Donald Trump’s Only Path To Victory Is Voter Suppression, Commentator Says
In a Monday piece for The Bulwark, political commentator Richard North Patterson argued that Donald Trump’s only path to victory in November is by suppressing any votes for his opposition — presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Patterson outlined the current demographic of the United States population, which is now 60 percent non-Hispanic white, compared to above 83 percent in 1968. Along with this shift, Patterson claimed that Trump is not focusing on unity, but is instead seeking to exploit the racial tensions that have followed George Floyd’s death by “inflaming white racial grievances.”
According to Patterson, this strategy runs counter to polls that suggest the majority of Americans believe racism is a problem. In addition, the author blamed Trump’s handling of the coronavirus for the current surge in cases across America and pointed to the president’s attempts to downplay the severity of the virus and other missteps he has made since the pandemic began.
Patterson also noted recent polling that suggests Trump is hemorrhaging support among white voters and seniors. The 73-year-old attorney argued that the president is losing support among this demographic due to his exacerbation of racial tensions and his response to the pandemic.
“He has only one way out: pursuing voter suppression through any stratagem that limits Biden’s vote—like relentlessly exploiting the pandemic,” Patterson concluded his piece.
“That’s why he’s crying voter fraud and decrying voting by mail. As he flails in quicksand and self-pity, we can expect him to resort to more desperate measures. Curbing democracy will become what November is about.”
Trump has frequently taken aim at Democratic efforts to expand mail-in voting. As reported by MinnPost, Trump responded to a series of Democratic proposals that would expand early, absentee, and mail-in voting, claiming they would be a detriment to the Republican Party.
“They had things — levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” he said.
According to MinnPost, Trump’s comment was an example of him “saying the quiet part out loud again.” The publication claimed that most Republicans typically argue that such voting expansions are susceptible to voter fraud. Conversely, the publication said that Trump admitted to the “open secret” that Republicans rely on lower voter turnout for electoral victory.
While there is reportedly no data that suggests mail-in voting is susceptible to widespread voter fraud, a previous report indicated that the process could lead to thousands to millions of ballots being uncounted due to human error, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
