they don’t go far towards assuaging my fears for the coming months. Of course, it’s better to be polling strongly than the reverse. But it’s only an advantage in the context of a free and fair election.
We’re used to Republicans cheating, that’s part of their standard methods. And we’ve seen that we can win even in the face of it.
But we also know that they’re going to do much worse than they’ve done before. They don’t even know themselves how far they will go. Trump is a career criminal in a desperate position. The Attorney General regards it as his mission to use the law enforcement powers of the state to advance Trump’s interests. The Post Office that we’re relying on is being actively sabotaged.
The most heavily armed civilians in the country are overwhelmingly Trump supporters. They’re already flexing their muscles, and in many cases the police forces support and protect them. We’ve already been put on notice to expect armed poll watchers in cities. Who knows what they’ll feel entitled to do
Since Trump was elected my biggest concern was whether we could get through this without being plunged into civil war. Trump’s rhetoric has tended in that direction since before his election.
If the vigilantes start moving heavily into our cities in the days leading up to the election, how much voting can they suppress? If polling places are wrecked and voting records destroyed, will we even have a true count.
I could say a lot more about all this, but I think you see my point.
So all kos’s reassurances are a bit beside the point for me.