Trump’s False Claims: Georgia Election Lies Exposed
Former President Donald Trump’s desperate attempt to overturn his defeat in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election was built on a foundation of falsehoods. From the very beginning, Trump unleashed a relentless stream of false claims about what happened in Georgia, ranging from vague proclamations of victory to debunked conspiracy theories. Let’s take a closer look at ten of the inaccurate statements made by Trump.
1. Falsely claimed he won Georgia: On Election Night, Trump falsely declared that he had clearly won Georgia, despite the fact that the result had not yet been determined and there was still a chance for Joe Biden to surpass him in the ongoing count. He persisted in this false claim even after the final count confirmed Biden’s victory by 11,779 votes.
2. Falsely claimed there were tens of thousands of underage voters: Trump baselessly alleged that 66,000 underage votes were cast in Georgia during a rally in January 2021. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger refuted this claim, stating that there were zero underage voters in the 2020 presidential election.
3. Falsely claimed there were thousands of dead voters: Trump erroneously asserted that thousands of Georgia ballots were cast in the names of deceased individuals in 2021. However, Raffensperger revealed that there were only four such cases.
4. Falsely claimed election workers had stuffed ballot boxes: Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed that election workers in Fulton County had been caught on video engaging in illegal activities such as stuffing ballot boxes. These claims were thoroughly debunked, and a state investigation cleared the workers of any wrongdoing.
5. Falsely claimed hundreds of thousands of votes were mysteriously dumped into the count: Trump falsely alleged that a series of massive and statistically inconceivable vote dumps occurred in the middle of the night during the 2020 election in Georgia. In reality, the counting process unfolded as expected, with counties continuing to count and add votes to the totals.
6. Falsely claimed thousands of votes were flipped to Biden: Trump falsely tweeted that more than 17,000 votes were illegally flipped from him to Biden. However, there is no evidence to support this claim.
7. Cited false Dominion conspiracy theories: Trump baselessly suggested corruption involving Dominion Voting Systems in other states and alleged that the company was trying to quickly remove its machines in Georgia. These unfounded allegations had already been debunked, and the Trump administration’s own election security arm confirmed that there was no evidence of compromised voting systems.
8. Falsely claimed signature verification was prohibited: In another falsehood, Trump claimed that a legal settlement agreement made it impossible to check and match signatures on ballots and envelopes in Georgia. However, the agreement did not forbid signature verification, and signatures were indeed verified in the 2020 election.
9. Falsely claimed ballots were illegally shredded: Trump falsely accused Fulton County and other areas of illegally shredding ballots. However, there was no evidence to support these claims, and the ballots from the 2020 election had not been shredded.
10. Falsely claimed 100,000 ‘bad’ votes were deleted: Trump falsely asserted that over 100,000 votes were deleted in Georgia due to their being so bad. In reality, the deleted files were obsolete and outdated voter registration files, not actual votes.
Trump’s continued perpetuation of these false claims only served to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and erode public trust. Multiple investigations and audits have reaffirmed the accuracy and legitimacy of the 2020 election results in Georgia. It is crucial to separate fact from fiction and uphold the truth in order to preserve the essence of democracy.
