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| (Washington Post, Facebook) |
Published reports indicate Donald Trump has a number of nasty habits (see here and here). Perhaps the nastiest of all is his tendency to say things publicly that many Americans thought they never would hear a president say. The most grotesque example of that came Thursday evening in Dallas as Trump gave the closing address at his so-called Republican midterm convention. In such a setting, presidents of the past would have sent people on their way by making an innocuous but pleasant statement about all that was accomplished at the event -- even if much wasn't accomplished.
This, however, is Donald Trump, and he seemingly isn't capable of doing something semi-respectable like that. Nope, he told his adherents -- in language about as plain and understandable as Trump's mushy brain can muster -- that they must pledge to "vote Republican in this year's midterms (even if they aren't registered to vote) and "cheat like hell". That seemed to make a few jaws drop in the mainstream media, as reflected by a jointly published report at Forbes and Yahoo! News under the headline "Trump makes GOP convention attendees pledge to vote and 'cheat like hell' in bizarre moment. You can check out a video of Trump's closing address at this link.)
First, I must voice an objection to that headline. Explaining this probably will reveal I have an overactive liberal imagination, but here it goes: I agree that this would be a bizarre moment for any normal president; but Trump is neither normal nor a president (at least in terms of doing the actual work of a president); plus, I have doubts that Trump ever has lawfully been elected president -- without help from Russia, Elon Musk, or both. If those doubts are on target -- and I'm probably one of several million Americans who share them -- that means Trump is not president at this moment, and his ugly act is getting more tiresome by the day.
Let's see what Forbes and Yahoo! have to say about Trump's "bizarre moment," as Siladitya Ray reports:
President Donald Trump on Thursday capped off his speech to close the GOP's midterm convention by leading the audience into a pledge that referred to him as the "greatest president" and suggested they should vote even if they are not registered, after he baselessly accused Democrats of cheating to win elections.
Trump asked the audience to raise their right hand and led them in a pledge to the "greatest president in the history of the United States" to go out and vote in November for the midterms.
With his right hand raised, the president said his supporters should go out with family and friends to vote and said: "I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm going to try to cheat like hell like they do."
Trump's claims that Democrats have cheated in elections has a slight problem: He never has presented evidence of such cheating that held up in a court of law -- and he's had plenty of opportunities. Here is how CNN put it in a 2024 article:
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened prosecution and “long term prison sentences” for election officials and political operatives, who he suggested could cheat in the 2024 election, if he again wins the presidency in November.
Trump, again falsely claiming Democrats engaged in fraudulent behavior in 2020, said that he, attorneys and legal scholars are “watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely.”
“WHEN I WIN,” Trump wrote in a post on his social network, Truth Social, that he later also shared on X, “those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.”
Trump’s threats of prosecution — part of his repeated efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election — come as early voting will soon be underway in a number of states. Trump has routinely suggested he would weaponize the justice system to go after his political opponents if voters return him to the White House — threats that began after he was first indicted in his Manhattan hush money case more than a year ago.
Trump, who regularly spreads conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and falsely claims there was widespread voter fraud, added on Saturday, “I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skulduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation!”
Despite Trump’s repeated claims, the 2020 election was highly secure, and he lost to Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes. There is no evidence of voter fraud even close to widespread enough to have changed the outcome of the election in any state.
I like to think that America once was a nation marked by integrity and bravery. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. Such qualities certainly did not seem to be on display among Republicans attending the convention on Thursday night. Photos of the audience taken during Trump's pledge -- and, oddly, they seemed to be mostly women -- indicate attendees did not seem insulted by Trump's insinuation that they would be willing to cheat just because he told them to do it. Instead, they reacted, with claps, laughs, and smiles. Who knew the topic of election fraud in America was such a light-hearted topic? Siladitya Ray writes:
The line about cheating drew laughter from the audience before Trump attacked the Democrats, alleging, without evidence, "there has never been bigger cheaters."
Trump then made the crowd swear they will go out and vote in September, with the attendees echoing his remarks, and capped it off with "So help me God."
The president quipped that the attendees "can vote Democrat" if they want, but he doesn't believe there's "one person in this room" who would do that and added: "If you vote, you're voting Republican."
For good measure, Trump told his audience -- presumably his supporters -- "You know what happens if you don't vote, you go to hell." Trump didn't bother to come up with much sensible new material, instead relying on a few old chestnuts, as reported by Forbes/Yahoo!:
Trump once again urged his supporters to pretend that he is on the ballot in November. "You gotta do me the biggest favor: pretend I'm on the ticket. I'm on the ticket." The president then added that this is "going to turn out to be one of the most important elections." Trump's decision to make the midterms a referendum about him comes as his approval rating hit new lows, at 36%.
One of the biggest announcements made during Trump's speech on the first night of the convention was the promise of $5,000 "dividend" checks for all American adults if the Republicans won both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections. None of the other speakers on Thursday night mentioned these checks, including Vice President JD Vance, who delivered the night's keynote address. However, Trump brought it up again in his closing speech but once again offered few details on how he would fund the payouts that could cost more than $1 trillion.
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