Why I’m voting for Biden: Trump’s base is still chanting “lock her up!”

September 20, 2020

I’m voting for Joe Biden this fall because Trump’s fan base is still chanting “Lock her up!” at his rallies –– rallies which Trump now describes, without irony, as “protests against stupidity.”

We all remember the fun and misogyny from 2016 when Republicans were outraged that Hillary Clinton used a private email server, but this is 2020, the opponent is now Joe Biden, and it’s the Trump administration now breaking federal rules regarding email systems.

If you’re interested in reality, here’s a list of the email misdeeds of the Trump administration:

Jared Kushner has conducted official government business on What’s App, a supposedly secure platform that we now know has been infiltrated by Iranian hackers.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used a non-classified email system to send classified documents.

Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland used a personal email account to discuss selling nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.

Betsy DeVos and Ivanka Trump have used personal email accounts to conduct official government emails. (Note to self: write about nepotism in a future post.)

So did white nationalist and Trump Senior Adviser Stephen Miller, former Chief of Staff and opportunist Reince Priebus, and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.

And let’s not forget the now-indicted, out-on-bail former Trump Administration Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor Stephen Bannon –– he too used personal email accounts to conduct government business. (Note to self: write about law and order in a future post.)

It’s already clear that hypocrisy is not really something that bothers Republicans, and it’s also clear that the 2016 “lock her up” chant wasn’t really about email –– it was about resenting women who dared to seek a place at the table.

And that’s what it represents today as well. At his protest against stupidity, Trump shifted his misogyny to U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  His stupidity protesters need a villain, and it works better when those villains are women and people of color.