In a column for the Daily Beast, conservative Matt Lewis claims Donald Trump's last-ditch attempt to be re-elected may hinge on his ability to rally close to 4.8 million non-voters who are white and lack a college education to register and then turn out at the polls in November with his racist fearmongering.
Calling them a "secret army," Lewis noted that group -- which pollsters have indicated are solidly in Trump's camp even if they don't vote -- could save the president in the battleground states that hold the Electoral College votes that propeled him to the presidency in 2016.
According to Lewis, "There are millions of potential voters out there you’ve probably never even thought of. And unlike the assumption that 'bringing in new voters' means moderating your message or 'going to the center,' these are people who are more likely to vote the more Trump’s handlers let Trump be Trump."
And by writing "let Trump be Trump," Lewis means racist dog whistles and ramping up fears of cultural change.
Pointing out that those voters reside in the states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Lewis explained, "If Trump can just find enough new voters in just the right places (some could even be hiding in progressive enclaves), he could lose by up to 5 points nationally and still win the Electoral College. This kind of unlikely but plausible scenario should be keeping Democrats awake at night."
As the conservative -- who left the Republican Party due to Trump -- explained, the president knows what he is doing with his "law and order" campaign which is designed to push the buttons of just those potential voters.
"You don’t have to be cynical about human nature to see how riots tap into the primal fears of the very voters Trump needs to turn out to vote. Few issues pack the kind of emotional punch needed to overcome the weird mix of non-voter apathy, a global pandemic, and an economic downturn, but the combination of street violence and racial anxiety could do the trick," he wrote before questioning whether Trump could manage to pull it off.
"Even with a hot-button emotional issue, it’s unclear whether Trump has the vision, bandwidth, or logistical manpower to convert non-voters into showing up and voting for him. This kind of effort takes a machine, which conflicts with Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip ethos," he wrote adding, "The upshot here is that Trump could actually be (pardon the cliché) thinking outside the box. Combined with trying to win back some suburban voters and Black men, he could patch together a tenuous Electoral College majority."
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