California’s recall election is Tuesday and the polling shows Republican efforts to oust Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, will fail. Newsom is ahead by double digits in the latest surveys. But no matter, Republicans, from Donald Trump down have already begun to question the integrity of the vote count. The New York Times writes:
Larry Elder, a leading Republican candidate, said he was “concerned” about election fraud. The Fox News commentators Tomi Lahren and Tucker Carlson suggested that wrongdoing was the only way Mr. Newsom could win. And former President Donald J. Trump predicted that it would be “a rigged election.”
This swift embrace of false allegations of cheating in the California recall reflects a growing instinct on the right to argue that any lost election, or any ongoing race that might result in defeat, must be marred by fraud. The relentless falsehoods spread by Mr. Trump and his allies about the 2020 election have only fueled such fears.
The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent adds:
It’s common for campaigns to prepare for post-election litigation. But Elder is going much further. He’s hinting at a concerted effort to steal the recall and linking that to the “big lie” that there were widespread problems in 2020. The goal is plainly to tap into the deep well of paranoia and conspiracy-mongering that Trump fed for years — and to undermine in advance faith in any outcome but a win.
Fox News is doing its part to spread election integrity questions. CNN writes:
It’s part of a playbook that is becoming increasingly common across the country. “Fraud is presented as an excuse to explain away any future Republican loss,” CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter said Sunday.