Though he ultimately ascended to the White House, President Donald Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 election by a wider margin of any electoral college winner.
He claimed after that millions of votes were fraudulently cast for Democrats, despite no evidence to this claim. Since even before then, the President has clung to claims that widespread voter fraud is rampant and only occurs in Democrats' favor.
He's recently been vilifying the process of mail-in voting, likely fearing that expanded voting measures in the face of the national health crisis could be dangerous to his election. He's frequently made baseless claims that should mail-in ballots be made more available, widespread voter fraud would sway the election.
Some—like 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden—believe he's intentionally sowing mistrust of the democratic process, laying the framework for a messy transition should he lose the election in 2020.
Biden said in an interview with Daily Show host Trevor Noah:
"It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election."
The President's latest White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, scoffed at the idea when speaking with Fox News hosts:
"I think that's a ridiculous proposition. This president's looking forward to November. This president's hard at work for the American people, and leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories."
What stuck out to many was the accusation that Biden was sowing conspiracy theories.
This past week, Trump amplified a conspiracy theory that a 75 year old peace activist who was pushed by police until he was bleeding from his ear. The man remains in the hospital. On Twitter, the President mused that the activist was actually an "ANTIFA provocateur."
A significant amount of his followers subscribe to the QAnon conspiracy theory that the government is operated by a so-called globalist deep state, and Trump is the divine man destined to expose them through his presidency.
In all honesty, the Trump presidency has been fraught with conspiracy theories, as people soon reminded.
When confronted with questions as to why Trump spread the conspiracy theory that the protester was a secret provocateur, McEnany said Trump was simply asking questions.
People began using this logic against her.
Nice try, Kayleigh.
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