The adoption by neo- fascist loser Donald "Rump" Trump of far- right claims of massive voter fraud in the recent election (see Rump's tweet in the post below) is being seen as not only the wounded reaction of a narcissistic sociopath who sees himself as a "winner" in all things, but the opening shot in an aggressive voter suppression drive by his forming administration. Instituting restrictive voter ID laws, which do nothing to prevent (non-existent) voter fraud but do everything to keep Democratic- leaning constituencies away from the polls, will likely be the first step. Here are the tells:
-- The involvement in the transition of Kansas Secretary of State Kris "Starts And Ends With Koch" Kobach. Kobach is the nation's number one voter suppression expert, who's been out encouraging fellow right- wing election officials to adopt Kansas' methods of keeping right- wing office holders in place. The Koch brothers' darling has been advising Rump on matters involving establishing a database of Muslims as well.
-- The involvement of the "True the Vote" racist voter suppression goons in ginning up the false claims. As the "True the Vote" cranks say in a press release (via Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog, who has more on how the vote fraud conspiracy theory originated):
“True the Vote absolutely supports President-elect Trump’s recent comment about the impact of illegal voting, as reflected in the national popular vote. We are still collecting data and will be for several months, but our intent is to publish a comprehensive study on the significant impact of illegal voting in all of its many forms and begin a national discussion on how voters, states, and the Trump Administration can best address this growing problem.”"... begin a national discussion..." on the non- existent voter fraud threat. Yeah, we see where that's going.
-- Racist Attorney General- designate Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, soon to be in charge of what's left of Voting Rights Act "enforcement" -- 'nuff said.
When fascists come to power (and if you don't see nascent fascism here, you're not paying attention) they don't like to give it up through such messy niceties like democratic elections. What we are beginning to see are the first steps in consolidating white nationalist/ fascist power in America; there will be more as power is handed over to these knuckle- draggers. We've been warned.
BONUS: What Gene says.
BONUS II: Ezra Klein on what is really scary about Rump's detachment from reality.
BONUS III: Greg Sargent has more along the same lines.
(Photo: The picture of Rump that he objected to as "unflattering" in his meeting with the New York Effing Times one week ago today - please disseminate far and wide.)
