Trump rally triples down on Arizona audit lies in new phase of a damaging legacy
Trump rally triples down on Arizona audit lies in new phase of a damaging legacy
The rally proved the former president's commitment to turbocharging the GOP's agenda to unravel voting rights.
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
Donald Trump spoke at the third campaign-style rally of his post-presidency in Phoenix on Saturday night and was, well, completely himself: The nearly two-hour speech alternated between fantastical self-aggrandizement and falsehood-packed rants about his perceived political adversaries. He took aim at Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell, trans athletes, the Green New Deal — which he charmingly nicknamed "the Green New B------" and ludicrously claimed would result in the abolition of windows — Hunter Biden, China and many others.
But there were an overriding focus and a purpose to his rambling remarks — to argue that Republican efforts in Arizona and elsewhere to cast doubt on the results of 2020 election results were part of a "revolution" needed to ensure the "survival of our nation." And as Trump spoke before a roaring audience of loyalists and a wide set of Arizona Republican politicians keen to ride on the coattails of his popularity, Trump's agenda to triple down on his election fraud lies looked like more than just an attempt to burnish his legacy. It showed his commitment and capacity to turbocharge the GOP's agenda to unravel voting rights and underscored how his ability to do lasting damage to the republic is far from over.
Most Republicans running for statewide office in Arizona attended the event, which was organized by Turning Point Action, a right-wing activist organization, and called the "Rally to Protect Our Elections!" A number of them spoke before Trump took the stage, and they clearly considered endorsing or condoning the false claim that Arizona's election results were rigged against Trump as an essential political maneuver. Steve Gaynor, a candidate for governor, fired up the crowd, saying: "This has to be fixed. This can't happen again — there are a million Republicans in our state who believe the election was rigged." Jim Lamon, who is running for the Senate, declared, "There were serious problems with the 2020 election." The crowd directed "lock her up" chants at Arizona's secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who had said before the rally that Trump should "accept [the election result] and move on."
Of course, none of this hysteria about rigged election results is based in reality. Arizona's presidential ballots have already been certified and audited, with President Joe Biden having beaten Trump in the state by about 10,400 votes. Republican hopefuls at the rally were instead discussing evidence-free conspiracy theories and questions raised by an additional "forensic audit" organized by Republican state senators and conducted by an outside contractor. The chosen contractor, Cyber Ninjas, is a small computer security firm that had no experience examining election data before 2020, although its CEO has spread false election conspiracy theories. Not surprisingly, Cyber Ninja's audit has been widely discredited by election experts.
READ MORE: Trump rally triples down on Arizona audit lies in new phase of a damaging legacy https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-rally-...
The rally proved the former president's commitment to turbocharging the GOP's agenda to unravel voting rights.
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
Donald Trump spoke at the third campaign-style rally of his post-presidency in Phoenix on Saturday night and was, well, completely himself: The nearly two-hour speech alternated between fantastical self-aggrandizement and falsehood-packed rants about his perceived political adversaries. He took aim at Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell, trans athletes, the Green New Deal — which he charmingly nicknamed "the Green New B------" and ludicrously claimed would result in the abolition of windows — Hunter Biden, China and many others.
But there were an overriding focus and a purpose to his rambling remarks — to argue that Republican efforts in Arizona and elsewhere to cast doubt on the results of 2020 election results were part of a "revolution" needed to ensure the "survival of our nation." And as Trump spoke before a roaring audience of loyalists and a wide set of Arizona Republican politicians keen to ride on the coattails of his popularity, Trump's agenda to triple down on his election fraud lies looked like more than just an attempt to burnish his legacy. It showed his commitment and capacity to turbocharge the GOP's agenda to unravel voting rights and underscored how his ability to do lasting damage to the republic is far from over.
Most Republicans running for statewide office in Arizona attended the event, which was organized by Turning Point Action, a right-wing activist organization, and called the "Rally to Protect Our Elections!" A number of them spoke before Trump took the stage, and they clearly considered endorsing or condoning the false claim that Arizona's election results were rigged against Trump as an essential political maneuver. Steve Gaynor, a candidate for governor, fired up the crowd, saying: "This has to be fixed. This can't happen again — there are a million Republicans in our state who believe the election was rigged." Jim Lamon, who is running for the Senate, declared, "There were serious problems with the 2020 election." The crowd directed "lock her up" chants at Arizona's secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who had said before the rally that Trump should "accept [the election result] and move on."
Of course, none of this hysteria about rigged election results is based in reality. Arizona's presidential ballots have already been certified and audited, with President Joe Biden having beaten Trump in the state by about 10,400 votes. Republican hopefuls at the rally were instead discussing evidence-free conspiracy theories and questions raised by an additional "forensic audit" organized by Republican state senators and conducted by an outside contractor. The chosen contractor, Cyber Ninjas, is a small computer security firm that had no experience examining election data before 2020, although its CEO has spread false election conspiracy theories. Not surprisingly, Cyber Ninja's audit has been widely discredited by election experts.
READ MORE: Trump rally triples down on Arizona audit lies in new phase of a damaging legacy https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-rally-...
Who believes this man?
Steve, you believe him, don't you?