US VS THEM

Donald Trump said they are taking down “our monuments” as if Trump is going to protect “our heritage” by dividing and by fear of the other.  The monuments he was referring to represent Jim Crow repression and a distortion of history.  Is this Donald Trump associating himself with losers by honoring the rebel traitors that are being honored? 

Trump has called others traders, yet the statues of actual traitors who were fighting against the United States should still stand?  These are statues of men who wanted to divide this country and are not heroes anywhere except the south.  He continues to run against Obama, yet Obama is not on the ballot. Is Trump merely running against African Americans as a whole?  He even has called Obama a traitor, accusing him of wire tapping and monitoring and planting spies in his campaign. All with no evidence.  The Muller report found no such evidence of spying, but found the Obama Administration was legitimately monitoring the Trump campaign for foreign interference.

When running for President, Trump made his campaign about race.  Obama’s birth certificate was about race.  Riding down the escalator announcing his candidacy while calling immigrants from countries to the south and “rapists and murderers”.  Is the “our” Trump uses so often a wink to white supremacists?  Trump is playing off fear. Since the demographics in this country are changing, this plays to our base elements of- fear of the other.  Those tracking hate crimes have found them to be on the rise since Trump was elected.

My question is who is the “our” when talking about heritage?  It is certainly not the Native Americans, where he has no interest?  The remaining “our” must be the remainder of Americans.  We know who “our” is when it comes to monuments, it’s the monuments to the confederate “heroes”- aka traitors. These statues can only be heroes to the racist that yearns for the past.

Former top U.S. commanders said of Trump “I believe he is a racist” and a threat to our institutions and the Constitution of the United States.  The military is breaking under Trump, as a result of his reaction to the George Floyd incident.  All the military leaders were alarmed with his use of force on the public they were sworn to protect and defend.  Trump is a racist.

MAIL IN VOTING

There has been mail in voting for decades without any problems.  In 2016 23.6% of the votes were from mail in ballots.  That represents 32 million voters that voted by mail in 2016 according to a government estimate.

All of the military has mail-in voting. Trump, most of his advisors, and Mike Pence voted by mail.  Several other senior staff members also vote regularly by mail. Trump’s White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany voted by mail 11 times in the last 10 years.  Advisor Kellyanne Conway voted by mail, however she expressed that you and everyone else should have to stand in line.  Should this be part of us vs them above?  RNC chairwomen Ronna McDaniel also voted by mail multiple times.  Barr in 2018 voted by mail.  Betsy DeVos Secretary of Education has permanent mail-in status in her state.

Trump’s own commission on the 2016 election fraud was established so he could say there was evidence of cheating that created the 3 million vote winning margin for Hillary.  The commission found none.  Not even with the 32 million ballots by mail that were cast.

When counting mail-in ballots in the 2016 California election, the first step when ballots were received is simply looking the at the signature on the envelope and comparing it with the signature on file for that registered voter.  The ballot is then taken out and separated from the envelope once the signature is validated, so the vote is kept secret. 

Trump is doing nothing more than laying the predicate for a loss in November.  Everyone knows he is all about blaming others for his own failures.  If he is defeated, he will not go silently.

Trump tweeted on 6/22 in caps “RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS.  IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!“ Now everyone knows Trump and his propensity for projection. Look for phony ballots printed by foreign countries and delivered by his hand picked Postmaster General, who will overlook Trump’s scheme to rig the election so he can have the excuse he needs to contest the outcome. Will the new Postmaster turn a blind eye to placing campaign information into mailboxes by canvassing individuals?  The mailbox inside is the property of the post office and tampering with the mail is illegal.

He also tweeted on 6/22 “Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our history-unless this stupidity is ended.  We voted during World War One and World War Two with no problem, but now they are using Covid in order to cheat by using Mail-ins!”

The problem Trump has with mail-in voting is it cannot be tampered with and you can’t impede the vote with the lack of polling places and poorly constructed ballots. Trump can’t make the machines slow down. The Republicans are operating on the assumption that a high turnout is a danger to his re-election. 

Making it harder to vote is taking away a basic right.  This right should be protected by the President, as he had sworn an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”.  Where is his duty to country?  His fear of losing is palpable and is driving his erratic behavior.  It’s either that or my diagnosis of syphilis is still a potential?

Trump already stated his objection when he tweeted “if there is mail-in voting there will not be another Republican in office”. It’s do as I say, not do as I do routine in this administration. 

FEDERAL PENALTIES

Below, Legal Beagle describes the punishments that serve to discourage the tampering with any vote by mail scheme.

Because the United States Postal Service is a federal agency, mailboxes are considered federal property, and mail theft is charged as a federal offense. If you are charged with mail theft, you could face up to five years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000. It is also a crime to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in a mailbox. For each act of vandalism, you could be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to $250,000. Depending on the manner in which the mail theft is committed, you could face other criminal charges, such as assault, and breaking and entering. If personal identifying information, such as names, dates of birth, addresses, telephone numbers, tax I.D. numbers, social security numbers and driver’s license numbers, was stolen you could also face identity theft charges.

STATE PENALTIES

In addition to federal charges, you could be subject to state’s criminal laws. For example, in California, mail theft is a crime that is specifically prohibited by the California Penal Code. Mail theft as defined by the federal law is a misdemeanor offense in California, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Not all states have specific mail-tampering laws, but mail-tampering charges could be brought under other laws. For example, in New York, property damage crimes fall into one of two categories: criminal mischief and criminal tampering. You could be charged with criminal tampering in the third degree for mail tampering, if the prosecution has probable cause that you tampered with the property of someone with the intent to cause substantial inconvenience. This is a Class B misdemeanor in New York punishable by up to 90 days in jail and fines

With the above as a deterrent, why is Trump so against the mail-in vote?  The only explanation I have is he cannot restrict a mail in vote.