On Sunday, Donald Trump posted a declare that 20% of mail-in votes in Pennsylvania are fraudulent. “Here we go again!” Trump wrote as he known as for Lawyer Common Merrick Garland and the FBI to analyze.
It’s going to be a quick investigation. Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots have not even been despatched out but. In actual fact, resulting from a number of unresolved court docket instances, it’s unlikely that ballots in some counties within the state shall be despatched to voters earlier than the primary week of October.
So, even when Trump was proper, 20% of zero continues to be zero. Case closed.
However after all, Trump isn’t involved about these nonexistent votes. He’s simply making ready for the subsequent spherical of protests and revolt, planting the seeds for Massive Lie 2.0. In order that if he loses, everybody loses. And if he wins … everybody loses.
Trump’s supply for the revelation that votes that haven’t occurred but are already faux comes from disgraced former Fox Information pundit Tucker Carlson. The truth that Carlson has been cavorting with Nazis to the extent that even conservatives have been working away from him, doesn’t trouble Trump. Neither does Carlson being a sycophant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However then, if Trump was to cease quoting right-wing pundits who both defended Nazis or had been within the pocket of Russia, who would he have left to cite?
Trump’s declare about Pennsylvania doesn’t characterize concern over votes within the state. Simply as in 2016 and 2020, Trump is mendacity about voter fraud or a “rigged election” far prematurely of Election Day. He’s making ready to lose and prepping his followers to repeat the type of actions seen in 2020 to perpetuate the Massive Lie.
Even when Trump did just lately slip up and admit that he misplaced in 2020, that doesn’t imply he intends to be extra trustworthy, or extra accepting of the result, in 2024.
One factor has modified since 2020. After years of constructing claims that mail-in votes had been intrinsically illegal, Trump did a huge flip-flop final spring and started to encourage his supporters to make use of mail-in ballots in addition to different types of early voting. The Republican Occasion has continued this push, with a program known as “Swamp the Vote.” Swamp is outwardly a superb factor when it means extra votes for Trump.
However don’t count on Trump to stay to any constant message on both mail-in voting or absentee ballots. They’re a superb factor when it’s his individuals filling out the shape. They’re a catastrophe when he wants an excuse.
