So, at the RNC midterm “convention” last week, Trump did the following:
Let’s note a couple of things, in ascending order of concern.
- He is subverting a national symbol (the Pledge of Allegiance) for partisan political purposes.
- He is using that pledge in a very personalistic way.
- He actually told the crowd “to cheat like hell” and to vote whether “registered or not.”
On one level, none of this is surprising from Trump. And yes, it is impossible not to ask what Fox News and its allies would have done with this had a Democrat done the same. But on another level, it is still appalling.
Weirdly, but par for the course, the NYT posted a clip of the above, but did not include the command for people to go out and cheat. If the NYT is going to ignore something like that, no wonder it is so hard to get the population to see what is going on right in front of our noses.
Again: don’t get numb to the fact that the President of the United States just told a crowd of people to go cheat at the ballot box.
And it is less than I think any of them will (not least of which being because it is harder to do than Trump and his allies argue is the case). It is because he is actively tearing at the fabric of democratic trust in the United States. It is grotesque for an elected leader to actively try and make voters distrust the system, and is yet another reason why he is accurately categorized as an authoritarian.
