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Just Trump's opening remarks are lunacy. His first reason for asserting fraud is rally size. He claims 50,000 voters were told they couldn't vote because they already did & 100,000s of ballots were forged. No court has seen *any* evidence for any of this. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html
At about 7:29, he says, "We won every state and every single statehouse.... We won Congress..."
I had jokingly suggested that Trump should just claim that he won every state. Why limit himself, if he's going to make stuff up? Lo and behold, he did.
I had jokingly suggested that Trump should just claim that he won every state. Why limit himself, if he's going to make stuff up? Lo and behold, he did.
He claims 5,000 dead Georgians voted. "They" (whoever "they" are, they sure work hard) "went through obituaries." I wonder if they have a mole inside the top-secret obit-reading operation. My God, Trump just monologues, on and on and on. Now he's making up numbers about Detroit.
On the call, Trump repeats an insane claim, made in a dismissed lawsuit, that Detroit had a turnout of 139%. To quote the Detroit Free Press, "The city’s official results show that turnout in the city was actually 50.88% of registered voters." https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/12/04/michigan-lawsuit-makes-wild-claims-voter-turnout/3829654001/
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's SOS, reminds Trump that they responded to each of his loony claims point by point in court. Then he said a hand-recount showed the machine tally was accurate, so he assumes complaints about Dominion machines are off the table. Trump differs.
Trump rambles. He doesn't need to look at the machines. "What's the difference in winning by two votes, and...half a million votes. I think we probably did win it by half a million.... I can tell you by our rallies.... It's just not possible to have lost Georgia. Not possible."
Raffensperger responds specifically to Trump's 5,000-dead-people-voted claim. He points out the correct number is exactly two. Doesn't mention that they were votes for Trump, who asks Cleta Mitchell to reply. She makes a complaint about records requests. Trump says he's "sure."
Trump then repeats claims, based on a misinterpreted video, of a poll worker feeding the same ballot in three times. Says that one incident alone adds up to more than the margin. Doesn't explain how a hand-recount of the ballots gave the same count as the machine tally.
Raffensperger then complains that Giuliani edited the tape in question, says he examined the full tape without editing, which showed no crime. Trump doesn't miss a beat. He just drops it and moves on to, "But where were the poll watchers, Brad? ...There was no security there."
Trump has clearly absorbed every crazy myth that feeds his conviction he could only win. He repeats the 3-time ballot-feeding claim. Raffensperger says forcefully that they disproved it and did a hand recount that verified results. Trump just goes for another baseless claim.
Trump's performance on this tape shows that you couldn't trust him to drive, let alone be president. He would drive right through a red light, claiming that he never gets red lights—"not possible." He cannot accept any fact that he finds disagreeable, believes every lie.
Trump claims fake ballots were dumped in when everyone was forced out of the room. "Only a child" could believe it was not a vote-rigging operation. He's told there was a thorough investigation by the FBI, GBI, & others, who found nothing. "Then they're incompetent," Trump says.
"There's only two answers, dishonesty or incompetence. There's no way, there's just now way," Trump says. Cleta Mitchell makes loony claims as well. "We watched the tape!" Claims out-of-state voters. Trump is told that every single ballot they're discussing was checked.
The context for Trump's complaint that Dominion moved machines out or replaced part makes it even more nuts. He's been told already that each ballot was checked by hand, and that count matches the machine count. He just doesn't absorb contrary information, comes back to machines.
Told this has been fought in courts and Georgia's numbers proved accurate, Trump is dismissive & incredulous. "Sure, we can play this game in the courts.... They don't even assign us a judge. Hey Brad, why wouldn't you check out [bleeped name]." He's been told already why.
