Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:36 pm
It turns out Donald Trump’s “evidence” for millions of people illegally voting for Hillary Clinton rests on a debunked study, as Sopan Deb revealed this morning.
Trump transition spokesperson Jason Miller claims a Washington Post study from 2014 justifies Trump’s irresponsible and hysterical claims taht he would have won the popular vote if not for voter fraud:
Asked for evidence supporting Trump's false claims of millions of illegal voters, @JasonMillerinDC cites debunked Wa Po study: pic.twitter.com/l3mgrxh6ir
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— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) November 28, 2016
NPR’s Tamara Keith pointed out in a tweet
The article the Trump transition team cited as evidence of voter fraud is from 2014, and has this disclaimer at the top: pic.twitter.com/t37QBCducZ
— Tamara Keith (@tamarakeithNPR) November 28, 2016
“Do not provide evidence.” Which to Trump’s mind absolutely means it absolutely provides evidence.
Trump’s response to questions about the validity of the election process began even before the first votes were cast when he claimed he would accept the results as legitimate only if he won. Certain of defeat, he was already laying the groundwork for a challenge to the results as people lined up at the polls.
Politico cites Timothy Naftali, a history professor at New York University as pointing out that “Trump is the first winning candidate to question the legitimacy of the process that gave him the White House.” And question it, he has, even as he now questions questioning it with further wild allegations somehow meant to convey the idea that he won fair and square despite all the alleged cheating.
What we’re left with is one simple fact: that the study Trump spox Jason Miller cites as evidence of voter fraud has been repeatedly debunked as providing no evidence of voter fraud.
Appealing to debunked studies is a consistently Republican response to any fact, but the confused and contradictory prattle of Trump and his surrogates is as remarkable as anything we have ever seen in election history. The only constant is the lies.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
