Only Republican votes count?

I used to joke that someday Republicans will create a system where only their votes can be counted. Even as I joked about it, I felt a weird and ominous sense that it could happen. We now have Trump blathering on during his meeting with European leaders that he is going to write an executive order banning mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines. He lied and says no other country uses them. Then he continued to vomit about corruption, Democrats, blah blah blah.
 
According to an article posted by PBS, “Data compiled by a Sweden-based organization that advocates for democracy globally, found in an October 2024 report found that 34 countries or territories allow mail-in voting, which it refers to as ‘postal voting.’” Most of the countries are in Europe. Trump and his children have used mail-in ballots, and last fall, the Republican Party encouraged their voters to use mail-in voting. That strategy may have helped tip rural votes in his favor.
 
That meeting was on the heels of Trump’s meeting with War Criminal Putin in Alaska. Vladimir Putin has an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for kidnapping Ukrainian children. Over 16,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported to Russia. This is the guy who runs the global child trafficking operation that conservatives claim to care about. What a disgrace.
 
If you didn’t believe that Trump was a Russian asset before, the evidence is right there in front of you. Watch Trump command our military to roll out the red carpet for Putin as he got off his plane. "Look at what happened Friday. US military personnel in uniform literally were on their hands and knees rolling out a red carpet for the most murderous dictator of the 21st century ... somehow we keep on acting like Putin deserves to be brought out in the open like any head of state. This is a historic embarrassment and defeat for US foreign policy,” said Rep. Jason Crow.
 
I know, we all long for the days when we didn’t have to wake up dreading what might be on the news today, like Trump deploying the military into the streets of Washington, D.C. Bulldozing the meager tents and possessions of the homeless is one horror, and then seeing tanks patrolling the streets as another.

I have been to our nation's capitol many times. I am a huge history nerd; when we took the family to D.C. when our sons were young, I cried as I read the inscription on the Lincoln Memorial to them. Now there are tanks.

Can you say Epstein files?
 
Trump announced the move on Aug. 11, claiming that Washington had been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people.” His claims contradicted official statistics, which show that violent crime in the capital is at a 30-year low.
 
As California Gov. Gavin Newsom put it: “I think he should start with Shreveport, Louisiana, and Speaker [Mike] Johnson's district that has six times the per capita murder rate of Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco. What about the carnage, Mr. President, in Shreveport? Why aren't you protecting the folks there? Eight of the top ten murder states in this country are red states. What bullshit.”
 
All this to distract from the Epstein files.
 
Now Trump is trying to distract the country by saying slavery wasn’t so bad. Will he move on to claiming that perhaps the Holocaust was okay because it provided free labor to the automaker BMW?
 
Remember, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell went to prison because they were found guilty of soliciting children to their clients, not to each other. Distract, distract, distract.
 
We had a great turnout at our county party meeting last night. The structure of the meeting was changed to provide a 25-minute period where folks could share their thoughts, issues and strategies. I learned a lot. There was even a plug to stay healthy and get your flu and Covid shots.
 
Remember, this is YOUR county party. When we talk about the Democratic party, that is you! It is your ideas and energy that are pushing us forward through this very tough time. Keep showing up, writing letters to the editor, join a county party committee, and never give up hope. 

Make certain you follow our county party on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky. Like them and share.
 
Thank you for reading.