Falsehoods swirling on X and other platforms undermine trust and create potential for violence, critics warn

Summary

Donald Trump and allies, including Elon Musk, are pushing baseless claims of election fraud, portraying Democrats as intent on “stealing” the election.

Trump has accused Democrats of cheating without evidence, repeating tactics from 2020 to undermine trust in the electoral process. Musk, who owns the social media platform X and has supported Trump financially, has amplified these narratives to millions, leading to concern among election experts.

Experts warn that this misinformation could spur violence, increase distrust in voting, and endanger election workers. The spread of these claims threatens long-term harm to democratic institutions by normalizing election-related conspiracy theories.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    29·
    10 days ago

    It’s so idiotic to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the electoral system when there is still a chance that he might win. If you convince people the vote is rigged, and then you win, won’t that mean that you won by cheating? I know his supporters don’t care, either because they lack the critical thinking skills to understand how this is illogical, or they don’t care if Trump wins by cheating, but it’s just so god damn frustrating.

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      10 days ago

      He did the same thing in 2016, though, then won anyway, and still complained that we would have won the popular vote, too, if it weren’t for all the “illegals” voting. All the man does is complain. Fucking snowflake.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
      16·
      10 days ago

      If you convince people the vote is rigged, and then you win, won’t that mean that you won by cheating?

      Nope. They’ll claim that they won despite the cheating (against them) and that Trump had so much support from voters that he will have a mandate to do all the horrible things he has said he was going to do while campaigning. This is just part of the plan because we already know that Trump and company are planning on winning by cheating.