Web Desk
President Trump made allegations of fraud even as votes were still being tallied, marking the peak of a strategy that had been developing for months.
“The Roots Of Trump’s Manipulation Of Critics And The ‘Stop The Steal’ Movement”
On a cold November morning in Connecticut, 49-year-old Candy got into bed after a long night shift. She immediately unlocked her phone and started scrolling through her social media feed, following her usual habit.
But this time was not the same – it was election night, and the result was still not clear. Candy looked through updates about the night while waiting for her chosen candidate to speak. A little after 1 a.m., he finally made a statement:
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
Candy agreed with him. Feeling upset, she wanted to do something. So, when a close friend asked her to join a Facebook group named Stop the Steal, she quickly said yes.
“The Democrats have said since the beginning of all this Covid stuff that they’re going to do whatever it takes to get Trump out – and I think that they have succeeded,” she later said.
For Candy, this was not unexpected. Accusations of “rigged elections” and “voter fraud” had been showing up on her Facebook feed for many months.
She wasn’t alone in facing misinformation about voting before Election Day. Prior to the election, Trump mentioned rigged elections or voter fraud over 70 times. For example, in June, he posted on Twitter:
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“RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2020
And then in August:
“The Democrats are demanding Mail-In Ballots because the enthusiasm meter for Slow Joe Biden is the lowest in recorded history, and they are concerned that very few people will turn out to vote. Instead, they will search & find people, then “harvest” & return Ballots. Not fair!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2020
This narrative wasn’t entirely new as Trump had expressed concerns about voter fraud back in 2016 even after winning that election.
However, this time around, there’s evidence suggesting that more individuals were repeatedly exposed to these unverified claims on social media platforms leading up to the election. Candy was just one of many caught up in this trend. Large Facebook groups saw hundreds of thousands of people joining under the “Stop the Steal” movement banner.
