Staff Reports
The former president has stirred up a bit of a tempest by suggesting he could win California — yes, that California — if only Jesus Christ were in charge of counting the ballots. Not exactly your typical campaign pep talk, but hey, when it comes to Trump, every day is an adventure in polling policy and divine interventions. In an interview with Dr. Phil (because where else would you discuss election integrity?), Trump lamented how the Democrats have turned ballot counting into their personal game. The highlight? Allegations that some voters in California are collecting up to seven ballots each. Sounds like a scavenger hunt, but for political power.
Trump didn’t hold back, painting the state as a bastion of dishonesty, primarily due to its mail-in voting practices. He revisited the theme of honesty in voting with fervor, suggesting that a straightforward vote counter — perhaps with divine insights — would shift the Californian landscape in his favor. It’s worth noting that historically speaking, the last Republican to carry California in a presidential election was… wait for it… George H.W. Bush in 1988. Times have changed. Biden won the state with an impressive margin in 2020, leaving Trump’s bold claims teetering on the edge of wishful thinking.
Trump: "If Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California." @AccountableGOP
pic.twitter.com/OSiUbdy7od— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) August 28, 2024
Despite his claims of a hidden Trump-loving demographic lurking in California, the evidence has yet to surface in any substantial way. He insists that there are Trump signs plastered all over the place, hinting at a grassroots movement eager to rise up, only to be held back by supposed electoral fraud. But one has to wonder if those signs are merely the mirage of a wishful thinker rather than an actual ground swell of support.
Opposition voices quickly jumped into the fray, with the Harris-Walz campaign firing back at Trump’s assertions. Rather than counter with statistics or evidence, they went for the classic approach: dismissing him as out of touch. They brought up his record, claiming he left office with a less than stellar jobs report and insinuating his policies endangered women’s health. If retaliation by way of decade-old grievances is the strategy, it’s a curious approach for California Democrats who have, for all intents and purposes, long since camped out in the Governor’s Mansion.
So, is Trump absolutely convinced he could pull off a Californian miracle absent divine intervention? Perhaps he believes the good people of California just need to wake up to their “true” potential. But with Democrats having a firm grip on the state since the late ’80s, one has to wonder if he’s closely monitoring those mailbox practices or simply playing an elaborate game of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice If.” At the end of the day, California remains the Democratic fortress it has been for decades, leaving Trump’s declarations more in the realm of fantasy rather than a forecast for November.
