Let’s see: we had eight years of conspiracy theories of George W. Bush stealing the elections, both 2000 and 2004. We have now had four years of Russia Russia Russia, for which CNN banged right along. But, not
Rudy Giuliani’s conspiracy theories could be dangerous to democracy, experts say
Rudy Giuliani’s increasingly outlandish claims of election fraud have former federal officials worried that theories peddled by the man once dubbed “America’s mayor” could be dangerous to democracy in the US.
In the two weeks since Election Day, Giuliani has become a super-spreader of election disinformation. His eyebrow-raising claims — from Republican observers being barred from vote counts, to mysterious batches of ballots appearing in the middle of the night, to an election technology company using Venezuelan software to swing results — have been steadily debunked in courtrooms and by federal officials who have declared there is zero evidence of widespread irregularities.
“Real distrust in the system, casting doubt on the integrity of our electoral system, the constitutional process — the Russians and the Chinese couldn’t ask for any more,” former Trump national security adviser John Bolton told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Sunday. “This is dangerous to the Republican Party, obviously. Of paramount importance, what Trump’s doing, it’s potentially dangerous for the country.”
Javed Ali, who served as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during the Trump administration, said that Giuliani and Trump questioning the election’s legitimacy makes it more difficult for the US to “wag the finger at other countries where you see similar things happening.”
OK, blah blah blah continues. If only we had a press, afforded extra protections in the U.S. Constitution and many state constitutions, who would actually dig deep and investigate, right? CNN sure ran with the whole “Bush stole 2000/2004” conspiracy, as well as that Putin got Trump elected. That neither Bush nor Trump were legitimate presidents. They, and the guests they have on, were more than willing to run with the conspiracy theories, even after debunked, even after the Mueller Report basically said that Putin did not get get Trump elected, that Trump did not collude with Putin. They were running pieces about Trump possibly stealing 2020.
What, exactly, is wrong with investigating reports of election issues? Reporters are more than willing to dig into conspiracy theories that attempt to harm Republicans, not so much when they harm Democrats. Rudy does need to put up or shut up at this point. But, even before he started yapping, Republican voters noticed all sorts of irregularities, and people have little faith in our voting systems. That’s the danger, especially when the media, which is supposed to protect the citizens from government and investigate things, is uber-partisan.
