President Donald Trump tried another “walk both sides of the fence” gambit after a reporter asked him why he hasn’t spoken out on the alleged election fraud that’s taken place in North Carolina’s 9th District, The Washington Post reports:
“Well I condemn any election fraud,” Trump began before his remarks turned into a jigsaw puzzle
“And when I look at what’s happened in California with the votes,” he said, “when I look at what happened — as you know, there was just a case where they found a million fraudulent votes, when I look at … what’s happened in Texas, when I look at the catastrophe that took place in Florida, where the Republican candidates kept getting less and less and less, and fortunately [Sen.] Rick Scott and [Gov.] Ron [DeSantis] ended up winning their election, but it was disgraceful what happened there.”
Then he made a brief mention of the upcoming reelection that will take place in North Carolina, where Republican Mark Harris will not be certified as the winner, Washington Post correspondent Philip Bump notes:
“So I look at a lot of different places all over the country,” Trump said. “I condemn any voter fraud of any kind, whether it’s Democrat or Republican, but when you look at some of the things that happened in California in particular, when you look at what’s happened in Texas with all of those that they recently found that were not exactly properly done, I condemn all of it, and that includes North Carolina. If anything, you know, I guess they’re going to do a final report, but I’d like to see the final report. But any form of election fraud I condemn.”
At one point during his brief speech, a reporter called him out, noting that the information he mentioned was wrong and that there is real evidence fraud was committed in North Carolina, Raw Story reports.
“There haven’t been those cases,” she said. “This is an actual case.”
As he so often does, the president merely bulldozed his way past the reporter.
Bump noted Trump’s comments were similar to the statement he made on the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. In that case, Trump said there was “blame on both sides.”
And Trump’s statements above really are almost entirely wrong, Bump writes.
Those “million fraudulent votes” in California? That didn’t happen and no one even knows where Trump got this. He’s tried to undermine Hillary Clinton victory by popular vote by continually mentioning California’s votes were fraudulent, and Bump notes, a Facebook-based rumor claims someone uncovered 1.7 million in the state from people who aren’t registered to vote. But the conservative group that the rumor is attributed to said this was untrue.
What about those votes in Texas that were “not exactly properly done?” Earlier this month, Texas’s Republican Secretary of State issued a highly questionable report on the voting status of nearly 100,000 people who might be non-citizens living in the state. But almost as soon as the report came out, it was discovered that the numbers were enormously inflated. The lists failed to include naturalized citizens and also relied on loosely-matched names to raise questions regarding registered voters.
And thus far, no illegal votes have been uncovered, even though there is the possibility that non-citizens are included on the lists sent by the county to the state.
But those aren’t the only errors in Trump’s speech. There was no fraud associated with Florida’s vote count. Things were looking cozy for Senate-hopeful and then-Governor Rick Scott (R), and it also appeared likely that then Rep. Ron DeSantis (R) would fill his governor’s shoes. But with more votes to count as the evening wore on the situation began to look leaner for Scott and DeSantis as the leads narrowed. Votes were still waiting to be counted from counties with larger populations, where cities abound. And those cities tend to vote Democratic.
A worried Scott began blaming Democratic officials, alleging they were committing fraud by adding votes to the total. And even though there’s no evidence that this happened, Trump jumped right in, calling for the totals at the end of election night to stand.
In essence, that disenfranchised thousands of voters who typically cast absentee votes. Which further ensured Scott’s victory.
And that means, of course, that while he decries fraud, he uses it to help his Republican colleagues.
Here’s what Trump has to say below.
Featured image by Alter Net via YouTube video
