The attack on the legitimacy of the 2024 presidential election has begun
Popular Information doesn't just break news; it creates change. Consider a few examples of the impact of this newsletter:
But today, this newsletter's future is uncertain. About half of our current readership found out about Popular Information through Twitter. But Elon Musk, who bought Twitter and renamed it X, has changed the algorithm to promote his own right-wing views and suppress links from independent publishers like Popular Information. That's why I need your help. Popular Information has 330,000 readers, but only a small fraction are paid subscribers. If more readers upgrade to paid, Popular Information can invest in alternative growth strategies, reach more people, and produce more accountability journalism that rattles the cages of the powerful. If the cost of this newsletter ($6/month or $50/year) would cause a financial burden, please stay on this free list. That's why we don’t have a paywall. But, if you can afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. There are 49 days until Election Day in the United States. Although the presidential race remains extremely close, Donald Trump and his allies have escalated their efforts to undermine the results. In a post to Truth Social on Sunday morning, Trump falsely claimed that the United States Postal Service (USPS) "has admitted that it is a poorly run mess that is experiencing mail loss and delays at a level never seen before." Trump asked, "how can we possibly be expected to allow or trust the U.S. Postal Service to run the 2024 Presidential Election?" Trump has attacked mail-in voting for years, baselessly asserting that mail-in ballots facilitated fraud that robbed him of victory in 2020. Early this year, Trump appeared to change his tune on the practice. "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS," Trump posted to Truth Social on April 19. "REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!" That change of heart appears to be short-lived. In addition to attacking mail-in voting, Trump has advanced broader claims that Democrats "want to cheat" in the 2024 election. In a September 7 Truth Social post, Trump pledged to prosecute and jail Democrats who repeat "the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election." (In nearly 4 years since the 2020 election, Trump has produced no evidence of cheating.) Trump claimed that prosecuting "Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials" was the only way to ensure "this Depravity of Justice does not happen again." Trump will not commit to accepting the results in November, saying he would only do so "if everything's honest." Otherwise, Trump said, he plans to "fight." The actual issues with the USPS Although Trump's claims about the USPS are false, there are specific issues that can be addressed before election days. On September 11, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors wrote to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by Trump, to express concerns about the ability of the USPS to "ability to deliver election mail in a timely and accurate manner." For example, in the letter, the groups reported that some USPS staff were not informed about USPS policies around election mail — which is supposed to be prioritized — and urged further training before Election Day. The groups are concerned about receiving ballots with timely postmarks three days or more after Election Day and election mail that is being improperly returned as undeliverable. The USPS pushed back on the criticism, noting that first-class mail is delivered in an average of 2.7 days and "Election Mail routinely outperforms our regular service performance due to our long-standing processes and procedures." The USPS recommended voters "should mail their completed ballot before Election Day, and at least one week prior to their state’s deadline," which it describes as a "common sense measure." Notably, none of the National Association of Secretaries of State, the National Association of State Election Directors, the USPS, or the USPS Inspector General expressed any concern about mail-in ballots being used to facilitate fraud. The billionaires backing Trump's effort to undermine the 2024 electionTrump's efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2024 election are nothing new. He did the same thing in advance of the 2020 election. The difference is that, this time, he has the public support of wealthy tech billionaires. Appearing on the All In podcast, billionaire investor Peter Theil asserted that if the presidential election "is going to be close," then "I'm pretty sure [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] will win because they will cheat." Theil claimed, without any evidence, that Democrats will "steal the ballots" to assure a Harris victory. Asked what should done, Theil said:
Theil's claims about the nature of elections in other democracies are false. In Canada, for example, people can vote at an Elections Canada Office any time during the election period, which is at least 37 days. There is also a 4-day early voting period at all polling places about 10 days before the election. Further, any eligible Canadian can vote by absentee ballot — which can be returned by mail or fax — at any time during the election period. In Australia, you can vote early or by mail if you are traveling or working on Election Day. In the UK, anyone can vote by mail and need not provide a reason. You can also have someone else vote for you by proxy if you are away from home. Although Theil was wrong, billionaire Elon Musk promoted a video of Theil's claims to his 190 million followers on X, adding the comment "Exactly." Musk's pinned post on X is a video that marries claims of fraud by mail-in voting with a white nationalist conspiracy theory. The video, which promotes the Great Replacement Theory, falsely claims that Democrats have purposely flooded the nation with undocumented immigrants and are using them to cast illegal votes by mail. The irony of Musk's attacks on mail-in votingWhile Musk is publicly attacking mail-in voting as corrupt, he is quietly spending untold millions encouraging Trump supporters to vote by mail. Musk started America PAC, a committee devoted to promoting Trump's candidacy. The committee has ramped in recent weeks, spending $33 million since mid-August. Some of that money has been spent on Facebook ads, urging Trump supporters to vote by mail. Musk denied initial reports that he would donate $45 million per month to America PAC, saying he would donate "less." Musk has not revealed how much money he is spending and it will not be publicly disclosed until mid-October. Note: Due to spam issues, replies to this newsletter are not monitored. You can reach Judd Legum by creating a new email and sending it directly to judd@popularinformation.substack.com. |
Older messages
Meet the Kremlin's ideal Congressional candidate
Thursday, September 12, 2024
“I mean Putin is a bad guy, but, like, a lot of people are bad guys. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The moment
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Tens of millions of people watched last night's debate. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
REMINDER: Popular Information's live debate coverage starts NOW
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Popular Information's debate coverage has started. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Trump teams up with pickup artist for new crypto scheme
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Donald Trump is not just running for president; he's also launching a new crypto company. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Major outlets change standards for hacked emails, protect Trump
Monday, September 9, 2024
For weeks, major American media organizations — including The Washington Post, Politico, and the New York Times — have possessed internal Trump campaign documents. What do these documents say? We don
You Might Also Like
Welcome to The Flyover
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Thanks for joining The Flyover! ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
What A Day: Red, white guys, and blue
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Trump and Harris are battling over a key demographic weeks before the election. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Opus Dei’s Mission to Convert D.C.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Columns and commentary on news, politics, business, and technology from the Intelligencer team. Intelligencer politics How Opus Dei Conquered Washington, DC Gareth Gore's new book 'Opus'
The secret to lag-free Wi-Fi
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Our (all-new!) favorite routers View in browser The Recommendation We've tested more than 110 Wi-Fi routers. Here are the best ones. Our three picks for best Wi-Fi- Routers on an orange background.
🎰 Bet on yourself
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Fun stuff for you to click on curated with joy by CreativeMornings HQ September 19, 2024 Open in new tab Speech bubble logo with the words, CreativeMornings “You are so much more than one thing. Don
Friday Briefing: Israel bombards Hezbollah
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Plus, French drag is here to stay. View in browser|nytimes.com Ad Morning Briefing: Asia Pacific Edition September 20, 2024 Author Headshot By Gaya Gupta Good morning. We're covering Israeli
How Amazon’s new office mandate will impact Seattle traffic | Smartsheet COO resigns
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Port of Seattle won't pay bitcoin ransom | Videos show remains of OceanGate Titan sub ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: Get your ticket for AWS re:Invent, happening Dec. 2–6 in Las Vegas.:
☕ Hot to go
Thursday, September 19, 2024
How Smokey Bear comes to life online. September 19, 2024 Marketing Brew PRESENTED BY Roku It's Thursday. Pizza Hut is letting people put their résumés on pizza boxes to send to potential employers.
☕ Weed the people
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Cannabis retail and the presidential election. September 19, 2024 Retail Brew Hey there, it's Thursday and a sad day after iconic container brand Tupperware filed for bankruptcy amid mounting
The Fed slashes interest rates.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
What to make of the Fed's larger-than-expected 0.5% interest rate cut. The Fed slashes interest rates. What to make of the Fed's larger-than-expected 0.5% interest rate cut. By Isaac Saul • 19