Tim Kirby
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to dominate the news and life of the American Republic. With currently no end in sight it is not paranoid to wonder if and how the pandemic will affect the presidential elections coming up in November. Two World Wars, The Civil War, The Great Depression and the Spanish Flu were not enough to stop voting for some congressmen and the top executive of the United States as planned. Now for the first time there are rumors moving about that there could be a major delay for voting nationwide. On a state level delays have happened a few times in history but there is no precedent for this happening on a national scale. This lack of precedent in dealing with this sort of situation could create room for certain "opportunities" that will be mostly detrimental to the future of America.
Manchurian vs. Muscovite Candidates in 2020
Even without the Covid-19 issue Trump was, and could be again, bogged down by accusations of ties to Russia or working in Russian interests in the run up to election night. This naive "the Russians are coming" narrative was very effectively sold onto the Democrats so much so that they all started to actually believe their own absurdity. In fact the Department of Homeland Security and Trump's eternal antagonists in the FBI have put together a document titled " Possible Russian Tactics Ahead of 2020 US Election". And when big government agencies write "possible" they mean "confirmed" especially when that is the desired reality that they want. The stage is being set for Russiagate 2.0. It sort of worked to a degree the first time so why not try it again?
Now that Trump has experienced a delegitimization campaign via accusations from the Democrats the simplest defense would be to in turn accuse his opponent Biden and every other Democrat he has ever spoken to of being servants of China. Reason cannot triumph over madness, only more madness will do the trick.
Mainstream News Media loves to draw charts and connections between politicians and Russia based on the fact that some people, at some time have spoken to each other and gone to the same cocktail parties - guilt by association. Furthermore for the racist MSM, all Russians count as being agents of Putin/The Kremlin. No Russian businessman every works in his own interests, somehow they are all hive minded agents. This means that Trump is very free to throw the same guilt by association tactics at the Democrats for their contact with any person even remotely connected to China. If you draw enough red lines on pretty graphics connecting people, that is good enough to get a conviction nowadays. Trump is very likely to use any connections between the Democrats and China benign or validly suspicious to his advantage. Fighting fire with fire actually works when running for office.
In fact, this election cycle could very well cement a new wedge issue for American politics - whom our traitors serve, Russia or China? Or maybe more simply who is the big enemy, Russia or China? It will be very refreshing to finally get a new wedge issue, guns and abortion have gotten very repetitive.
There is a certain danger in going into an election with both sides accusing the other of being traitors - it utterly delegitimize the elections and could delegitimize the American establishment, killing the Golden Goose of Stability that continues to lay eggs. Will lobbing accusations of treason in Washington definitely cause a collapse of the system - probably not, but it does knock on the door of that possibility which is unacceptably dangerous. If we convince the American people and establishment that the elections are completely controlled by foreign powers that is bound to have an impact.
Trump Must Go!?
The presidential inauguration happening in January, 72-78 days after election night, seems like a very good amount of padding, even for "Democracy" in a pre-internet world, but the Coronavirus is holding put. In theory Trump would have to step down if his time runs out during an electoral delay and the Presidency would go down the line of succession until it hits a viable candidate. But what if Trump feels that something is afoot and maybe leaving without an election is not in his or America's best interests?
Of the U.S. presidents there is some debate as to whom among them is the most hated during their time in office by the other side. Lincoln made just a few enemies down south, Hoover got blamed for the economy collapsing, but the hatred for Trump is also top tier. If a delay happened during Reagan's rule there would be no ramifications. The old actor staying in power two more months or so would be quickly forgotten, but Trump's enemies despise him and will use any excuse to make sure he goes away forever.
The elections being put off for months opens the door to the very worst of dynamics, one half of the population chanting "he must go" while the other half chants "he must stay". These situations are what lead to Color Revolutions succeeding in poor weak nations. The elections must happen on time to completely eliminate any possibility of this situation arising.
E-Democracy is the Worst Answer to the Problem
The American electoral system with its Gerrymandering, Hanging Chads, Buttigieg's "Shadow" over the Iowa Caucus, and Sanders' mysteriously candidacy denial in 2016 has problems to say the least. The voting system we Americans "enjoy" is far from perfect, but the scary possible answer to America being locked down on election night is a form of "Electronic Democracy", which due to its intangible and vulnerable nature would be manipulable on a scale not even Boss Hogg could dream of.
The answer to 1776 is not 1984 and if anything needs to be protested it would be any efforts by the government to make elections "go digital". Ironically such a move would actually be the way that the Chinese and Russians could actually get the guy they want in the Oval Office.
The American electoral system could benefit from standardization, or at least fixing many of the problems on a state level, but any electronic "solution" will be a massive step in the wrong direction.
Vote Now Do Not Delay
Although it technically risks lives, it is critical for real American security to get the election done on time. Any delay will open up lots of opportunities for something to ruin America's long-term stability which is worth the cost of a potential handful of Covid casualties. The rhetoric between the Democrats and Republicans is dangerous with its growing narrative that America is being taken over foreign influence. Trump needs to either be re-elected or leave on time as to not spark some sort of need to overthrow him, or just revolt against him "holding onto power by delaying". Furthermore, Electronic Democracy is a nightmarish farce that should not come to pass as it would actually make the quality of American elections go from problem ridden to worthless. The potential human losses that could be inflicted by voting on time are worth it.