Wednesday, May 5, 2021

The Big Lie - who won the 2020 Presidential Election?

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This should be a no-brainer.

It's been three years since President Biden won the 2020 election.

The world has moved on.

Some people have not.

To the vast majority around the world, it's a complete non-issue. The only people who still believe Trump's Big Lie are fringe, Q-addled religious/white supremacist nuts, right? They'll wend their way back to reality eventually.

One would hope.

I am not sure that secular people around the world, who are able to clearly look at a set of facts and draw a reasonable conclusion, quite understand the alternate reality of alternative facts that white evangelical Christian nationalists are living in.

Or how dangerous it can be.

When highly politicized ideologues cling to a religiously-infused delusion, and believe God is on their side in pursuit of a huge lie, that happens to serve their prejudices and privilege and sense of exceptionalism.

You would think, after seeing the example of religious extremism and fundamentalism in Islam, we'd have a clue.

I grew up in this community. There are guys whose popular books sat on our bookshelf in our missionary flat in Hong Kong, now preaching that Christians need to prep for civil war.

I am reading what these prominent Evangelical leaders and prophets are saying. I am seeing what their followers are saying.

And I am seeing what their CHILDREN, brought up in the tradition in much the same way as myself ... are now saying about their famous parents and their millions of followers.

We hoped that reality would eventually set in and they would accept the outcome of the democratic process of their elections.

We hoped that after the debacle of the public tantrum of January 6th, they would be chastened and pull their heads in a bit.

But here we are, six months later, and the religious right are still doubling down on two huge, but vaguely related lies.

1. Male supremacy - women must submit to male authority.

2. Trump won the election, and the 2020 election was stolen, and Biden's presidency is illegitimate.

I notice on social media that there is amplification of both these lies, significantly, over recent months.

The first is the foundation for the second.

The second is because the first is so important to them.

This shouldn't be a conversation anyone needs to have, but I say this for two groups of people: 

1. Devout, Christians who do not realise they're the targets of an anti-democratic disinformation campaign and who genuinely believe there was election fraud - and 

2. Sincere secular people who struggle to believe that so many millions of reasonable, intelligent people could possibly believe such orchestrated delusion in the face of overwhelming fact and evidence.

So here goes.

Was there election fraud or not?

Here's what America's major institutions of electoral oversight have to say.

“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result. 

“When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.

Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (which had an objective observer role):

OSCE supervises the votes that resulted in a win for Biden as well as the votes that resulted in a win for Republican senators. Following an official invitation, and in accordance with its mandate, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) deployed an election observation activity for the 3 November 2020 general elections in the United States. The mission assessed whether the elections were held in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as with national legislation. ODIHR had previously observed eight elections in the USA, most recently the mid-term elections in November 2018.

The OSCE has observed NINE presidential elections in the USA. Their comments on the 2020 U.S. election is illuminating.

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Highly competitive elections in US tarnished by legal uncertainty and unprecedented attempts to undermine public trust, international observers say

From the Brennan Center for Justice:

It’s Official: The Election Was Secure

These government officials, judges, and elected leaders, overwhelmingly Republican, have publicly acknowledged confidence in the November election.

Federal Agencies

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

Department of Homeland Security – Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

Department of Justice (DOJ)

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

The Courts

United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Election Officials

Gabriel Sterling (R), Georgia’s Voting Systems Implementation Manager

Scott Schwab (R), Kansas Secretary of State

Kim Wyman (R), Washington Secretary of State

Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R), Kent County Clerk

Anything I post here from pretty much ANY news corporation that is subject to fact-checking and accountability, other than the "entertainment" shows that make no promise of fact, truth or evidence, such as Newsmax and OAN, will be roundly dismissed as "MSM lies" by the people of The Lie. That's a shame. But still no reason not to report facts.

Elected Officials

The list of lawsuits claiming election fraud (that were all, but one, dismissed for lack of evidence):

Post-election lawsuits related to the 2020 United States presidential election

It's the References at the bottom of the above Wikipedia page that you really want to comb through carefully.

The slow, painful death of Trump allies’ voting-machine conspiracy theories

"Among the many wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, few rank as high when it comes to both baselessness and reach as those involving voting machines. The theory that voting machines were programmed to steal the election from President Donald Trump had the benefit, while being utterly without merit, of at least being simple and easy for people to grasp. There were big swings in the vote totals! (Because Biden did a lot better in mail balloting, which were often added to the totals en masse!)

Unfortunately for its proponents, these theories carried one very significant drawback: legal liability. While broad claims of voter fraud are relatively unspecific and involve many potential perpetrators, there are relatively few voting-machine companies. Claiming such things means impugning them specifically and creating a situation in which your baseless claims can lead to calculable personal and business harm, which is important when it comes to suing someone for defamation.

And sue they have. The result: Many if not most of the high-profile purveyors of such claims have since backed off."

Election Fraud Debunking Mega Thread by Ike Saul, 5 November 2020

Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud

December 2, 2020
"Disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election." 

AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s claims of vote rigging are all wrong

 

Voter fraud is real, just not on the scale claimed by Trump

Nov 13, 2020

"All evidence points to voter fraud as local, small-scale and relatively rare — not national or assembly-line efficient. A dozen or so improperly obtained absentee ballots can conceivably tip a close local election, as was alleged to have happened in Stamford five years ago. It never has been pervasive or scalable.

Trump’s unsupported claim Thursday that 2.7 million votes were somehow deleted or altered in electronic voting systems provoked a remarkable rebuke from within his own administration about the president’s ignorance, willful or not, about how U.S. elections are conducted."

December 4, 2020

"Clinging to notions of widespread vote rigging that his own attorney general has disputed, President Donald Trump repeated a litany of baseless assertions Wednesday of political corruption, machine tampering and mysterious votes appearing out of nowhere that allowed Joe Biden to steal the election.

“This election is about great voter fraud, fraud that has never been seen like this before,” Trump said in a 46-minute address posted on social media."

“It’s about poll watchers who were not allowed to watch. So illegal. It’s about ballots that poured in and nobody but a few knew where they came from. ... It’s about machinery that was defective, machinery that was stopped.”

None of those assertions are true."

Member of Trump's voter fraud commission says lack of evidence 'reveals a troubling bias'

"That the Commission predicted it would find widespread evidence of fraud actually reveals a troubling bias," said Maine's Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap.

Many evangelicals cling to the lies about election fraud, because they cannot bear to face the reality that the prophets they have put their trust in could be wrong.

MY APOLOGY - U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PROPHECY 2020

Kris Vallotton, January 9, 2021


Jennifer LeClaire Repents on Behalf of Modern-Day Prophetic Movement

"The prophetic movement is facing a moment of reckoning. I’ve seen it coming for 20 years, and have been writing about it for just as long. We can reset in humility or we can continue to ignore the issues that brought us to this point. My heart-felt prayer and my whole-hearted belief is that we can and will learn from this unfortunate moment and build a stronger, more accurate prophetic movement that edifies the Body of Christ."

Why are the people of Truth so addicted to lies and delusion? The answer is in which other lies they are unwilling to lay down. 

Many significant Christian leaders have spoken out against Trumpism.

Theologian Russell Moore Has a Message for Christians Who Still Worship Donald Trump

January 21, 2021
“If you can defend this, you can defend anything,” wrote Russell Moore, a theologian who is also the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), in an excoriating editorial to his fellow evangelicals about the breach of the Capitol. The intruders displayed Jesus Saves signs next to those calling for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence and, once in the building, thanked God for the opportunity “to get rid of the communists, the globalists and the traitors” within the U.S. government. 

Historian Heather Cox Richardson spells it out clearly in her post of  May 21, 2021

"It was not a rigged election. Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won by more than 7 million votes with more than 51% of the popular vote to Trump and Mike Pence’s 46.8%. The Democrats won in the Electoral College by a vote of 306 to 232. Trump lost more than 60 lawsuits over the election, and recounts turned up no evidence of widespread fraud."

and

 
"Six months after the 2020 election, supporters of the former president are challenging vote counts all over the country as he continues to insist he won. His supporters stormed the Capitol to overturn our electoral process. And now our Republican lawmakers, who have taken an oath to defend the Constitution, are trying to protect their leader from accountability for inciting that insurrection."

and

"Last week, when they removed Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) from party leadership, Republicans indicated they have now tied themselves to Trump, along with his eagerness to overturn elections unless he gets his way.
 
We are on a very dangerous path." 
 
I think conservative Republicans (the deceived ones, that is) are pushing The Big Lie about false claims of "election fraud" in order to create a smoke-screen of outrage to shield their racist and elitist voter suppression tactics.
 

Dark Money Group Brags About Writing GOP Voter Suppression Bills Across the Country

“We did it quickly and we did it quietly,” said the executive director of Heritage Action.

Discussion by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which examined extremism and disinformation around the world, across political and cultural spectrums:

Narratives of Violence around the 2020 Presidential Election

 The 2020 US Presidential election was among the most intensely contested, scrutinised and controversial political events of the 21st century. Its aftermath continues to dominate both news and politics. Donald Trump’s use of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric as a means through which to govern and campaign is longstanding, but it arguably reached its apex with his 2020 re-election bid – and the consequences are both severe and growing.  

 Also see:

This transcript and audio. Especially this part:

 
Trump: "So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break ...
 
Every single ballot that she did through the machines at early, early in the morning went to Biden. Did you know that, Ryan?"
 
Germany: "That’s not accurate, Mr. President."
 
Trump: "Huh. What is accurate?"
 
Germany: "The numbers that we are showing are accurate."

The Trump Tape, 2 January 2021 - Trump pressures Georgia Secretary of State to "re-calculate" votes 

So who hacked the 2020 USA election? Was it Venezuela? Was it the Vatican? Was it Germany? Was it Italy? Can you at least get your story straight?

The Fucino Tower fabrication is my favourite, for creativity at least.

It was Venezuela! No, it was the Italians! No ... it was ANTIFA! Logical fallacies, blame projection and the American church.

And some absolute bunkum from the pillow guy:

ABSOLUTE PROOF! Western democracy devolves into a pillow fight ...

July 20, 2021

A good round up of the various factors contributing to election disinformation:

 

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