April 08, 2020 10:46 AM UTC

Trump to Republicans: If People Vote, We Lose

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As Politico reports, President Trump is again saying the quiet part out loud regarding efforts to increase mail-in voting options around the country:

President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed Republicans to “fight very hard” against efforts to expand mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that such a shift in ballot-casting practices would yield unfavorable electoral results for the GOP. [Pols emphasis]

“Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”…

…The president fiercely criticized mail-in voting as “horrible” and “corrupt” during the White House coronavirus task force’s daily news conference Tuesday, but also conceded that he voted by mail in Florida’s primary last month.

Trump offered no legitimate explanation for the discrepancy between his position on mail-in voting and his personal voting habits, but insisted “there’s a big difference between somebody that’s out of state and does a ballot, and everything’s sealed, certified and everything else.”

Nobody with even a partially-functioning brain will be confused by what Trump is saying here: Republicans win in November 2020 if fewer Americans vote. Period.

Partisan politics aside, there are plenty of good reasons to support mail-in voting — just ask anybody in Wisconsin. Heck, just ask anybody here in Colorado, where mail balloting has gone smoothly for years. More people voting is a good thing, regardless of who they vote for.