Trump’s attacks on VP Harris’s crowd size are far more sinister than many grasp

Trump is laying groundwork for another Jan 6 attack

Photo Credit: Jacob Hamilton of Michigan newspaper MLive.com

Donald Trump made headlines on Sunday with his BS claim that photos of Vice President Harris’s crowd sizes were actually created by Artificial Intelligence. Trump wrote that images at an airport rally in Michigan were “fake” and that in reality “there was nobody there.” (The photo above of the airport hanger rally was taken by Michigan reporter, Jacob Hamilton of MLive.com) Trump then continued his lie by claiming that even Harris’s rallies—many of which were aired on live on cable news—were actually “fake crowds.”

The response has rightfully been ferocious with the media outlets showing actual images of the rallies to dispel Trump’s lies. Social media exploded calling Trump everything from scared to pathetic to delusional.  The Harris/Walz campaign mocked Trump on his own Truth Social website with a clip from her packed rally with the words that read, “In case you forgot @realdonaldtrump: This is what a rally in a swing state looks like.”  And on Monday, conservative lawyer George Conway appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe where he slammed Trump for his post that he dubbed  “doubling down on unreality” noting that Trump is a  “deeply psychologically disturbed individual.”

All of that is true. But there is something far more sinister at play. The focus of most has been Trump’s baseless claim the crowd images were fakes, but what they are ignoring is what Trump wrote after that which is the real point of his post.  That is when Trump told his followers that the only way he could lose in 2024 is if Democrats cheat. He wrote about Harris, “She’s a CHEATER,” adding ominously, “This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING - And they’re even worse at the Ballot Box. She should be disqualified because the creation of a fake image is ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Anyone who does that will cheat at ANYTHING!”

Convicted felon/adjudicated rapist Trump is again following his 2020 playbook of attempting to delegitimize his loss in advance of the election. For example, in his August 2020 Republican National Convention speech, he declared, “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.” He repeated that theme numerous times in the closing months of the campaign such as at a September 2020 rally telling his fans, “The Democrats are trying to rig this election because that’s the only way they’re going to win.”

These lies did more though than make Trump feel better about his loss. These lies were the fuel for the deadly Jan 6 attack on our Capitol designed to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.  As the Jan 6 House committee’s final report put it: “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” 

Earlier this year when Trump was leading in the polls--when his opponent was President Biden--he was not leaning into the “rigged” election claim. Why would Trump want to delegitimize the election results when he thought he was going to win?  

However, despite leading in the polls, Trump still ominously warned that there could be violence if he lost the election. We heard that in his well-publicized interview in April with Time magazine where he was asked: “Are you worried about political violence in connection with this November's election?” Trump responded, “I think we're gonna have a big victory. And I think there will be no violence.”

When the Time reporter followed up in a second interview on this point, Trump stated that since he’s currently ahead in the polls, there was no need for violence: “Well, I do think we're gonna win. We're way ahead. I don't think they'll be able to do the things that they did the last time, which were horrible….I think we're going to win.” But That is when Trump made it clear no violence depends on him winning, “And if we don't win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election."

Flash forward and the polls have changed. Trump is now trailing Vice President Harris both nationally and more importantly in many of the key battleground states. Trump gets that. He also understands his base better than anyone.  That is why Trump’s latest post is not truly about crowd size but about telling his base that the only way he can lose if Harris and the Democrats cheat. In fact, Trump put them in black and white Sunday writing, “This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING.”

Something else has also changed. Trump is much more dangerous in 2024 than in 2020. Trump knows if he loses this election, he will end up spending the final days of his life in a prison cell. The Jan 6 case and Fulton County, Georgia cases—while slowed down--are still going forward. Plus, it’s very likely that Trump’s Espionage case—recently dismissed by Trump owned judge Aileen Cannon—will be reinstated and Trump will likely be convicted of serious felonies.  

Trump--like an ISIS recruiter--radicalizes his supporters with non-stop lies to help himself politically. Both view violence as acceptable and even necessary to achieve their goals. It’s why Trump not only refuses to denounce potential violence by his supporters but has repeatedly vowed to pardon his MAGA supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6—including those who brutally beat up police officers. The goal with his pledge of pardons is to incentivize future violence/crimes on his behalf by telling supporters that if you help me gain power, I will protect you from prosecution if I win.

Trump is delusional and as I noted in my article earlier this weekend—apparently is suffering from dementia. But he is also very dangerous. I can assure you that the further he slides in the polls, the more dangerous he will become. That is why we can’t laugh away Trump’s BS claims about crowd size.  Trump is laying the groundwork for more Jan 6 attacks right in front of our eyes.

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