The Observer view on Trump's tawdry attempt to subvert American democracy
The contrast was telling. In Washington, Donald Trump shocked Americans by suggesting November’s presidential vote should be postponed, claiming it would be “the most rigged election in history, if it happens”.
That Republicans joined Democrats in swiftly denouncing the idea was reassuring. But Trump was unabashed. He will continue to divide, disrupt and sow doubt as he tries, by any means, to cling to office.
In Atlanta, meanwhile, at almost the same time on Thursday, three former presidents joined thousands of mourners to remember the life of John Lewis, a black congressman and former associate of Martin Luther King. Lewis was at the forefront of the long, bloody battle to secure equal civil and voting rights for all Americans. As he was laid to rest with full honours, Trump was dishonourably manoeuvring to deny those rights.
Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have very different views on many issues and come from differing political traditions. But all three surely agree on the fundamentals of US democracy as meticulously laid out in the constitution and guaranteed by Congress and the supreme court. No president has the power or the right to meddle with election dates, however badly he is trailing in the polls and however desperate to avoid defeat.
Delivering the eulogy to Lewis, Obama appealed to solidarity, not division. Against the backdrop of the George Floyd killing and the Black Lives Matter protests, he condemned continuing police brutality and white supremacist bigotry. Sixty years after the era of George Wallace, the segregationist Alabama governor, and Bull Connor, who notoriously turned fire hoses and dogs on civil rights marchers, these evils still besmirch American life, he said.
Then Obama laid into another evil, though he did not mention Trump by name. “Even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision,” he said. Trump’s postponing of the election would be the ultimate victory for such voter suppression tactics. It would also be an illegal, possibly impeachable offence, conservative lawyers say.
Early on in his presidency, Trump famously declared himself a “very stable genius”. His latest stunt once again raises significant doubts about his current mental state. Perhaps he thinks he is being pre-emptively clever by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the coming poll. Perhaps he hopes Democrat Joe Biden’s widely predicted victory will be struck down by the courts or popular revolt. Or perhaps he is so rattled that he is not thinking clearly at all.
Genius, or even moderate smartness, is not required to see that Trump may have hoped to distract attention from the coronavirus disaster that, in his unmatched ineptitude, he has done so much to exacerbate. The US death toll passed 150,000 last week, the world’s highest. It is a largely avoidable national tragedy without parallel in modern times. Trump’s name is forever stamped on it.
Nor is it necessary to be especially politically astute to grasp that Trump may have been trying to obscure the latest, dreadful news about America’s post-Covid-19 economic slump. Thursday’s announcement that GDP fell by 9.5% in the second quarter, as consumer spending, investment and global trade dried up, dashed Trump’s predictions of a rapid bounce-back or V-shaped recovery. It was the biggest three-month collapse on record.
As infection rates rise and restrictions are reimposed in many states, the US, in common with other countries, including Britain, is staring at an unemployment crisis of staggering proportions. Temporary government assistance and furlough schemes are ending. About 30 million Americans are now drawing unemployment benefits. Each week, for the past 19 weeks, more than a million people have joined America’s dole queues.
It’s time to add one more person to that total – after a vote.
