Given recent developments, and the subpoenaing of 40 top Trump administration employees, it appears increasingly likely that soon after the election former president Donald Trump may face an indictment charge from the Department of Justice.
The sprawling cases against Donald J. Trump, which include vote fixing allegations in Georgia, tax evasion in New York and the illegal taking of classified documents from the White House, all point to a very bitter and contested midterm election that looks likely to have an extraordinary outcome.
That has not deterred Republicans from continuing to push the big lie that the 2020 presidential election was fixed in President Joe Biden’s favor, an accusation never made before by one major party against the other.
Indeed, Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, stated the election was free and fair, as did the White House head of election security.
Nonetheless, we have the spectacle of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announcing that 45,000 poll watchers were now in place, courtesy of her party, most prominently in key states, in order to evaluate issues of voter fraud.
The game is clear – if Republicans cannot win one way, then they’ll try another. The 45,000 poll watchers will end up in Democratic precincts in the main, challenging and making it more difficult for would-be Democratic voters to vote.
So the shameless alliance continues between the insurgents of January 6 and their chants of “stop the steal,” and the leaders of the Republican Party who are willing partners in this entire fraudulent effort.
But the wheels are coming off their efforts to defraud the American electorate and to distract them with alleged polling problems. There are so many investigations now occurring in areas all over the country that the GOP knows its only chance is to change the subject as the midterms near.
But Attorney General Merrick Garland, after a long period of behind-the-scenes work, now seems ready to conduct a historic campaign aimed at rooting out fraud and corruption within the GOP itself.
Garland has been quiet, but quiet like a fox, letting the numerous showboat GOP leaders such as former Trump aide Steve Bannon continue to shout their defiance at any attempt to make them culpable.
However, the sight of Bannon in cuffs last week in New York will surely give pause for thought to all others who may well be under investigation.
The ultimate target, of course, is Trump. The evidence has piled up in several cases that he was intent on defrauding the electorate and creating a coup on January 6.
It is an astounding assumption, something unknown in the history of U.S. presidents. Not one contender in all that time, since the days of George Washington, has made an allegation that an election was fixed, and because he thought so, he should be reinstated as president.
But yet, there remains a deep well of support for Trump across the country, and one must take very carefully polls showing the Democratic Party inching ahead. It has become evident in recent elections that the GOP vote has been undercounted in the polls.
Great danger lies ahead for democracy in America. It will only be resolved when the perpetrator of so many outrageous attacks on democracy is held to account.
Bannon in handcuffs must surely have stirred in Trump a deep-seated fear that he too may end up in the same situation. In fact, right now, that looks more possible than not.
*This editorial first appeared in the September 14 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.
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