The Bottomless Gullibility Pit of The Stolen Election Crowd
Mike Lindell, famed pillow entrepreneur and ardent Trump supporter, hosted a cyber symposium where he promised a team of experts that he will present irrefutable evidence the 2020 election was stolen. His claim is that computer experts found "packet captures" which prove that China hacked voting machines to change votes away from Trump to Biden. He was so confident in his evidence that he said "And those Supreme Court justices are going to look at it then, and they're going to go 9-0 that this country was attacked. The election is going to come down. Donald Trump will be in office by this fall, for sure." He also offered a $5 million prize to anyone who pays to attend his symposium and can disprove his claims.
The evidence has not materialized. One of the experts live tweeted throughout the events, and another was interviewed by a local TV station. Even Steve Bannon was disappointed. The symposium had a host of apparent technical difficulties, and staff there made up a number of excuses for why they couldn't provide the data. Lindell's roster of his own experts at the symposium included the admin of 8chan, Ron Watkins, and also Dennis Lee Montgomery, someone with a ridiculously long history of hoaxes and con jobs.
To be clear: Lindell is a pillow businessman. He's not a lawyer, a cyber security specialist, or an investigator of any kind. So an evaluation of his endeavor should be tempered accordingly. At the same time, he does have ample financial resources and the zeal to uncover what is supposedly the greatest act of electoral fraud in human history. He has been at the forefront of this issue since the beginning, meeting with Trump at the White House numerous times (including the time where his exposed notes included declaring martial law). His prominence and notability makes him fair game for discussion.
Also fair game are lawyers who filed a class action lawsuit in Colorado on behalf of all registered voters in the country, and sought $160 billion in punitive damages, alleging the election was stolen from Trump. A judge has recently sanctioned the attorneys and ordered them to pay fees and costs to the other side for essentially wasting their time and abusing the court process. The full 68 page opinion is here.
The attorneys were sanctioned for violating rule 11. Courts imposing sanctions on attorneys is extremely rare, and it's fair to argue bias or selective enforcement. But the opinion also has the direct citations of how these attorneys completely abdicated their professional obligations to investigate. The attorneys alleging election fraud in this case were either extremely lazy or completely gullible. They appear to accept as fact anyone's statements claiming there was election fraud. There is no skepticism present here, just credulity. Some sample quotes of these affidavits from the opinion:
It is obvious our federal election has been tampered with and compromised by Dominion Voting Systems Inc, along with the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan, and many others acting as governors/secretaries of state across the country. Every day, we, as a country, find out more information about this corrupt system, Dominion, and the government officials who allow it.
And:
I believe that there was widespread vote fraud and manipulation during the 2020 Presidential Election and as such, this topic, along with the vaccination topic, along with the Qanon topic, as well as other ‘controversial topics,’ should not be censored, ‘fact checked,’ deleted and/or result in a ban or permanent account deletion just because the topic at hand challenges the official narrative as presented in mainstream media, the Democrat Party,the liability-free vaccine industry and other domestic and foreign controlling interests.
And:
After much research and contemplation, it has come to my attention that the 2020 general election, and probably many more, have been compromised by a number of persons, including a corporation in the United States called Dominion Voting Machines, Inc., and others, such as, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan; and other individuals acting as governors and secretaries of state, including, Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, and Gretchen Whitmer and Jocelyn Bensen from Michigan.
Again, these are affidavits that attorneys filed in court in support of their contention that the election was stolen. Glaringly absent from these affidavits are what we in the legal field call 'foundation'. How do they know what they claim to know? You can't find out by just reading the affidavits, because it's just a collection of "I believe" and "it is obvious". The affidavits are indistinguishable from unhinged random Facebook comments.
If we examine just Lindell and the Colorado lawyers, is anyone willing to step up and defend their practices? In my opinion, they all demonstrate a stark absence of critical thinking, skepticism, and diligence in investigations. They're walking billboards for the dangers of confirmation bias. They appear to be willing to believe whoever/whatever confirms their priors, regardless of the source, and apparently not shy of proudly heralding that supposed evidence for everyone to see. Because I have no other explanation for why Lindell would choose Ron Watkins, or a serial fraudster, to headline their supposedly serious expose. I also have no other explanation for why attorneys filing a suit in court would act as passthrough conduits for whatever your QAnon uncle posted on Telegram last night.
Looking at it more broadly, I keep repeating the same questions. The post election litigation was vigorous and extremely well-funded, but all they have to show for it is an embarrassing string of 60 court losses and mounting sanctions by the day. Why? Is it fair to consider Giuliani despite having his license suspended for making verifiably false statements about the election? Should we wait and see whether the Cyber Ninjas in Arizona will find the Chinese bamboo they're looking for? Et cetera.
The explanation for the near-unanimous failure of these efforts isn't that surprising. Even setting aside the premise that there's no "there there", the lawyering on display was atrociously incompetent. If you don't adhere to the idea the election was stolen, the explanation is simpler still: only the incompetent, the huckster, or otherwise deluded would take on a case that had no merit. But if you do believe the election was stolen, what exactly is the explanation? China/Chavez/Italy/whoever successfully orchestrated the greatest electoral fraud in the history of the world and just hoped the attorneys by or near Trump would be a clown show?
If your explanation for the lack of litigation progress is because courts refused to consider the bombshell evidence, the question of “why” remains. Why would the entire apparatus of the country's legal system (some of whom, remember, were hand-picked and appointed by Trump himself) just unanimously and uniformly abdicate their duties? QAnon boosters like Lin Wood hold premises completely detached from reality, he at least retains the wherewithal to provide logically coherent explanations. SCOTUS being blackmailed by video footage of them forced to rape a child in front of a camera is psychotic lunacy, but at least logically coherent!
Questions for those who believe in the election fraud theory:
What's your best explanation for why the legal system has not recognized the apparent fraud?
Do you believe the fraud allegations have been adequately and competently presented for courts to review? If not, why?
Do you believe the most prominent advocates and proponents (e.g. Wood, Powell, Lindell, Giuliani, etc.) were the best candidates for the job? If not, why?
If you think 'no' on #3, what's your best explanation for why they are so prominent? Is it best explained as 'malicious nutpacking' by the other side or 'unsufficient vetting' by your side?