This past week, it was revealed that there have been efforts by foreign powers to influence the upcoming elections. During a hastily held press conference, Trump toady John Ratcliffe revealed that threatening e-mails, claiming to be from the white supremacist group, the Proud Boys, actually originated in Iran. Ratcliffe also briefly mentioned that Russia had been doing some meddling, but had done nothing with their information, as of yet.
If this smells a bit fishy, it ain’t the sturgeon.
By even casting a hint of meddling, Russia is giving the Trump campaign bait to use to claim election fraud. The hope is to create chaos and have Trump refuse to concede, thereby destroying the pinnacle of the Democratic process: the peaceful transfer of power.
With Election Day less than a week away, and Trump trailing in the polls, even the most die-hard Trump supporters are steeling themselves for a loss, which is why the whiff of voter fraud is all they have to cling to. And of course, Trump is encouraging them.
With the Trump campaign attempting to thwart voter participation through multiple lawsuits, they are trying to keep people from using absentee ballots, limiting ballot boxes for those who want to vote early, and widespread rejection of absentee ballots due to alleged mismatched signatures, there is no avenue they won’t take to limit a surge of early Democratic Party ballots. With yet another judge being appointed to the Supreme Court, Trump is hoping this will be his ace in the hole in an election that is surely to be contested.
Yet, this isn’t the greatest threat. Despite repeated denials of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Trump campaign, in particular Rudy Giuliani, is seizing upon laptops allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, which many believe is part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Coupled with an alleged hacking of a voter database, Russia is once again meddling in our elections.
During the first debate, Trump urged the aforementioned Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”. The group took this to mean they should be ready to take to the streets if Trump were to lose the election. This plays right into Russia’s hands as they seek to destroy our democracy. They envision the ensuing chaos and rioting, which Trump predicted would be part of a Biden administration.
So, it makes sense Russia is no longer on the “Trump train”. They are banking on a Trump loss to further divide the nation as his supporters take to the streets to spread the allegations of voter fraud. They are depending on his base to violently oppose any change in government that threatens their rigid system of beliefs.
This presents a dangerous precedent, and one Russia would be more than happy to use to its advantage. For the first time in our history, we have a candidate who won’t commit to a peaceful transition. This would certainly tear the nation apart, which you can see would obviously be to Russia’s advantage.
This is why Russia is hoping Trump will lose.
November 3rd.