Donald Trump and his key allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, have been spreading a slew of false voting misinformation that paints Democrats as bent on stealing the election. Voting experts and former federal prosecutors say it undermined trust in the process and led to potential violence.
Repeating his 2020 strategy of questioning the integrity of the election and claiming that Democrats were trying to steal the election before losing to Joe Biden and crying fraud, President Trump flatly and without evidence said Democrats were trying to steal the election. He declared that they were “a group of scammers.” .
Similarly, President Trump baselessly accused Kamala Harris of only winning “if the election was rigged.”
Musk’s social media platform It has become a powerful propagator of falsehoods and conspiracies. Critics say he has millions of followers.
Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of nearly $260 billion, is accused of allowing Mr. It has been criticized by key election officials in Arizona and Georgia. The issue of election fraud and fake voting by the Democratic Party.
Bill Gates, the top elections official for Maricopa County, Arizona, told the Guardian: That’s especially concerning to us, given that Mr. Musk has such a large platform. ”
Election experts warn that the amount of misinformation and false accusations about Democratic voter fraud involving non-citizens, mail-in ballots and voting machines is skyrocketing and becoming increasingly difficult to combat. There is.
“When Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it as X, he complained that it unfairly censored conservative views and wanted Twitter to be an uncensored marketplace of ideas. ”Larry Noble, former Federal Election Commission general counsel, told the Guardian.
“Now, Mr. Musk appears to be using his wealth and ability to reach hundreds of millions of followers with conspiracy theories that debunk lies and falsehoods about how elections were run.
“Now he fully and openly supports Trump and joins Trump and other henchmen in spreading the argument that the only way Trump will lose this upcoming election is if there is widespread fraud. Of course, they are already claiming, without any credible evidence, that election fraud has already taken place.
Other election experts have expressed similar concerns.
“Trump’s allies are perpetuating the myth among his supporters that Trump’s election is inevitable and will be a landslide,” said David Becker, who runs the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation Research. It seems so.”
“Given all available data, it is clear that this race is extremely close, and no reasonable person should be surprised if either candidate wins. However, Harris If he wins, this strategy is likely to intensify the sense of shock among many Trump supporters and could increase the likelihood of violence.
Just last Thursday, President Trump said on his platform Truth Social that “we caught these guys cheating on a massive scale in Pennsylvania,” citing minor human error, state officials said. State officials said they immediately called for criminal prosecution in the incident that appears to have resulted from the incident.
At a Pennsylvania rally in Lancaster County over the weekend, Trump said without evidence, “They’re so desperate to steal this damn thing…We should have one-day voting and paper ballots.” denounced.
The Different counties also included fake videos tied to Russian disinformation claiming to have voted for the state.
In addition to Musk, other key Trump allies, including Turning Point USA president Charlie Kirk, have used their large right-wing audiences through podcasts and public events to push the Democratic Party’s false claims about election fraud. I have been pushing forward with my claims.
Former prosecutors and disinformation analysts say there are significant risks in spreading baseless accusations that Democrats are trying to steal the election from Harris.
“We live in an era where influencers can spread false stories on social media platforms and podcasts. are using their platforms to spread false narratives,” said Barbara McQuaid, a former federal prosecutor in eastern Michigan who wrote a book on disinformation titled “Attack from the Insider.” said.
Mr. McQuaid emphasized, “We are seeing a systematic effort to undermine public confidence in the election results.” There is no evidence that Republican strategy is aligned with Russia’s efforts, but their interests are aligned. ”
Similarly, other former prosecutors say they have seen evidence that President Trump and his allies, like the Stop the Steal movement, are prepared to charge him with election fraud if he loses again. are.
“President Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in our nation’s election system through baseless allegations of fraud come amid a sustained attack on our democracy,” said Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general. “This is one of the most dangerous acts ever accomplished.” “Our failure to overturn the 2020 election has not deterred us in the slightest from attempting to do the same this year. This will have serious and long-term consequences for our political and legal systems. Sho.”
“While the incidence of election fraud is infinitesimally small, President Trump, with the help of anti-democrats, has succeeded in convincing a significant percentage of Americans that our elections are riddled with fraud. There are plenty of facts to the contrary, but they don’t seem to have any effect. Trump’s claims of election fraud, like many other falsehoods spread by Trump and his allies, have affected millions of people. disseminated by a media ecosystem that shapes views of
Mr. Bromwich’s concerns are underlined by the influx of false claims that election officials in key battleground states have questioned voting and suspected Democratic fraud.
Misinformation that Democrats are cheating or exaggerating early voting glitches in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Michigan is spreading with help from Trump and his allies.
Critics say Mr. Musk’s Mr. In late October, Musk told his followers to inform X’s “election integrity community” about election issues. It also included claims of election fraud by state officials in Pennsylvania and Arizona, even though Musk’s pro-Trump America Pack oversees the feed. I was exposing my mistakes.
Noble warns that democracy is at risk due to false claims of election fraud by President Trump and key allies.
“Mr. Musk’s efforts to undermine confidence in our elections are doing serious and perhaps irreparable damage to our democracy. He has brought what was once a fringe element of our politics into the mainstream. It has contributed to the normalization of irrational conspiracy theories and distrust of the legitimacy of our democracy.”
Noble went on to say that Musk’s activities “justify Trump supporters to engage in aggressive and potentially violent acts against those seeking to fairly administer the election, and threaten the safety and lives of election officials.” It could be putting them at risk.”
In Bromwich’s eyes, the flood of falsehoods about Democrats trying to steal the election is extremely dangerous for campaigners and democracy.
“One of the most alarming consequences of Trump’s attack on the integrity of our elections is the threat it poses to election officials. Before President Trump, election officials were not aware of threats to their safety or integrity. That all changed thanks to President Trump’s ability to rally supporters behind unsubstantiated claims of wrongdoing based on trumped-up allegations of wrongdoing. This is a very worrying development.”
