In his first post-presidential address, Donald Trump again blasted the 2020 presidential election much to the delight of his most dedicated fans assembled at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering in Florida over the weekend.

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“We have a very sick and corrupt electoral process that must be fixed immediately,” Trump told the cheering crowd in Orlando. “This election was rigged. Our election process is worse . . . than that of a Third World country.”

The former president described a long list of illegalities and abnormalities including an unprecedented volume of mishandled mail-in ballots, lack of voter identification, and “no excuse” absentee voting.  . . .

Moments before Trump took the stage, the event’s organizers released the results of a straw poll listing election integrity as the top concern of CPAC attendees. Polls continue to show the overwhelming majority of Republicans view the 2020 election as invalid despite attempts by Democrats, the media, and the U.S. Justice Department to criminalize any expressed doubts that Joe Biden won the White House fair and square.

Rigging the Vote Forever?

Republican state lawmakers are listening to their infuriated constituents. The GOP controls the legislatures in every state that flipped from Trump to Biden; several bills to prevent another election disaster are pending in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona. “Legislators are taking aim at mail voting at every stage, with proposals to circumscribe who can vote by mail, make it harder to obtain mail ballots, and impose hurdles to complete and cast mail ballots,” according to an analysis by the Brennan Center, a nonprofit organization opposed to Republican election remedies.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are rushing to supersede any attempt by state Republicans to eliminate COVID-justified election rules. Debate begins this week on HR 1, the “For the People Act,” which not only would codify the pandemic-era voting guidance but greatly expand access to voting in ways that would ensure a Republican never again wins the White House, not to mention many other federal and state offices. HR 1 is the biggest attempted electoral power grab in history, a flagrant and unconstitutional usurpation of the authority individual states have to write election law. . . .

“If a bill like that passed, it would immediately shatter the American people’s trust in our electoral process,” Representative James Banks (R-Ind.) told me by email. “Rewriting election rules to tip the scale in your favor is un-American and anti-democratic.” . . .

States would be forced to begin early voting at least 15 days before Election Day and extend vote-counting until at least 10 days afterward.

The American tradition of in-person voting also would be a thing of the past.  . . .

Registration would be a free-for-all.  . . .

People claiming any type of disability, even dexterity issues, could register and vote from home, similar to the “indefinitely confined” rule imposed in Wisconsin last year.

People could register online while millions who receive any sort of service at massive federal agencies including “the Social Security Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the . . . Department of Defense, the . . . Department of Labor, and . . . Medicare [and] Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services” would automatically be registered to vote. Ditto for anyone accessing services at the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services but “only those who have completed the naturalization process.” . . .

Stripping States of Redistricting Power

At the same time, barriers would prevent the purging of outdated voter rolls. Vague laws to prevent “voter intimidation” or “false information” would result in prosecution just as more criminals would be added to the eligibility list. Washington, D.C. finally would win statehood and residents of U.S. territories would be eligible to vote for president.

One of the greatest spoils of political victory—the power to redraw congressional and legislative districts every ten years —would be stripped from state legislatures (in most cases) and handed over to a 15-member commission with a “fair” balance of partisans to avoid gerrymandering, a practice refined over decades by Democrats in populous states but now considered verboten as those states lose seats and Republicans gain them instead. . . .

“This monster must be stopped,” Trump said, referring to HR 1. A coalition of conservatives and Trump loyalists are fighting the legislation, an uphill battle to say the least.

Election fraud deniers on the Right failed to grasp that last year’s debacle was a trial run. Now that establishment figures from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to the editors of National Review continue to dismiss allegations of election fraud as Trumpian conspiracy theories, Democrats, shrewdly describing election fraud as a “Big Lie,” are emboldened to get their way. (It will be amusing to watch those on the Right who defended the integrity of the election object to HR 1.)

For now, it’s a race for Republicans in swing states to shore up their election laws and prepare for a messy legal fight ahead.

Share your prayers for H.R.1 in the comments below. . .

(Excerpt from American Greatness. Article by Julie Kelly. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)