As an inauguration day gift, Donald Trump is apparently planning on giving his good friend and fellow liberal Hillary Clinton a Democrat-controlled Senate and House to go along with her presidency. To pull that election day hat trick off, Trump is working on what may be his biggest con yet. On one level, you have to admire Trump’s skills as a con man. Unfortunately, this time around, Trump isn’t just conning naïve real estate mogul wannabes. This time, Trump may be conning the GOP base into staying home on election day.
As he plummets in the polls, ensuring a victory for his friend Hillary, Donald Trump has been busily sowing the seeds of despair in conservative voters. With the constant drumbeat of “voter fraud” staccatoing off the lips of Trump and his sycophants, conservatives are being hoodwinked into believing that their presence at the polls will be a waste of time. Although that drumbeat has quickened and become louder over the last week, the orange Oompa Loompa has actually been at it for a while.
During the summer, many pundits believed that Trump was just laying the groundwork to save face during his inevitable defeat. At that point, he was merely warning about widespread voter fraud. Now, however, he’s doubled down and is claiming that it’s actually happening. Except, of course, that it’s not.
There’s no actual evidence of any substantial voter fraud being perpetuated. But Trumpkins are eating up Trump’s conspiracy theories. To hear them tell it, the fix is in; Democrats have handed millions of ballots to undocumented immigrants, to name one conspiracy.
Much of Trump’s conspiracy-mongering is based on a discredited study conducted by professors at Old Dominion and published in The Washington Post in 2014. Using phrases like “our best guess,” the study concluded that non-citizens might be voting in enough numbers to influence elections. The article wraps up with an unusually long disclaimer about the flaws in the study’s methodology. The study, of course, was subsequently pilloried for its very flawed methodology and the patchwork guessing done by its authors. Neither Trump nor his blindly loyal marks followers care an iota about big words like “methodology,” or even small words like “truth,” for that matter.
Over the last few days, fed by Trump’s martyr-tinged conspiracies, cries of “the sky is falling” have dominated the social media output of Trumpkins. Flaming the fires, Trump has succeeded in burning the fire inside his supporters so hot that most of their fuel has been spent and all that’s left are smoldering embers. Trumpkins are beginning to despair. Many of them now believe that no matter how many of them turn out to vote on November 8, Donald Trump has already lost. The question now becomes, will their conspiracy-fueled despair cause them to stay home on election day?
And therein lies the problem (or, solution if your name rhymes with Wonald Krump). Because even though the claims of widespread, election-skewing voter fraud are not true, it is true that the GOP down ticket is in trouble.
Donald Trump is an albatross around the necks of actual conservatives running for either election or re-election for Senate and House seats this fall. As his polling numbers plummet, the GOP is now being forced to spend energy and money to protect seats that have historically been theirs to lose. Senate and House race polling remains tight, although many believe that after the 2016 election smoke clears, the Democrats will have a majority in the Senate and have a good chance of controlling the House, too. While definitely not set in stone and beyond the ability of the best prognosticators to accurately predict at this point, attempting to call the Senate and House races definitely reveals that voter turnout is going to be a key. That fact should raise eyebrows as Trump continues his scorched-earth and dishonest campaign to discourage GOP voters.
Here’s a conspiracy theory for you: Donald Trump entered the 2016 presidential race at the behest of his good buddy Bill Clinton. If that’s true, Trump is serving his friends the Clintons well because almost everything that he does seems to be in order to help Hillary get elected. At this point, since he’s basically accomplished that primary objective, it would appear that Donald Trump is determined to ensure that his fellow liberal will also have a friendly Congress to do her bidding. If you are a conservative, don’t let Donald Trump and his fellow liberals win; go to your polling place on November 8 and vote the Republican down ballot.
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