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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate - "Trump Proves He's Open-Minded on Voter Fraud Like Tobacco Companies Were Open-Minded on
Cancer"
by Leon Neyfakh
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/07/19/trump_accidentally_exposes_the_lie_at_the_heart_of_the_pence_kobach_voter.html
A once-marginal movement to prove the existence of rampant voter fraud in America was formally embraced and empowered by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, as his administrations commission on election integrity held its first public hearing. Trump, whose interest in voter fraud is fueled by his stated belief that millions of people illegally voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, offered some congratulatory remarks as the hearing got underway, telling the ostensibly bipartisan panel that he looked forward to their recommendations and was entrusting them with the scared duty of upholding the integrity of the ballot box and the principle of one citizen, one vote.
The hearing comes about two weeks after the commissionwhich is led by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobachbrought on voter fraud activists Hans von Spakovsky and J. Christian Adams as panel members and asked election officials in all 50 states to submit their registered voters names, addresses, party affiliations, and the last four digits of their social security numbers. It has been reported that at least 14 states have informed the commission they will not comply with the request at all, and at least 44 have said they would not comply with it in its entirety.
In toasting the commission during his remarks on Wednesday, Trump inadvertently revealed the lie that resides in its premise for existing. With one side of his mouth, he instructed the panel members to approach their research with a very open mind and with no conclusions already drawn, and told them to fairly and objectively follow the facts wherever they may lead. With the other, he made sneering reference to states that have declined to honor the commissions request for voter information, implying they were resisting because they had something to hide. One has to wonder what theyre worried about, Trump said. Theres something. There always is.
The Pence-Kobach commission is the government-funded equivalent of a team of researchers being paid by a tobacco company to study the link between cancer and smoking. Ostensibly the research is being undertaken in the spirit of open inquiry, but in reality its rigged to produce a specific result that will be useful to its patrons. Trump and the others overseeing this effort feel obligated to say the commission has no preconceived notions, because otherwise they wont be able to say its conclusions have any credibility. But Trumps comments about states having something to hide confirms what was already obvious: The purpose of this commission is to lend credibility to the false idea that elections are being routinely compromised through voter fraud.
This issue is very important to me, Trump said.
Translation: I know you wont disappoint me.
Renew Deal
(81,869 posts)So I don't know why they care now
forgotmylogin
(7,530 posts)Where the wife disappears under mysterious circumstances and the husband blithely goes on like she's going to walk back in any minute now despite having been gone for 63 days, and helpfully tries to aid the investigation thinking that makes him look concerned and innocent, but he is just wanting to make sure he knows everything the detectives know...