Addendum to Rutherfraud: the 2016 Stolen Election

"Remember Donald Trump's ceaseless, tireless, classless repetition of the claim that the election is, quote, "rigged."  But remember it in the context of what one of this year's great patriots, his Art of the Deal ghostwriter Tony Schwartz, observed about Trump and projection.  Remember that Schwartz tweeted, "most negative things he says about others are actually describing him."  Since Trump has endlessly bleated this charge that Hillary Clinton and everybody else are trying to rig the election, since his interests and those of the Russian hackers and Wikileaks are running on parallel tracks, if not the same track, go into the last stretch here assuming that Trump's charge of rigging is actually an admission of an attempt to rig the election on his behalf, not against him."

-Keith Olbermann October 26, 2016


When I first conceived of my most recent blog entry, Rutherfraud B. Hayes and the (S)election of 1876, I was not consciously attempting to engage in prophecy.  The portion of the video that was shot at the U.S. Hotel where Hayes stayed was done months ago in conjunction with an invitation to attend my sister's wedding and reception, which was held on the premises.  Perhaps on a subconscious level, I was digging into the past to correlate election fraud with the possibility of it occurring this year as Donald Trump and his associates proclaimed throughout the campaign.  Then again, maybe on a deeper unconscious level, I might have heard about the Schwartz tweet and forecast my concerns as Olbermann would later do in his video for GQ, Does Trump's Obsession With Vote Rigging Signal Something About His Own Plans?

Either way, it happened.  The 2016 election was stolen.  It may not have occurred in the exact fashion in which the 1876 election was stolen, but it did happen.  There are three primary sources on which I base this judgment: Greg Palast, Jonathan Simon and J. Alex Halderman.  Palast has reported on this kind of chicanery before in 2000 and 2004.  On November 11, 2016, he wrote an article spelling out what he concludes about the most recent presidential election titled The Election was Stolen - Here's How...  Using a system called Crosscheck, Trump operatives under the direction of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach purged 1.1 million Americans of color from the voting rolls of GOP-controlled states including Michigan and North Carolina.  Palast details many additional methods, including felonious caging, that proves that "Jim Crow, not the voters, elected Mr. Trump."

Then, there are the exit polls.  As Palast writes, "Exit polls are the standard by which the US State Department measures the honesty of foreign elections."  Jonathan Simon did extensive research into the discrepancies between exit poll results in swing states and the final vote tallies.  These discrepancies, which Simon calls a "red shift," includes North Carolina, which was a 5.9% shift from Clinton, who won the exit poll by 2.1%, to Trump winning the state vote count by 3.8%, which Simon calls "way outside the margin of error for that poll and therefore very unlikely to occur by chance."  Also in this category is Pennsylvania, which gave Clinton a 4.4% lead in the exit poll margin, yet Trump wins by 1.2%, a 5.6% red shift.  Florida had a 2.6% red shift with Clinton ahead in exit polls by 1.3%, then losing by 1.3%.  This research was corroborated by Mark Crispin Miller, who detailed in 2004 how Kerry lost Ohio in the same fashion.

Finally, as CNN reported yesterday, there is the research from a team of computer scientists including J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society.  They found evidence that vote totals in three states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, could have been manipulated or hacked.  Specifically, they found a questionable trend in which Clinton received 7% fewer votes in counties which relied on electronic voting machines compared to counties which relied on paper ballots.  They presented their findings to top Clinton aides last Thursday and urged them to call for a recount.  At this time, it is not known whether the Clinton campaign will request an audit based on the findings.

So who is responsible for the theft?  Donald Trump?  The GOP?  Russia?  At this point, I don't presume to know and neither should anyone else.  We need to find out!  Rarely do I use this blog as a platform to call for political action, but this is an exceptional exception.  Today is the last day to contact the Department of Justice to demand an audit.  The number is (202) 514-2000.  Wait to hear the menu, then press option 4 to leave a voicemail.  Tell them to audit North Carolina, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida due to reports of widespread voting machine tampering.  Tell them they need to ensure the will of the American people and our democratic processes must be honored.  That's what I did.  Time will tell if this will motivate government action, but time is of the essence.  Act now!