Trump’s $5,000 check is definitely not in the mail — but your ballot could be

In a necessary and unquestionably correct decision , the U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to let President Trump throw the midterm elections into chaos with his scheme to use the U.S. Postal Service to interfere with mail-in voting.

The ruling should have been unanimous. Several states had already mailed out ballots . Others had already printed their election materials. And the Postal Service had not even created the portal that states were supposed to use to upload lists of citizens that, according to Trump’s unconstitutional order, would be used to decide which ballots to deliver.

It is appalling that Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas were willing to let the Trump administration impose last-minute changes that were sure to cause what both Republican and Democratic election officials warned would be massive disruption and voter disenfranchisement.

The court’s MAGA maximalists seem to be operating under the principle that anything that interferes with Trump’s authoritarian whims is a violation of the Constitution. Fortunately, in this case, even Trump justices who helped invent king-like immunity for the president recognized that the attempt to force new election rules on the states — especially this close to an election — was a recipe for disaster.

Trump responded in the highly reasonable and presidential fashion for which he is known, ranting angrily about the justices he nominated, charging that they have given into bullying by the “ Radical Left ” and are now “ merely a shell of their original selves .”

Unfortunately, the effort to hinder mail-in voting is only part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to rig the midterm elections in favor of Republicans.

After the 2020 election and its aftermath, we know that Trump and his supporters are willing to try just about anything to overturn the results of elections they lose. Today, with the president’s unpopularity dragging down Republican prospects for keeping control of Congress, Trump is sowing doubt that the elections will be fair. He claims, as he has before, that Democrats cannot possibly win unless they cheat.

In August, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin signaled another potential avenue of attack, warning that Chinese-made components in election machines pose “significant security risks.” Given that Trump and his allies have repeatedly made wild false claims about the 2020 election involving foreign governments and overseas servers and a mysterious “algorithm” that supposedly flipped votes from Trump to Biden, it’s not hard to imagine the kind of disinformation they could be preparing to spread about voting machines to challenge the outcome of elections this fall.

Fortunately, we know what we’re up against. We have seen the Trump team in action. We will not be surprised by any skullduggery they attempt before, on, or after Election Day. Election officials, voting rights groups, and legal organizations are on full alert.

Trump is the biggest threat to local officials’ ability to conduct an election whose outcome can be accepted by Americans of all political stripes as fairly reflecting the will of the voters. And we approach these consequential elections at a time when Trump’s behavior is increasingly erratic and his rhetoric divorced from reality .

That is the context for his latest ploy to keep Congress in the hands of subservient Republicans who will never hold him accountable for corruption or anything else. At their recent convention, Trump promised $5,000 to every to every American adult if Republicans keep control of both houses of Congress.

His dangled bribe is about as credible as the bogus defenses and justifications offered by administration officials who cannot contradict the boss. His claim that he could promise the more than $1 trillion bribe because the country is “ making so much money ” is laughable in the face of the multi-trillion-dollar deficit his administration is already running.

Few people believe Trump — and nobody should. He promised Americans thousands of dollars in Department of Government Efficiency and tariff dividends. American families never got those checks. Instead, they got higher gas prices and a higher cost of living that are the direct result of Trump’s reckless policies.

Instead of changing directions in ways that might actually help people, Trump is throwing out a false promise of cash. It reeks of desperation and dishonesty.

I think, and polling suggests, it’s getting less likely that voters will keep the country on its current destructive path based on trust-me bluster from our self-proclaimed “ high IQ ” president. Americans know Trump’s $5,000 check is not in the mail. It will never be in the mail. But now that Trump’s plans to disrupt voting have been rejected, our ballots may be.

Whether you plan to cast your ballot by mail, place it in a drop box, vote early in person or go to your polling place on Election Day, Nov. 3. Be sure to vote — for accountability, affordability, the beginning of the end of the Trump regime’s chokehold on our country and the chance to build a future where all our people, all our families and all our communities can thrive.

Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way .