The problem with Trump’s strange conspiracy theories about the 2024 election in Pennsylvania
A few weeks ago, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance appeared on “Meet the Press” and heard a good question that too often goes unasked.
“Why is Donald Trump sowing doubt about the election before it has even happened?” asked Kristen Welker of NBC News.
“I don’t think Donald Trump does that, Kristen,” the Ohio senator replied.
That’s definitely what the former president is doing. Consider this article the Republican candidate posted on his social media platform over the weekend:
An interview by Tucker Carlson with an election expert shows that 20% of Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots are fraudulent. There we go again! Where is the U.S. Attorney General and FBI to INVESTIGATE? Where is the Pennsylvania Republican Party? We will WIN Pennsylvania by a large margin unless we let the Democrats cheat. THE RNC MUST TAKE ACTION NOW!!!
Sure, it’s nothing new for Trump to post strange election-related claims online, but what struck me as odd about this one was the fact that it’s literally impossible.
The first ballots for 2024 were mailed to voters in Pennsylvania late last week. The former president wanted Americans to believe not only that the ballots were returned within a day, but also that an “election expert” had already determined that 1 of 5 the unopened and unprocessed Postal votes are “fraudulent in nature.”
In other words, Trump wants the FBI, federal prosecutors, the Republican National Committee and state Republicans to take action and respond to a bizarre claim that cannot possibly be true.
So much for the assumption that the former president did not cast doubt on the election before it even took place.
But if you step back, the problem is not just that Trump is undermining confidence in the election based on obvious nonsense. Making matters significantly worse is the Republican’s announcement that he will sentence to long prison terms anyone involved in the election – from poll workers to lawyers to donors – whom he suspects of “unconscionable behavior.”
In other words, one is tempted to dismiss the Republican candidate’s ridiculous claims, but his radical vision and authoritarian threats make this impossible.
