Brazen

Donald Trump was impeached because he was using the power of the presidency for personal gain, specifically to help his own reelection efforts. In voting to acquit, several Republican Senators conceded Trump had done what he was accused of but that the impeachment process had chastened him and he'd learned his lesson — he wouldn't do it again.

In response, many said such naivete was absurd. Instead, they said, knowing he'd gotten away with his crimes, Trump would just do it again.

And now, Trump himself has proven them right.

Trump is now threatening to use the power of the presidency to cut off all federal funding to two key swing states because they've expanded mail voting for this year's general election. There is no federal issue here. Trump doesn't want the two states to have mail voting because it hurts his reelection chances. So he's using the presidency, once again, for personal gain.

David Graham at The Atlantic published an interesting take on this yesterday (link here) in a piece entitled "Trump Is Brazenly Interfering With the 2020 Election" and the secondary title of "The president appears to be gambling that openly tweeting his threats will let him get away with them."

As Graham rightly notes, "It’s a crime to try to withhold funds appropriated by Congress in order to interfere with voting."

Trump is now committing his crimes out in the open in plain sight. If he's given a second term, his crimes will become larger and more numerous.

He must be stopped on November 3.