THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2026
Can this possibly be what he meant? Friend, did Candidate Trump actually win the 2020 election?
Did President Biden spend four years in the White House only because that 2020 presidential election was "rigged?"
For the record, Candidate Trump was also President Trump at the time of the election in question. If that election was somehow "rigged," that massive fraud occurred at a time when Complainant Trump was in charge of the federal government.
Needless to say, that doesn't mean that the election couldn't have been rigged. And as we noted in last Friday's report, many people seem to believe that it actually was.
"No people are uninteresting?" Here's the overview of the recent survey we linked you to that day:
Half of Republicans say the 2020 election was rigged
This week's Economist/YouGov Poll finds sharp divides in public confidence in U.S. elections, with Democrats and Republicans holding vastly different views on the legitimacy of the 2020 election, the credibility of Donald Trump's recent election-rigging claims, and expectations for the fairness of future elections.
28% of Americans—including half (50%) of Republicans and only 9% of Democrats—believe that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged." Republicans who identify as MAGA supporters are about twice as likely as non-MAGA Republicans to think the election was rigged (66% vs. 32%).
Many respondents told Economist/YouGov that they believe the election was rigged. According to the published internal data, that includes 53% of respondents who said that they voted for Trump.
A nation wracked by such widespread belief comes close to no longer being a nation—might be thought of as "failed state-adjacent." In the past, we've advanced the comparison to the Oscar-nominated film, The Sixth Sense:
A nation like that may already have ceased to exist. It just doesn't know it yet.
Tonight, the sitting president of that nation is apparently going to go on TV and advance some form of that claim all over again. For MS NOW's report on what he's likely going to say, you can just click here.
President Trump has been insisting that the election was rigged for almost six years now. He's never made any attempt to offer evidence in support of that claim, but he just keeps making the claim—and by this time, he seems to have persuaded something like half of all Republicans.
We're prepared to believe that the sitting president may even believe his claim! That's because we assume that his niece is probably right. As we showed you yesterday, here's what she told CNN's Erin Burnett earlier in the year:
BURNETT (2/26/26): You've known him your whole life. Do you actually see a decline?
MARY TRUMP: I do, but I think it's important to remember that Donald has never been fit in any capacity. Obviously, what we're dealing with now are age-related cognitive declines. We're dealing with physical issues that the White House tries to cover over.
But this is somebody who for decades now has had serious, undiagnosed and untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen, especially given the pressure he's under and given the cognitive and physical declines.
"He has never been fit in any capacity," the president's niece told Burnett.
For the record, a serious, untreated "psychiatric disorder" is a serious, untreated "mental illness." And Mary L. Trump, the president's niece, is a doctorate-holding clinical therapist.
That doesn't mean that her assessment has to be correct. But we'll guess that it most likely is.
(We also believe that a serious mental illness is in fact a serious illness. We believe that any such serious illness is a human tragedy. Ideally, we believe the current situation should be regarded that way. That would take us well beyond the limited capacity of our mainstream press corps and of our pre-existing American discourse.)
Yesterday, in a high-profile Senate hearing, Jay Clayton couldn't quite bring himself to say that Candidate Biden won the 2020 election. Everyone within the Trump administration understands that such a thing can simply never be said.
Clayton clammed before the Senate panel. Here's another place it will never be said:
The Five is our failing nation's most-watched "cable news" show. Its daily viewership is roughly three times as large as that of MS NOW's daily shows.
None of the panelists on The Five believe that Candidate Trump won the 2020 election. That said, Jessica Tarlov will never ask the four pro-MAGA co-hosts if they think that election was rigged.
She will never ask them why President Trump keeps saying that the election was rigged, in the absence of any evidence in support of that claim. The Fox News Channel's very large audience will never be asked to see that question asked.
Very good salaries are slipped into pockets in service to such deceptive behaviors. On MS NOW, very good salaries are slipped into pockets as everyone agrees not to report or discuss what Mary L. Trump once again said and meant.
"No people are uninteresting?" Can any of this possibly be what Yevtushenko meant?
Tomorrow: What Yevtushenko presumably meant
"A nation wracked by such widespread belief comes close to no longer being a nation—might be thought of as "failed state-adjacent."
ReplyDeleteWe are not "failed state-adjacent" because the beliefs of the people about an election do not determine its outcome. Our outcomes depend on evidence and reality, not a campaign of disinformation lodged by the losers of that election. Trump had a chance to prove rigging in court after court and he could not do it.
Biden's term was far from a "failed state" although it could be argued that Trump's disaster of a government over the past two years has been. But that is not the argument Somerby is making. Somerby seems willing to consider us a failed state because of the wishes and fantasies of the Republicans, the longings and lies. That isn't how any system works. Fantasy has no place in determining the results of actual voting.
except one of those republicans currently sits in the white house, and a number of them are in congress. no one on the republican side seems willing to do anything to stop trump. so what if he does use his position to influence the mid terms? who's going to stop him? Would that be a failed state?
DeleteIn US history many have used their positions to influence our elections (sorry but 2016/Russia was not a hoax). It does not make a failed state, but it is a problem that should be addressed.
DeleteFurthermore, the US populace has held many crazy beliefs throughout our 250 year history (supply side/trickle down etc) yet the country keeps going, primarily held up by places like CA, but also by our institutions and our resources.
What institutions? The Supreme Court? The DOJ also known as trump’s fucking lawyer?
Delete😂
Somerby seems to want to consider cable news to be the only source of opinion that matters in our country. That is ridiculous given that other sources outnumber cable by a large margin. So, it doesn't matter whether Fox is biggest among cable stations when more people are listening to podcasts and watching TV stations and reading newspapers and gaining news info from many other places, some of which outnumber cable and all of which surely outnumber Fox. Cable news is obsolete as a news medium. The people who watch Fox in particular are not representative of the nation as a whole, despite Somerby's wish to overgeneralize from it.
ReplyDeleteThe people who watch cable news are the most politically motivated. Cable news also influences the larger news ecosystem, with the same pundits hitting all the different shows, journalists who come on the shows to heighten their profiles and sell their books, and perhaps most importantly, their ownership overlaps. Fox is owned by the same organization that owns WSJ, NY Post, and book publisher HarperCollins, for example. CNN is owned by Warner Brothers (for now); and MS Now is owned by the same company that owns a bunch of other media companies, and for the vast majority of its existence, NBC. If it shows up on cable news, it's going to show up everywhere else, with more or less the same spin. The idea that cable news is irrelevant is just ignorance being typed out for all to see.
Delete“The people who watch cable news are the most politically motivated.”
DeleteThe true statement, as opposed to what you wrote, is that people who watch cable news are generally more politically motivated than those who don’t. However, the total number of voters vastly exceeds the number of people who watch cable news. So let’s say cable news is obsolescent rather than obsolete, which is what 9:30 said, rather than your word “irrelevant.”
"The true statement, as opposed to what you wrote, is that people who watch cable news are generally more politically motivated than those who don’t."
DeleteThe pointlessness of the distinction here actually made me laugh. What kind of peacocking asshole would waste any time at all typing this out?
" So let’s say cable news is obsolescent rather than obsolete..."
If something is obsolete, it is essentially irrelevant, particularly when it comes to news media and its ability to influence events. The fact that you, peacocking asshole that you are, had to come in in an attempt to clean it up says all you need to know about the difference between "obsolete" and "irrelevant."
I’m not a peacocking asshole. I’m an assholing peacock. There’s a difference.
DeleteStudies and data indicate that corporate media does not play a significant role in electoral politics.
DeleteEven without studies, it is trivially obvious.
It is patently ridiculous to say that cable news viewers are the most motivated to vote of anyone.
Deletepatently?
DeleteMost cable news viewers are passive viewers, they just want something on.
DeleteBusinesses have cable news on so their environment is not stale and silent - that is a huge portion of cable news' audience.
Cable news viewers are not the most motivated to vote and cable news plays little role in voting at all.
Voting is largely determined by your upbringing and your SES.
Mary Trump has been a frequent guest on O’Donnell.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, she has been a way too frequent guest on this blog.
Delete“We're prepared to believe that the sitting president may even believe his claim!”
ReplyDeleteThis is bullshit.
Exactly.
DeleteTrump does not believe the nonsense he spouts and neither do most of his supporters; they know it is all a game.
Lee Atwater laid it all out for us way back on his deathbed.
News flash: Republicans want to rig elections in their favor, so they go along with Trump’s lies.
ReplyDeleteYup.
Delete"On MS NOW, very good salaries are slipped into pockets as everyone agrees not to report or discuss what Mary L. Trump once again said and meant."
ReplyDeleteWhere is Somerby's proof or evidence that MS NOW script-writers are being paid to suppress Mary Trump? For one thing, they have discussed her. For another, they have also discussed the warnings of other doctors about Trump's mental status.
It would be one thing to make his discussion about Trump's dementia, but Somerby removes himself a step from that by focusing on Mary Trump, who has nothing to do with anything. She isn't part of Trump's inner circle and has no access to him these days. She doesn't know anything more than any of the rest of us -- just what she reads ABOUT him in the news. She isn't the best expert to diagnose Trump from afar (assuming that were a thing). So why is Somerby fixated on her? Mainly because his purpose here is not to say anything new, but to find an excuse to sow doubt about the 2020 election himself, which he too will not say was definitively decided in favor of Biden.
Somerby's argument today seems to be that if enough people believe something, maybe it can be true. He points out that Trump has been called mentally ill by his niece, so maybe he actually believes he won in 2020 (despite a pile of evidence that Trump has admitted he lost to various people, and thus is perpetrating a fraud). Instead of urging that we oppose this right wing attempt to steal the upcoming election by claiming 2020 was stolen and meddling with election procedures, Somerby sows doubt about the validity of 2020 because half of Republicans and the non-Tarlov members of The Five all agree it was stolen. We need to be saying that 2020 was won fair and square by Biden and that Republicans are floating a false conspiracy theory, not musing about whether Trump is crazy (a settled question) and complaining about why Mary Trump isn't on TV more. Who cares about Mary Trump? She isn't an election expert and she hasn't got anything to say about Trump from afar.
""No people are uninteresting?" Can any of this possibly be what Yevtushenko meant?"
There is absolutely zero possibility that this is what Yevtushenko meant. When you rip things out of context like this, you destroy the ability to know what the poet's meaning was. For most sane Democrats, these are not interesting times but dismaying, disappointing, horrifying, troubling times. Not interesting. And no, evil people are not interesting. Hegseth belongs in jail. Trump belongs in jail. Criminals are not interesting. They are a blight on our country. So is Somerby, given that his every reaction is so bizarre that his own sanity can be questioned by a carefully selected, qualified clinical psychologist such as Mary Trump.
Somerby would probably appreciate it if any woman were to examine him...
DeleteSomerby clings to that poem line because HE does not want to perceived as being uninteresting.
DeleteBut Somerby isn't just a right wing bore, he is also gross, so that's a hard no.
“Rigged” is not a well-defined, specific word. Bob evidently thinks the word is equivalent to “Trump really won”.But, did questionnaire respondents understand that word that way?
ReplyDeleteGo fuck yourself, dickhead, you depraved gruesome racist bastard
DeleteYou have no friends because u r such a Dick. Please do tell what does "rigged" in this context really mean to poll respondents. You left us hanging.
DeleteThat's true that "rigged" is an amorphous term. Nonetheless, this is the term that Trump has been using, along with "the election was stolen". So, the context is clear. Is it possible that the election was "rigged" but not "stolen"? No, that doesn't particularly make sense. Again, contextually it's clear what's suggested here. And it's completely bonkers. Now, it's not a great mystery why Trump is spouting this gobbledygook. The mystery is how so many people swallow it without sans any curiosity. To me, it's the hallmark of a cult.
Deletewhat do you think happened dave?
DeleteI know of no evidence of fraud large enough to have swung the election.
DeleteGo fuck yourself, dickface, you fucking mealy mouthed trump lickspittle
Delete"Bob evidently thinks the word is equivalent to “Trump really won”.But, did questionnaire respondents understand that word that way?"
DeleteOf course respondent understand the word that way. No one other than Trump himself is peddling the idea that the election was "rigged" or "rigged and stolen" (or, occasionally, "stollen"), and he often follows that claim with another: "We actually won--by a lot!"
No state government--the bodies who actually supervise elections--have signed on to Trump's nutty claim. The only source for so many to hear and accept the idea is from Trump. If you're trying to hold open the possibility this widespread notion comes from anywhere else or that it is only party accepted, you're grasping.
I mean, come the fuck on! Trump's executive branch nominees sit in the Senate hearing room and doggedly refuse to speak the words they know will offend Trump: "The winner of the 2020 election was Joe Biden."
DeleteOr maybe they just misunderstand the question.
"Donald Trump is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life".
DeleteCut me some lack y'all.
DeleteI know Trump lost in 2020, I know he only wins by using voter suppression and whipping up a frenzy among the racists and Christian Nationalists.
But here's the thing: I do not want my hard earned money going to some lazy layabout immigrant or slave descendant. And I certainly don't want it going to unnecessary wars in the....well nevermind on that one.
Above comment not me
DeleteYevtushenko is uninteresting.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteBob wants you to think that the nation may cease to exist over a survey.
ReplyDeleteThat is wild.
Nope, that the nation will cease to exist because a relatively large portion of the population believe a ny shuckster about rigged elections.
DeleteMost people are not following politics enough to havee an opinion. Some may consider the phrase about a stolen election to be metaphorical not literal.
DeleteI was thinking the EXACT same thing. He wants people to think the nation will cease to exist over a survey.
DeleteWrong.
DeleteHe's saying it may cease to exist because it is divided into camps who can't even agree on basic facts, much less policies or values.
No. He very much is saying that he wants people to believe it's because of the survey.
Delete2:29 Spot on.
DeleteFor about the entire 250 years the US has been operating, it has had divided camps that do not agree on basic facts, policies, or values.
ReplyDeleteC'mon man, rub those two cells together.
I rubbed them together, their membranes tore, their contents gushed out, and they died.
Delete