As we have been reminded repeatedly, when Donald Trump is losing, he falls back on allegations of rigged results. Whether it’s failure to get an Emmy for his reality TV show or a weak showing in a primary contest, The Donnie makes it all about trying to cheat him out of what he views as his due reward. Tremendous as he knows himself to be, outcomes unfavorable to him couldn’t possibly be fair is the message. This is just a giggle most of the time. However, this year the allegation has taken a dangerous step into the bigly leagues.
Trump isn’t alone in taking this approach. Voter fraud has been a key Republican theme for many years now, all part of the party’s long-since unmasked agenda to make it harder to vote for people less likely to cast ballots for the GOP. Call it “fraud,” call it “rigging,” this is totally focused on persuading voters that any results contrary to Republican victory is illegitimate. Pretty amazing considering that so much election machinery in swing states is under the control of GOP secretaries of state.
One example appears in internal emails regarding a 2011 Wisconsin election that shows Republican allegations of voter fraud were viewed not as a serious concern but rather a technique to sow suspicion and discord about the validity of contests they lose or think they might.
After the April 6 election in which the race pitting state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser against Joanne Kloppenburg was too close to call, state Republican leaders discussed alleging the possibility of election fraud and getting their rabid helpers on talk radio to push that theme:
Writing from the Prosser election night party in the early hours of April 6, Scott Jensen [...] a former GOP Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, wrote, "talk radio needs to scream the Dems are trying to steal the race." [...]
[Lobbyist Steve Baas, a former aide to Jensen, messaged]: "Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud' so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number?” Baas wrote. "I obviously think we should."
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Rick Hasen, proprietor of the Election Law Blog said at the time:
It shows that all this talk of fraud is all about manipulating Republican public opinion to believe that if Democrats won a close Supreme Court race, and the recall went to a recount, that the election was stolen by Democratic voter fraud. This cynical “messaging” is sadly validating of what many of us have said.
Fast forward to today.
Trump didn’t just now start making these allegations regarding what looks more and more like a Clinton rout in November. We heard him broach this last August soon after the Republican Convention confirmed his nomination. Since his crash and Clinton’s soar in the presidential polls after the tape of “p***ygate emerged, and women started publicly recounting unwanted gropings, grabbings and forced kissings, he has repeated the rigged claim as a campaign mantra. Like any good marketer, he knows that repetition is key. Which is why he’s now injecting “rigging” into his speeches 50 times a day.
Back in August, a poll found that 69 percent of his followers believed that if he lost, it would occur because the election was rigged. In an October poll 73 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of all registered voters said they think the election could be stolen from Trump.
Ponder this. Forty-one percent have bought into this propaganda. Since Trump has a near zero chance of coming out the winner November 8, we can only wonder with trepidation how many of that 41 percent will shake their fists from their loungers and how many will choose to take some reckless and violent action.