American democracy hinges on Trump and his allies answering for their crimes. If Kamala Harris becomes president, holding Trump and crew accountable is critical for saving our democracy.
We can't move on from Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election because what he did strikes at the heart of everything America stands for.
Jack Smith's Court Filing
Even with the challenges of a global pandemic, Americans had no reason to doubt the results of the 2020 election. Trump and his crew lied in order to stay in power. But Jack Smith showed proof that Donald Trump and his allies laid the foundation to overturn the 2020 election results months before he lost. In Smith's court documents, he outlined the timeline of Trump's election fraud lies and said the former president “resorted to crimes” to stay in power.
After Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, many of Trump's advisors and hired experts told the former president that he lost the election. Finally, Americans get to see that Jack Smith made his case against Trump and he brought all the receipts. Despite Trump and the GOP outrage over Smith's court documents, it is not a "witch hunt." The 165-page filing offers testimony from over 80 Republicans under oath, who worked closely with Trump.
Trump Lied to "Poison the Well"
Award winning author and professor Jennifer Mercieca explained why Trump's lies about the election are so dangerous and why some people still believe him. Mercieca wrote,
"The basic plot of Trump’s election conspiracy strategy was to 'poison the well' (also called 'pre-emptive framing') by predicting that there would be widespread fraud. After hearing Trump’s repeated claims, his supporters believed the election would be “rigged” and believed that they had a duty to look for and find the “evidence” of the crime. Trump then amplified the 'evidence' back to his followers as if it were true. Trump’s election conspiracy created the conditions by which Trump’s conspiracy could be 'proved.' That’s how conspiracy logic works in general—it’s self-sealing and circular. Evidence can only build to support belief in the conspiracy, never to disprove it."
Four years after Trump tried to subvert our election, America's wound is festering. Republicans say they won't certify the 2024 election unless Trump wins! The GOP downplays the nightmare that an American president tried to overturn the election. JD Vance called January 6 a "protest."
Cheney: Trump Tried to Overturn the Election and It's Tyranny
Liz Cheney outlined the actions Trump took to overturn the election in stark language. Cheney said:
"The American people had voted. The courts had ruled. The Electoral College had met and voted. The Governor in every state had certified the results and sent a legal slate of electors to the Congress to be counted. The Vice President has no constitutional authority to tell states to submit alternative slates of electors because his candidate lost. That is tyranny.”
