Tag: Nevada

Here’s Trump’s laughable attempt to clean up his gigantic Florida blunder

AlterNet logoI wrote a piece on June 24, 2020, called “Trump Has Destroyed the GOP’s Vote-by-Mail Advantage in Florida.” On Wednesday, August 5, 2020, you got the opportunity to read the same thing in the Washington Post. At some point between these two articles, someone finally got through to Trump and made him understand his error:

As Greg Sargent notes, the campaign’s goal here is “to delegitimize vote-by-mail in states where they think it will hurt Trump, while legitimizing it in places where they think it will help him.” This is a fallback position — an effort at mitigation. As I predicted, Republican voters were not able to make fine distinctions about where mail voting is good and desirable and where it is bad and corrupt. When Trump attacked expanded mail voting in states like Michigan, it made his base reluctant to trust mail voting in states like Florida where the practice has been long established.

Rather than admit a strategic blunder or completely change course, the attempt at a solution involves promoting mail voting where there is a “great infrastructure” and “great Republican Governors” and dissuading it where it is being newly introduced by Democratic governors. Continue reading.

White House press secretary gives ‘one of the most ludicrous answers’ to defend Trump’s nonsensical tweets

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s tweets accusing two vital swing states – Nevada and Michigan – of acting “illegally” by making it easier for their residents to vote by mail during the pandemic were just “alerts” meant just for the eyes of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

At least, that’s what White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters just hours after Trump threatened to withhold congressionally-approved federal funds from the two states.

“What does the President believe is ‘illegal’ about the Secretary of State of Michigan sending out absentee ballot applications and what federal funding is he considering withholding from the State of Michigan as a result?” one reporter asked. Continue reading.

Trump Steps Up Attacks on Mail Vote, Making False Claims About Fraud

New York Times logoPresident Trump initially said he might withhold federal funding for Michigan and Nevada if the states moved forward in expanding vote by mail, though he later backed off that threat.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday escalated his assault against mail voting, falsely claiming that Michigan and Nevada were engaged in voter fraud and had acted illegally, and threatening to withhold federal funds to those states if they proceed in expanding vote-by-mail efforts.

The president inaccurately accused Michigan of sending mail ballots to its residents, as his aides later acknowledged, and he offered no basis for his claims of illegal actions by either Michigan or Nevada. The Michigan secretary of state has sent ballot applications — not the ballots themselves — to registered voters, a growing practice among election officials, including in states led by Republicans. In Nevada, where the Republican secretary of state declared the primary a nearly all-mail election, ballots are being sent to registered voters.

As most states largely abandon in-person voting because of health concerns over the coronavirus, Mr. Trump and many of his Republican allies have launched a series of false attacks to demonize mail voting as fraught with fraud and delivering an inherent advantage to Democratic candidates — despite there being scant evidence for either claim. Continue reading.

Trump threatens to withhold Michigan, Nevada funding over mail-in voting

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday threatened to withhold federal funding to Michigan after its secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson (D), announced all of the state’s registered voters would receive applications for absentee ballots in the mail this year.

Trump falsely claimed that Benson sent ballots, and not ballot applications, to the state’s registered voters and alleged that the step was done “illegally.” The president threatened to withhold funding if the state did not reverse course, suggesting its move would encourage voter fraud. Trump later threatened to suspend federal funding to Nevada, which is holding a mail-in primary election, claiming the state was creating a “great Voter Fraud scenario” and allow people to “cheat in elections.”

“Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election,” Trump tweeted. “This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” Continue reading.