Bombs, voter suppression, coup de’tat threaten election

Bill Knight column for Oct. 29, 30 or 31, 2018

The nation is not yet in a New Civil War despite a spate of bombs sent to prominent Democrats and progressives. The United States for some time has been divided, yes, and maybe there’s a conspiracy-fueled coup de’tat in some people’s fever dreams. But assassination attempts, plots to deny Americans’ voting rights, and schemes leading to a Constitutional crisis are intolerable.

            Deplorable, even.

Last week, explosive devices were mailed to former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan in care of CNN, former Attorney General Eric Holder, actor and Trump critic Robert DeNiro, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, liberal philanthropist George Soros, and possibly others, like places with authoritarian regimes endure leading up to elections.

Some Republicans condemned the failed attacks while blaming “both sides” for an increasingly uncivil atmosphere. President Trump himself – who’s called Democrats an “angry mob,” praised Montana Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte (who was found guilty of assault for attacking a reporter), and warned that some of these potential victims “better be careful” – on Wednesday unsurprisingly blamed journalists, ignoring Right-wing claims such as the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that high-ranking Democrats were tied to human trafficking with a child sex ring involving the Washington, D.C. restaurant Comet Ping Pong, where a man shot up the place and was convicted and sentenced to prison.

Interestingly, few faith leaders went beyond obligatory denunciations, but progressive evangelical Christian Jim Wallis did.

“There is much that we don’t know yet, but what we do know is that all the targets were critics of Donald Trump — and Trump has named them in recent hostile campaign rallies,” Wallis said. “They clearly reveal a political strategy of fear, based on continual and unapologetic lying, which deliberately evokes racial resentment and hatred. This president’s purpose is indeed to divide us. It can no longer be said that there is no relationship between violent presidential rhetoric against opponents and the media, and the violent action against those very people.

“It’s Trump’s deliberate strategy of racial division that unites his base, fanning the flames of fearing ‘the other’ — which is a direct assault on biblical priorities and a denial of the teachings of Jesus,” he added.

Personally, I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican, although I respected Obama and GOP President Dwight Eisenhower. I have voted for Republicans and Democrats – and Greens and Libertarians, and back most Democratic Socialists. However, I know Republicans and cherish our friendships. I disagree with some of what some say, but I eat with them, pray with them, share with them and love them.

            They reciprocate – even though some may wink and think, as a relative quipped, “Everyone is entitled to their stupid opinions.”

I believe these friends are scandalized by these desperate acts by some resentful extremist or domestic-terrorist group, and my GOP buddies undoubtedly agree with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, who said, “This clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence.”

Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice reports that more than 99 state bills are making voting more difficult, as Republican-controlled state legislatures using unproven allegations of voter fraud disenfranchise voters, mostly minorities, in places such as Georgia, North Carolina, North Dakota, Wisconsin and too many areas.

Plus, the White House is actually discussing plans to de-legitimize the Nov. 6 midterm election if voters still able to cast ballots elect a Democrat majority in the House or Senate, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Carl Bernstein and Nobel laureate and columnist Paul Krugman.

            “If the congressional midterms are very close and the Democrats were to win by five or seven seats, … Trump is already talking about how to throw legal challenges into the courts, sow confusion, declare a victory actually, and say that the election's been illegitimate," Bernstein said Oct. 21. “That is really under discussion.”

            After Trump said, “All levels of government and law enforcement are watching carefully for voter fraud, including during early voting. Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal,” Krugman warned, “If Democrats take the House, we’ll be facing a nightmarish political scene. Republicans will claim that the election was stolen and deny the majority's legitimacy. They’ll use claims of voter fraud to justify their disregard of the law and Constitution. Many government officials will probably face hard decisions about whether to defy illegal orders from their political superiors.”

Yes, everyone is entitled to their stupid opinions. But that doesn’t mean anyone is entitled to kill or maim others or to discard the Constitution.