Early Thursday morning, August 7 on his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump called for a new U.S. Census.
Trump posted, “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024. People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The last U.S. Census was taken in 2020, and the next one isn’t due until 2030 — half a decade from now. But Trump, in his Truth Social post, implied that that 2020 Census was tainted because of the presence of undocumented immigrants in the United States.
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MSNBC’s Steve Benen weighs in on Trump’s proposal in a biting August 7 column, arguing that Trump’s proposal would cost taxpayers a fortune and raises “legal” concerns to boot.
“As is often the case with the Republican’s declarations,” Benen explains, “it’s an open question whether this is an actual announcement about a policy to be implemented in the real world, or whether Trump simply shared a passing thought that his aides will ignore and that the White House will soon pretend never happened. If it’s the former, and the [Trump] administration intends to take such an endeavor seriously, there are a handful of elements to keep in mind.”
Those “elements,” according to Benen, are both “legal” and “practical.” In the U.S., he notes, there is “no legal mechanism to allow for a mid-decade process” with the U.S. Census. Moreover, the price tag would be enormous.
“Conducting the decennial census is expensive,” Benen emphasizes. “The Commerce Department doesn’t have $15 billion hiding in the couch cushions, and it doesn’t have time to throw together a plan to address the extensive logistical challenges. Preparations for the 2030 Census are already underway. The idea that Team Trump could somehow execute another one over the next year or so is plainly bonkers.”
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Benen continues, “But as important as these elements are, let’s not miss the underlying point: The president and his party are so desperate to maintain power at all costs, they are exploring every possible avenue to rig the political process so that Republicans can’t lose, even if voters want them to. Indeed, the whole point of conducting a new, unnecessary and Trumpified census is to use a revised count to reshuffle the electoral map and give the GOP an additional advantage.”
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Steve Benen’s full MSNBC column is available at this link.