The 2020 presidential election and down ballot races are under urgent assault. There are nefarious forces underway to suppress and/or eliminate voters perceived to be against Donald Trump and his Republican allies on November 3rd. The question is whether these actions will be successful. Given this reality, Trump is poised to steal the election.

With less than 100 days to go, respected national and battleground state political polls show that Trump is losing to Joe Biden, but he is not going away quietly. Concurrent with these findings, there are escalating efforts to reduce Democratic voting access in districts across the nation: purging minorities from voting rolls, installing dysfunctional voting machines in minority precincts and reducing the number of voting precincts, making it more expensive for ex-felons to have their voting rights restored, and limiting early voting hours and polling sites in Democratic-leaning, especially minority areas.

And new voter suppression tactics are being systematically added on an almost daily basis. One of the more recent and insidious approaches is the deployment of federal government officers from several agencies of the Department of Homeland Security - Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; the U.S. Marshalls Service; and others. This operation will allegedly protect federal government buildings from protesters who have been demonstrating against the George Floyd murder for over 50 days.

Trump’s Attorney General Wingman, William Barr, is busily sending these individuals into cities headed by Democratic mayors. These untrained law enforcers, who have no prior training in riot control, subduing protests, and managing lawful demonstrations, are creating chaos in Portland, Oregon, their first stop. And their colleagues are now preparing to descend on Chicago, Philadelphia, and Kansas City.

The larger aim of generating fear and disorder that will carry over into the fall election, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, parallels what Trump’s advisors told him about the citizens in the aforementioned areas: they are not “our people.” They are not, as the overwhelming majorities are minorities and progressives. Thus, Trump’s focus is on maximizing the turnout of his voters and minimizing the turnout of Democrats.

Whatever negative views Democrats may hold of Donald Trump, and many of them are well-deserved, we must acknowledge that he has shown a unique ability to tap into the base instincts of voters open to his autocratic, fascist tendencies. This ability was the source of his come-from-behind victory over Hillary Clinton.

Trump accomplished this feat by sensing and encouraging the anger and economic anxiety among working-class and non-college educated whites at the changing demographics in the U.S. as it transitions to a majority-minority country. It fueled their unprecedented turnout in 2016 to support Trump. He gave them a potpourri of persons to blame: immigrants of color, minorities, the LGBTQ community, liberals, and all individuals he classified as the other. Trump is relying on this xenophobic strategy to achieve another win.

Added to the dictatorial policy targeting Democratically-controlled cities and in defiance of the Constitution, Trump is attempting to have undocumented citizens not to be counted in the 2020 census for political reapportionment purposes. He has no difficulty, however, including prisoners (who are unable to vote), a majority of whom are minorities incarcerated in rural white areas, where their added numbers help maintain white representation in the House of Representatives and in state legislatures.

As soon as one voter reduction/suppression plan is exposed, Trump quickly moves on to another. Biden has announced that he has hired attorneys to monitor elections in all 50 states, but his campaign has no comprehensive method for anticipating additional voter deceptions that are surely forthcoming. Therefore, Biden needs to be exceedingly vigilant as he moves into the final stages of the presidential race.

The polls showing Biden with a lead over Trump are likely to narrow substantially in the final weeks of the campaign. This requires that Biden select a strong, female VP running mate to augment his last laps to the finish line. Seven days from now, he has stated that he will make his choice. Despite what some have said, she may well decide the outcome of the race.

Democrats urgently need a woman who can stoke enthusiasm within the Democratic base as the overall gusto for the Biden candidacy is tepid among base Democrats. As we have recommended in previous columns, she should be African American and a galvanizing speaker. The two cops, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Rep. Val Demings (D-FL), are non-starters due to their questionable criminal justice history. This is a problem for progressives who are advocating for criminal justice and police reform.

Irrespective of the fact that some view Harris as the frontrunner to be chosen, she did not appeal to the base during her performance in the Democratic presidential primary debates and on the campaign trail, even to Black voters where she never cracked double digits in the polls. She also ranked fourth in her home state (California) poll before dropping out.

Similarly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) did not connect to Democratic voters, even those in her own state where she came in third, and her age is also a factor.. Obama’s former U.N. Ambassador, Susan Rice, is virtually unknown among the Democratic masses and would not be a campaign asset. The other so-called finalists, Keisha Lance Bottoms, Democratic Mayor of Atlanta; Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) would not have positive impacts on the Biden campaign.

Of all the aspirants for the position, Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate is the only one who possesses the necessary skill set - oratorical excellence, quick political reflexes, a comprehensive understanding of and response to voter suppression, and the ability to increase turnout across the Democratic base.

The VP on the ticket in the Biden-Trump race will have an enormous role in stoking voter enthusiasm and generating voter turnout among voters of color who will be consequential to a Biden victory. Hillary’s inability to motivate them in that regard ensured her defeat. A three to four percent increase in their turnout in 2016 would have sent her to the White House.

This decision could put Biden over the top or be his Waterloo. His trajectory should be more apparent by the end of next week when he makes his VP announcement. Since Trump is so disliked by the larger electorate due to his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and its negative impact on the economy and his use of racist campaign tropes, many Democrats believe that Biden can win with any one of the VP finalists. This exaggerated confidence could lead the Democrats down another path to defeat.

The Trump campaign is waiting for Biden’s VP choice as anxiously as are Democrats because they know a weak selection will empower their efforts to steal the elections. At this moment, with all the electoral shenanigans of Trump’s Republican acolytes in the battleground states, Trump is on track to win again in spite of what the polls indicate and to carry enough down ballot candidates to retain his Senate majority. Democrats have to respond!