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Comment by 5upplied_demand | Hacker News Reader

> OK, let's assume that.

No need to assume, they have explicitly stated it!

> To wit, top Republicans warn GOP will face midterm election ‘bloodbath’. Why bother caring?

This isn't about "Top Republicans," it is about the administration. The same administration that is actively trying to nationalize elections to prevent that bloodbath.

Secondly, is it conceivable that Republicans fearing an electoral bloodbath would make them more likely to support aggressive election interference (ICE a polling stations, new election laws, Federal takeover of elections, re-litigating 2020 Georgia results)?

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> > OK, let's assume that.

> No need to assume, they have explicitly stated it!

Really honest question... can you point us to that explicit statement?

The Trump administration's official executive orders and fact sheets repeatedly state their goal is to have "free, fair, and honest elections".

They have specific policy proposals around voter ID, citizenship verification, and election integrity measures.

I will concede that what they think is free and fair, others might not, like legal ID requirement, so that's a requirement reasonable people can disagree on.

But I do think, but am very open to be proven wrong, that they explicitly state that they want to do away with free elections.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/pres...

https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-pr...

Other people have already shared the multiple statements Trump has made, I've added some below.

> “I won’t say cancel the election, they should cancel the election...”

> "You Won't Have to Vote Anymore"

> "The Republicans should say: 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,"

That's not the same thing as policy. That's not the same thing as goal. Politicians say lots of things to get elected, or to troll, or symptoms of senility, etc.

To argue against myself, one could take it at face value. If you do, then you are saying you are near 100% confident that's the goal in which case you ought to do something about it. The lack of more urgency or extreme counter action suggests to me that not enough people truly think that that is fact the goal.

You could maybe accuse me of being naïvely hopeful.

You asked for statements and I provided them. Now you are pivoting to "policy" as if authoritarians would release policy papers about how they want to end free and fair elections. Please cite some of those examples if you can find them.

One the other side, we have many historical examples of authoritarians claiming elections to be free and fair in order to cement power. The rest of the world knows Putin isn't receiving 88.5% of the vote in a free and fair election. Stalin and Mussolini also held elections. None were free, fair, or honest and that is the entire point.

> Politicians say lots of things to get elected, or to troll, or symptoms of senility, etc.

Why ask for the statements in the first place if they don't matter and can be waved away?

> The lack of more urgency or extreme counter action suggests to me that not enough people truly think that that is fact the goal.

This isn't about whether "enough people truly think it is the goal." It is about the stated claims and goals of the administration, which have been shared with you multiple times in this thread. Please stop with the red herrings.

> That's not the same thing as policy.

I'm not sure what you're looking for here. Would you like a White House memorandum on official letterhead saying "How We'll Steal the Election"?

A fish rots from the head. The president has made his position clear, and his enablers will work to realize his vision.

If you're looking for concrete steps they've taken to undermine elections, you can see the recent blatantly unconstitutional seizing of Fulton County's voter records [1]. Or any of the illegal and coercive actions taken by the president and his minions between Nov 6, 2019 and Jan 20, 2020. As well as the blanker pardoning of many criminals who helped him in that endeavor.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/02/10/nx-s1-5710649/fulton-county-2...

> Really honest question... can you point us to that explicit statement?

Yes, right here:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/five-takeaways-reuters-inte...

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