Chris Hayes looked at the current state of the Republican Party after Trump replaced everyone at the Republican National Congress with loyalists. He concluded that under Trump, the GOP would rather hinder voting than just straightforwardly win more votes.
Watch the video at the top of the page.
Hayes began by stating that Donald Trump's view on democracy and self governance is pretty direct. Trump doesn't care about them because he can't stand losing and is desperate for criminal immunity. For him, no democracy means no losing, which is instrumental for him.
Hayes argued that this opposition to democracy is not just for Trump's self-interest; it's a deeply held ideological belief.
As proof, Hayes mentioned Trump's continual praise for authoritarian dictators like Vladimir Putin. He believes that Trump has a fixed preference for dictatorship over democracy, which is not just temporary.
This led him to talk about Trump's control of the RNC. Hayes noted how Trump's opposition to mail-in voting has hurt the party's efforts to win important elections because it has encouraged regular voters to oppose it as well. Now, the party has made it an official policy.
Hayes stated that mail-in and early voting is a smart tactic, but Donald Trump's influence on the party has now made it the opposite. The party has shifted from being the party of Lincoln to something different.
As a result, instead of making Republicans comfortable with early mail-in voting, they are now rejecting that idea. The new institutional ethos is less like the party of Lincoln and more like the My Pillow guy.
Hayes highlighted how the RNC has created a new position focused on election integrity, which is essentially a plan to challenge any election result that doesn't favor Trump. The party is putting effort into suppressing the vote for election integrity instead of simply trying to win more votes.
Donald Trump strongly dislikes the idea of people choosing their leader and prefers if the leader could choose his people. This is one of his few deeply held core beliefs, according to Hayes.
