Trump’s proof of vote-by-mail election fraud is a “pants on hearth” lie

President Donald Trump was challenged on Wednesday to substantiate his claims about large mail-in election fraud benefiting Democrats. The one factor he might give you was a “pants on hearth” falsehood.

The concept of extra states transferring towards a mail-in system forward of November’s election is gaining steam amid the coronavirus pandemic. The dilemma Wisconsin voters confronted on Tuesday between staying secure at house or heading to polling locations to vote is one most states are serious about serving to their residents keep away from. Trump, nonetheless, has different, extra self-interested considerations.

Not solely is the president main Republican efforts to stop federal funds from getting used for mail-in efforts, however the briefing on Wednesday revealed he actually doesn’t have any good causes for his place.

Trump was pressed on the purpose throughout the White Home coronavirus activity drive briefing by CNN’s Jim Acosta. Acosta referenced claims the president made the day earlier than about why he thinks mail-in voting is unhealthy — “You get hundreds and hundreds of individuals sitting in someone’s lounge, signing ballots in all places,” Trump stated — and requested him to again it up.

Acosta talked about that 5 states (Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon) already conduct all elections nearly solely by mail, and added, “You’ve been speaking about voter fraud because the starting of this administration. The place is the proof?”

Suffice it to say, no proof was forthcoming. Right here’s a transcript of the primary a part of Trump’s response (emphasis mine):

I feel there’s loads of proof, however we’ll offer you some. There’s proof that’s being compiled identical to it’s being compiled in the state of California, the place they settled with Judicial Watch saying that one million individuals mustn’t have been voting. You noticed that? I’m telling you, in California, within the nice state of California, they settled and we might’ve gone loads additional. Judicial Watch settled the place they agreed that one million individuals mustn’t have voted, the place they had been 115 years outdated and many issues and other people had been voting of their place.

Judicial Watch is a right-wing nonprofit led by staunch Trump loyalist Tom Fitton. The settlement Trump referred to is a January 2019 settlement between the group and Los Angeles County that required the county to take away inactive registrations from the voter rolls. By definition, these individuals hadn’t voted — that’s why their registrations had been inactive. But Trump has in some way spun this into an unfounded declare about one million individuals casting unlawful ballots.

The briefing on Wednesday was not the primary time Trump made this declare. He stated the identical factor final summer time throughout an interview on Meet the Press. At the moment, PolitiFact fact-checked Trump’s declare and rated it a “pants on hearth” lie.

The PolitiFact piece quotes California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) as saying, “[n]o matter how a lot he repeats them, Trump’s lies about voter fraud are obviously unfaithful. Particularly, the settlement with Judicial Watch, Los Angeles County, and the Secretary of State incorporates completely no admission to or proof of ‘unlawful votes.’”

The remainder of Trump’s reply wasn’t any higher

After citing a “pants on hearth” lie, Trump referred to the aforementioned 5 states that have already got strong mail-in voting methods and stated, “each a kind of states you could have talked about is a state that occurs to be gained by the Democrats.” That’s additionally not true. Utah, for example, is a deep-red state.

Trump concluded by merely restating the unfounded allegations that Acosta requested him to substantiate, saying of mail-in voting, “hundreds of votes are gathered. And so they are available in and so they’re dumped in a location then all the sudden you lose an election that you simply suppose you’re going to win. I gained’t stand for it.” Paradoxically, the one occasion of large-scale mail-in election fraud presumably swaying an election in latest historical past is a Republican scheme in North Carolina in 2018. Different states with mail-in methods, corresponding to Oregon, have safeguards stopping that kind of fraud from taking place.

After Wednesday’s briefing, Trump took to Twitter to attempt to make a distinction between absentee voting — which he apparently is okay with (he even voted absentee in Florida’s latest election) — and mail-in voting.

“Absentee Ballots are a good way to vote for the numerous senior residents, navy, and others who can’t get to the polls on Election Day. These ballots are very totally different from 100% Mail-In Voting, which is “RIPE for FRAUD,” and shouldn’t be allowed!” he wrote.

However this distinction doesn’t make sense. There’s no cause to suppose mail-in voting for in-state residents is any extra vulnerable to fraud than absentee voting for residents who’re touring or briefly dwelling elsewhere.

None of Trump’s claims about election fraud make sense — however he retains making them anyway

The backdrop to all that is the coronavirus pandemic, which threatens to make it unsafe for individuals to go to the polls in November and has made mail-in voting an more and more engaging choice.

A Reuters/Ipsos ballot launched Thursday morning discovered that important majorities of each Democrats (79 %) and Republicans (65 %) help a requiring for mail-in voting for November’s election, with 72 % of US adults supporting it total.

Trump, nonetheless, is satisfied mail-in voting hurts Republicans basically and him particularly. He even got here perilously near admitting this in a tweet he posted on Wednesday wherein he claimed the system “for no matter cause, doesn’t work out properly for Republicans.”

In actual fact, Republicans in mail-in states like Utah and Colorado have had loads of success. However it’s been GOP orthodoxy for many years that something driving up voter turnout is unhealthy for the get together. That perception is an enormous cause why Trump has been pushing bogus claims of election fraud for years and utilizing them to argue on behalf of a voter ID system that might make it more durable for poor individuals to vote.

The trade with Acosta illustrated how flimsy these claims are whereas on the similar time displaying that even amid a lethal pandemic, Trump prioritizes his perceived political self-interest — even when it implies that some individuals find yourself abstaining from voting for worry of getting sick.

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