So, right-leaning pollsters dropped a whole bunch of new polls showing Trump doing well today. There’s no reason for it except to gin up the expectations among the Trump cult so that if he loses they can … do what? Write amicus briefs? Stand outside courtrooms holding signs? I don’t think so.
Here’s a little preview of what they may be planning:
Brandon Matlack, a coordinator for a group boosting former president Donald Trump’s election effort, was camped outside an election office in Pennsylvania’s Northampton County when he posted a video Tuesday on the social network X asking his 3,000 followers for help identifying a “very suspect” man he’d seen just drop off “an insane amount of ballots.”
Within minutes, his video had gone viral — cross-posted to Facebook groups, Rumble videos, Telegram channels and pro-Trump forums as visual evidence of election fraud. On X, the video raced to the top of a special “Election Integrity” feed newly promoted by its billionaire owner Elon Musk, where posts sharing the man’s face and license plate were viewed millions of times.
“A nervous operative of the Dem. cheating machine,” one X user wrote. On the social network Gab, another wrote, “Shoot him dead and figure it out later. Remember 2020 !!!”
The Post broke down the nine races and three long shots that could determine whether Democrats lose control of the Senate. Forty-three competitive races will determine whether Republicans retain their narrow control of the House.
But the man Matlack had recorded was actually a longtime U.S. Postal Service worker making a routine delivery, according to Lamont McClure, the county executive. The video ricocheting across X as proof of a conspiracy actually just showed the man doing his job.
The video’s near-instant virality was a victory for the organized network of conservative activists and conspiracy theorists who have spent years building online followings by promoting their belief in corrupt elections. On platforms controlled by Musk — and Trump, the majority owner of the online platform Truth Social — they have worked to stand up a preemptive infrastructure stronger than the “Stop the Steal” movement that grew after Trump’s 2020 loss.
Yikes.
[B]The viral claims could also help shape Republicans’ legal strategy to challenge election irregularities, as seen in the state lawsuits echoing Trump’s Truth Social posts about the purported risks of counting ballots from U.S. citizens or military service members stationed overseas. Last month, Musk shared a post saying Democrats planned to “steal elections using ‘overseas’ ballots”; two days later, Trump shared his post, adding, “Lawyers at RNC — STOP THIS FRAUD, NOW!!!”
Dean Jackson, a former investigative analyst on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection, remembers watching the “Stop the Steal” movement rapidly assemble in Facebook groups after the 2020 vote. But he now worries about the damage that could be caused by election deniers’ four-year head start.
Major social media companies have rolled back content policies they enacted around the 2020 election. Musk and right-wing influencers have lent the movement prominence and legitimacy. And many deniers have moved on to more opaque online networks, including encrypted channels and private group chats, that make it harder for law enforcement to track.
“They have had four years to prime the base to believe and take action around false claims of fraud,” he said. “It feels like open season. It feels like we didn’t learn any of the lessons of 2020.”y contesting the results of the election even before any votes for Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris have been tallied, they have set the stage for a national resistance plan that online observers worry could echo the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of his baseless claims that the election was rigged.
Like most people I doubt that there will be an exact re-enactment of January 6th. But somebody is going to do something.
And by the way, Republican officials are going to go along with it:
Trump’s unwavering claims about the nation’s election system being “rigged” have steadily gained more acceptance among rank-and-file Republican
svoters over the past four years, and his biggest Republican critics in Congress have either retired, will retire soon or have lost sway…“The strength of the cult of Trump amongst voters is strong so members are reflecting what their constituents want them to do,” said a Republican strategist and former Senate leadership aide. “The other angle is there are a lot of concerns about how elections are being conducted and the power of social media and our partisan news,” the strategist said. “Republicans watch a lot of Twitter and Fox News, and they see voting irregularities,” they continued, pointing out a recent Detroit News report that a Chinese citizen attending the University of Michigan voted illegally by absentee ballot, and election officials weren’t able to retrieve it.
I don’t know if these people have just decided that if you can’t beath ’em join ’em or if they’ve become believers themselves. Not that it makes any difference. But if anyone’s expecting them to fight this, they need to think again. I can’t imagine what would make them cross him at this point.