President Trump has lied to the American public about the integrity of the election. Now it’s time for us to answer him by voting in historic numbers.
If you are, as I am, a part of this unique “resistance” alliance—conservatives, disaffected Republicans, independents, Democrats, and progressives—all joined together this year to oppose Donald Trump, then nothing matters more right now than your vote.
Look, I get it, President Trump and his allies—both Republican elected officials and the conservative media—have been doing whatever they can these past few months to keep you from voting and make it difficult for you to vote. But we know there are more of us than them. We know there are more people in this country who oppose Donald Trump than there are people who support him. We all just have to vote.
We’ve never seen anything like what Donald Trump is trying to do. He is purposefully trying to undermine the legitimacy of this election. In fact, you probably never imagined an American president attacking the legitimacy of an American election like this.
Sorting Fact From Fiction: Sign Up for COURIER’s newsletter.
Donald Trump has lied about mail-in voting. He’s tried to intimidate people from voting by mail. He’s lied repeatedly about “voter fraud.” He’s gone to court in state after state, contesting efforts to make voting more accessible. He’s told the American people repeatedly that this election is going to be rigged. He’s encouraged his supporters to engage in overt acts of voter intimidation. He’s instructed his supporters to commit voter fraud by voting twice. He’s spread Russian disinformation about our voting process. He suggested we delay the election. He has not committed to accepting the results of the elections. And he has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
He’s done all of this for one ugly, un-American reason: He doesn’t want his supporters to accept the outcome if he loses.
I’m a proud, tea party, conservative, former Republican member of Congress. No other president—not Obama, not Bush, not Clinton—has done such a thing. This is perhaps because they understood how vital it is that the entire nation accept the outcome of an election, win, lose, or draw. Trump only loves Trump and he doesn’t understand how unique and fragile our democracy is.
RELATED: Getting Hit by Lightning Is More Common Than Voter Fraud in the US
Sadly, Republican elected officials have done all that they can to make it difficult for people to vote. Restrictions on how and for how long mail-in ballots can be received, gross restrictions on the number of ballot drop boxes, limits on in-person voting locations, cutting back hours for early voting, more stringent requirements for mail-in ballot completion—the list goes on and on.
But here’s the thing: Many of these Republican efforts to make it difficult for people to vote have been struck down by state courts. If they reach the Supreme Court—where Justice Amy Coney Barrett is now a likely sixth conservative vote, though at the time of publication had yet to rule in any election-related cases—some of those rulings have been upheld and expanded access, while Republicans got their way in others (as they did in Wisconsin).
It’s also important to recognize that the FBI is on the side of the American people here and are protecting the vote. FBI Director Christopher Wray made it very clear last week that the agency is doing all it can do to protect your right to vote, and that we should have faith in our election processes. Wray made it clear that his job is not to protect Trump.
CHECK IT OUT: Haven’t Mailed Your Ballot Yet? Don’t! Go Drop It Off Now Instead.
Finally: Look at voter turnout so far. I mean, just think about it: Donald Trump and Republicans have had one goal in mind this election year—to suppress the vote. They believe that the fewer people that vote, the better their chances are of winning. As a former Republican, I can tell you that suppressing and limiting the vote has always been a Republican goal.
Judging by early voting so far, Republicans are failing miserably.
More than 70 million people have voted already. In a number of states, turnout has surpassed the total number of votes that Trump received in those states in 2016—as in Texas, for example. This isn’t a fluke, either: 2018 saw the highest turnout in a midterm election in over 100 years. We are on track to complete the same feat now, possibly having the highest voter turnout in a presidential election in over a century. People are waiting in lines for hours to vote. They’re waiting in the rain. They’re taking a whole day to vote.
Donald Trump’s effort to suppress the vote is failing so far. And it will continue to fail right through Election Day if all of us vote—if all of us ignore Trump’s voter intimidation tactics and believe in the voting process. The really cool thing here is that, no matter what Trump tries to do, we have the power to get rid of him. We have the power to vote.
Joe Walsh Joe Walsh is a former Republican candidate for president, former congressman, and author.
