This commentary is by John Bossange, who lives in South Burlington.
Every day we read or hear about the chaos and confusion surrounding this November’s election, especially regarding the campaigns and races for national offices. Here in Vermont, our campaigns seem relatively peaceful and respectful. Our voting process for many village, town and state positions, and for our one U.S. House seat, has not been polluted by doubt and unfounded conspiracy theories alleging fraud, as has happened in other states.
Still, Vermonters will be voting in November too, and may witness the same efforts to undermine confidence in the election results. I believe we may also see one of the three possible scenarios in states vital to the Trump administration’s attempt to maintain its control of the U.S. House and Senate.
In the first scenario, Trump and his MAGA followers will allow elections to be held because they are confident they will win key governorships, local Senate and House seats, and federal Senate and House races in enough states to remain in control of the U.S. House and Senate.
With the court-sanctioned ability to limit polling sites and mail-in ballots, require voter IDs and post U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents at pivotal county voting locations, combined with thousands of newly appointed election deniers as ballot-counting clerks, the MAGA faction feels reassured they’ll win the popular vote. Intimidation and confusion are key to MAGA candidate victories, and no lower court order to back off will be followed.
In the second scenario, Trump and the MAGA leadership will postpone November’s elections, claiming there is too much fraud and illegal voting potential to ensure the results honestly reflect the will of the voters in key counties and states.
Trump and his cohort are already searching for alleged illegal voter registrations, fomenting doubt to create a false rationale for the president to order key state governors to follow his demands. States control their elections, not the federal government, and enough red-state governors will fall in line as they have during the Trump years.
In the final scenario, elections will proceed regardless of the Trump administration’s attempts to influence the voting process and the outcomes. Many inside the White House, the administration’s family members, loyalists in Congress and those appointed to key agencies and departments have now made their millions through real estate deals, investments in offshore accounts and alleged insider trading. It’s always been about personal enrichment and financial gain, not America, just as it was during the Gilded Age.
I remain optimistic for America because of scenario three. I am hoping for an implosion within the MAGA leadership ranks, but if that does not occur soon, then I believe that desperation and fear of convictions will unite them in panic, and they will leave our great nation in a mass exodus. I am also optimistic that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) leadership will be forced to allow a leader in the mold of Lyndon B. Johnson to restore America. The current Democratic Party multimillionaire and billionaire leaders share many of the same financial goals as their Republican and MAGA friends, and this could prevent key areas of tax and investment reforms. The DNC leadership lives in the shadow of the political tragedy it created by promoting the candidacy of former President Biden in the first half of 2024.
In this optimistic scenario, we can then get busy restoring the U.S. Constitution, freed from the voice of the MAGA leadership crowd and the DNC stranglehold on potential Democratic leaders and candidates. For starters, we’ll need to rid ourselves of the curse left behind by Citizens United, restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act and eliminate the unitary executive doctrine the Supreme Court has advanced.
Abolishing the archaic Electoral College and challenging Christian nationalists will also be key elements in restoring and truly unifying America. Our country was founded on the Enlightenment ideas of freedom and equal opportunity, not on religion or race.
Finally, we will need to plug the holes in our U.S. Constitution that worried our founding fathers with additional amendments to prevent another Trump-like character from taking advantage of the good faith and trust any president needs to ensure that America’s bold experiment of an imperfect and forever evolving democracy continues for another 250 years.
