Trump seems likely to never give up the lie that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election.
“Highly respected former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who has headed a major investigation into Voter Fraud, has strongly suggested that State Legislatures seek to decertify the Election results,” Trump said late Saturday night on his alternative social media platform Truth Social. “The victory for Republicans was, without doubt, substantial, as opposed to the very close result that was reported, with Biden eking it out. Other States are finding likewise, and some want to correct the situation. With corrupt Elections and Open Borders, we don’t have a Country.” There remains, of course, absolutely no real-world evidence that Trump was actually the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, but Trump’s recently been touting a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to block the use of most drop boxes for mail-in ballots in the state.
““In the opinion issued Friday, Justice Bradley compared Wisconsin’s elections to contests rigged by dictators in Syria and North Korea and questioned whether past elections in the state had been legitimate. “Thousands of votes have been cast via this unlawful method, thereby directly harming the Wisconsin voters, she wrote. “The illegality of these dropboxes weakens the people’s faith that the election produced an outcome reflective of their will,”” Trump added on Truth Social, sharing apparent quotes from coverage.
It doesn’t seem like there’s any connection between the arguments against drop boxes upon which the case fundamentally relied and any automatic potential for elections that used drop boxes to somehow not reflect the will of the voters of Wisconsin. They’re making connections that don’t reflect the fundamentals of their own dubious case. There have been arguments that drop boxes allow for potential fraud, but that’s not what seems like the main mechanism used by those opposing the boxes in this case in Wisconsin. “State law does not address ballot boxes, but, in the 4-3 ruling Friday, the court’s conservative majority said the absence of an outright ban does not mean they are legal,” CNN summarizes. Even assuming that obviously faulty argument to be accurate, it doesn’t mean votes cast via such boxes were automatically fraudulent. Such votes still went through the same verification process as all the other votes.
“The Wisconsin voters, and all lawful voters, are injured when the institution charged with administering Wisconsin elections does not follow the law, leaving the results in question,”” Trump added, continuing a quote from an earlier post. “I hope other States that have been likewise corrupted, are studying the Wisconsin decision. RINOs beware, America is watching!” The ridiculousness of the ex-president’s arguments doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous, of course — as the Capitol riot proved. He’s literally telling his political opponents, “beware” — and because so many Republicans decided to become professional cowards, Trump could become president again. Polling data indicates that, even if other big-name Republicans like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis jump into the 2024 presidential primary, Trump will still end up winning. In the meantime, Trump’s desperation to prove non-existent election fraud could easily be seen as a ploy to distract from his potential criminal liability in connection to January 6 and his own attempts at election subversion.
