Donald Trump is busy destroying our democracy without holding office, without evidence, without knowing who will win what in November, or even who voted for who last election, all of it on display in his latest diatribe. Most dangerously, and we’ve been here before, Trump implies that if he loses Pennsylvania it could only be due to Democrats cheating.
So there it is, we are only a democracy when Trump wins according to Trump. Say goodbye to the legitimacy of our elections ahead of time… Well, perhaps they will give it lip service if Trump prevails.
Despite the fact that this previously played out with a wave of Trump supporters attempting to sack the Capitol, Trump says that real evidence of past-cheating is available. Well, it would be real evidence if it was evidence and not a poll, and it would be more compelling if it didn’t prove that 45% of the “cheaters” voted for Trump.
The subject, of course, is mail-in ballots and Trump is pointing at Pennsylvania. Don’t worry about Indiana.
An interview by Tucker Carlson of an election expert indicates that 20% of the Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent. Here we go again! Where is the U.S. Attorney General and FBI to INVESTIGATE? Where is the Pennsylvania Republican Party? We will WIN Pennsylvania by a…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) September 8, 2024
One in five? 20%? Such a bold run must be leaving bold evidence all over the place for the FBI to investigate. So, where is the Pennsylvania Republican Party to initiate an investigation?
Pennsylvania is no more involved than anyone else if one reads the poll. Evidently Republicans are not finding any evidence because they haven’t filed a complaint or even a lawsuit. Has Tucker Carlson filed a lawsuit? Is the Trump campaign going to file an official complaint? If 20% of mail in ballots are actually fraudulent, someone better file something… If it were true, Florida could actually go to Harris. So, has anyone?
No, perhaps because Trump could still easily win Pennsylvania – not that the poll is limited to Pennsylvania – but if he does win the state it was all fair, nothing to see here, move on! There is also the fact that Trump and Tucker’s expert point to a poll from last winter, never mind how it was conducted or any other very basic stuff.
But we’re ahead of ourselves a bit. Trump derives his latest rant from an interview conducted by Tucker Carlson. So let’s check in on the interview. If you don’t have time to watch it – and few do – just skip below for the highlights:
About one in five mail-in ballots in the last election was fraudulent, handing Biden the presidency. We know this because the people who committed the fraud have admitted it in a new poll. pic.twitter.com/fxHL9hT4sw
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 26, 2024
Justin Hawkins of the Heartland Institute is using his poll of 1,000 people, not evidence, as we’ve discussed. In theory, it could be evidence of a problem, one would want far more than 1,000 people but that is almost beside the point, because even this guy can’t explain how his results apply to this coming election.
Moreover, though he claims voter fraud, he never uses the word “fraud” in his poll. Next, of the people who “admitted” to cheating of some ill-defined sort, 45% voted for Trump and 46% voted for Biden, aligning with a national four point Biden victory. And again, for some reason, Donald Trump is pointing to Pennsylvania as the real worry but there isn’t a thing in the Tucker interview – or the poll on the Heartland Institute’s website, that limits the poll to Pennsylvania.
We are taking this matter far too seriously. In fact, why is Trump so bothered? Trump is still leading, barely in most current polls. But the trend must bug him. His post sounds like a panic attack and the panic is surely derived from eviscerated expectations. He was surely counting on a thorough and efficient trouncing of President Biden. Instead, he finds himself matched against a hammering Kamala Harris.
We should not take this poll seriously (they voted 50-50!) but should take the threat to democracy seriously. Trump’s assertion leaves his supporters with only two options after the election, A) Get blasted while celebrating a well-earned victory in what was clearly a fair election, or B) Go to war – all too literally, over the Democrats cheating. By Trump’s logic, a Harris victory proves she cheated!
This is how democracies die.
Russia has elections. It does. It also has laws. They just don’t matter. On any given day, any given Putin supporter can circumvent any given law if needed to support Putin. This is especially true in Russian elections. Russia has the democratic framework in place. But it is not a democracy because it doesn’t actually use the framework. The same can happen here.
So, as scrumptious as it might be to watch Trump melt down, it’s also terrifying to see how it plays out. The nation gets a primal scream that he is the only legitimate candidate and any loss is obviously due to someone rigging the system against him. Most dangerously, he asserts it as fact before the election.
Not that he has any evidence. Even the stuff he points to isn’t evidence and even if it was it doesn’t point to Biden’s victory.
Perhaps that’s why the Pennsylvania GOP hasn’t done anything. Come to think of it, why hasn’t the Trump campaign filed anything?
Occam, do you want to weigh in?
Once again proving we are a nation of gullible minnows scurrying around in a mass when a shadow hits the water. One thing Trump does understand is half the country is just as phucking stupid as he is.
Quite possibly nearly 50% the country is more stupid than Trump because he’s continues to fool them 100% of the time. Laughable but sad, and equally worrying. One has to ask why and manage it out the door into history. Hopefully Harris will achieve this and prevail.