Will Trump's Re-election Signify the End of American Democracy?
- fionacsweet
- Aug 20, 2020
- 2 min read
Many world leaders have been accused of using the pandemic as a way to secure power for longer and decimate democratic norms, although not many of these leaders have revealed these plans publicly.
As always, the exception is President Trump, who has openly admitted that he is attempting to block postal funding because he wants to limit the number of Americans who can vote safely by mail in the November election. He cites the reason that postal ballots will hurt his campaign and that widespread mail-in voting will result in the "most fraudulent election in history." I especially like how he ignores how in the last election, after Senate investigation, it was found that the Russians actually did interfere in our election. Apparently, that does not constitute the most fraudulent election in history when it's favoring him.
Experts say that by refusing steps to allow as many Americans as possible to participate and vote in the upcoming election (and by openly casting doubt over the legitimacy of voting), Trump is embracing tactics used by authoritarian leaders in countries with compromised democratic institutions. According to Nic Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham, Trump's moves come straight "from the populist playbook: blame someone else for the thing you yourself are doing." In this case, Trump is claiming the vote by mail system is fraudulent when he in fact is the one making it fraudulent by refusing to fund the USPS.
Other countries have done elections by mail and have all been successful. In South Korea allowed COVID-19 patients to vote by mail in April, and a record figure of voters cast their ballots before election day. in June, Poland held its first election in which wide-scale postal voting was allowed. While postal votes are more vulnerable than in-person voting (people could be filling in ballots under duress or the vote could in theory not get to the place it needs to be counted), Cheeseman states that mail ballots "are secure if the institutions are secure and impartial" and that there has been "very little evidence of the postal vote being manipulated in the past." Postal ballots and other alternatives have also even been used in other countries, from Australia to the UK with success. In Switzerland, this method is used by 90% of voters very successfully.
Trump has also stated that due to this pandemic, the election should be delayed until the the virus subsides in the United States. Elections have been postponed in other countries due to COVID-19, and in some of these nations, critics have believed the pandemic is being exploited by politicians wishing to swerve the electorate. According to Cheeseman, Trump's new moves on this subject undermine "confidence in the electoral process, risking political violence and seeking alternatives to democracy. And if that happens in America, it could easily have a ripple effect around the world."
Barack Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night, and his resounding message was very clear. If Donald Trump is reelected, it may very well signify the end of democracy in America.
Here is a link to Barack Obama's speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bps3m4eFTuE
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