Fox News, Newsmax and One America News have all backed off various bogus 2020 voter fraud claims they promoted. We learned as Fox was being sued that several of its big names privately derided such claims in real time. Top Trump aides have testified that they knew Trump had, in fact, lost and that he occasionally acknowledged it, too. Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and now Rudy Giuliani have each conceded in legal filings that some of the central claims in their “stolen election” crusade were false.
Despite all that, the broader conservative movement has been slow to reckon with the idea that Trump took it for a ride.
But some are starting to inch toward making that argument, including most notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) campaign and supporters — even as the candidate himself kept it at arm’s length Monday.
In recent days, a key DeSantis spokeswoman has set about promoting the idea that “stop the steal” was all a scam, a grift or even a “Ponzi” scheme.
A DeSantis-aligned influencer last week pointed to Jan. 6 committee testimony from top Trump campaign aides Bill Stepien and Jason Miller casting doubt on Trump’s ability to overturn the election. He accused them of “public lying about or profiting from it anyway.”
And DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw approved of the message.
“A huge scam … Ponzi Scheme?” she said.
In the days that followed, Pushaw went on to amplify social media users who suggested that the Trump campaign had scammed people by raising money to ostensibly overturn the election. She also repeatedly promoted the idea that Trump had landed unsuspecting people in jail through his efforts.
One post she promoted cited “a multi-year grift based on a lie that bilked millions of Trump supporters out of more than $250 million of their hard-earned money and got hundreds jailed.”
Another said the Trump campaign “knew the fake electors scheme wouldn’t work, yet they encouraged it anyways.” It blamed the campaign for the recent indictments of alternate electors in Michigan. “Instead, they pushed them into criminal charges for personal gain,” the user said.
https://wapo.st/444cqet
This is a development to be welcomed. If you want to win you gotta act like you want to win. Can't be afraid of big bad donald and the cult. The truth shall set you free and all that jazz.
