Inside the Sad, Warped Minds of Election Conspiracy Theorists
I got put on an email thread last night that promoted election conspiracies in Georgia. Yes, here we are, nearly three years removed from the 2020 presidential election, and many on the fringes of the right are still litigating it. Some are doing so in dangerous ways.
What was forwarded was a press release from a Georgia-based organization that I simply can’t take seriously. You shouldn’t either. If you traffic in conspiracy theories, then I suppose this nonsense is your thing. It’s not mine. Get it the hell out of my inbox. (I’d created a rule to send these press releases to trash, which is what they are.)
Because the guy who runs this group and peddles conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election apparently doesn’t have the mental acuity to learn how to BCC his email list, he created a situation where those on his list are replying. Sigh. Thanks, Boomer.
The first person who replied changed the subject line to this: “Under Georgia Law, what is the process to remove a Secretary of State from office?” Well, Georgia does have a process for this. However, you had a shot to do that recently.
Secretary Raffensperger had primary opposition, but he won re-nomination, without a runoff. Secretary Raffensperger 1, Conspiracy Theorists 0. He went on to win re-election in November. Secretary Raffensperger 2, Conspiracy Theorists 0. Considering that 15 percent of registered voters have to sign a petition to recall Secretary Raffensperger, we can safely say Secretary Raffensperger 3, Conspiracy Theorists 0. By the way, the score gets a lot larger once we include all of the failed lawsuits from the conspiracy theorists.
Anyway, here’s a sampling of some of the emails. The emails below are from two different individuals. I’ve left their names and email addresses off of the screenshots.
I’ve forwarded the incendiary emails that suggest violence to the Secretary of State’s office in case they feel the need to investigate.
To be clear, some people on the thread have pushed back. One person writes, “I have been reading these messages for months to gain truthful information. Most of what I have read is unsubstantiated. Now they have moved into horrible, dangerous statements. Guillotines? Capital punishment, with or without a fair trial? Really? This group is turning into a hate group advocating non-democratic ideas.” Another simply wrote, “Please stop lying about the last election. Trump LOST.”
I reached out to Gabriel Sterling, who serves as the chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State, via text. He writes, “There is an irony that these threats are fueled by an essentially Democrat lawsuit whose biggest funder was [former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey] Abrams. And now conspiracy theorists on the right are parroting the claims and stoking this crap.”
Look, I’ve had my issues in the past with the Secretary of State’s office. Secretary Raffensperger did as good of a job as he could under the circumstances of the pandemic. If you want to blame someone for the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as any potential criminal charges that may result from the conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s results, blame Donald Trump. When Trump loses Georgia to Biden, and the presidential election in 2024, you can blame yourselves for putting up a candidate who is deeply unpopular, constantly lies, facing two sets of criminal charges as of publication of this post and likely facing at least one more, and whose hate-filled rhetoric is a constant turn off to the voters you need to win an election.
Good post Jason. It’s interesting that we discussed conspiracy theories on Peach Pundit the Podcast last night and then you receive these emails.
I’m disappointed these folks dragged the fight against human trafficking into the conversation. As someone who worked to fight it while in the Legislature, it’s a real problem, but nothing like how these folks, and the QAnon folks (back when that was a thing) imagine human trafficking to be.
To clear things up, the “Sound of Freedom” movie they mention is about a real organization called Operation Underground Railroad (https://ourrescue.org/), that does real things to fight real human trafficking. This means they don’t go to pizza shops in DC, the DNC HQ, nor Hillary Clinton’s house. They do dangerous work to rescue real kids caught in the real criminal enterprise of human trafficking around the world. Go see the movie, but don’t listen to these folks about what human trafficking is.
This hit my inbox not long after we signed off the podcast. It’s nutty stuff.
Guillotines? 🤦🏼♂️
(I’d say that’s the most ridiculous conspiracy theory on the globe, but they don’t believe in those either.)