Vote Fraud Meme

I remember from my days in school the picture of Uncle Sam's Melting Pot; in went people of all races, and out came American citizens. How things have changed; today there's a lively debate on who is, and who isn't a true American, even to the point that America's first black President had to show his birth-certificate. And even that wasn't proof enough for some...

It's funny and tragic to see a different melting pot arise within the Republican Party; in go evangelicals, conservatives, libertarians and out come little Trump-clones. Trump is a symptom of a disease that's been festering in American and other western societies for decades. A disease of free market capitalism on steroids that created the corporatocracy in which societies become fragmented under the fear-mongering and hate-inducing guidance of the one percent; an atomized society that is the exact opposite of the melting pot I was taught about not so long ago. It's funny that the political party that's largely responsible for the melting pot's demise, now has its own little melting pot producing Trump-clones.

Even among politicians, who are almost all professional liars, Trump's lies stand out; this man has popularized dishonesty by not even trying to cover up his lies. Already when he won in 2016, while losing the popular vote, he claimed voter fraud, he said that millions of illegal aliens voted for Clinton, which was not true of course. He said that in fact he won in a landslide, which was not true of course. And that narrow victory was gained while surfing on the success of another lie; the birther conspiracy about how Barack Obama wasn't an American citizen, and how his presidency was illegal.

Trump doubled down on this strategy even before the 2020 elections began. He made statements like this: "The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged." He spread lies about the U.S. Postal Service in order to cast doubts about the legitimacy of mail-in votes during a pandemic. He prepped the American people for the wild claims about voter fraud he would make if and when he lost the elections. And all the other Republican politicians and officials, with only a few exceptions, went along with this outrageous lie; by now the Trump melting pot was operating at full capacity.

It's ironic then, that one of Trump's most perfect clones is a black man called Larry Elder. I've linked a short video above, an interview with Larry Elder from 2019, in which he defends Trump's lies as jokes or loose talking. He essentially says what all Trump defenders say: "yeah, he's not too bright, says stupid things sometimes, but he means well..." This Larry Elder truly has become a perfect Trump clone these past few weeks, as he ran for Governor for California in a so called "recall election." The current Governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has garnered much critique for the way he handled the covid-19 restrictions in the state, hence the recall election with Larry Elder as the Republican challenger set to replace Newsom.

But... Elder lost, and Newsom stays. Worse even; Elder withdrew from the election one day before its conclusion, as polls indicated there's no way Newsom would be voted out. I believe you can already guess what Elder did; he launched a website where Californians can report voter fraud. Really. It seems as if this will now become the GOP's standard modus operandi, to claim voter fraud whenever an election outcome isn't to their liking. Republicans have seen how Trump was able to gain a hardcore cult-following, how he was able to win elections, and they opportunistically copied his lies and deceit. This Republican Party truly is at the vanguard of the post-truth society. We can joke about it, meme about it, but it's actually deeply troubling...

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