Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said on Thursday night that he will not put up with any attempts by Donald Trump or organizations like the Proud Boys to intimidate voters in his state.
“We’ve been preparing for this moment for months,” Shapiro said during an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid. “We will not let any groups, from the Proud Boys to anyone else, step in and interfere with the election in any way.”
Shapiro said that the president’s efforts to undermine democracy in Pennsylvania are clearly rooted in a fear that, if all the votes are counted, Trump will lose.
“[Trump’s] trying to do so because he knows if there’s a straight-up vote, where all votes are counted in Pennsylvania, he’s going to come out on the short end of that,” Shapiro added. “He’s going to lose.”
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he will not allow Donald Trump or organizations like the Proud Boys to intimidate voters in his state. pic.twitter.com/7zefGSlGz3
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) October 30, 2020
Shapiro said:
We’ve been preparing for this moment for months, and we will not let any groups from the Proud Boys to anyone else, step in and interfere with the election in any way. We’re very serious about protecting the vote. And we will make sure that voters are able to vote in a safe and secure manner. Look, the real problem here, Joy, is that we have a president who’s trying to not just sow doubt in this election process but sow division in the way people vote. And he’s trying to do so because he knows if there’s a straight-up vote, where all votes are counted in Pennsylvania, he’s going to come out on the short end of that. He’s going to lose. And so first he went to court to try and make it easier to bus poll watchers in from other counties and quite literally do it in way that intimidates voters in black and brown communities. We beat him on that. And now we’re going to hold anyone accountable who shows up to the polls at President Trump’s behest or anyone else’s to try and intimidate voters at the polls, particularly in our minority communities. We simply will not allow it.
Trump’s reelection rests on the outcome in Pennsylvania
Donald Trump seems to recognize what most political forecasters do: His reelection largely rests on the outcome in Pennsylvania.
With Trump lagging further and further behind in Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump knows that a loss in Pennsylvania – where he’s also behind, but by slightly less – would send his presidency to the ash heap of history where it belongs.
Ultimately, with the election just five days away, Donald Trump seems to recognize two things.
First, he has nothing to run on as the coronavirus crisis that he failed to manage is once again raging across the country. On top of that, millions of Americans are out of work.
Second, Trump knows that if all legal votes are counted, he is going to come up short.
It’s no surprise then that in the final days of his campaign, Donald Trump is downplaying the pandemic and holding superspreader rallies while working overtime to undermine voting rights in key battleground states.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.