The Real Steal by Geoff Carter « The Pen in Hand Blog

Illustration by Michael DiMilo

By Geoff Carter

President Donald J. Trump is a master of diversion, deception, and delusion. Smoke and mirrors, obfuscation, pettifogging, and downright lying are all trademarks of his brand. It may sound like he’s some sort of magician, but he’s anything but that. He’s a huckster, a grifter, a bullshitter, and—at his heart of hearts (black as it is)—a thief. His MO is to frighten, enrage, and intimidate his followers.

Trans athletes in your sons’ locker rooms? Immigrants eating your cats and dogs? Should the United States invade Greenland? Dissolve NATO? It’s the Gulf America because I say so. This man destroyed the East Wing of the White House, unleashed DOGE on the good people of our government, and enacted punishing tariffs on our friends and allies. He pushed his One Big Beautiful Bill through Congress, enacting monstrous tax cuts for his billionaire buddies (donors) tech wizards. He added his own name to the Kennedy Center for the Arts, causing huge defections of artists and staff there. When confronted by Senator Chuck Schumer about releasing billions of dollars of federal funding for an infrastructure project, the president responded by saying he would do so if he could change the name of Dulles International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport. He also said he wanted the name of Penn Station named after him. Of course, all of this outrageous chicanery was covered—excessively—by the news media.

For all his numerous faults, the man works headlines and news cycles like an organ grinder’s monkey. Of course, this begs the question of what the smoke and mirrors are hiding. What does the man behind the curtain really want?

Trump’s recent actions might shed some light on his motives—at least one of them. On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a warrant to confiscate voting records from the 2020 presidential election. One of Trump’s bugbears is his delusion that the 2020 election was stolen from him, a claim that has been completely and thoroughly debunked. Lawsuits, investigations, and recounts turned up absolutely no evidence of voter fraud or election tampering. Surprisingly, and perhaps illegally, Department of National Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard was present during the FBI operation.

Then, a few days later, other federal agents seized voting machines in Puerto Rico. According to CNN, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (Gabbard) “obtained voting machines from Puerto Rico and probed them for security vulnerabilities”.

“This is well beyond what ODNI has the authority or expertise to do,” a former senior US intelligence official who has worked on election security told CNN Wednesday in reaction to the ODNI statement. “This is amateur hour” (CNN).Election experts have maintained that this raid by the ODNI is an effort to intimidate and belittle election officials.

Facing increasingly negative poll numbers and the very real possibility that Republicans will lose control of the House and Senate in the upcoming midterms, it seems as if President Trump is focusing on attacking and denigrating the election process. This is exactly what he did after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the presidential election.

After he lost that election, Trump went on the offensive. He promoted the “big lie” among dozens of Republicans, many of whom sided with Trump and refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory. Trump contested elected results with sixty-three lawsuits disputing the outcome of the election with the intent of bringing the case before the Supreme Court. None of them were successful. After calling for numerous recounts, filing endless lawsuits, and entertaining seditious talk about seizing voting machines and mobilizing the military, Trump was still not done.

He made a brazen phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to “find” 11,780 votes—the margin of his loss. To his credit, Raffensperger refused to cooperate.

When none of these ploys worked, Trump asked various battleground states to create alternate elector slates hoping Vice-President Mike Pence would validate those slates over the originals during the election certification process on January 6^th, 2021. At the end, Pence, to his credit, refused to do it.

When all these illegal machinations failed, Trump incited a mob to attack the Capitol Building and disrupt the certification process. Fortunately, thanks to the valiant efforts of the Capitol Police, the coup was put down and Trump retreated to his Mar-a-Lago stronghold and was later somehow—God knows how—re-elected. And now his approval ratings in every area, including immigration, the economy, and ICE tactics, are underwater. It is very unlikely that the Republicans will maintain control of Congress in the upcoming midterms, so if the president cannot win according to the rules, he will break the rules.

Trump has attempted to rig elections before and he is more than ready to do it again—in fact, as seen in Fulton County and Puerto Rico, he’s already at it, laying down smoke screen after smoke screen to cover up what he and his minions are trying to do to our electoral process. He is once again sowing doubt and distrust in the electoral system.

According to The Guardian, the FBI raid on the Fulton county election office “was based on debunked claims from election deniers and came after a referral from a White House lawyer who tried to overturn the 2020 election, a search warrant affidavit unsealed on Tuesday reveals.” Attorney and election denier Kurt Olson, who now works at the White House, initiated the investigation which includes dozens of election deniers, most of whose claims have already been debunked.

The Republican-controlled Congress has also been busy because they know that their jobs are at risk, too. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act will impose restrictive requirements for voters to supply proof of citizenship such as birth certificates or passports, which would in effect cause the entire electorate to re-register. According to The Campaign Legal Center, over 21 million voters will have trouble accessing these documents. “People of color, married people who have changed their names, as well as young and elderly people are more likely to have difficulty in accessing these documents.”

Driver’s licenses would no longer be sufficient identification to vote. This bill would also eliminate the seven million Americans who vote by mail and the eleven million who vote online. And guess what? These restrictions would mostly affect groups that typically vote Democratic. This act would also require states to submit voter rolls to DHS and purge its rolls more often. In short, it would make voting even more difficult than it already is.

Earlier this year, the State of Texas redrew voting districts, a gerrymander encouraged by President Trump that resulted in the likelihood of Republicans picking up five more seats. The president also encouraged Indiana and Florida to do the same. Democrats fought back. Governor Gavin Newsom pushed California redistricting which checkmated Trump’s move.

According to CNN, During the recent turmoil in Minnesota, “Attorney General Pam Bondi… urged Gov. Tim Walz to help “bring an end to the chaos,” by turning over the records, among other requests.” This is nothing short of blackmail, or—to be a little more generous—a ransom demand, but it should not come as a surprise. Not from this administration.

President Trump incited an insurrection, a violent riot, in an attempt to illegally maintain office in 2021. It was an attempted coup. With voter disapproval at an all-time high and the midterms looming on the horizon, the American people must gird themselves for an all-out assault on our democracy. President Trump and his minions love their positions of power more than they love their country, their democracy, and their constituents. Our president has recently called for “nationalizing” our elections.

They will do absolutely anything to stay in power. Steve Bannon has called for ICE officers to guard polling places. Expect attempts to activate the Insurrection Act or to enact martial law. Expect cheating and lying. Expect lawsuits. Expect the SCOTUS to intercede. Expect everything and anything. We need to wake up. And, if we want to keep our republic, we have to stand up and claim our rights as citizens.

Get up. Stand up. Stand up for your rights.

The Real Steal

By Geoff Carter

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By Geoff Carter

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