With tension rising and only hours before election day, Anderson Cooper tore into Donald Trump’s playbook of voter suppression. (Screen capture via CNN)
Anderson Cooper had some choice words for US President Donald Trump’s attempts to suppress voters this election season: “It’s complete BS.”
This scorched-earth policy when it comes to voting hit a flashpoint in Pennsylvania following the Supreme Court’s decision to allow absentee ballots to be counted up to three days after election day by election officials.
In refusing the Republican Party’s plea, anger ripped through the White House as Trump derided justices for opening the gates for “cheating” – he has yet to provide any evidence for this.
And the eponymous host of Anderson Cooper 360 sought to stress this during a panel discussion by calling out Trump’s debased and misinformed claims of voting fraud.
Donald Trump touts election fraud in Pennsylvania. ‘That’s BS’, says Anderson Cooper.
Sparring with Republican Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Cooper grilled him for defending the president and what he called the Republican playbook of voter suppression.
“This is a widespread, ongoing Republican thing!” he said.
“Republicans don’t want a lot of people to vote. It seems like everywhere the Republicans seem to be on the side of limiting voting as much as possible.
“We hear what the president is talking about and what he’s saying is BS,” he added, “it’s complete BS.”
Commentator Van Jones said: “They’re not cheating in Philadelphia. They’re fighting through COVID in Philadelphia.
“They have a Postal Service that’s not serving. They’ve got intimidation brigades going through Philadelphia. They’ve got a sense that even if they do their very best the president is more interested in lawyers and judges than voters in Philadelphia, clawing away their victory.”
He added that Philadelphia residents have the right to “without being intimidated” – a reference to poll-watchers, non-election officials permitted by law to observe polling stations, a practise long criticised by voting rights activists who say they intimidate voters.
Trump himself has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to poll-watch, fuelling alarm over his advocates remonstrating Joe Biden voters.
“Tensions are high in this country because of stuff like that and stuff that he’s saying,” Jones continued.
“He needs to cut it out and encourage everybody to vote safely and fairly. And he’s not doing it.”
Voters this year have faced slews of obstacles when it comes hitting the polls – some stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and others from elected officials seeking to impede certain blocs from voting.
Facing a possible Democratic boon due to surges in early voting and mail-in ballots, Republicans have tried or are trying to nullify ballots before they are counted in various states, dump votes because they were cast using drive-thru voting, cut the number of ballot drop boxes or dispute ballots with missing signatures or unclear postmarks.