In Case You Haven't Realised Yet, Trump Ain’t Playin’
December 6 2020: And I’m putting my money where my mouth is to prove it
I’m not a big one for gambling, although I do dabble. In small, occasional doses, I have found it to be good for a laugh and a distraction, if nothing else. I very much enjoy following the more daring exploits of some of my friends, with betting wins being responsible for some of greatest moments of joy in our lads group. I was happy to live it through them.
I lost the plot a bit, however, for the US election: a nice reinforcement of why I had tried to stay restrained in the past.
I’m not gonna say how much, but considerably more than I had ever bet before.
Why? It felt like insider trading somewhat, with the information I felt like I had showing that the likelihood of an easy Biden victory was simply a media construction.
I had no doubts Trump would win, probably big, so there seemed almost no risk involved in a sneaky financial deal that would allow me to survive the summer (I’m in Australia) largely work-free.
Welp… didn’t see that coming.
Well, I guess I kinda did, in the back of my mind. Both sides had made it quite clear that they would be claiming victory, regardless of how the events on election day and beyond actually played out, and I knew that voting shenanigans would most certainly be afoot (i’m a conspiracy theorist, so of course).
I just didn’t quite expect it to play out like this.
I’m not sure it is possible by this point for any one person to convince any other person that widespread election fraud occurred, if that second person has decided it did not happen. All I can do is tell my account of the events, as honestly as possible, as a counter point to the narrative that has set in.
This is the main thing that I can’t stress enough: the election as I perceived it was basically over on election night. Trump had roared to leads in all important swing states, the media outlets were starting to see prison cells — and, most tellingly I think, the bookies had flipped the table and installed The Don as the almost unbackable favourite. Everything was playing out exactly as I had thought it would. Handshake emojis to fellow Trump backers were exchanged.
And then that swing happened. Suspicious haltings of the count in various swing states; those now infamous blue spikes (to be fair, I am now less convinced of their statistical improbability than I previously was); the media shifting seamlessly into a narrative that a Biden win was never in doubt, despite myself and millions of others witnessed them shit their pants on election night.
Was it simply the red mirage that was promised/predicted/programmed into our collective consciousness, or was it something more nefarious?
To say conclusively the latter is a divisive opinion to hold, particularly on Medium. For every claim of alleged voter fraud, there is what appears to be an equally conclusive debunking available to reassure those still hanging on to the sanctity of the US election process.
But, hey, I’m on this blessed writing platform for a good time not a long time, so I’m going all out and calling it early, again. This baby is flipping, and a whole lotta people on here are about to get real angry.
I follow the intricacies of this stuff closely: spending far too long navigating lengthy twitter threads and comments sections, taking in the polarised opinions of those on both sides of the fence (not surprisingly, very few seem to still be on said fence).
What is currently playing out in Georgia is perhaps the best example of this — probably the state to be watching as that most likely to be the first domino. Trump supporters sniffed blood when video emerged of poll workers seemingly pulling out several mysterious containers of ballots from a table, conveniently after midnight and after poll watchers had been sent home. It was quickly, if not entirely convincingly, debunked — unconvincingly because the debunking relied largely on the testimonies of various election officials and high ups who would probably have to be complicit in any such conspiracy anyway.
The discourse surrounding voter fraud is, in short, an absolute shamozzle, to the extent that someone looking on from afar or even the middle distance couldn’t possible hope to get a grasp on what is actually going on.
That we are at this point is the fault of elites on both sides. The mainstream media is still refusing to even acknowledge any evidence of significant voter fraud, largely relying on the aforementioned rushed and half-baked debunkings; the fact check is fast becoming perhaps the most influential form of disinformation on the internet. Either that, or — when it comes to the grander conspiracy involving Dominion, Venezuela and George Soros among other colourful actors — they fall back into simply calling it a wacky conspiracy that is so outlandish as to not even deserve such treatment.
In perfect coordination, social media companies are also suspending and outright deleting accounts of people sharing such claims to stop them from going viral — including suspending Sidney Powell herself several times.
On that note, we also have the dubious and questionable approaches of Trump and some of his legal team to thank for where things are currently stagnated. As much as I stick up for Trump in the grander role that he is playing in the world, he still infuriates me in the way he often goes about this role. In this case, rather than taking a measured and targeted approach to the fraud claims they are advancing, his team are basically shooting from the hip and firing off on any seeming irregularity without doing the due diligence to assess their validity.
Many of these have been rightfully and easily debunked, leading many to assume that every single claim Trump and co are making must be equally spurious. They aren’t however, and while I understand that this is a convenient position for people to take, I don’t see it as an accurate one.
As well as the legal filings made in several key swing states that include signed affidavits, we also now have open hearings in these states, where many expert witnesses have been presenting what feels like damning evidence. With all the mis- and disinformation that is flying around on both sides, I find most compelling and convincing the words of real people who are prepared to speak out — not hiding behind social media accounts, but to put themselves in the firing line, whether in public hearings or sworn affidavits.
It is based on these testimonies — which relate to a range of different voter fraud issues including ballot stuffing, missing ballots, or digital fraud to do with the Dominion software — that I am still convinced that enough of these claims will be substantiated to re-elect the Orange Man.
It is also the reason why I have not only still not given up on my original rush of betting blood to the head, but have doubled down and loaded up on the incredibly juicy live odds still provided by some agencies.
Can I stress: I am not advocating you to try this at home. I’m just using my rashness to show that I am putting my Aussie dollars where my mouth is, if that is what it takes to convince a few people how real this seems to be.
And it seems many people are in dire need of convincing. While it looks like we have thankfully moved on from the horribly misinformed predictions that Trump would walk off into the sunset after a token temper tantrum, there are still some who view his protestations as a pathetic, deluded sideshow. This could not be further from reality, as even some haters are starting to realize. What Trump is setting in motion is something incredibly serious.
How serious? Trump still has multiple, valid paths to victory, many involving rogue legislators in swing states, some also involving the Supreme Court. Typically, however, they lead to the same ending foreshadowed by CNN in the lead up to the election: neither side gaining 270 electoral votes, and the election being decided by a straight state by state vote in the House of Reps that would almost certainly fall in favour of Republicans.
But this process is not just serious in its real potential to be successful, but serious in its implications. You have probably heard that many of Trumps closest allies, including recently pardoned General Michael Flynn, have begun to prod towards martial law — a necessary reminder that Trump’s main bastion of agency support has always been the military, and that he has never seemed shy towards the prospect of using them. Were you aware that Trump recently announced plans to loosen execution laws to include, among other things, firing squads?
This would indicate to me that not only is Trump still confident that he is going to win (bringing these measures in as you are about to transfer power over to people who would happily see you dead is Hunter Biden-level of self-sabotage) — but also that he is, to use a phrase, not fucking around.
If the contents of poor Hunter’s laptop are to be believed Joe and his Democrat elite comrades are balls deep in help from outside parties — something the Dominion ‘conspiracy’ appears about to shed light on, not to mention the emerging story of fake ballots from China. Countering such foreign election interference is something Trump appears to have been planning for since the release of an Executive Order in 2108, which specifically allows for a State of Emergency to be declared in such a situation. The order “authorizes a broad range of sanctions to punish individuals, companies or countries that interfere in U.S. elections”.
Knowingly interfering in a US election, aided and abetted by foreign agencies, could be considered treason. Treason is, needless to say in a place as patriotic as the United States of America, a serious crime: one that Trump has regularly accused his opponents of, and which can even be punishable by death.
These people ain’t playing.