MAGAs vs. “Sane” GOP On Early Voting – David Jolley Says The Latter Are Waiting For Trump To Die

Let me address that second part first.  After the Warnock win over Walker in the GA Senate runoff was called coverage continued.  Talking heads had plenty to discuss, with Trump’s influence in GA politics being front and center.  Personally I was disappointed that despite a high turnout for a runoff the votes were pretty much counted and the election called by 10:30pm.

I thought that was pretty significant and worthy of a lot of attention.  After all, without counting going on till the wee hours of the morning and a razor thin margin there was little wind the the sails for a chorus of RWNJ “we are being robbed!” claims.  But the vote totals came in quickly and with virtually no reporting of “irregularities” it was over before the GA version of Trump’s Big Lie, Runoff Edition could leave the train station.  But talking heads can always talk and they had plenty to jabber on about.  Shortly after midnight former GOP Representative (he’s long since turned Independent) David Jolley was on MSNBC,

Again there was discussion of Trump’s impact and the relative lack of GOP opposition to him, or perhaps willingness to stand up to him.  After all, even though somehow Trump was convinced to stay the hell out of the state prior to the runoff others in the GOP dutifully stumped with and for Walker rather than risk the wrath of Trump and MAGA world.   It naturally followed that they’d dig into the fear of Trump/MAGA, “they” being the bulk(?) of Republicans, or at least the old-guard establishment.   And that’s when Jolley made a simple yet extraordinary statement.

He said they were waiting for Trump to die.

My jaw dropped.  No more was said regarding that and from what I can tell no one picked up on it.  Ok, so there was lots of post election analysis on every network and in every print outlet but still – wow!  Personally I think Jolley voiced a powerful truth.  Trump isn’t going to just fade away no matter how much they wish he would.  Only when he’s dead and buried will he STFU.  We all know it.

Trump has, continues to and will keep on caused all manner of electoral problems for the GOP.   Yes, they have been ruthless in their efforts to keep Democrats from voting.  For a very long time.  Trump and the rise of MAGA put the whole effort on steroids.  But it’s not having the effect conservatives hoped and dreamed for.  Oh, it works to a degree.  No one should kid themselves that it hasn’t cost Democrats some seats from the federal down to the local level.

But it’s clear Democrats have improved their ground game and ability to both teach voters how to overcome it, and motivate them to carry through and apply whaat they’ve learned.  To cast their votes.  THAT my friends is not all all how the GOP expected things would be by now.  In fact, I think they are worried they’ve created a backlash.

Democrats are not only not discouraged but more intent than ever on overcoming every barrier conservatives erect.  Worse though is that Independents are much more open to voting for Democrats, in no small part because of GOP antics!

There is genuine worry in the GOP about where things stand and where they are headed which leads me to the first subject in the title.  I read an article by NBC this morning regarding GOP thinking on early voting that was pretty interesting.  There’s a real debate, even conflict happening between elements of the conservative movement.  Trump has spent years railing against early voting and in particular mail-in/absentee voting.

In most places he’s had what many in the GOP consider a devastating effect.  Anyone reading this knows it’s common now to see Democrats rack up significant leads in early voting.  Republicans have come to place their bets on their traditional big advantage in election day voting to overcome it.   Sometimes it works for the GOP but sometimes not.  In fact, in three straight election cycles now Democrat’s strategy has worked better than the Trump GOP’s “bet the farm on election day” strategy.

I don’t think it’s a sudden revelation savvy Republicans have had that they’ve been stupidly giving up ground to Democrats.  They’ve just been too chickensh!t to say it openly.  Even now as it seems it’s becoming an open topic of discussion they still are afraid to confront the true problem which is Trump having poisoned the well with their own voters!  But he has, and has spent years doing so.

Maybe Trump knew all along how much trouble he might be in for in 2020 and started laying the groundwork for his Big Lie earlier than we realize.  Keep in mind he had people in his inner circle advocating even before election day to declare victory late in the evening, when many key states were far from being able to count and report their mail-in/absentee ballots.  There was even a name for the strategy (which made it into media coverage) – “Red Mirage.”

Trump, with people like Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Rudy G egging him on thought it would give him an advantage in the court battles sure to take place.  And in public opinion too.   Perhaps memories of Florida and the mess in 2000 when Bush 43, aided by little brother Jeb (then Gov. of FL and using his power) painted the picture he’d won the state drove their thinking.

However the central point is that the GOP has long enjoyed a significant advantage in election day voting and many states including some swing states (PA for example) are slow as hell in counting mail-in/absentee ballots.  Of course, why the GOP enjoys that advantage is itself a question.

I’m a senior citizen now, and it seems like it’s always been the case that in cities which tend to vote for Democrats there are always ridiculously long lines to vote.  Lines you seldom see in Republican areas.  I’m a white guy and have lived in small towns and suburbs of a couple different metro areas.  Until I dropped out of the beltway rat-race for a small town in the eastern panhandle of WV (which happened to be in a country where there were plenty of Democratic voters) I never needed more than a half-hour after parking my car to walk out of a polling place having cast my vote.

Democrats, and in Georgia in particular have learned to overcome a host of dirty tricks like getting people to go to the wrong place to cast their votes, or to limit the number of places they can cast votes.  In GA Republicans even passed a law making it illegal to walk down the line of voters and offer them water and snacks/food!  But people in these places, mostly minorities have decided nothing, nothing is going to stop them from voting!   Whether it’s long lines (and other barriers) for early voting or on election day they persevere.  Still, more Republicans (by far) vote on election day since early voting became the norm than Democrats do.

The GOP’s problem is that Trump has made things worse for them.  As noted in the article, stuff can happen on election day.  Stuff out of their control like bad weather.  Or people getting sick or injured, or even say a pandemic!  There’s also what I already mentioned about voter suppression still having an effect but not nearly as much as the GOP has hoped for.

Now add in something Murfster noted in another Politizoom piece about early voting curtailing the impact of an “October Surprise” and rational thinking conservatives who realize they are giving up too much ground in early voting and especially mail-in/absentee voting seems to have reached a critical mass.  (the mail-in/absentee thing is ironic, because it was the GOP that first recognized and took good advantage of the tactic!)  Without naming Trump specifically (like they are characters in Harry Potter who refuse to say Voldemort) an awful lot of Republicans are speaking out.

And Trump is no doubt furious at what they are saying.

Why would Trump be furious?  Well, his Big LIE is all about early voting and especially mail-in/absentee voting being a massive fraud.  That all those votes should never have been allowed but because they were he was “cheated” out of a second term.   The more talk from conservatives that early voting is good, and that both it and mail-in/absentee voting is safe and has proven to be so the worse his case for his Big Lie becomes.   It’s deflating, albeit slowly.  What it needs is for the leaders to call Trump out and rip a big hole in the Trump Baby Blimp once and for all.  But they are gutless.  Afraid to take him on directly because then they’d have to admit his Big Lie is exactly that.

No one needs to be a rocket scientist to know why.  There are a (not so) good 25-30 million MAGA voters (maybe millions more) out there that have drunk so much toxic orange Trump Kool-Aid they simply won’t be convinced.  Even if Trump himself were to tell them to start voting early and or take advantage of mail-in/absentee voting from now on they wouldn’t do it.  “Q” would simply say Trump was abducted and either imprisoned on a remote island or executed and some look-alike had replaced him!   If they were to stop drinking that orange swill perhaps in ten or fifteen years enough would seep out of their systems that some level of rational thinking might start to happen.

Which brings me to the other point in the title of this article.  In their perfect world every non-MAGA Republican wants Trump gone as much as the rest of the country does.  Not just gone but forgotten.  Or at least little remembered.  They didn’t have the guts to take him out in the primaries before the 2016 election.  When in control of both chambers of Congress they didn’t have the guts to take him out even though he committed impeachable offenses.

Even when Democrats took control of the House after Trump delivered the GOP a massive spanking in the 2016 midterms and Articles of Impeachment were approved they didn’t have the guts to take Trump out.  With TWO chances to do so.  Rational conservatives, even hard core ones want and even fervently pray for Democrats and/or the courts to do ALL the “dirty work” for them.  Then they could fundraise and motivate their voters on a theme of “Democrats were out to get Trump no matter what, no matter how.

Republicans who want Trump gone are encased in a level of cowardice that a granite saw can’t cut through!  “Profiles in Cowardice” doesn’t begin to cover it.  You could create a veritable tome of Trump’s crap and the combination of cowardice, refusal to deal with it and even cheerleading (some enthusiastic, some of the “I don’t approve of how he carries himself but approve of what he’s accomplished”) titled “How To Be A Gutless, Spineless, Sniveling COWARD In The Face Of Trump/MAGA.”

In the meantime though, there are now seriously behind-the-scenes discussions in the GOP about how to increase early voting, mail-in/absentee voting yet not simultaneously cede ground and make it easier for Democrats to also benefit.  That my friends is the modern Republican Party that rose up with Reagan – “Better for me but NOT thee.”  So read every proposal they come up with under a magnifying glass because I guarantee you they will keep trying to stack the deck in their favor.  And equal playing field where every voter has easy access to casting their ballot is the last thing they will be trying to achieve.

(Oh – one last thing…GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!)