Today’s big yuk was Trump’s offer to pay every American $5,000 if the voters keep the House and Senate in Republican hands. A lot of people sincerely believed they’d get a $5,000 DOGE check, or else the $2000 tariff check. I encountered a couple of people who were checking the mail every day waiting for that check. Will voters believe him this time? The Washington Post editorial board thinks not.

This would cost an estimated $1.2 trillion next year, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The money would need to be borrowed on top of the $40 trillion national debt — and paid back with interest.

Of course,  no way it’s going to happen.

But don’t count on checks in the mail. Trump has repeatedly promised payments that never materialized, including from savings that the U.S. DOGE Service was supposed to identify before its failure. Last November, Trump called for a $2,000 check funded by tariffs. (On Thursday, Trump separately announced that nearly a million Americans will receive $500 rebate checks before the election after being overcharged for their Obamacare plans.)

Yeah, don’t hold your breath. I have a hard time believing that anyone would take this seriously.

I understand my congressman, Mike Lawler, is a speaker at the Republican Trumpapalooza Convention today. I’m a bit baffled as to why he’s even there. My district takes in all or part of four counties, and I understand some of those other counties are more conservative that where I am. But the district has a long history of mostly voting for Democrats, including Kamala Harris in 2024. Lawler has represented the district since 2023, and while he won fairly easily in 2024, I don’t see that he’s all that loved and admired. There were some issues going on with the Dem candidate that I don’t entirely understand but which appear to have cost  him a lot of votes. It may have been a case of the Democrat losing more than Lawler winning.  And getting closer to Trump will do Lawler no good in these parts. Maybe he’s hoping Trump will give him more campaign money.

Regarding Trump’s attempt to take over mail in voting — a group of state election officials. including several Republicans, filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that it’s too late to change the mail-in voting rules. Mail in voting has already started in some places, I understand. I got a form for requesting a mail ballot in yesterday’s mail, but I prefer to vote in person

Also under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, election officials are supposed to finish any program for systematically removing ineligible voters 90 days before Election Day in federal races. We’re well within the 90 days.

This just got reported at the New York Times:

The Department of Justice sent threatening letters to at least 30 top election officials across the country, expanding its efforts to gain access to private voter data and election records.

The letters warned states not to destroy any records related to the 2024 election, explaining that their chief election officials“are currently under investigation” and subject to “ongoing litigation.” The notices come amid a barrage of efforts by President Trump and his administration, which have been fruitless so far, to find evidence of widespread voter fraud.

It is not clear what the department is investigating, nor whether its probe is criminal or civil in nature. The letters do not cite any criminal statutes. Instead, they point to some of the same claims made previously as part of the administration’s ongoing effort to identify fraud in the nation’s elections, including machine anomalies and noncitizen voting. In court, the Justice Department has tried to force states to hand over unredacted voter lists, including personal information like driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

The Justice Department has sued 30 different states for this data. They’ve lost 23 of those cases and have won none. Decisions are pending in the rest.

There was no other purpose for this than intimidation.