There are a good many people who truly believe that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. They internalized that this would happen before the election actually took place. Rather than fight harder to get Trump re-elected, many of them decided that the election was going to be fraudulent.
We see evidence of this in Georgia, where the Secretary of State there has stated that Trump cost himself a win there when he attacked vote by mail.
There is a steady stream of video leaks “showing” that election workers acted suspiciously to steal the vote for Joe Biden. Except, in almost every instance, officials involved with state-level elections (including REPUBLICANS) have come out to say that there is a good explanation and no foul play.
Votes have internalized that the election was stolen, and nothing will change that. The same people rallying behind Trump as Democrats spent four years pushing a conspiracy theory as proof Russia stole the 2016 election? They’re now convinced Democrats stole the election.
There are always going to be partisans in the voting base who are easily convinced that their candidate lost due to fraud, not because he was a bad candidate. But I did warn multiple times that Trump’s actions were hurting his re-election chances. After most of those warnings, Trump supporters were quick to point out that I was stupid and a RINO/NeverTrumper/DailyKos sleeper agent. They had already decided their God King was infallible.
And then he fell.
On a certain level, I do get our natural inclination to think that our opponents have some unfair advantage (I coach basketball, and I am often convinced referees are personally out to get me) rather than our side just being weak. I can’t be that mad at a voting base that is stirred into action to opposes these results.
But I can definitely be mad at the “leaders” of the conservative movement who are latching on to the outrage for the sake of lining their pockets, expanding their influence, and generally just stirring their audience’s emotions to keep them loyal.
Sidney Powell and Lin Wood are no more credible than Alex Jones when it comes to what happened in this election (and I’m not convinced either of them aren’t actively trying to help Democrats win in Georgia). But this goes well beyond that. There are talking heads, radio hosts, and actual political groups out there pushing theories that the election was stolen, and a lot of them are people who, frankly, should know better.
So I can’t help but ask if they know what they’re peddling is garbage. Do they really believe this stuff or are they making a calculated risk knowing that Trump truly lost? Are they working to make their market/audience believe that they are loyal, fierce fighters against an unfair system, whether they really believe the election results or not?
Some of them play it very safe. They will focus on the more legitimate cases (claims of people who voted illegally) but never once address the Powell/Wood claims or the claims of similarly insane people. It’s okay to believe that there is fraud and that it needs to be checked out, and it’s okay to believe the President has every right to challenge results in court.
But it’s another thing completely to allow the absolutely insane on your side of the aisle to run around unpoliced by you or your peers. You are allowing grifters and dishonest brokers to make your side look absolutely ridiculous, and whether you’re doing so knowingly or unknowingly, it’s not a good look either way.
Do they know what they’re allowing to happen? Do they care?