Crazy Old Man Worried About the Midterms Rants About Voter ID

Admittedly, our timing could sometimes be better. Last week, we ended a story on how Donald Trump’s day had both been crazy and typical with these words: “And, perhaps, there is more to come. Depending on what he sees on Fox News, Trump might still fire off dozens of social media posts with insane conspiracy theories or threats to prosecute his predecessors.”

And, wouldn’t you know it, a couple of hours later the president – or a “junior staffer” (wink, wink) – posted a video to his social media account depicting the Obamas as apes.

Or Friday, when we published a roundup of this week’s election integrity news, only for Trump to then post a couple of rants about the upcoming midterms.

So we did the responsible thing and fired up our laptop again. Because, while The New York Times and what used to be the Washington Post may ignore the president’s lie-filled and unhinged screeds (we couldn’t find a story on this anywhere on their websites), we refuse to normalize the kind of behavior that would get any other commander-in-chief impeached… and another grandpa committed to the loony bin.

Most importantly, these Trumpian tirades show how much the midterms (and losing them) are already on his mind, and how much he is thinking about ways to rig them to prevent the Democrats from exercising any kind of oversight of his administration.

It would be wrong to say that the president is getting more delusional. After all, he reached peak delusion in 2020 when he refused to acknowledge his loss to Joe Biden.

However, while he has mostly sounded like a broken record since then, with every campaign speech including a tired reference to how Democrats somehow stole that election from him, it is now easy to detect a new sense of urgency in his rhetoric.

Take the posts of Friday afternoon.

First, Trump said that “there will be Voter ID for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”

It’s these kinds of despotic statements that should really make people take note because he is clearly up to something… and it won’t be in the Constitution.

As he so often does, the president teased some kind of revelation (that will never come to fruition). This time, Trump claimed to have unearthed a novel concept that will be a gamechanger and that he will share soon… perhaps in two weeks or so.

“I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future,” Trump wrote.

We have to admit that this part made us chuckle. There is just something very funny about imagining the famously disinterested president sifting through legal tomes to make the case for an unconstitutional power grab.

But, of course, this is no laughing matter. Having him accuse Democrats of cheating without ever presenting any evidence – and he tried – is very serious.

The damage Trump is doing to US democracy is incalculable and will reverberate long after he is gone.

As we noted before, the president and the rest of the GOP, which has to participate in his election denialism either out of servility or misplaced conviction, need to enact the “SAVE America Act” to have any chance to prevent getting swept out of power in November.

And this isn’t just about an agenda or oversight. A lot is at stake personally for Trump and his inner circle, who are taking corruption and lawlessness to a whole new level – one that would indicate that they don’t foresee relinquishing power any time soon.

In a follow-up post, the president provided a few more specifics (for lack of a better word).

“If we can’t get it through Congress, there are Legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted,” he wrote. “I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order.”

Just to be clear, he can issue executive orders until he is blue in the face (which would be a nice change from the bronzer), but it won’t mean that the provisions of this voter suppression bill will have the force of law in the fall.

Of course, just because something is illegal or unconstitutional doesn’t mean that Trump won’t try it.

Then, in a nonsensical 125-word sentence, the president suggested that the Democrats would use a victory in the midterms to add two states to the US “with all the baggage thereto,” whatever that means. Keep in mind that Trump has been talking about making Canada and Greenland states for quite some time.

But, according to the president, the Democrats won’t stop there and will also add 12 justices to the Supreme Court.

Mind you, those things would require Trump’s signature, but he can’t be bothered with those kinds of small details (or constitutional knowledge).

The president closes his rant with: “Our Country will never be the same if they allow these demented and evil people to knowingly, and happily, destroy it.”

While we don’t know who “they” refers to in that sentence, we do know that, coming out of Trump’s mouth, every accusation is a confession… and that the midterms are the last chance to curb his ambition.