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    The long grift: How Donald Trump's 'voter fraud' claims may not be about the 2020 election

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    November 17, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump kisses a baby at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    It’s becoming apparent that if you don’t like Donald Trump’s vocal debasement of our election results, you probably aren’t going to enjoy his next four years.


    In fact, when you think about it, maybe this is all part of a long-term Trump grift.

    Consider that:

    --A new snap poll – yes, they’re polling again – shows that seven of 10 Republicans believes that the election was “stolen” by Joe Biden.

    --A finance group is working quietly to approach Newsmax to buy the conservative, conspiracy-theory-filled network as a voice for Trump and Trumpism.

    --Despite the consistent failure of Trump campaign lawsuits charging a variety of “fraud” in the elections, Rudy Giuliani, as Trump’s lawyer, is launching more that already have been undercut by Trump’s own Homeland Security folks, even as the campaign walks away from losing arguments about lacking observers to counting, since there were observers.

    Indeed, in stories in The New York Times, Politico, The Washington Post and in more conservative websites all underscore similar themes – that what we’re seeing play out in these challenges were long in the planning, kicked in as election counts turned against Trump in Pennsylvania and other states.

    Moreover, they note that the current spate of challenges is meant to cement a political base for continuing attacks on U.S. institutions – as well as the Biden presidency.

    Here is Politico: “Trump is not making a narrow, surgical, legally feasible case to enhance his chances to still be living in the White House come January 21. (That’s … improbable.) He’s not doing this, either, to win the argument. (It’s almost mathematically impossible.) He’s doing it, say political strategists, longtime Trump watchers and experts on authoritarian tactics, to sow doubt, save face and strengthen even in defeat his lifeblood of a bond with his political base.”

    Futile Challenges

    Let’s deal first with the continuing legal challenges. Giuliani has ordered that lawsuits just abandon the argument that Republican observers were denied access to the counting, but has amplified attacks on the companies involved in manufacturing counting machines as biased for Democrats.

    Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post’s excellent fact-checker,  basically has destroyed this argument with reporting that goes point-by-point through the Giuliani arguments. Plus, in a statement, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of Homeland Security, said “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

    As we have seen, court after court has denied challenges by the Trump campaign as lacking evidence or just being flat wrong.

    So, we have to conclude that other than trying to humor Trump’s ego, there must be some kind of logic for the campaign and the Republican National Committee to continue banging its head against the legal wall.

    The answer seems to be that the craziness of denying election results is working to some extent: Republicans are buying into conspiracy in wide numbers.

    At this point, few people in any world I know believe that any combination of these challenges will change the election results – to say nothing of the fact that the same election processes have returned Republican senators and congress members to their seats.

    “The shocking lack of specifics, which Trump’s critics mock as laughably unserious for something so consequential, is not a deficiency. It is the feature of his strategy,” argues Politico. “It’s … working. Seven in 10 Republicans, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll earlier this week, believe the election was stolen from their candidate.

    It is overall for Trump both a culmination and a continuation: a grand finale of sorts of the past five-plus years, in which he’s relied so much on so much unreality—and also a runway, a kind of topspin toward what’s to come once he leaves Washington . . .

    He’s doing what he believes he needs to do to put at least himself in the best possible position for the future after yet another failure.

    “This isn’t about winning the presidency,” former Trump publicist Alan Marcus told Politico this week. “It’s his exit strategy.”

    How Does It Help?

    Trump is out to use other people’s money – for his business debts, for his political survival and for any attempt to establish a media alternative to Fox News.

    After all, we’ve already learned that  bulk of money from the fund-raising for Trump election challenges is headed for an ill-defined Trump political slush fund.

    Here’s the argument: Trump will make money for selling the Trump image as iconoclast. He will be paid handsomely for making speeches, for holding rallies, by fund-raising efforts that seek to take advantage of 70 million votes in a losing effort.

    By doing so, he will maintain leadership of the Republican opposition and be able to threaten Republican lawmakers into blocking Biden agenda items.

    Politico quoted a Republican strategist who said it’s imperative for Trump to keep active the potential for another run in 2024. Even efforts to prosecute Trump “just on the sheer financial side of it, the martyring of Trump—martyring himself—is good for business,” he said.

    I had hoped that a substantial election result would allow us to move on. Apparently, it ain’t so.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Enjoy good journalism?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

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    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

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    Should Trump be allowed back on social media?

    Colbert: The Afghanistan war is so old it can't even date Matt Gaetz

    Sarah K. Burris
    April 15, 2021

    Stephen Colbert said that for a moment he was hoping there would be a sex tape of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), but he said that he would have to carve his eyes out with a grapefruit spoon.

    Beginning with the news about the end to the Afghan War, Colbert noted that it's gone, the war is so old, that it's too old to date Matt Gaetz.

    The host began his segment "Gaetz-Gaete" by mocking the suburban Orlando gated communities Gaetz would have the infamous parties.

    "Is Matt Gaetz a congressman or a high school senior?" asked Colbert. "You gotta come to my house after prom! Mark's brother got us the good stuff. We're talkin' raspberry Mike's hard, a premium box of chardonnay with a bird on it, and a beer that can only be described as Milwaukee's 'best.'"

    The women who attended the party spoke to CNN, saying that they were asked to put away their cell phones to prevent the escapades from being documented.

    "To which the women replied, 'It's sex with Matt Gaetz. Neither do we,'" the host joked. "One attendee said that Gaetz acted like a frat-type of party boy. What frat would that be? Ima tappa minah? Beta getta lawya? Gonna go-ta jail-a? She also reported that Gaetz was taking pills she believed were recreational drugs. And partygoers say they shared drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and some had sex, adding that Gaetz liked to discuss politics. Wow, how did the girls like that? 'Wow, congressman. That's a long story. Mark Meadows did what? And then what did Jim Jordan say? Oh, God, what was the safe word? Pumpkin patch! pumpkin patch!"

    See the Colbert mockery below:



    Kimmel: Matt Gaetz telling Trump group 'if you want something done to hire a woman' has a whole different meaning

    Sarah K. Burris
    April 14, 2021

    Jimmy Kimmel mocked the latest in Matt Gaetz news after it was revealed that he took recreational drugs, drank and partied with political people and young women who were paid for sex.

    One woman told CNN that she was paid by Gaetz pal Joel Greenberg, but she wouldn't say who she had sex with.

    Most of the women have been questioned by the Justice Department, the report revealed, but not all of them have.

    Over the weekend, Gaetz spoke to a pro-Trump women's group at Mar-a-Lago where he said, "If you want something done, hire a woman." Kimmel felt like that has a whole different meaning knowing women at Gaetz's parties were paid for sex.

    See the opener below:


    Another Fox News meltdown as Rush Limbaugh replacement triggers Geraldo

    Sarah K. Burris
    April 14, 2021

    For the second night in a row, sometimes Fox News host Geraldo Rivera battled with Rush Limbaugh's replacement Dan Bongino. On Tuesday night, the two men joined Sean Hannity's show, where the host surprisingly appeared as the reasonable one.

    At one point, Rivera called Bongino a "son of a b*tch" and a punk after Bongino attacked Geraldo for calling out the racism that leads to police brutality.

    Wednesday evening, the fight continued, this time with Geraldo shouting down Bongino for his multiple failed political campaigns.

    "I know more than you. What do you know? What, you had a ten-minute career as a cop? You've been running for office for the last twenty years!" Rivera said.

    See a clip of the videos below:


    Tuesday night:


    “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” GERALDO just had a total MELTDOWN with Dan Bongino! 😮🤣🔥 @dbongino @GeraldoRivera https://t.co/1valmZsBOe
    — 🇺🇸Maggie VandenBerghe🇺🇸 (@🇺🇸Maggie VandenBerghe🇺🇸)1618450288.0
     
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