Upholding Democracy in the Age of "The Big Lie"
October 10, 2022
Election denialism is pushing America into “dangerous psychological territory,” according to this insightful study from CBS News correspondent Garrett (Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride) and Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. Drawing on interviews with poll workers and election supervisors, the authors thoroughly debunk claims made by Donald Trump and his supporters in their campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election. These include allegations that voting machines were hacked by the Chinese (they’re not connected to the internet), that voting early or by mail is “suspect or devious” (both Trump and Biden benefitted from the pandemic-caused surge in these votes in 2020, and they come with ample “safeguards and redundancies”), and that “ballot dumps” in Democratic areas on election night signaled large-scale fraud (votes are always counted in batches and delays were often the result of laws against pre-processing). Trump lost, the authors claim, not because the election was stolen or rigged, but due to “sky-high Democratic interest” and his “poor voter mobilization in key states, misspent campaign resources, and misguided overconfidence.” Throughout, Garrett and Becker present statistical evidence in clear terms and cool overheated rhetoric from both the right and the left. This thorough and evenhanded assessment deflates Trump’s “big lie.”