It’s the ballot boxes, stupid: Pritzker nails it
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (R) told MSNBC that President Trump “wants to send troops into American cities is because he wants to be able to take control of the 2026 elections.”
Said Pritzker: “Now, if they’ve got troops in cities and it becomes a kind of norm for people, then it won’t be abnormal for them when they’re going to vote having troops at the ballot boxes.”
He added: “He’ll say that he’s protecting the ballot. And if he thinks there’s some kind of fraud, and– what I mean by that is if he thinks that his party isn’t gonna win, then they very well could do what they suggested they were gonna do in 2020, which is take control of the ballot boxes. So I believe that is what this is about. It’s about intimidating people from going to the polls who would not vote for his party and about the ability to take control of the elections if it doesn’t go his way.”
It’s far from clear to me how this would play out in real time. There might be a massive backlash against it – my guess is people understand the importance of free elections better than they understand the free speech issues raised by the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco. But the downside risk is immense. If I had to pick one thing to fight for during a government shut down, keeping ICE and other federal agents away from polling places and voting machines would be it.
Eric:
If Tr_mp creates the fear of being taken prisoner at the polls, many people of ethnic origin may not show up. I believe there is a good reason to be afraid of this if Tr_mp decides he wants a third term.
What he has done in just months may be impossible to put back in place. Some of which he had no authority to do by law. The later may be able to put back in place again. Anything done through Congress will take an enormous amount of time to pass.
The changes giving a few at the top of the income bracket comes to mind. Can we reverse that? This is a funding issue which is being cast on to the backs of the majority. There are many thing more which will need changing back to what they were. Will politicians support such?
This is a battle of political beliefs and not liberty or justice which is lost if one political belief wins.