Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) condemned conspiracy theories about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election on Monday. Shortly after former President Donald Trump released a press release claiming that the election was “Fraudulent” and a “BIG LIE,” Cheney posted on Twitter that those spreading such conspiracy theories about last year’s election are “poisoning our democratic system.”
As Cheney pointedly put it:
‘The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.’
The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 3, 2021
Shortly before Cheney’s post, Trump (who was kicked off Twitter earlier this year) shared a press release reading as follows:
‘The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!’
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) May 3, 2021
The phrase “the big lie” refers to a Nazi propaganda strategy calling for the spreading of an outrageous and reality-disconnected claim without any hesitation in its presentation. In other words — the consistent and unceasing claims from Trump that the 2020 presidential election was stolen constitute a “big lie,” since there is no legitimate evidence whatsoever in support of the idea, and yet, Trump has not stopped pushing it.
At this point, for Trump’s claims about the 2020 presidential election to be true, there’d have to be unimaginable levels of infiltration across all meaningful levels of government by covert election fraudsters. The cooperation of tens of thousands of people could easily be required for the imaginary nationwide election fraud that Trump claims unfolded. There is no legitimate evidence of any of these notions — yet Trump isn’t the only one who’s spread this delusion.
In Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, Republicans in the state Senate are leading an audit of the ballots from last year’s presidential election, and according to reporting, those involved in the audit have been using UV lights to check for secret watermarks on ballots. A far-right conspiracy theory that secret watermarks are on the only legitimate ballots has spread, but this idea is just not connected to reality. Instead, it’s a far-right fever dream.
