Thom Hartmann for BuzzFlash: Wisconsin Is Latest Unconscionable Example of GOP War on the Right to Vote, Dangerously Exploiting the Coronavirus

April 7th 2020

Wisconsin National Guard specimen collection team sent to senior living facility in Sheboygan (Spc. Emma Anderson)

By Thom Hartmann

The Republican war on voting rolls on. The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court, and the Republican-controlled US Supreme Court have both, over the loud objection of their own members, ruled that physical, in-person elections must happen in Wisconsin today. The city with the largest black population in Wisconsin, Milwaukee, normally has 180 polling places open, but today there are only five because of a lack of poll workers. In white rural areas, however, polling places are largely open and well-staffed. The Republican Party has decided this is a good thing for them, a sentiment expressed by both the president and other high profile Republicans. Meanwhile, we now find, according to the New York Times, three different investment vehicles inside the Trump family have invested heavily in the French company that makes hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that Trump has been relentlessly pushing to treat COVID-19. We are now seeing, for the first time in the history of our country, what it’s like when a wannabe mob boss and lifelong grifter is elevated to the office of President of the United States and an entire political party has decided to throw in with him. This is exactly what Alexander Hamilton warned us about and is a true danger to our democracy.

Thom Hartmann is a talk-show host and the author of The Hidden History of the War on Voting and more than 30 other books in print. His most recent project is a science podcast called The Science Revolution. He is a writing fellow at the Independent Media Institute.