Trump's drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts
apnews.com
With Donald Trump facing felony charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the former president is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.
The guy got up on stage ON ELECTION NIGHT before the votes had even been counted and started screaming about fraud. I remember Mike Huckabee on CNN condemning it, as well as the Faux News team covering it, because it was just unthinkable. Then they got their story straight and remembered who's ass their tongue is buried in, and fell in line. Bunch of traitors, the lot of them.
Reminder that Steve Bannon frankly confessed Trump's Start the Steal conspiracy plans to a group of Trump insiders before the election.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/22/1112138665/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
…audio from Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, surfaced from October 31st, 2020, just a few days before the Presidential election.
Let’s listen. [Begin Videotape]
STEVE BANNON: And what Trump’s going to do is declare victory, right? He’s going to declare victory, but that doesn’t mean he’s a winner. He’s just gonna say he’s a winner. The Democrats — more of our people vote early that count. Theirs vote in mail. And so they’re going to have a natural disadvantage and Trump’s going to take advantage — that’s our strategy.
He’s gonna declare himself a winner. So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm. Also — also if Trump is — if Trump is losing by 10 or 11:00 at night, it’s going to be even crazier. Because he’s gonna sit right there and say they stole it. If Biden’s wining, Trump is going to do some crazy shit.
Trump telegraphied his move for months, even years. The whole thing about mail-in bailot, and how he wouldn't accept the result.
Well, turns out Trump has been calling virtually everything since he was born rigged. Seriously, there are 8 decades of history of Trump cheating and calling whatever it oa rigged. It blows my mind that this guy with a very transparent history gets to call the election rigged like it was his teenager beauty pageant and it could means the end of America.
Where the fuck do we go from here.
I think the most important step to move forward is to somehow rein in Faux News. Every problem in this country can directly be traced back to the fact that 40-50% of voters are getting blasted with coordinated disinformation assaults pumped into their brains 24/7. I don't see a way to move forward without solving that issue.
He was screaming about fraud in the 2016 election HE WON. O_O
And that's not the end of it, his surrogates claimed fraud in various districts in 2020 that he ALSO won.
It's all about making people doubt elections.
Which confuses me to this day, because doesn't it make Republicans less likely to vote since they think their vote doesn't matter?
Take Sarah Palin as an example. The half term Governor makes more money now than she ever made as a public employee. They know they can't win the poker game, so they'll make money by kicking over the table.
Now that I can see if it's all just a craven cash grab.
Look up a novel called 'Space,' by James Michener. There's a character who goes from getting rich conning people with UFO conspiracies to being a Christian nationalist without breaking a sweat.
I'm sure that's based on someone real.
Can't imagine who that could be...
Which makes the elections more lopsided and "proof of fraud!"
Yeah, but they're showing that argument doesn't work in terms of actually changing election results, so they're just shooting themselves in the foot at this point as far as I can tell.
Well, I think this is their overall strategy...
4 is closer than you might think:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-independent-state-legislature-theory-will-not-empower-state-legislatures-to-override-presidential-election-results/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/moore-harper-scotus-independent-state-legislature-election-power/670992/
Fortunately the Supremes struck it down, but I doubt they'll stop trying.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/supreme-court-rejects-broad-state-legislature-power-federal/story?id=99232144
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/27/supreme-court-rejects-independent-state-legislature-theory-00103793
Ok, but how do they keep those legislatures in place? Even with gerrymandering, if Republicans aren't voting, that doesn't help them.
Gerrymandering doesn't really apply at the state and local level. Most states are majority Republican at the state legislative level.
https://ballotpedia.org/Partisan_composition_of_state_legislatures
And, in the end, if they get what they want and are able to over-ride election results they don't like, it won't change.
But that's my point- they're only majority Republican because enough Republicans are convinced to still vote for them. If they convince enough of them that voting doesn't work, even if they made the change that legislatures get to choose the president, they are practically guaranteeing the legislature will fall to the Democrats.
In a lot of these rural districts, there aren't enough Democrats to matter.
There are if Republicans don't vote. There are Democrats in those rural districts too. I know because Indiana, where I live, is full of rural districts. Democrats are gaining ground in them too in terms of percentages. They aren't winning, yet, but if Republicans stop voting?
Logic plays no role with them.
Putin's main goal is to sow chaos. Level unlocked.
This is all going to come to a head soon, they aren't going to let him run. Secretaries of state are going to leave him off the ballot citing the 14th amendment and his supporters will go bonkers. My prediction is it will start with blue states but when GA announces, all hell will break loose.
I think this is a very salient opinion.
I hope you're right, but I would not be at all surprised if every single red state keeps him in their ballot.
Red states will leave him on, blue states sill take him off. It's the battleground states like NV, GA, MI that are going to get ugly. His campaign will challenge those in court and when they lose, I'm kind of scared of what's coming. But it needs to happen. They need to end this fucker before election day. He's disqualified hands down.
It won't really matter unless enough states remove him from the ballot to deny him the 270 electoral votes.
It wont matter that solid blue states like CA remove him, true. But swing states like MI and GA will effectively end his campaign. And i think when that happens, Jan 6th was just a preview.
This is an unpopular opinion.
Trump is the best candidate the left could ask for as an opponent in the 2024 election, in the same manor that Hillary was the best candidate the right could as for in 2016.
He's weighed down by a ton of baggage. He's not particularly popular outside of a core group of supporters. He has no real policies of his own. He doesn't "represent" anything in that we already know what we're getting. Also, with him in the game, the Republicans don't get to pivot and rebrand to some kind of bullshit "fiscal conservatism" like they should probably be doing to try and get away from the MAGA branding.
The Dems can run a steady, narrow, by the book campaign and it will go better than things went in 2020. People are sick of MAGA, their bullshit, and just their total lack of constructive idealism. They offer nothing and at least some of the country has come around to that.
We don't want to face a Mike Pence running on fiscal conservatism or moral purity as an opposition candidate to Trump. He could stand a chance. With Trump still in the scene, no other opponent really has a chance, and Trump is damaged goods for enough of the country his path is pretty fucking narrow.
That's the same thing a lot of people were saying in 2016.
The dude has helped give a voice to the bigots and fascists around the world, let alone the US. Even just riling up that base is enough of a reason to get him out of the public eye ASAP.
About Trump or about Hillary? Because I was saying this about Hillary in 2016 and people were not receptive. She was the worst candidate the Dems could have run.
About Trump. No one took him, nor his chances, seriously.
There absolutely were, and they (we) were largely sidelined or ignored.
So why are you doing it again?
The difference I see, is that now we know what we get with Trump. 2016 he was the outsider, nobody but New Yorkers. That's what gave him an edge back then
So we're ok with the GOP running someone who allegedly attempted a coup because we think he's less appealing to some people who sit on the fence?
(not an american here, so my opinion is basically worthless but from the outside:)
various people said similarly about both:
trump was so wild how could he possibly get elected?
hillary lacks anything that gives anyone any excitement at all, how’s she going to bring out voters?
similar can (and has) been said about biden as hillary: there’s not a whole lot to be excited about, but “not trump” is pretty fucking persuasive to a lot of people… let’s hope that people haven’t forgotten what a dumpster fire trump was… the pandemic was years ago now, and people have a short memory
i think harris faces a similar reception in '28, even as a two-term incumbent vp.
Yeah. She was a nothing-burger of a candidate and has been underwhelming as a VP. VP's dont have a great track record of getting the presidency either.
Its a good way to accumulate baggage while not being able to show much in the way of work done.
She's not liked as VP. I'm actually not quite sure why because she stays out of the public eye most of the time. The first time I saw her surface in ages was over the Florida slavery education bullshit, and rightfully so as a black woman.
It's hard to believe that it can work again though, especially since it's exactly the same person. If they put out some Trump like alternative that was subtle enough to trick some "moderate" independents, I could see it working. But everyone knows who Trump is at this point.
We’ll see if we’re signing a different tune once MAGAs start gunning down people waiting in line to vote in blue districts in swing states
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion tbh.
I think this is the last gasp for the gop, though. They have to win with trump here and they know it. If he loses he'll be too old next time around and the demographics are already shifting.
They know he'll run and split the vote if they don't give it to him anyway...
Tbh I think Hobbes decision was the nail for the gop. Women are angry and men on the fence are now too ...
I think this should be the focus of the work of the left right now. We've got a real opportunity to set up a death blow here, and the Democrats also being pieces of shit shouldn't cloud our eyes from making the RNC a dead and buried thing. We can actually take this country to the left if our only remaining opposition is the Democrats.
They cannot win with Convicted Sex Offender Treason Trump and they know it.
They can counteract that for at least 4-8 years simply by getting a better candidate than Convicted Sex Offender Treason Trump.
They know they will lose with Loser Trump anyway. If they dumped him they would be in much better shape for 2028. But I think if they had someone besides Loser Trump they would have an actual chance to win in 2024.
They have no choice. If they don't run him they split the ticket. If they do he def loses.
Let's say they dump trump and anoint desamtis or anyone. Trump will run third party and the gop loses all those voters forever.
I don't think people quite realize how much the tail is wagging the dog in the GOP right now. There is no way they "dump trump" and still remain a party that can win.
The GOP will lose in 2024 anyway. Loser Trump is their least likely candidate to win the general election because he is the most disliked politician in the country. All their voters will be back in 2028, saying they never really liked Convicted Sex Offender Treason Trump.
Again I think u underestimate how 100% on trump and no one else many of his voters are.
The GOP can afford to lose an election. They cannot afford to lose committed trump voters.
They will lose the election in 2024 with Convicted Sex Offender Treason Trump. In 2028, there will not be any committed trump voters. He will be in prison or will have kicked the bucket.
2028 sure there will. Guaranteed they'll write him in from prison.
Is his mouth open...then the fucking guy is lying.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — With Donald Trump facing felony charges over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the former president is flooding the airwaves and his social media platform with distortions, misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories about his defeat.
There is evidence that his lies are resonating: New polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 57% of Republicans believe Democrat Joe Biden was not legitimately elected as president.
An exhaustive AP investigation in 2021 found fewer than 475 instances of confirmed voter fraud across six battleground states — nowhere near the magnitude required to sway the outcome of the presidential election.
Less than three weeks later, then-Attorney General William Barr declared that a Justice Department investigation had not uncovered evidence of the widespread voter fraud that Trump had claimed was at the center of a massive conspiracy to steal the election.
Records of internal communications at Fox News unearthed in the case showed that the network aired the claims even though its biggest stars, including Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, as well as the company’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch, did not believe they were true.
Associated Press writers Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
The original article contains 1,654 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 87%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Still do t understand why no one will take the streets to his face.