Wait!! Mail-in Ballots BAD!!!!!??????!!!!!!!

Here’s the attempted cleanup from yesterday when he encouraged people in NC to vote by mail and then in person to check the security of the system. https://t.co/9EjyfMwnFL

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 3, 2020

Except he's not really walking it back, he's trying to have it both ways:

....after you Vote, which it should not, that Ballot will not be used or counted in that your vote has already been cast & tabulated. YOU ARE NOW ASSURED THAT YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE HAS BEEN COUNTED, it hasn’t been “lost, thrown out, or in any way destroyed”. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020

Which, 'twere it done, would foul up the polling places something awful (feature, not bug) and raise questions of voter fraud that would be legitimate ones.  But what about all those ballots China is sending over?  And if I haven't voted and they say I have, what then?  Do I get a provisional ballot?  Do I blame China?  Do I blame dementia and short-term memory loss?

(Of course if I sent in a ballot because fear of disease or just convenience, why would I inconvenience myself or put myself at risk by going to the polling place and raising a ruckus that would probably get me detained, at best, and charged with a felony, at worst?)

I don't see a lot of clean-up here, although "attempted" is clearly the operative word.  If anything this just proves Trump doesn't know WTF he's talking about.

I still like the version where all these Trump supporters get arrested, prosecuted for voter fraud, and banned from voting ever again.  It's a Darwinian solution, but it's effective.  Or this, which works, too:

The North Carolina Board of Elections weighs in on the @realDonaldTrump suggestion to vote absentee and at the polls, saying: “It is illegal to vote twice in an election.” A felony, as it turns out. pic.twitter.com/cS7dezlIbA

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) September 3, 2020

"Because absentee ballots and early voting ballots are retrievable, if someone tries to get around the system, their ballot can be retrieved and not counted, so it will no effect the outcome of the election."

In other words, follow Trump's advice and lose your vote altogether.  Trump's new advice is even better than his "don't trust mail-in ballots!" advice was.