Imagine you are a young teenager walking around an electronics store with an adult, an authoritive figure, like say, your father.  He spots something cool, like, an Apple watch.  And imagine he casually looks around and then tells you he wants you to steal that Apple watch for him.  I know the watch is probably under lock and key but this is all hypothetical.  You probably think  he is kidding, but no, he tells you straight off he is dead serious.  And to prove the point he tells you he’ll be waiting in the car and he hurriedly walks away. Would you attempt that theft?  You’re a kid and you have a general understanding that stealing is wrong.  But it’s your dad.  It must be OK, right?  Would you go ahead and steal the watch for your dad?

Let’s say you you did, got caught, and the whole story became public knowledge.  No doubt society would judge your father harshly and there would be some sort of judicial penalty exacted.   Protective services would likely get involved.  There would be universal agreement your dad is an incorigible role model lacking basic ethical concepts.

There is a similar scene playing out in our politcal world right now and there is nothing hypothetical about it.  It is starkly real.  When Donald Trump asks you to vote for him twice, he is guilty of the same egregeous action that the father is in this fictional scenario.  Only worse.  Intentionally voting twice in a federal election is a felony, under any circumstance, for any reason, but its not Donald Trump who would be prosecuted.  You would be the one at risk of serving a prison term.

Here we go again with an infuriating example of Trump’s behavior getting swept under the rug.  We should not just gloss over this.  This is the president of the United States issuing a request that citizenry commit a fucking felony.  What kind of president does that?  What kind of human being does that?

Stop and think of the implications of this remark.  Not only is it yet another example of the president’s contempt for the law, of his belief that laws don’t apply to him.  It is a damning indictment of his character.  And I know Trump supporters will somehow justify the statement as just Trump being Trump.  But come on!  Can there be a more flagrant example of his shallowness? Well, ok calling dead veterans losers and suckers is profoundly superficial, and of course from his past remarks you have to believe this is  Trump being Trump at his absolute worst. But until  someone is willing to step out from behind the shield of anonymity and collaborate these damning stories Trump can escape total eviceration.  However, he asked people to vote twice on national TV.

Donald Trump, as many who know him have said, will stop at nothing to promote his self interest.   How much worse can that get then prodding people to commit a felony on his behalf.  This is so brazenly wrong. To be concerned only with what is good for you at the expense of everyone else, an expense that involves criminality, underscores his total lack of conscience.  When it comes to anything that is remotley central to his interest, the man seems incapable of understaning what is right or wrong.

No matter how the White House tries to spin this, I basically am imploring anyone on the voting fence to please take the time to really think about what is revealed about the current president in this singular act.  The absolute best spin you can attach to this is ignorance.  That he understands little about processes of democracy would then be damning in itself.  This perplexing remark, at it’s worse, indicates we have a president who will stop at nothing, who sees nothing wrong with the continued underminingg of the laws and institutions of the country, if he feels it is in his best interest.

And this also speaks to who we are, what kind of society we live in. To Trump, cheating and political criminal activity are perfeclty normal, no big deal.  And the manner in which he so casually made this remark suggests he believes a good percentage of the people of this country must be bound with similar threads of morality.  I refuse to believe that is true. Yes we have our share of miscreants and criminals, but when it comes to believing in the democratic principles of this nation, it is a safe argument to say hardly anyone gives any consideration to voting twice or pariticipating in other acts of voter fraud.   Think about it.  Have you ever once thought about voting twice?  Hell, in a typical U.S. election half the county doesn’t even vote once.

Several recent reports have been issued about voter fraud, all concluding the incidents of that happening are minuscule- ranging from 0.0003 to 0.0025 percent.  Voting twice is something that would hardly cross the mind of the average, normally ethical U.S. citizen- until now.    And the guy who is out there promoting that very idea that is so antithetical to the most basic of our constitutional principles is none other than the president of the United States!   Come on!  And to underscore just how embedded this pernicious infection of our democracy is becoming, during an interview with Wolf Blitzer the atorney general of the county claimed ignorace of state law in order to give cover to the president on this issue.  How fucked up is that?

Every day Trump is claiming the election is going to be chaotic and rigged, when he is actually the one creating the chaos and trying to rigged it in his own favor.  Of course audaciousness is a typical characteristic of authoritarianism.  Get ready for two months of gaslighting “the likes of which you have never seen.”

Obviously I am one who fails to understand the Trump attraction. I consider him to be a danger to the nation’s constitutional fabric as well as the public health.  Whenever I see a packed gathering of Trump supporters not wearing masks I envision a mass suicide of lemmings edging towards their terminal precipice.  For whatever reason, the man has his followers. To me he is a man lacking a normal sense of conscience and is ingrained with distorted concepts of right and wrong.  It is my hope that most of us understand it is far from trivial to ask someone to commit a felony by voting twice.  It should be recognized as flagrantly irresponsible and an unforgivable wrong.