Trump's Menacing "Guard The Vote"

Among the many dog-whistles and bullhorns that the Malignant Loser regularly spews to his audience of angry cultists is the phase "guard the vote" in 2024. Superficially, it sounds like a benign civic call. But with the Malignant Loser, it's far more sinister and has dire implications for the 2024 elections. From the Associated Press:

"Trump employed the phrase in Ankeny, Iowa, on Saturday, saying his followers need to 'guard the vote' because 'we have all the votes we need.' He encouraged his supporters to 'go into' cities including Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta to 'watch those votes when they come in.'

Experts in political messaging say the context in which Trump uses 'guard the vote' primes his supporters to not only expect fraud in diverse Democratic cities next year, but to intervene to ensure Trump wins.

'It suggests that the outcome of the election is foregone. It’s been decided,' said Susan Benesch, founder and executive director of the Dangerous Speech Project. 'Is it actually guarding the election against fraud, or is it guarding the election against a result in which Trump is not declared the winner?'”  (our emphasis)

Indeed, the article points out that allies of the Malignant Loser -- specifically the disgraced Michael Flynn and Victor Mellor -- have launched an operation called "Guard the Vote" with the intent of flooding polling stations and boards of elections with zealous and potentially violent MAGAts during the 2024 elections, intimidating poll workers and voters if they see voting going against the Malignant Loser. The Malignant Loser's examples of Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta -- being Democratic strongholds in three key swing states -- is an indication that the goal is not to keep an eye on a close election in those jurisdictions, but to suppress the vote of African American and other minority voters in overwhelmingly Democratic communities. In 2020, right-wing Oath Keepers, some masked and armed, hovered by ballot drop boxes, until a Federal judge required them to keep their distance from voters. Expect the same intimidation tactics in 2024, unless states and communities take action against them beforehand.

(photo: Trumpists outside a Virginia early voting site in 2020. Kenny Holston for The New York Times)