'Voter fraud, voter inconvenience & voter breakdown is rife across America'
As Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton steamrolled to victory in the New York primaries, the question of voting irregularities continues to plague the voting process, American journalist Norman Solomon, and media analyst Lionel told RT.
Billionaire Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton crushed their respective party rivals on their home turf in New York. Trump received over 60 percent of the state's Republican vote.
RT: Why do you think Trump has won with such a large margin in New York that has a reputation as a rather liberal city?
Lionel: Remember this is New York State, so it is a very large area. While New York City is certainly the dominant area. This is for the Republican Primary. [Trump] is from New York, he has dominated the media altogether. And while we expected him to win; by this margin, however, is really shocking – not only to the world, but to Mr. [John] Kasich and Mr. [Ted] Cruz. We always suspected that he would win, because being from New York and being in the news, but by this margin? That was shocking.
RT: Where does Trump’s victory leave his rivals?
L: This is going to change, obviously, momentum… What is going to happen right now is – you‘re going to ask yourself: what are the Republican fathers going to be, so to speak? The Republican adults. What are they going to do, because you have a very fractionalized group? You have a Republican Party, which many of them do not want Donald Trump, they don’t like Donald Trump. This is the leaders of the Party, the actual delegates and those individuals who enjoy power positions. So what is going to be interesting to note is what happens to the GOP – not only for this particular race, but afterwards, because Trump has come in and completely changed everything. They never thought he would be this popular. With this momentum, this amount of coverage and this amount of attention, this is going to bolster him even more…
RT: There have been numerous complaints about people waiting for hours in order to vote, there have been reports of tens of thousands of people disappearing from the voting lists. How did all this impact the outcome of the primary, in your opinion?
L: They could do whatever they want. What people have to understand is that the people who run the elections are the parties. In the US the two major parties are Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are private individual organizations. They can do whatever they want; they are not subject to the law - with few exceptions. But they could, if they wanted to, stop everything and declare John Kasich or Donald Trump the nominee. They could do whatever they want.
People had this idea that somehow parties are the government, or that the parties can be sued. Now in New York, specifically New York City, what you’re going to be seeing today and tomorrow are numbers of people who are complaining that the polling sites were down; that machines weren’t working; that they were taking off the voter rolls. Keep an eye on that, because voter fraud, voter inconvenience, voter breakdown is rife - not only in New York - but across the country…
Trump winning on right-wing populist appeal
Norman Solomon, American journalist, media critic, and antiwar activist said that Trump is a nationalist, who has great appeal among right-leaning voters even in New York.
RT: Trump has enjoyed huge support in New York, which has a reputation of a rather liberal city. Why do you think?
Norman Solomon: First of all, it is a Republican electorate, which is the right-wing part of population in New York. He also is a nationalist and that has great appeal among right-leaning voters even in New York. So it is a very sort of right-wing populist appeal that has certainly got a good response from Republicans in New York.
RT: Where does Trump’s victory leave his rivals?
NS: We call this horse racing, where we evaluate who is ahead. If we do that I believe that Trump will be nominated as the Republican candidate for President. It is not for sure, but I think that is very likely.
RT: Trump has been overhauling the top people in his campaign lately. What in your opinion is the reason for his success?
NS: Again, I am not that much into horse racing or analyzing the tactics, because it really does not address the underlying question of the politics and the political forces involved. He is an amateur; he is a billionaire; he is a corporate person; he believes that money should be able to buy power and he is also a supreme egoist. Naturally, he doesn’t know as much as he thinks about electoral politics.
RT: Trump has been enduring serious attacks from the mainstream media and the political and economic establishment. What move will they make next, following Trump’s NY victory?
NS: My crystal ball is in the repair shop, so I don’t know what is the Republican establishment will do. But I think their options are running out. Some of them would simply cut a deal and make a deal with him to try to share power.
RT: There have been numerous complaints about people waiting for hours in order to vote; there have been reports of tens of thousands of people disappearing from the voting lists. How did all this impact the outcome of the primary, in your opinion?
NS: In New York the election was not close enough to make that decisive. But there have been chronic election problems across the US in terms of voter registration and people not being kept on the voting rolls and other forms of requirement for identifications. Like many countries, the democracy in the US has many imperfections and problems that have yet to be solved.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
