Who started the bullshit that the election was stolen.

[Boydog]

I know Trump set this up months before the election. He had never had an original thought in his life. Just wondering who came up with it. Sounds like a Bannon type idea.

[zuul]

1. I think I did when I tweeted at TDFG in 2016

that I thought Putin helped him steal the election and that Hillary Clinton was the duly-elected president.

Oops. My bad.

[Ohio Joe]

2. He started it long before the last election

He first started claiming a steal/rigged elections when he lost the first repug primary when Cruz won Iowa. I would be very surprised if he came up with it, my guess would be it came from Stone.

[bearsfootball516]

3. It goes way back to before the 2016 election.

I think it was like a month before the general election, some reporter asked him if he would accept the election results if he lost and his response was something like "I don't know, we'll have to see."

[Kingofalldems]

4. Today's news of the attempt to confiscate the ballot boxes

should be enough to put him and his henchmen in jail.

[Budi]

5. Of the 3 major candidates in 2016, 2 made it a campaign mantra

Except Hillary Clinton.
It was never used by her campaign as a slogan to generate division .
"It's Rigged" was the sloganeering meme that kept the fundraising going & the division loud.

There are only 2 candidates who used the slogan to its full advantage in 2016 & continue throughout today.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. +1000

[betsuni]

16. Created lots of division even though easily debunked.

Populists love the big bad Establishment enemy trying to stop their noble cause for The People. Send money!

[unblock]

6. i think this is an old trick for donnie.

i think he's been saying things are fair when he wins and rigged when he loses all his life.

dollar to donuts he's accused judges of taking bribes from the other side when he loses a case (especially after they turn down on of his bribes, lol)

i'd bet he accused new york city officials of corruption whenever he didn't win a city contract or if there was a delay getting a permit.


donnie signaled this back in the 2016 primaries when he refused to say he'd back the winner of the primary if it wasn't him.


his entire emotional and intellectual being has the maturity of a spoiled and bad-mannered 6-year old, and accusing others of cheating is the perfect 6-year old way to refuse to accept defeat.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. It 'fits' 45

The entire life of this 'thing' has been excuses made for It and by It's parents . . . Poor home training.

[albacore]

19. I'd say that he was raised by wolves....but wolves have closer family bonds. nt

[2naSalit]

22. And they understand respect.

[JustAnotherGen]

25. And - they are

Better looking, kinder, empathetic, and don't throw their young under the bus.

[FakeNoose]

7. They were planning to launch it in 2016

Chump and Bannon were going to claim "the election was stolen" because they thought Hillary was going to win. Hell, we all thought that. Chump was saying even before the election in 2016 that it was all rigged, blah blah blah. He was setting the stage to say it was stolen, except he couldn't because he accidently won. All of a sudden he couldn't make any claims about rigging and stealing.

So that was all put on a shelf until the 2020 election, and Chump saw the polls - he knew he was going to lose. That's why all the talk of rigging came up so quickly and so often. Nobody ever said to Chump, "Hey you're the Chief Executive. You're in charge of the election. If it's rigged, then it's all your fault." How's come nobody said that?

[JustAnotherGen]

11. +1

[betsuni]

17. +1

[Silent3]

9. No one needed to come up with the idea

Trump automatically thinks that anything that doesn't go his way means he's been cheated out of it, and that anything that might not go his way in the future will only be because someone will have cheated him.

I'd guess Trump both cynically creates these deceptions, knowing they are bullshit, but at some level also believes them or comes to believe them over time. He's a narcissist who can't admit that anything, especially losing, is his own fault.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. One two punch

Trump using it in the 2016 GE. He also used it after he lost Iowa to Ted Cruz.
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37673797

Vox article - Trump at Bannon's prodding ran with Democratic Party's 2016 primary conflict over Super Delegates
https://www.vox.com/2016/5/24/11745232/bernie-sanders-rigged


That's my understanding of how we got here.

[budkin]

13. He thought he would lose in 2016 (and was shocked just like the rest of us)

This started during that campaign.

[RobinA]

14. Trump Did

It doesn't take an original thought, it's his go to. If his wonderful self didn't win it's just logic that it was stolen. There's no other way he could have lost.

[ecstatic]

15. Around Oct 2019 he had an unhinged, all caps tweet that stated

democrats were planning to steal the election. Then he sprung into action with the USPS and the hundreds of other coup plans.

[czarjak]

18. "Any means necessary"! They mean it.

[themaguffin]

20. 2016 GOP Primary: https://www.p2016.org/trump/stopthesteal.html

[link:https://www.p2016.org/trump/stopthesteal.html|]

[Tommy Carcetti]

21. Roy Cohn did.

He basically instilled in Trump (and Roger Stone as well) the idea never to acknowledge defeat or that he was wrong.

But it's not rocket science. Losing was a blow to Trump's ego and he can't come to terms with that. So he bullshits to cover up his own insecurities.

Why is that so hard?

[Mr. Ected]

23. He started challenging the veracity of the elections in 2012 on Twitter, IIRC

By constantly undermining the integrity of our elections, he sowed seeds of doubt in a conspiracy-theory hungry element of our society. Their numbers are far greater than anyone should be able to stomach.

[slightlv]

24. I think it was Stephen Miller

He's smart enough, devious enough, and has the agenda to start it rolling. Excuse any typos. Trying to type with 3 cats crossing your arms and/or laying down on parts of the kb is really hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!