Trump’s biggest & worst lies aren’t about the “rigged” 2020 election
In his June 9 interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press, Donald Trump returned again to his loathsome “Big Lie” that he won the 2020 presidential election due to massive fraud in the states that declared Biden as the winner. Ever since November 3, 2020, Trump has sung this Faustian leitmotif far off-key as a constant refrain to excite and re-energize his sycophantic base and to protect his certifiable, fragile narcissist ego from total collapse. Related Donald Trump’s contempt for female journalists is indicative of a much larger problem Fraudulent elections are, according to political scientist Lawrence Britt, one of the 14 enumerated characteristics of fascism: 1. Powerful and continuing nationalism, Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today 2. Disdain for the recognition of human rights, 3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats [of the country’s problems] as a unifying cause, 4. Rampant sexism, 5. Supremacy of the military, 6. Controlled mass media, 7. Obsession with national security, 8. Religion and government are intertwined, 9. Corporate power is protected, 10. Labor power is suppressed, 11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts, 12. Obsession with crime and punishment, 13. Rampant cronyism and corruption, and 14. Fraudulent elections Trump checks the boxes in Britt’s characteristics, but of the last one, not only did he pressure election officials in various states to give him unearned votes (like in Georgia), but he also pressured his first-term Vice President Mike Pence not to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump not only attempted to illegally fix the election in his favor, but he also reprises his perpetual “Big Lie” whenever his endorsed primary and election candidates face defeat. Though Trump’s “Big Lie” accused the Democratic Party of “rigging” the 2020 election, all his lies have been big and dangerous, with possibly the biggest being his promise to “Make America Great Again.” On Meet the Press, Welker asked Trump about his so-called “weaponization fund” from which he intends to give large amounts of money to supporters whom he has deemed as having been unfairly treated by Biden’s Department of Justice, namely, those arrested on insurrection charges for storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. “They had FBI agents ushering them into the building,” argued Trump on Face the Nation. “They had FBI go into the building. Those people are walking around, they’re looking, ‘Oh, isn’t this nice?’ They weren’t in—they were being ushered into the building. The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization. Many of those people should be compensated.” Welker replied, “All right, this is, just to be very clear, there’s no evidence of what you’re saying…” Trump responded, “There’s a lot of evidence….There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.” Welker said, “Well, it’s not been presented in a court of law.” Trump then said, “The election [of 2020] was rigged. It was a dirty election.” He went on to accuse Democrats of stealing the recent Los Angeles mayoral election primary away from his endorsed candidate, Republican reality TV personality Spencer Pratt. After some give-and-take on the California primary, Trump returned to his standard attack of demeaning women journalists of color by accusing Welker. He said, “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked.” Welker replied, “To be fair, I’m not crooked. But let’s continue.” Trump then said, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.” Following his insults, Trump stormed off the stage and out of the NBC studios. Trump seemed to get his “Big Lie” methods from other of his admired autocrats. Adolph Hitler infamously said, “The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a Big Lie than to a small one,” and, “The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” Trump (encapsulated in his alt-right, alt-facts, alt-universe), like other authoritarians, uses “Machiavellian” tactics in his single-mindedness, cunning, plotting, and unscrupulous — often vicious — actions to advance his career, enact his policies, and enhance his power. To Trump, the ends certainly justify the means, no matter who gets hurt. Throughout his business career and into his presidency, Trump has simultaneously vilified the courts while using lawsuits as a means of intimidation to get his way and to vanquish his opposition. He continually threatens to employ libel laws to sue the “crooked and lying” media. We will most likely see more of these threats emerging from Trump’s Ministry of Propaganda (a.k.a. “White House Office of Communications”). The major wealthier media outlets have the privilege and ability to stand up to Trump’s coercion, though some choose not to when they are dependent on Trump and his administration to grant them mergers or buyouts of other media companies. Some of the smaller organizations who run on very tight budgets and depend on volunteer labor have no such privileges. For many of these smaller outlets, even the threat of a harassing lawsuit will result in their self-censoring. The problem is that the Big Lie is now so embedded within the far-right-facing MAGA insignia that it represents a call to action, a call to take the country back to an uncontested white Christian nativist nation, the U.S. equivalent of a Nazi-era Aryan race where non-Aryans must either be “put in their place,” expelled, or terminated. The outcome of Trump’s lies have resulted in over a million people dead from a pandemic, widespread economic collapse, increasing wage and health inequalities between the super rich and everyone else, and insurrectionists attempting to hold the government and our democratic institutions hostage. And for what? For a narcissistic sociopath to gain and hold onto power through appealing to white grievance politics. The post-Trump Senate impeachment trial in 2021 brought no degree of justice since the perpetrator has now returned to the scene of the crime (the Oval Office) with more power than ever. As his public ratings have plummeted to new depths, it seems perfectly clear that his fellow colluders and actors in perpetuating the Big Lie will suffer consequences come November. I’ve been struck time and time again by Trump’s lies and deceptions throughout the past post-factual nine years since he first announced his campaign for the presidency. Most of us have read by now that The Washington Post recorded 30,573 “untruths” during his first term (averaging approximately 21 invalid claims a day). The most egregious claim, which had deadly consequences, was the “Big Lie”, which resulted in his staunchest supporters launching an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s second term is no different for this Misstater-(Liar)-in-Chief. As the lies continue piling up, as his attempts to grab more power and wealth through grifting soars, he again has attempted to redraw maps and redefine the very definition of “winning.” President Donald Trump, as the clinically compulsive liar that he is, shouted yet another of his big lies that he and Netanyahu decided to go to war with Iran because it served our country’s self-interest due to the “imminent threat” Iran posed to the United States and to the world community. But there was no imminent threat. Trump lied that Iran was very close to producing a nuclear weapon. That is not true. And now, Trump is literally asleep at the wheel (or at least at his desk in the Oval Office). Enormous problems endanger our nation and the world: wars, inflation, unaffordable healthcare and childcare costs, ever-rising energy prices, a global climate crisis, poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, starvation, spreading diseases, destructive animal parasites, democratic instability at home and abroad, gun violence, and so many others. Instead of tackling these problems head-on as a president of the United States must, Donald Trump has been fixated instead on his vanity projects of constructing an expensive and unnecessary White House ballroom, refurbishing the Reflection Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, covering the roads between the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac River, erecting the tallest victory arch (the Arch de Trump) near Arlington National Cemetery to overcompensate for Trump’s failed manhood, and other tacky and completely illegal extravagances. How long will it take for Trump’s supporters to finally realize they have been duped by this con-artist who sold them his snake-oil-of-a-campaign-and-presidency of little value, which has had disastrous consequences? How much longer can Trump’s enablers, both his passive and active supporters, understand that they are hurting the country and sacrificing their own integrity and sense of dignity for the mere promise of a few shiny coins of glittering gold and the hot glow of fleeting power? When voters relinquish their freedom for some sort of promised security, we are left with nothing at all. Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.
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