Chapter 1: What claims did Trump make about the 2020 election?
Six days after the major news networks called the 2020 race for Joe Biden, the former mayor of New York City stood before reporters as hair dye streamed down his face and declared the election was stolen. He said he would prove it in court, but he never produced any of that proof. Not in Wisconsin, not in Arizona, not in Michigan, not in Pennsylvania.
Of the more than 60 lawsuits challenging the 2020 results, Trump got a favorable ruling in just one case. And it was only procedural, and it only affected a few hundred ballots, not enough to sway any results. The other cases were either dismissed, settled, or voluntarily withdrawn.
But the myth of the fraud, that dead people voted, machines were hacked, a foreign government interfered, and votes were flipped, well, that myth lived on, promoted ad nauseum on conservative media.
Chapter 2: How did the myth of election fraud persist in conservative media?
But the myth even lost there, and it was costly. After trashing Dominion voting machines, Fox News was forced to pay one of the largest defamation settlements in U.S. history, $787 million to keep that case from going to trial. And yet, the myth of a stolen election still lives. because the president of the United States, despite being back in the Oval Office, can't let 2020 go.
Chapter 3: What role does the Department of Homeland Security play in election security?
He refuses to accept he lost. And not accepting it has become a litmus test for anyone in the Republican Party, be they a lawmaker or a member of President Trump's second administration. It's not just refusing to accept the loss.
Chapter 4: Who are the key figures in Trump's election integrity team?
It's investigating those who publicly stated the truth about the election, like Chris Krebs. and now it's also potentially continuing and continuing investigation into the loss itself and maybe even using the delusion to gain more power over the next elections
President Trump's new election integrity team at the Department of Homeland Security includes Heather Honey and Marcy McCarthy, two election deniers who worked to overturn the results in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Honey is now Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity at the Department of Homeland Security, and McCarthy was named Director of Public Affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA. According to the New York Times, Honey hosted a call with election officials from nearly all 50 states last month.
Chapter 5: What alarming claims were made during the call with election officials?
The paper reports many of the officials left that call alarmed. Five people familiar with the call say Honey spent much of her time repeating claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent, questioned the mission of CISA, and made multiple references to a report that election machines had been hacked and could not be trusted. Ms.
Chapter 6: How are investigations into election integrity affecting officials?
Honey and Ms. McCarthy did not respond to the New York Times request for comment, and the Homeland Security Department declined to give specifics about the department's election work. But it is because these individuals are now responsible for laying the groundwork for the upcoming midterm and presidential elections that many election experts are even more alarmed today.
Well, she has broad authority to investigate through the Department of Homeland Security. And then, of course, if it's accompanied by the Department of Justice, then they have broad authority to prosecute.
Chapter 7: What is the current state of election security in the U.S.?
And I promise you that can potentially disrupt an election. And if nothing else, it will make a number of election administrators nervous if they're simply calling spades a spade and saying, no, the 2020 election wasn't stolen or. No, the 2026 election wasn't stolen or the 2028 election wasn't stolen.
And so now I think for the first time ever, we have a number of people within these government offices who are willing to indulge the most fanciful of claims.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of misinformation on future elections?
And that simply did not exist in President Trump's administration in 2020, by and large, with the exceptions of people like John Eastman. Heather Honey should know better because in 2022, well after the 2020 election, and Stephen knows this probably better than anybody else, she was a witness in litigation brought in Arizona where she claimed that certain procedures used by a particular county
could have allowed false ballots to be counted and again i'm reading from the new york times story right now but as she was questioned she acknowledged she had no evidence that had this had occurred on a widespread scale she was fully discredited as a witness in that arizona litigation and a judge found and again i'm quoting from his decision would not come close to clear and convincing evidence that the election outcome was affected and nonetheless heather honey has it in her mind
that more people voted than were entitled to vote across a number of states in various counties, et cetera. And she is not letting go of that idea, joining forces with people like Cleta Mitchell to say that they are the true defenders of election integrity. And they will get to the bottom of why there are discrepancies between voter rolls and the number of votes cast.
They believe there is widespread fraud in who is registered to vote and who is actually voting, and that they themselves are the only ones who are willing and able to get to the bottom. All right.
So if there are National Guard troops on the ground and people are concerned about feeling intimidated to go to the polls, or what if there is another argument that these election machines are all being hacked? I know there's transparency. I know people like you and people like the Secretary of State have been going out and trying to say these things are not attached to the Internet.
I mean, Chris Krebs has said that over and over again. They're not attached to the Internet. They can't be hacked. But that myth, that lie is still pushed. So there's that. But then there's also just the physical aspect of it. If there's national troops on the ground in some of these polling places, what's the advice of local officials?
Well, I would say if you're in a state like Nevada or Arizona, you can certainly vote ahead of time. You can vote no excuse early and you can vote by mail. As for machines being hacked, not only are they not connected to the Internet, but 97 percent of voters in the United States use a paper ballot. That means that there is always a non-hackable, auditable paper trail.
And to my fellow conservatives and Republicans out there, I would say continue to believe in the rule of law. And the rule of law, the courts have shown consistently after 2020, after 2022, after 2024, that despite what people like Heather Honey have alleged, Our elections have been fair and they have been lawful and they have been accurate.
And if the courts rule such in 2026, then I hope and I trust that people will abide by the results of those elections. This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. I got a free shot on all these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that.
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