It's no secret that from the moment President Trump's personal attorney stepped foot in the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, that his 'all-star' legal team to stop duly elected President-elect Joe Biden from taking office, was more like a circus road show.
From strange drunken rants in state congressional hearings, to Rudy Giuliani's melting self-tanner, this whole debacle has provided endless memorable moments.
One of the largest issues for the Trump administration and their legal team has been their conspiracy theories and baseless claims—many of which they've successfully convinced part of the country to believe—are running directly into a brick wall of facts.
They're also almost indistinguishable from the kind of outrageous nonsense found on satire sites and parody accounts. And that's proving to be a problem.
Lawyer Sidney "Kraken" Powell has become one of the most egregious conspiracy theorists associated with the President. Despite being cut from President Trump's official legal team, she's still been wielding outsize influence over the inane 'stop the steal' movement.
So it should come as no surprise that last Friday, Powell retweeted this baseless claim from a Trump fan account:
Twitter/@tgpwlm
Now, you may think that in this baseless conspiracy, these allegedly tossed votes are supposed to have been for Trump. However, this is a prime example of how misinformation spreads on the internet, and how right-wing conspiracy theorists only amplify it.
Because the origins of this tweet might surprise you.
Yes, that's right. The story originated with several satirical websites, whose articles were marked as satire. And the most ridiculous part is that the satirical allegation was about ballots for the previous season of "The Voice."
Within the satirical article where the claim originates is this quote
"Yeah, the problem is, they aren't being very honest about the whole thing. The bag is full of ballots, sure, but they're ballots for last season's finale of The Voice."
"We're pretty sure that show has never actually had a real winner, so…why all the hubbub? It's pretty silly, really."
So, yes, somehow a satirical article alleging dumped ballots for The Voice TV show made its way into MAGA Twitter, got twisted with the 2020 election, was taken as fact and then retweeted by one of the most recognizable faces of the 'stop the steal' movement.
Totally normal. Nothing to see here.
Some felt that the public faces behind this legal challenge are simply engaging in a grift.
Others just couldn't believe how unhinged this all was.
And others simply wanted to seam Trump's entire 'legal' team disbarred.
This circus can't end soon enough. Is it January 20, 2021 yet?
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC