Despite the departure of Roger Ailes, Fox continues to be the place for crazy, right wing conspiracy theories. Sean Hannity has recently revived the ludicrous claim that the 2012 election was rigged by dark forces. And now, Todd Starnes, who sees dark forces all around us, has gotten on board the crazy train!
A little background - In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney didn't get any votes in a strong majority black area of Philadelphia. Given that African-Americans really, really wanted to re-elect the first black president, it shouldn't have raised any eyebrows - except for Sean Hannity who saw it as an example of - wait for it - voter fraud. Flash forward to 2016 and, you guessed it, Trump fan boy Hannity has, in validating Trump's claim that the election process is rigged, revived this debunked claim and, in so doing, was, once again, debunked.
Undeterred by silly facts, Todd Starnes jumped into the fray with an article that repeated the Philadelphia "conspiracy" in order to suggest that the upcoming election process is rigged. He informs us that "there’s been quite a bit of scuttlebutt lately over whether the Democrats are going to try and steal the presidential election" and that "Donald Trump is all but certain that’s exactly what’s going to happen."
Like Hannity, Starnes complains about how Romney was "shut out" of a bunch of Cleveland precincts in 2012. But once again, as in Philadelphia, these areas were heavily minority, so no nefarious stuff going on. As stated by a senior fellow at Cleveland State Levin College of Urban Affairs, "Using standard measures of probability, given the overall distribution of percentages in the county's precincts. He added, "I find that a zero percent vote for Romney, though somewhat unlikely, is also entirely feasible."
Starnes cites the oh-so-credible Trump pal, Roger Stone's warning "that any attempt to steal the election would be met with the direst of consequences." In asking if Trump is promoting a conspiracy theory, Starnes ends with "anything is possible."
So watch out election officials, Sean Hannity and Todd Starnes have put you on notice!!!!
Not likely, of course, but vaguely possible. No matter what some people are saying.
With such a vision, Sean is getting an early start on making excuses. What is the next stage after denial? Maybe republicans never get past denial.