Mass voter turnout needed in Nov. election to avoid Trump’s ‘Day 1’ dictator promises

By Gil Beyer
Reader Contributor

Voting in the upcoming general election is even more important now than it was before July 1. This November may be the last chance we have to correct the hugely egregious errors made by Congress in 2020 and 2021. If Congress had acted on behalf of the country rather than on party, we would not even have the possibility of having a convicted felon becoming our president.

A president who can now — thanks to the Supreme Court’s July 1 opinion — take bribes in exchange for pardons, could have SEAL Team 6 assassinate a political rival, could order U.S. armed forces to suppress protests or stage a military coup to overturn an election, without any legal consequences to himself. 

The Senate had the opportunity to find the then-president guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors not once but twice — Feb. 5, 2020 and Feb. 13, 2021. 

In an astounding display of spinelessness 43 GOP senators voted “not guilty” in the 2021 trial,  followed by a veritable word salad of specious justifications of their votes. Idaho’s senators were among that number. 

If any 10 of the 43 senators had found the former president guilty on that day in February — just over a month after the MAGA mob’s attack on our Capitol — we wouldn’t be in this cesspool. 

Let us not forget our state Legislature, which is directed by the Idaho Freedom Foundation. Not the legislators’ constituents. IFF is a member of the State Policy Network, which is active in all 50 states and its affiliates are especially influential in GOP-controlled states. The results are found in such odious bills as near-total ban on abortions for any reason. 

In addition to abortion, Idaho further violates our personal freedoms with bills like H.B. 710. This bill — now an Idaho law — subjects school and public libraries to a potential $250 fine and other legal costs if they refuse to isolate a book into a place where no minors could ever access it, based on anyone (even out-of-staters) finding its contents offensive for any of a wide range of reasons. 

When did we give up our freedom of free speech? I have always believed that libraries are meant to expand people’s knowledge horizons — not limit them.

This November may very well be the last time we get to vote. If the former president is re-elected, we should have no doubt that he will do everything he has said he would on Day 1 of his new term. He is a pathological liar, a narcissist, a misogynist and a convicted felon, but when it comes to doing things to his benefit he will act.

But this cannot be limited to simply defeating the felon candidate. No, voters must go for all the enablers that led to this mess. Democracy is not a spectator sport. We need to see every registered voter on Nov. 5, 2024 voting in every contested race to make our outrage known. The choice is yours. For your children’s future please choose wisely.

Gil Beyer is a Sandpoint resident.