Why Don’t Democratic Leaders Support Verifiable Elections? The Reason Is Simple and Obvious

From Naked Capitalism

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Yves Smith
Yves here. The Democrats don’t want to admit that the Republicans are more ruthless and shameless than they are. Or else they only care about winning certain elections and they are confident in their ability to control them. The Democrats have been far more willing to play games in primaries….

Separately, I don’t get how the Democrats don’t get they may be in trouble despite Biden’s big national poll lead. The Democrats have never taken voter registration seriously because they don’t want lower income voters to have too much influence in the party, and low income voters are the most transient. Democratic party voters even more likely now due to Covid-19 financial stresses to have had an address change and need to re-register to vote. If you think vote-by-mail schemes that are already struggling to operate properly, even assuming good faith, will handle new registrants in their districts well, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

from the article

I’ve often contended that neither political party — not the Democrats, not the Republicans — wants free, open, verifiable and uncorrupted elections.

Both parties, of course, say they want fair elections. The Republicans use these pronouncements, though, as cover for creating obstacles to voting by Democratic-leaning citizens based on demographics like race and place of residence. That much is a given, and this hypocrisy is obvious to everyone, including Republicans.

But what about the Democratic Party? There the situation is more mixed, but it’s not unmixed. I cut my adult teeth in Chicago, the perfect model, if not ground zero, for election manipulation, and there are many Chicago’s in the country.

There are also many approaches to stealing elections, but one of the most common is faked and manipulated vote totals, and for that, the solution is well known: hand-counted paper ballots. Given that fact, you have to ask yourself: If Democratic leaders really wanted uncorrupted elections — as opposed to just elections they could win — wouldn’t they demand a national return to hand-counted paper ballots, the gold standard for honest elections?

And yet they don’t. Year after year they keep the same corruptible voting systems in place, often expanding them, and focus their fire instead on Republican gerrymandering and voter list purges as evidence of the other party’s evil and their own goodness.

It’s likely there’s a simple and obvious reason for Democratic leadership not seeking to secure our elections with hand-counted ballots, but it’s not a pretty one: Like the Republicans, Democratic leaders, many or most of whom hate progressives with a passion, also want the ability to “fix” elections when they wish to.

Our Foreign Policy Nightmare: Vice President Susan Rice
Libya, Syria, Afghanistan—Rice was at the table for every Obama debacle. And she has no solid positions of her own.

Welp. #COVID19 is now officially more of a "red state problem" than a "blue state problem" by cases per capita.

In terms of *mortality*, it's still more of a "blue state problem"…for the moment. pic.twitter.com/CBfbjlLaW5

— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) July 30, 2020

Worth keeping in mind: Around this time 4 years ago, Trump was warning that IN-PERSON voting was rife with fraud. Not clear to me if there is any form of voting the president thinks is safe. https://t.co/8P8ZcdUMa6

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) July 30, 2020

a friend voted for Trump to shake the shit up

US economy suffers worst quarter since the second world war as GDP shrinks by 32.9%
Drop in quarterly gross domestic product comes as 1.43 million people file for unemployment benefits, a second week of increases, amid Covid-19 pandemic

Federal officers to pull out of Portland in a major reversal for Trump administration
Oregon’s governor says local police will guard the courthouse as the president says the pullout will not begin until the city is secure

text below is from the article —

These federal officers have acted as an occupying force, refused accountability, and brought violence and strife to our community,” the governor said. The head of the US homeland security department said agents would stay near the courthouse until they were sure the plan was working.

Donald Trump said the pullout will not begin until the courthouse is protected. “We’re not leaving until they secure their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor: secure your city,” said the president.

But the announcement is a significant retreat by the administration after Trump sent federal forces to Portland at the beginning of July to end months of Black Lives Matter protests he described as having dragged the city into anarchy.

Instead of quelling the unrest, the arrival of paramilitaries fuelled some of the biggest demonstrations since daily protests following the killing of George Floyd, a Black American, by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May.

The situation escalated particularly after agents in camouflage were filmed snatching protesters from the streets in unmarked vans.

Pundits heralded Donald Trump for his new ‘tone’. That didn’t end well …
Trump is praised whenever he affects a modicum of sobriety but talk of demon semen and alien DNA was a reversion to type

The Mary Trump is an easy read and shows a family mess. Trump is consistent with the mess he is.

That didn’t last long. It never does.

A week after Donald Trump was hailed by some media figures for a “change of tone” in his coronavirus briefings, the US president on Tuesday praised a doctor who believes in alien DNA and demon semen, grumbled about his low approval ratings and abruptly walked out when challenged by a female reporter.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah recently compiled seven clips from late March and early April in which the MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski spoke of “a dramatic shift in tone” and others noted a “somber tone” or similar.

Trump was only speaking as any world leader might be expected to speak. But because it went against his expected type, it was worth remarking on. Soon, however, he reverted to his more familiar style, lambasting reporters – especially women of color – pushing hydroxychloroquine despite the evidence and going down in flames with idle speculation about injecting disinfectant.

So as Noah pointed out, last week’s pivot was deja vu all over again. In his first coronavirus briefing since April, Trump warned that “it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better” and endorsed wearing masks. It was hardly a “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” moment but, when the bar is as low as bleach injections, Trump was rewarded.

Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist, tweeted: “Trump’s press conference today marks a change in tone and a more disciplined and realistic approach. It will be a good message for the public and he will benefit from it politically. Welcome news.”

Yet even at that briefing, Trump took the time to bestow his best wishes upon the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – charged with being part of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. If any other president had done so, a firestorm would have raged for days. With number 45, it was merely another here today, gone tomorrow controversy.

And as the Associated Press noted, “The change in tone lasted a day … by Tuesday, the Republican president had returned to lashing out on Twitter at his Democratic critics.”

BREAKING: Herman Cain, a 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has died after battling the coronavirus. https://t.co/2x7ZZsgeNI

— WATE 6 On Your Side (@6News) July 30, 2020

but he had a wonderful time at the Tulsa rally!