Months before the election, when Trump first told a rally crowd he would only lose if the election were stolen, the seed for last week’s assault on the Capitol was planted. Trump repeated this claim at his rallies many times in the weeks leading up to November 3. Why? Was it because the polls showed him on track to win? The polls from September to election eve showed Trump behind. Was it because of his high approval rating ? His approval rating was in negative territory consistently in the months before the election. In spite of those bleak indicators was it because the smart money in Las Vegas said he would win anyway. On election eve Vegas odds were 67 percent for a Biden victory, 33 percent for a Trump victory.
On what basis then was the demonstrably dumb claim made that Biden could only win by stealing the election?
On the basis of calculated deceit.
It was a setup for the fraud claims that exploded across the country after Trump’s defeat. By then the idea of a stolen election was baked in. Had Trump not already filled his followers heads with it the claim would have sounded desperate and hollow coming in the wake of an election that went pretty much as predicted. In fact, Trump did slightly better than predicted, easily winning both Florida and Ohio where some polls showed him even or behind.
And so after weeks of gestation the Big Lie was born.
On what basis then was the demonstrably dumb claim made that Biden could only win by stealing the election?
On the basis of calculated deceit.
It was a setup for the fraud claims that exploded across the country after Trump’s defeat. By then the idea of a stolen election was baked in. Had Trump not already filled his followers heads with it the claim would have sounded desperate and hollow coming in the wake of an election that went pretty much as predicted. In fact, Trump did slightly better than predicted, easily winning both Florida and Ohio where some polls showed him even or behind.
And so after weeks of gestation the Big Lie was born.
