{"id":398,"date":"2024-01-07T12:41:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T17:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/?p=398"},"modified":"2024-01-07T12:42:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T17:42:06","slug":"belief-in-election-fraud-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/2024\/01\/07\/belief-in-election-fraud-grows\/","title":{"rendered":"Belief in Election Fraud Grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last Tuesday\u00a0 morning, two national newspapers published two related articles that should confound the mind of any rational person.\u00a0 There is no way that both of these articles could be true. No way!<\/p>\n<p>The first article, published by USA today, was written by Ken Block, the elections expert Donald Trump hired to deliver evidence of fraud in the 2020 election that could be defended in a court of law.<\/p>\n<p>Block\u2019s company, Simpatico Software Systems,\u00a0 was thorough.\u00a0 And it did uncover evidence of voter fraud. Some privileged people with two homes voted twice, and a few dead people voted.<\/p>\n<p>But those were few and far between, and Block clearly said so. His report said the company \u201cfound no evidence of voter fraud sufficient to change the outcome of any election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, he added, \u201cThe small amount of voter fraud I found was bipartisan, with about as many Republicans casting duplicate votes as Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, further, \u201cMore important, claims of voter fraud made by others were verified as false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Block shared all this with Trump, of course, and Trump accepted it.\u00a0 Trump even admitted to his top aides that he knew he lost.<\/p>\n<p>(End of that story, Then Trump started saying publicly that he had won the election.\u00a0 He kept it up even after he lost more than 60 court cases without a single win, and despite not offering one iota of evidence for his claim, even after Block submitted his report as sworn testimony to government panels investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, even after disparate international poll watchers declared the election the cleanest U.S. election in memory.\u00a0 And he is still claiming it, still without offering any evidence whatsoever.)<\/p>\n<p>Which brings us to the second article, which The Washington Post published an hour or so after the USA Today article.\u00a0 It was the report of a Washington Post-University of Maryland Poll, and it found, among much else, that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More than one third of Americans (36 percent) believe Trump\u2019s claim that the election was rigged against him; and<\/li>\n<li>More Americans today believe that Trump won the election than they did two years ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And that\u2019s just plain nuts.\u00a0 It cannot be.\u00a0 It seems impossible, faced with all that evidence, that you could find a dozen people who would believe that the election was fixed against Trump.\u00a0 But yet, there it is.\u00a0 He\u2019s leading by a landslide and his lead is growing.<\/p>\n<p>It gets worse:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fewer Republicans now say Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack than they did in 2021.<\/li>\n<li>Seven in 10 Republicans think Trump is innocent of charges that he conspired to\u00a0 defraud the United States.<\/li>\n<li>Most Republicans reject the view that the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol was \u201can attack on democracy that should never be forgotten.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>One in three Republicans think the FBI conspired to cause the Capitol riot.<\/li>\n<li>Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, the next few paragraphs I\u2019ve written before and you\u2019ve read before.\u00a0 But occasionally it is good to slow down for a moment and take the time to just look at the person.<\/p>\n<p>As president Trump was legitimately impeached twice, and anyone who watched Congress\u2019 Jan. 6 investigation knows he was guilty. (Sidelight:\u00a0 Did you notice that during those hearings the only people who testified against him were those closest to him, and the only ones who refused to testify were those who said he was innocent?)<\/p>\n<p>Here is a person who faces 91 felony charges in four courtrooms, and more.\u00a0 He is credibly charged with conspiring to obstruct justice, violating the Espionage Act, falsifying business records, conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiring against rights<em>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p>And those are just the federal charges. In Georgia he\u2019s credibly charged with 13 counts that include racketeering, forgery, perjury, filing false documents, making false statements, and more. In New York he\u2019s charged with financial fraud.\u00a0 All felonies.<\/p>\n<p>Also in New York, a federal judge convicted Trump of defaming the character of a woman he had been convicted of sexually assaulting, and he told the jury it would only need to decide how much money he should pay her.\u00a0 He kept up insulting her, though,\u00a0 so she sued him again.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a person who studied Hitler intently and follows him religiously \u2013 e.g., Hitler\u2019s command to lie, lie big, and never quit lying even though your lie is proven to be a lie beyond any doubt, because if you do enough people will follow you anyway to make the effort worthwhile.\u00a0 Trump can be connected to Hitler in many ways (see <a href=\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/2023\/10\/15\/the-hitler-trump-connections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Hitler-Trump Connections<\/em><\/a>, 10\/15\/23).<\/p>\n<p>He has promised that, if elected, he will become a dictator on the first day.\u00a0 He will fire thousands of civil servants and replace them with people who will do whatever he tells them to do.\u00a0 He will arrest millions of undocumented aliens, including the so-called Dreamers, and hold them in mammoth pens of some sort until they can be deported, as soon as possible\u00a0 He will resume his ban on Muslims entering the country.\u00a0 He will make nice with Russia and North Korea.\u00a0 He will remove us from NATO. He has said he wants to start executing drug dealers after sham trials.\u00a0 He once demanded his military leaders act like he was Adolf Hitler and they were German generals during World War II.\u00a0 One of his attorneys testified in court recently that Trump did not have to follow the Constitution because the Constitution only said he had to \u201cpreserve, protect and defend\u201d it, not follow it.\u00a0 And just last Thursday congressional Democrats revealed Trump\u2019s businesses received at least $7.8 billion in foreign payments during his presidency \u2013 and certainly much, much more &#8212; which would be a violation of the Constitution\u2019s foreign emoluments clause.\u00a0 And on and on and on\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-seven\u00a0 psychiatrists and mental health experts wrote a book (<em>The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump<\/em>) that clearly demonstrated why he is criminally mentally ill.\u00a0 He is openly a crotch-grabbing misogynist, a racist, a demagogue, the very definition of what our Founding Fathers feared the most.\u00a0 And on and on it goes.\u00a0 Story without end.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s the person Republicans across the land are saying, in overwhelming <em>and growing<\/em> numbers, that they want to become the next president of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Amazing.\u00a0 Simply amazing.<\/p>\n<p>But, hey, if that\u2019s the best you got, Republicans, bring it.\u00a0 Trump is my hoped-for Republican nominee for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 First, it will focus a much-needed harsh focus on the choice before us, either a democratic republic or a dictatorship, and any other candidate would blur that focus immeasurably.\u00a0 And second, he would be easy to beat.<\/p>\n<p>I cannot believe that enough Americans exist who would purposefully put all their rights and freedoms into the hands of any one person &#8212; especially <em>that <\/em>one &#8212; not once they understand the impossible-to-overstate the importance of November\u2019s election.<\/p>\n<p>And there is where each one of us comes in.\u00a0 Each one of us must do our part in whatever world we live in. Robert Reich, the American professor, author, lawyer and political commentator,\u00a0 recently offered these seven suggestions.\u00a0 I paraphrase:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Don\u2019t waste your time with Trump loyalists.\u00a0 They are blind and deaf.\u00a0 Focus instead on the sleeping and the undecided, those who can be reached.<\/li>\n<li>Volunteer.\u00a0 Knock on doors.\u00a0 Make telephone calls. Write letters and cards.\u00a0 Offer your time.<\/li>\n<li>Know what\u2019s going on so you can counter lies with truth.<\/li>\n<li>Stand up to bigotry and other forms of hate every time you see it.<\/li>\n<li>Be compassionate.<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrating in marches and on street corners is good, but don\u2019t let it become your only means of acting.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t be distracted.\u00a0\u00a0 Keep your eye on the prize.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><center><em>\u201cIf you liked this blog, please forward it to your friends, and especially to your enemies.\u201d<\/em><\/center>If you are not a subscriber and you would like to\u00a0 subscribe, click <a href=\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>here<\/u><\/a>. (It\u2019s free.)<br \/>\nIf you would like to reply to today\u2019s column, click <a href=\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>here<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#d7d0d0;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#F1EAEA;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><strong>A FEW RELATED READINGS<br \/>\nprovided each week by the folks at GrowPurpose.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/refuting-myth-voter-fraud-yet-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Refuting the Myth of Voter Fraud Yet Again<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-2020-election-lies-debunked-4fc26546b07962fdbf9d66e739fbb50d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump\u2019s drumbeat of lies about the 2020 election keeps getting louder. Here are the facts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/nevada-fake-elector-fight-brings-110000274.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nevada\u2019s Fake Elector Fight Brings an End to the Republican Voter Fraud Myth<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/opinion\/trump-paid-me-to-find-voter-fraud-then-he-lied-after-i-found-2020-election-wasnt-stolen\/ar-AA1mlxuJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump paid me to find voter fraud. Then he lied after I found 2020 election wasn&#8217;t stolen.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/09\/04\/1120904265\/claims-voter-fraud-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Claims of voter fraud, old as the republic, still work as weapons for Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/opinion\/the-insurrection-is-far-from-over\/ar-AA1mvofF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Insurrection Is Far From Over<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6552370\/january-6-myths-christian-nationalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How We Can Confront the Myths of January 6 and Intensifying Christian Nationalism<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Tuesday\u00a0 morning, two national newspapers published two related articles that should confound the mind of any rational person.\u00a0 There is no way that both of these articles could be true. No way! The first article, published by USA today, was written by Ken Block, the elections expert Donald Trump&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}