Have you noticed that former President Donald Trump is, how should we put this, ramping up the rhetoric and increasing his assault on the integrity of U.S. elections?
Makes you wonder why. The race to the White House is in the final stretch. And no one can argue that the contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is close.
Could he be laying the groundwork just in case he loses? Just asking.
All you must do is track the lies the former president keeps repeating. And, yes, they have been fact-checked. False claims like, “Harris can only win through cheating.” And “It was ‘unconstitutional’ for the Democrats to replace Biden with Harris.”
Trump still wrongly insists there was massive fraud in 2020. He continually says there was fraud in vote counts in key states and more. It’s been more than four years and there’s no proof of any of his claims.
There’s more! He’s even blamed President Joe Biden and the V.P. for fabricating his legal woes. There’s no sign that either played a role in bringing charges against the former president.
So, what is Trump’s end goal? If he is setting the stage in case he loses, what kind of fallout might there be if that happens? Is it possible things might escalate? Could we see a repeat of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021? Will it create even more dissension and further divide an already split nation?
This all comes on the heels of the unsealing of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against Trump. The documents gave the most complete picture so far of Trump’s federal election interference case from 2020. The ex-president pleaded not guilty. But the newest indictment paints a pretty damning picture.
It laid bare the depth of Trump’s alleged election-stealing plot. In his filing, Smith said Trump used “private actors” and his campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results.
In an effort to get around the Supreme Court’s July ruling that granted presidents substantial immunity for official acts, Smith asserted in the indictment that Trump “operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office.”
The question is will all that matter in the end in Vote 2024? Republican voters seem willing to buy into the false narrative. So, we must see how it weighs on the minds of swing state voters.
MORE: 2024 News4JAX Voter’s Guide
The question for Harris is whether a couple of October surprises will do anything to move what have been very close polling numbers.
Those surprises include a very tense situation in the Middle East with the prospect of a regional war, and a major question: will the U.S. be drawn into that war? The White House is wrestling with that.
Of course, there’s the potential impact on the economy. We can’t ignore that. If Israel and Iran do get into a fight, there could be an energy crisis. And then you know where the dominos will fall: gas prices. The last thing the Democrats need to tussle with is more economic woes.
The party would have been saddled with the economic implications of the port workers' strike, but that was settled. I’m sure Harris and the administration are breathing a sigh of relief on that one.
Still, Harris is losing support among a vital part of the Democratic base: Latinos. New surveys show that Harris has a dramatically smaller advantage among Latino voters nationwide than any other recent Democratic nominee.
Then there’s voters aged 18 to 29 in Wisconsin. She’s trailing and trailing badly in that crucial state.
Are those numbers as bad as they seem, statistically? Some political pundits say when you put things in perspective, maybe not.
Government law attorney Chris Hand talked with me about those issues and more on this week’s episode of “Vote 2024: Path to the Polls.”
You can catch the News4JAX+ encore edition at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Or watch anytime streaming on demand on News4JAX+, News4JAX.com and YouTube.