On Sunday, Donald Trump posted a claim that 20% of mail-in votes in Pennsylvania are fraudulent. “Here we go again!” Trump wrote as he called for Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI to investigate.
It’s going to be a brief investigation. Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots have not even been sent out yet. In fact, due to several unresolved court cases, it’s unlikely that ballots in some counties in the state will be sent to voters before the first week of October.
So, even if Trump was right, 20% of zero is still zero. Case closed.
But of course, Trump isn’t concerned about these nonexistent votes. He’s just preparing for the next round of protests and insurrection, planting the seeds for Big Lie 2.0. So that if he loses, everyone loses. And if he wins … everyone loses.
Trump’s source for the revelation that votes that haven’t happened yet are already fake comes from disgraced former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson. The fact that Carlson has been cavorting with Nazis to the extent that even conservatives have been running away from him, doesn’t bother Trump. Neither does Carlson being a sycophant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But then, if Trump was to stop quoting right-wing pundits who either defended Nazis or were in the pocket of Russia, who would he have left to quote?
Trump’s claim about Pennsylvania doesn’t represent concern over votes in the state. Just as in 2016 and 2020, Trump is lying about voter fraud or a “rigged election” far in advance of Election Day. He’s preparing to lose and prepping his followers to repeat the kind of actions seen in 2020 to perpetuate the Big Lie.
Even if Trump did recently slip up and admit that he lost in 2020, that doesn’t mean he intends to be more honest, or more accepting of the outcome, in 2024.
One thing has changed since 2020. After years of making claims that mail-in votes were intrinsically unlawful, Trump did a massive flip-flop last spring and began to encourage his supporters to use mail-in ballots as well as other forms of early voting. The Republican Party has continued this push, with a program called “Swamp the Vote.” Swamp is apparently a good thing when it means more votes for Trump.
But don’t expect Trump to stick to any consistent message on either mail-in voting or absentee ballots. They’re a good thing when it’s his people filling out the form. They’re a disaster when he needs an excuse.
Help ensure that Donald Trump is searching for an excuse on Nov. 6 by making sure that Kamala Harris has all the resources she needs to turn out the vote in Pennsylvania and every other state. Give $10 to the Harris/Walz campaign today.
