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Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpMichael Cohen to be released early from prison amid coronavirus pandemic: report Biden assembling White House transition team Top Republicans call on Trump to fund WHO pending director-general's resignation MORE warns that if voting is made easier for more people especially some still frightened by the pandemic You'd never have a Republican elected in this country again.

The president, who has been caught in thousands of lies, is saying what he really believes even if it's hyperbole. This may be an example of a political gaffe, which Michael Kinsley described as when a politician tells "some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say."

This is an especially critical issue now, as parts of the country could be imperiled by the novel coronaviruss second strike in November; the harbinger might be this month's elections in Wisconsin, where there was a surge of absentee ballots though in the confusion some were not counted, and others citizens were forced to choose between their health or in-person voting.

A major fight is brewing in Congress over whether to provide states with real resources to craft alternatives more voting by mail, simplifying absentee voting, opening more and less crowded polling venues. This is fiercely opposed by Trump and Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellCalifornia to provide food industry employees with two weeks paid leave Trumpfaces roadblocks with threat to adjourn Congress On The Money: Small business loan program out of money | Lawmakers at impasse over new funds | Senate adjourns for week with no deal | Trump to leave decision on reopening economies with governors MORE as they see it helping lower income voters of color, students and citizens with disabilities.

This reflects a lengthy list of Republicans efforts over the past decade to suppress voting among selective groups. With the help of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which tracks voter suppression, here are a few examples:

This is all done in the name of preventing voter fraud, which itself is a fraud. Virtually every study or analysis from academic research to organizations to foundations to state election boards has found voting fraud in America is almost nonexistent. Trump appointed a commission, headed by Vice President Pence, to refute this overwhelming evidence; it bombed and disbanded.

Last month's stimulus bill, despite objections from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, allocated $400 million to the states to enhance voting procedures this fall, when the virus may return in force. That isn't nearly sufficient.

House Speaker Nancy PelosiNancy PelosiTop Republicans call on Trump to fund WHO pending director-general's resignation Overnight Health Care: Trump guidelines on reopening to let governors make decision | Trump approach garners mixed reviews | Senate adjourns without deal on small business loans 14 things to know about coronavirus for today MORE (D-Calif.) wants to add at least $2 billion more in additional measures, without requiring the budget-starved states to kick in. Ideally this should include mandates for voting by mail in the pandemic environment, but Republicans will do anything to stop that.

The hypocrisy, of course, is that in states that already have mail-in voting like Pennsylvania the Republican Party is sending mailers to registered Republicans urging them to vote by mail. Theres obviously nothing inherently wrong or corrupt about the practice; they just dont want it to spread.

Trump and McConnell, whose priorities always are money and power, could care less if thereare more Wisconsins: On anything even approximating a level playing field, the odds are against Republicans winning the presidency and holding the Senate this November so they're trying to tilt the field.

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then the International New York Times and Bloomberg View. Follow him on Twitter@AlHuntDC.

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Trump lays bare the Republicans' mail-in voting hypocrisy | TheHill - The Hill