Trump's executive order creating a voter registry is blatantly unconstitutional; it must be stopped

News and commentary from a Florida perspective

Remember those times Donald Trump said, since he’s president, we don’t need elections anymore?

Great joke, right?

Maybe he thought it was April Fool’s Day or something.

Turns out he wasn’t fooling about his intentions.

Why?

Because yesterday, Trump signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting. Specifically:

• He ordered the Department of Homeland Security (the same lovable federal agency that brought us ICE) to work with the Social Security Administration to compile a list of registered voters in every state—and to verify they are entitled to vote.

• And he ordered the Post Office to block the delivery of mail-in ballots to voters who are not on the list.

You know this already, but just to be clear:

HE DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO DO THIS!

Elections are run by states, not by would-be-monarchs living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

As Heather Cox Richardson wrote this morning:

“This is unconstitutional on its face,” election law expert David Becker told Yunior Rivas of Democracy Docket.

“The Constitution clearly gives the president no power over elections.” The Senate Rules Committee oversees federal involvement in elections, and its top Democrat, Alex Padilla (D-CA), called the order a “blatant, unconstitutional abuse of power,” adding that Trump has “no authority to commandeer federal elections or direct the Postal Service to undermine mail and absentee voting.”

Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said that the order is “illegal, dangerous and subversive” and that “Donald Trump fears the American people and is willing to violate the Constitution to stop them from voting.”

“See you in court,” posted Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “You will lose.”

Trump claims to be doing this under the guise of “election integrity,” but we all know that’s a sick joke.

What he wants is to suppress the midterm election vote because he knows the Republican Party, which he’s working overtime to destroy, is going to be—to use one of his favorite terms—decimated. And when the G.O.P. loses control of the House and the Senate, his unmonitored destruction of our democracy comes to an end.

We mustn’t forget that the Felon-in-Chief is also the guy who attempted to overthrow the last election he lost, begged his vice president to fraudulently block the Electoral College vote count, and urged a mob to storm the Capitol—all in service of thwarting the will of the people in a fair and free election.

Trump doesn’t care about “voter integrity,” he hates elections.

It’s no joke.

As Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told the Associated Press:

“It is just wrongheaded for a president of the United States to pretend like he can pick his own voters. That’s just not how America works.”

Yep. Un-American as hell.

Related:

Why the Hell Is Trump “Joking” About Canceling Elections?

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From Florida to the Moon

NASA is set to launch four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the moon this evening. This will be the first time since 1972 that humans have been back to the Moon, although this trip will not involve a landing.

The launch window today opens at 6:24 p.m. and lasts for two hours. Florida weather forecasts are favorable, but if liftoff from Cape Canaveral is delayed, NASA still has opportunities for the rest of the week.

The Artemis moon program is a “multi-phase campaign” to return humans to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. It’s named after the twin sister of Apollo.

The program is structured as a series of increasingly complex missions:

• Artemis I (Completed 2022): An uncrewed flight test that successfully sent the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket around the Moon and back.

• Artemis II (Scheduled for today): The first crewed mission of the program, which will take four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby without landing.

• Artemis III (Scheduled for mid-2027): A crewed demonstration in Earth orbit to test rendezvous and docking with commercial lunar landers.

• Artemis IV (Scheduled for 2028): Targeted to be the first mission to land humans on the Moon’s South Pole since the Apollo era.

• Artemis V and beyond: Planned annual missions to build a permanent Moon base and maintain a regular human presence.

Meet the crew that will blast off from Cape Canaveral:

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J.C. Bruce is the founder of Tropic Press, a Florida online news service dedicated to sharing news and commentary relevant to Florida readers, whether it originates in the Sunshine State or elsewhere. Bruce is an award-winning former newspaper editor, journalist and author living in Florida, his native state.

Onward thru the fog

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

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As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends. If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

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