Final Stretch Report – October 27

By Marc Ash, Reader Supported News

27 October 20

f there is one word that defines voters in the 2020 election cycle it would have to be “entrenched.” As in totally. Think WWI Trench Warfare for context.

Donald Trump’s approval rating has been in the mid-42% range for most of his presidency, and according to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com it’s at 42.8 right now. Donald Trump appears to be very good at making people love him or hate him, but in terms of producing an apathetic response, not so much. See, po-lar-i-za-tion for further details.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, appears to be the most popular unpopular guy in the history of American politics. He’s the guy no one wanted to vote for and he’s leading the race by 9.4 points. Which leads us to the 53.4% who hate Donald Trump. This math is designed to be simple. Simple in fact it is.

But the specter of 2016 haunts the inner psyche of those who long to be rescued from Trump Twilight Zone really, really badly. I’ve wanted to say this for four years, so here goes. I never believed the polls in 2016 were that wrong or missed that much.

If the Russian effort on behalf of Trump was half of what the U.S. intelligence agencies said it was, and the voter suppression was half as bad as Greg Palast’s research documented it was, and James Comey’s October surprise half as well timed for maximum effect as it appeared to be, then it was mischief, not the polls, that was to blame. I’ve always regarded the 2016 presidential election as a stolen one.

If the 2020 voter preference polls mean anything, Donald Trump’s goose is cooked. That and the fact that upwards of sixty-two million Americans have already voted. So they’re really unpersuadable.

Now comes the section under “What could go wrong?” Countless dictators have gloated over their control of vote counting. Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, who seized power in a 1936 U.S.-backed coup, summed it up succinctly: “Indeed, you won the elections, but I won the count.”

Bluntly stated, there are many in Trump’s extended entourage who are perfectly willing to hold onto power by means of a fraudulent vote count. It won’t be easy, and the legitimate voters can win – but make no mistake, that is where the battle will be fought.

Voter suppression, voter purges, vote disqualification. This is it, this is the moment when American Democracy defeats those tactics or those tactics defeat American Democracy. Voting is the warm-up. The real battle begins on November 3rd.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.