I’ve been wondering if Trump’s opposition to voting by mail has more to do with ruining his October surprise than with laying the groundwork for an assault on democracy.
As much as I despise him and his authoritarian loving instincts, it has occurred to me that he is really a second rate authoritarian anyway, too gullible, too insecure, too disorganized, too vain, too weak, too lazy. He can talk about not accepting election results, but I wonder if he could really pull it off. On the other hand, he does excel at the whole television president thing and getting attention. He is all surface, no substance. Notice how he tells everyone to “enjoy” coronavirus briefings, talks about his “ratings” incessantly, nominates people from “central casting”. No doubt, he would love a last minute plot twist not only to win, but also to further cement the narrative that the media is against him, the deep state in conspiring against him, and that the supposed “silent majority” does indeed love him. The biggest political hack of all loves to brand himself as the political outsider.
The problem with a last minute plot twist for Trump is that it needs to be close to election day for maximum impact. He needs something like Comey’s 10/28/16 letter. A September plot twist will be old news by November. But with mail in voting, a large percentage of Americans will have already voted by late October.