During times of great peril, most presidents manage to strike a conciliatory tone about contentious issues. Being even-handed is usually seen as the sign of a good communicator, so it makes sense that the ever rambling Donald Trump has failed at this basic test.
The fake-university conman turned failed vodka salesman recently gave his usual word salad response to a question about aid to California, in which he implied that the state would not be getting money from the federal government unless voter ID was brought in. Southern California and the Los Angeles area were recently devastated by unseasonable wildfires, which destroyed much of the region around the mega city.
While swathes of the state are deep red, and they even had a Republican governor as recently as 2011, California is considered a Democrat stronghold. This makes the former Apprentice host’s implication even more chilling. There is also the fact that presidents should not be able to unilaterally decide who will receive federal aid, although as we know with Trump and his fervent supporters, the rule of law and due process isn’t really a consideration. This disdain for the democratic process and American institutions was noted by some social media users, who were quick to point out that Trump had campaigned on doing what he wanted, regardless of the checks and balances that were supposed to keep his power reined in.
Some on the right have pointed out how this could backfire, especially as red states are often subject to some seriously damaging natural disasters while not having the financial and economic might of California. The X account of Republicans Against Trump were particularly irate, raising the point that conservatives would have been outraged had Biden withheld aid from Florida after Hurricane Helene unless they changed their draconian abortion laws.
Voter ID laws are a contentious issue with opinions generally falling along party lines. Republicans often claim that people are voting illegally and swaying elections, and Democrats argue that they are a way to disenfranchise poor voters. As per the Brennan Center, voter impersonation accounts for 0.00004% of all ballots cast, and is also rarer than other forms of voter fraud which would not be addressed by new ID laws.
While the robustness of elections is an important issue, voter fraud in general is incredibly rare in America. There were 193 criminal convictions relating to voter fraud in America during the period 2000 to 2020, out of approximately 250,000,000 votes cast. Voter ID laws also have roots in Jim Crow era rules. Like most things over the past 10 years, reality is on the side of the American left, but burying heads in the sand is proving more effective than the truth when it comes to controlling the political discourse.
The sad fact is many Americans who voted for Trump are happy to have their rights stripped away, as long as life is made worse for people they hate. Depressingly, that famous Lyndon B. Johnson quote about convincing the lowest white man that he’s better than the best coloured man remains as true today as it did when he said it in the ’60s. Let’s just hope that this bonfire of due process and state power doesn’t lead to anything more dangerous, even if all the history books point to the fact it will.
Published: Jan 27, 2025 01:58 am