the law, Trump signed an executive order requiring that everybody who votes in the United States must present a photo I.D. when casting his or her ballot. Precisely how this will work with mail in voting has not been explained in detail. Trump, of course, is also opposed to mail in voting, and it almost seems surprising that his executive order didn't outlaw that as well. Perhaps his next one will. The United States constitution specifically states that the several states shall be responsible for and in charge of voting procedures within their own states, including all laws pertaining to voting within their borders. Trump's order pertains, probably, only to national elections, whether or not he knows it, and is, nonetheless, most likely unconstitutional, according to a veritable bevy of the usual legal experts. No probably abut it, actually; its illegal as hell, like nearly all of Trump's authoritarian style executive orders. Trump and the Republicans, seemingly unable to come to terms with the reality that the progressive agenda is more popular throughout the land of liberty than their own, which is according to polls, quite unpopular, have over the past few years, invented and perpetuated the fantasy that there exixts rampant fraud and corruption throughout the electoral system in America, all of which benefits the Democrats, who are, accordingly, the culprits. Accordingly, the election of 2020 was stolen from Trump, by, presumably, the Democrats. That utterly false Republican religious conviction adheres today, as everyone knows. Millions of fake votes entering the system through the snail mail, and stealing elections for Democrats, according to this insane, nonsensical, paranoid but widespread (among conservatives) delusion. All the fake votes are for Democrats, none for Republicans, the story goes. Really? Trump and conservatives generally would much prefer that mail in voting be illegal, unless the voter is bed ridden. Republicans generally don't like expanded opportunities to vote early, as witnessed by the fact that they tend to vote in person on electoin day, while Democrats are far more likely to vote early or by mail. The object is to suppress voting, to keep vote totals down, because in any election in which voters vote in large numbers, Democrats have the advantage. Republicans don't mind if poor folks and minorities stay home on election day, and don't vote at all, early or not. Nurturing democracy means making it as easy as possible to vote, to get more people to vote. Making it difficult to vote is an attack on democracy, by people who have abandoned it. Perhaps if the Republicans can somehow limit the franchise to white middle and upper middle class straight Christian white men, all will be well in right wing America. A white Christian plutocracy with Trump at the top, issuing executive orders at an unprecedented rate, in effect ruling by decree, without the slightest resistance and presumed approval with Congressional Republicans. Trump, for instance, simply must pick another city into which to send the National Guard, just to prove that he can, and will. Testing his limits. So far,the judicial system is heroically doing its duty, striking down Trump's criminal actions, including his entire illegal tariff policies. The Supreme Court, however, seemingly utterly corrupt, might keep bailing him out. For more than three more years, Trump will test his limits with increasing frequency with blatantly illegal power grabbing behavior, paritularly between now and the midterms in twenty six. Trump knows that his executive orders are illegal the moment he signs them, if not before. Surely someone has told him. If not, the situaiton is even worse than imagined. He is purposely issuing illegal commands, asserting his authoritarian right to do so, expanding his power. Congressional Republicans and tens of millions of MAGA members will enable this with active support or tacit passivity. It will be up to the federal courts and us, the new moral anti-Trump majority, to put a stop to it.