In a recorded segment released by Donald Trump today he claimed that “This may be the most important speech I’ve ever made”. In reality the President merely retold his baseless accusations of voter and election fraud that has been repeated since, and even before, Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The claims of vote switching, illegal mail-in ballots, blocked observers, and supposed fraud through Dominion voting systems were uttered by Trump in the statement. Many of these cases have been ruled on by courts across the country and each one was lost, dismissed , or even rescinded by the Trump campaign.
A big reason for this is that despite making such incredible claims to the media and general public the message is quite different in a courtroom. For instance, Rudy Giuliani, who has repeatedly made wild claims of fraud ad nauseam to the public instead said, “This is not a fraud case” when questioned by U.S. District Judge Matthew W. Brann on November 17th.
The only case in which the Trump camp was victorious was one where vote observers in Philadelphia Pennsylvania were allowed to stand six feet, instead of twenty feet away. A rule that effected Republican, Democrat, and Independent observers.
Assurances From Officials
Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has assured that the election was secure and released a tweet which stated “On allegations that election systems were manipulated, 59 election security experts all agree, in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent”. He was subsequently fired by Trump.
Even William Barr, the Attorney General appointed by Donald Trump, said that, “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election” during an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday. After the election Barr moved forward with federal resources using U.S. attorneys and FBI agents to investigate fraud claims, a job normally left to local and state governments.
Threats of Violence
The comments from Trump also come despite an impassioned plea from Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia Republican election official. In a statement on Tuesday, Sterling asked Trump to step up and “…stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and it’s not right.”
Many Republican state officials in Georgia have been subjected to threats by Trump supporters, including Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state. According to Sterling the secretary of state’s wife has also received “sexualized threats”. This after Trump called Raffensperger an “enemy of the people” last week.
Trump’s only response to the plea was to go to Twitter and further push claims of fraud and to criticize Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia. With his 46 minute long statement today Trump seems to be continuing this message.
Trump's Legal Troubles
Trump also briefly mentioned the legal troubles he faces from the State of New York and the attorney general Letitia James. “Now, I hear that these same people that failed to get me in Washington have sent every piece of information to New York, so that they can try to get me there,” he said before also claiming, “They want to take not me, but us down.”
In truth Letitia is conducting a civil investigation to determine if the Trump Organization inflated the value of assets for loans and insurance purposes while deflating the value for tax purposes.
Erosion of Trust
While every case of fraud should be taken seriously and appropriately adjudicated in the court of law, the rhetoric coming from Donald Trump has been hyperbolic, deceitful, and subsequently dangerous. Calling into question the integrity of elections without any evidence that has been able to stand up in court is only serving to further erode American’s trust in democracy.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted from November 13-17 barely a majority, 55% of adults in the United States, believed the election was “legitimate and accurate”. Furthermore, 52% of Republicans believed that Trump “rightfully won” the election. All of this despite zero credible evidence of fraud being presented thus far.
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