President Donald Trump's latest election scheme reveals something about his character, according to one lawyer.
For over a month, Trump's allies in the Texas legislature have tried to redraw their electoral maps to give Trump five new congressional seats. Now, Trump says he will get rid of mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 primary election.
"I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly “Inaccurate,” Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
Trump's comments were alarming to Joyce Vance, who wrote an essay about the announcement on Substack.
"Trump believes the best hope for his party to win, or at least not lose too badly in the midterm elections and beyond, is stripping Americans of their right to vote," she wrote. "He seems to be afraid of the outcome if Republicans have to run on his record—and their own records—because there’s no need to cheat if you’re confident you’ll win."
Trump has railed against "election integrity" since he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. He has consistently and baselessly claimed the election was rigged. GOP-friendly media outlets that parroted Trump's claims have paid millions to settle defamation cases brought by election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic.
Vance added that Trump's plan to get rid of mail-in ballots should offend his supporters.
"It’s nauseating," Vance wrote. "Trump voters should be offended, although I’ve seen few signs of this, that he would tell such blatant lies and expect them to stomach them. The hypocrisy of Trump claiming that only free and fair elections guarantee democracy can’t be lost on elected Republicans, even if they refuse to publicly acknowledge it."