An Epidemic of "Big Lies?"
A Hairy-Eyeball Look at Trump's "Stolen Election" Claim and The "Terrorist Threat" of "White Supremacy." Accusations of "The Big Lie" are Everywhere.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out when political “talking points” are being parroted on national media outlets to score points, no matter how far from reality they may stray.
For example, how many times have we heard politicians cite Trump’s election challenges as “The Big Lie” that “instigated” the January 6th “armed insurrection” at the US Capitol? Just go to your favorite search engine and type it in. Bazillions.
But “The Big Lie,” which Wikipedia represents as a Nazi propaganda tactic extolled by Adolf Hitler in his autobiography, “Mein Kampf,” sometimes appears to work to horrific ends. Researcher Porter Stansberry defines and traces The Big Lie - and its awful consequences - the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
The big lie is a falsehood so outrageous and so obviously wrong, in retrospect, people can hardly believe that anyone took it seriously.
The most famous example of the "big lie" is the Salem Witch Trials, where four bored teenage girls convinced their pastor they were possessed by the devil and that dozens of people in their community were agents of Satan. The pastor, in turn, convinced most of Massachusetts that the colony was inundated with witches.
Even though it's hard to imagine today, some 200 people were arrested over the next year. One poor man, Giles Corey, was crushed to death under a pile of giant rocks because he wouldn't confess to being a witch.
And what happened to those who did confess? They were forced to name more witches. Then they were hanged. Before anyone came to their senses, 30 people were put to death.
Some of us believe the “Big Lie” goes back even earlier. Much earlier. Many books are devoted to the consequences of that first one, including the world’s all-time bestseller.
This is, in part, why we’re supposed to have a free press and freedom of speech - to challenge and prevent malevolent governments, among others, from allowing a lie to get halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on, to paraphrase an old adage of unknown origin that is wrongly attributed to everyone from Thomas Jefferson to Winston Churchill. I sense a pattern.
“The Big Lie” accusation was used a lot by both Democrats and especially by one Republican about Trump’s election claims. But whether you agree with him or not, he’s sticking to his claim.
"No, I never admitted defeat," Trump told Just the News' "Water Cooler" in an exclusive interview on Real America's Voice.
"We have a lot of things happening right now ... all you have to do is read the newspapers and see what's coming out now," he said, adding that he has "not conceded."
Can we really call Trump’s claim of a “stolen election” a “Big Lie” - a deliberate propaganda ploy - or does it qualify as something else? Let’s consult former NFL player and RealClearPolitics.com contributor Judd Garrett.
Donald Trump is not lying when he questions the results of the election. He is making an unsubstantiated claim. And that is an important distinction. Most proven claims of wrong doing start out as an unsubstantiated claim that with a thorough investigation, and fact finding, is then proven either true or false. (US Rep.) Liz Cheney does not know the election was honest with any more certainty than Trump knows it was stolen. Her claims of election integrity is as evidence-free as Trump’s claims of election fraud. And therein lies the problem. Neither side knows the truth.
This leads us to the interesting network of 2020 election audits now underway or being pursued in several states. True The Vote’s mission is to protect the American election process from “fraud and exploitation,” and they’ve nicely chronicled the status of election audits now underway. Here’s the update on the states you’ve likely heard (or not) the most about, Maricopa County, Arizona (greater Phoenix), and Fulton County, Georgia (Atlanta).
Arizona: Maricopa County
Arizona Senate Republicans’ hand recount of all 2.1 million Maricopa County election ballots should be done by the end of this week, then the paper evaluation will begin. This phase will involve a review of the ballot paper for irregular folds, non-standard paper types, machine inked votes, and other such irregularities. Additionally, examiners will begin reviewing signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes to ensure they were all signed. With these new processes yet to begin the audit is far from over. Results aren’t expected for at least another eight weeks, but as always, that could change quickly so stay tuned.Georgia: Fulton County
This election irregularity hotspot is set to have a forensic audit of 148,000 absentee ballots from November. The first audit could be stated as the original hand count of all ballots. The next audit, which will be a forensic audit, will go further and include unsealing and scanning the ballots to inspect for any counterfeit or fraudulent ballots.
There are efforts to shut down these audits, as well as discredit them. Why? Wouldn’t it help to have them proceed, with full transparency and accountability, to help recalcitrant Americans accept the 2020 election results? At a minimum, they can be used to identify problems that may range from incompetence to malevolence to be dealt with. After all, way too many Americans - about half, right after the election - didn’t believe Biden won the election. A third still ascribe to that view. That is unhealthy. Confidence in our election systems and results is paramount to political stability and governance. This must be said: Of course, it appears that Biden won - he’s in office. But the courts did us no favors, as outlined by US Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), by dismissing lawsuits more often than not for lack of standing rather than the lack of evidence. It is also fair to raise questions about the confusing array of lawsuits and prosecution of many legal challenges by the Trump team and others, even as they won a few.
This brings us to our next potential big lie, uttered by several Administration officials from the President to his Attorney General and even the Trump-nominated FBI director.
Biden is hardly alone. Former FBI intelligence officials who now contribute to Democrat-friendly media outlets are claiming former Trump Administration officials close to the President and current Members of Congress (no doubt Republicans) are part of this “White Supremacy” terrorist threat.
To be sure, white supremacy is real (it was authentic, even qualifying as systemic racism, about 100 years ago, especially when President Woodrow Wilson racially segregated the federal workforce, including the military). Who doesn’t remember the tiki torch parade in downtown Charlottesville from August 2017 and the subsequent killing of a counter-protestor the next day? But just how real, and how much - what kind - of a “threat” are they? What are the Justice Department and others doing to share information - evidence - on just how serious this threat is and from where? After, several square miles of fencing was placed and kept up at the US Capitol for months (some still exists), along with thousands of National Guard troops, in fear of a real armed insurrection.
Meanwhile, some 450 “insurrectionists” (whom we now know most were largely unarmed and non-violent except for an occasional baseball bat in or near the Capitol) are being prosecuted and held in maximum security-type conditions (some under solitary confinement). No one has credibly disputed independent journalist Julie Kelly’s well-documented work on the topic.
Compare that to recent June 4th testimony before a House Oversight and Reform subcommittee by the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterterrorism, Michael McGarrity, entitled, “Countering White Supremacy.” Read it, or click “ctrl + F” and type “white” in the search field. Nowhere does he mention white supremacy - hate crimes, etc., yes - in the written testimony other than the headline.
But don’t stop there. Just 6 days later, FBI Director Christopher Wray wasn’t much more specific.
“It is our highest threat priority level, commensurate with ISIS,” Wray said, “and it is certainly true in the last few years the most lethal attacks here in the homeland have been by individuals in that racially motivated extremist category, specifically for advocating for superiority of the white race.”
Some of the organizations associated both with January 6th’s Capitol incursion and “white supremacy” include the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, “Three Percenters,” and of course, QAnon. However, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the organizations Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are in turmoil and disarray.
No argument here. I’ve never met or encountered anyone from any of these so-called white supremacy groups (one of them is lead by a person of color who may be an FBI informant) and know little about them. I did encounter anarchists during the Seattle World Trade Organization violence in Seattle in 1999. We have nutters of all stripes among us and always have - 9/11 truthers, you name it—fortunately, not many. But at the risk of “whataboutism,” shouldn’t we include all domestic violent events when discussing domestic terrorism? Like from the 500 or so violent incidents in more than 200 cities across the US last year that resulted in scores of injuries, deaths, and some $2 billion in estimated property damage? Shouldn’t that be part of any national conversation on domestic terrorism and violence?
Neither candidate for “Big Lie” - Trump’s hyperbolic “stolen election” claim nor white supremacy being our biggest terror threat - meets the test. For now. The juries are out, and we all await more credible evidence on both counts. But can we at least retire the “Big Lie” rhetoric for now? I know, waiting for facts and evidence is less fun and more work than writing scary headlines or frightening people with clickbait. Unfortunately, accusations of a Big Lie are increasingly accompanied by a political agenda - just like “real” Big Lies.
After all, much is at stake, especially whether or not we really do have a two-tiered system of justice (not just limited to the courts) in our country, one for the well connected in power and another for the rest of us. I also wonder, given the liberties being taken with our language these days (see: Critical Race Theory), how the definition may be expanded to include many others with the smear of “white supremacy,” given how easy it is for anyone - or anything, even apple pie - to have racist roots and fall under the rubric of “injustice.”
Time for the truth to get its boots on. It could use a little help.