Day after day, year after year, Trump and his maga cohorts spew endless lies about election fraud and voter malfeasance. Any journalists and news pundits worth their salt should be hammering these lies for what they are, smear campaigns designed to rile up and anger his base against the very people who are actively supporting our democratic process.
If I go on Twitter or Facebook every day and falsely accuse my neighbors of raping little children, my neighbors aren’t going to tell the judge I posted a conspiracy theory. No, they will charge me with malicious slander, and running a smear campaign. Why the hell are the first words out of the news pundits' mouths ‘Trump’s spreading a conspiracy theory’ whenever Trump and his minions slander the decent folks volunteering at the election sites and the state and local workers while accusing them of cheating?
I hate to be blunt, but that shit’s got to stop. The words ‘conspiracy theory’ are too lame, too spineless to describe what crime is really being perpetrated by the smearing attacks against these workers, state and local officials. It’s not only a disservice to our Democracy, but also a journalistic failing on an epic scale.
Is there any need to even mention the death threats our election workers have endured, in some instances the violence and bodily harm? How many volunteers have already quit because of the fear being drummed up by maga sycophants who launch their smear campaigns all over social media and television, all designed to hurt the people who are at the core of our elections?
Each time I hear media outlets like MSNBC utter a ‘Trump conspiracy theory” I want to throw a brick through the TV. These are malicious lies, smears! They cause people harm, emotional and physical, they corrupt the process and endanger people's lives.
Call a spade a spade and stop mealy mouthing the crime. Each time your wrap malicious smears into a ‘conspiracy theory’’ wrapper, you’re hiding the crime, you’re sugar coating the assault, and this lets Trump and the rest of the maga smear merchants off the hook.