As the Democratic National Convention opens, Donald Trump says he'll win another four years in office, and then another four years on top of that "because they spied on my campaign."
"We should get a redo of our years," he told a crowd in Oshkosh, WI, to chants of "Four more years."
Well, well. Really?
That prediction came on the day that CNN reported Trump's Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, holds a nine-point margin nationally over Trump, and is supported by 51 percent of registered voters nationwide, while Trump has just 42 percent.
While those poll numbers are good news for those who oppose Trump, they can change in a heartbeat — especially given the volatile nature of national developments as the nation struggles with the coronavirus pandemic and the racial discord that has erupted since the police slaying of George Floyd.
To this point, 170,000 souls have been taken by Covid 19, and Trump's failure to effectively respond to the pandemic must bear the blame for thousands of those deaths. The nation's economy, once considered Trump's strong point, is in tatters with an unemployment rate at 10.2 percent when July came to a close.
Trump, of course, has tried to turn the post-George Floyd demonstrations to his advantage as he has sent federal gestapo units into such cities as Portland, Seattle, Chicago to emphasize his tough "law and order" stance, despite growing national support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement across ethnic groups.
In fact, a Pew Research survey shows that two-thirds of U.S. adults support the movement, 38 percent, strongly so. While that sentiment is most prevalent among Black Americans, 60 percent of White, 77 percent of Hispanic, and 75 percent of Asian Americans expressed at least some support for BLM.
Meanwhile, Trump gets negative marks for his handling of the demonstrations, with six-in-ten saying he has been delivering the wrong message in response to the protests.
Now, his attack on the U.S. Postal Service that he acknowledges is meant to discourage Americans from voting by mail have angered even more voters, prompting attorneys general from several states to consider legal action against his administration. Their goal is to prevent Trump's new postmaster general from reducing mail service, actions that are causing widespread mail delays in many areas of the country.
So, while Trump's goal is to make it harder for people to vote by mail, on the theory that more Democrats than Republicans want to do this, the U.S.P.S. slowdown is affecting peoples' lives. Prescription drugs are arriving late, as are paychecks, Social Security benefits, welfare payments, and more.
It is an idiotic scheme that can only backfire on Trump and the Republicans who do his bidding.
Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called members of the House of Representatives back to Washington from their summer recess to vote on legislation sponsored by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) to require the Postal Service to keep up its current delivery standards until the end of the year.
The Democratic-controlled House can be expected to approve that legislation, but the real test will be in the Senate, where Trump's Republicans are in charge. What will they do? Will they even come back to Washington to vote?
Meanwhile, with all of this as a backdrop, the Democrats' stars will be filling the airwaves and news cycles all week, culminated by Harris' and Biden's acceptance speeches Friday night.
And as all of this occurs, Trump will be pulling whatever stunts he can to remain on top of the news — like today, when he said he'll not only win re-election, but another four years on top of that.
What's the prison term for treason? That's the number of years that should be in Trump's future.
November 3.