by Heather Cox Richardson | May 20

There was one vignette today that captured a lot more than its immediate subject.

Trump took to twitter to oppose what he said was Michigan’s recent mailing of absentee ballots to the state’s voters. “This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” the president tweeted.

But Michigan’s secretary of state responded: “Hi! I also have a name, it’s Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.” When Trump deleted his first inaccurate tweet about ballots and corrected it in a second similar tweet, she responded: “Every Michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail. I have the authority & responsibility to make sure that they know how to exercise this right- just like my GOP colleagues are doing in GA, IA, NE, and WV. Also, again, my name is Jocelyn Benson.”

Later today, Trump tried to threaten Nevada in a similar way. “State of Nevada ‘thinks’ that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating

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