What did Donald Trump do today?

He said voting by mail, like he does, is an "illegal coup."

Because of the unchecked COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Americans are planning to vote by mail in the 2020 presidential election—just like Trump himself will. Today, Nevada's governor signed a bill into law that will make it the seventh state to mail ballots to all registered voters this fall. 

Today, Trump called the move an "illegal late night coup" because it would make it "impossible for Republicans to win the state." He said he had the right to stop it by executive order. (He doesn't, any more than he has the power to delay the election.) 

Trump did not explain why it was not an "illegal coup" to have universal mail-in voting in Utah, for example, where he is likely to win easily.

He also attacked the United States Postal Service for its supposed inability to handle the extra work of processing mailed ballots. Trump has appointed all of the current USPS's board, and it's now headed by a postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who was a top Trump donor. Postal employees are already reporting that DeJoy is taking strange actions that will indeed undermine the USPS's ability to deliver ballots in a timely fashion.

Why should I care about this?

• American citizens being able to exercise their right to vote is not a "coup."

• Nobody who thinks he would win a fair election tries this hard to trash it in advance.