Welcome to Log Off: President Donald Trump is fuelling a new conspiracy about voter fraud.
What’s going on? California held its primaries last week, and a week later, some major races, including the governor’s race, are still counting votes. This phenomenon is very common; California always counts slowly, thanks to an unusually voter-friendly system and heavy reliance on mail-in votes.
However, Trump has seized on the slow count — and the loss of Republican candidates like Spencer Pratt, who was seeking to advance in the general election in the Los Angeles mayoral race — as evidence of something sinister. “No way Spencer Pratt could lose the LA runoff after such a huge lead. Third-world nation. Rigged election,” he posted Monday.
Other Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Ted Cruz, have also weighed in on the conspiracy.
What is context? Pratt, a former reality TV contestant who lost his home in the Palisades fire early last year, was initially in second place in the LA mayoral race as votes were being counted.
However, over the course of a week, Pratt slowly lost to L.A. City Council member Nithya Raman, and on Monday evening, the AP announced a run for Raman in the November general election. (California uses a top-two jungle primary system instead of partisan primaries.) In heavily Democratic cities like Los Angeles, this means two Democratic candidates and no Republicans running in the general election.)
Why does it matter? For now, it’s the stuff of the peanut gallery from Trump. He has no real power over California’s elections, which – whatever he says – will slowly erode, even though California has a Trump-appointed assistant US attorney. He is asking for “proof” of voter fraud on the Conservative podcast.
But a renewed, more mainstream Republican enthusiasm for electoral machinations is a preview for the midterms. The stakes will be high, and Trump’s rhetoric is already laying the groundwork for a more serious challenge.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Yesterday’s newsletter, about how Trump’s immigration policies are already affecting the World Cup, was a little disturbing. But the World Cup itself is not disturbing, as these videos of fans congratulating the Egyptian and Algerian National Teams show. Egyptian and Algerian National Teams in the US Capture (from Best Soccer Publications’ Men in Blazers). I hope you enjoy them too, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!