Opinion | Why Is Trump So Afraid of American Voters?

A lot happened this week. “Democrats dominate first major election.” “Nancy Pelosi will retire.” “Increase in air traffic controller calls.” Here’s something you shouldn’t miss. On Tuesday, California voted on —— “Proposition 50.” “Support 50.” “Democrats think they’ll get five more seats.” But let’s not get too hung up on the details here. What’s really worrying is President Trump’s reaction to this vote. Even before the polls closed, the president was fuming about how the election was rigged. So this was unconstitutional. “A massive fraud.” “It’s absolutely true that there was fraud in the California election. It’s just a fact.” Spoiler: There is no indication that any of this is true. He became even more angry when he saw Democrats winning in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. “So Donald Trump, turn up the volume ’cause I know you’re watching.” And now the president is shaking. He wants to maintain his majority in Congress in next year’s midterm elections. That’s why he’s calling on lawmakers to take action to ban mail-in ballots, tighten voter ID laws and crack down on more gerrymandering. And it’s not hard to imagine what else the president might consider doing. Sending troops into American cities during elections to intimidate voters or cover up the country with ICE agents who wrongfully detained nearly 200 US citizens this year. If you think any of this is exaggerated, let’s consider a few more cases in American history where our leaders tried to deny voting rights. For Black voters in the Jim Crow South, for women voters before women’s suffrage, and for Native Americans throughout much of the nation’s history. And Trump continues to cast doubt on the legitimacy of American elections, telling his followers to believe that losing an election means that election was stolen. We know where this ends. “Stop the stealing!” In a democracy, a president’s duty should be to ensure that as many eligible citizens as possible go to the polls. This country has never been able to do this perfectly, but we have made significant progress. If Trump gets his way, a large portion of citizens could lose their votes, and American democracy could lose many, many more.