On the last Sunday before Election Day, CNN’s Dana Bash spoke with Sen. Tim Scott and asked the South Carolina Republican a good question about Donald Trump’s pre-election message: “Do you think he It is okay to spread false rumors about fraud and undermine the political system. the integrity of the election, no matter what? » asked the host of “State of the Union”.

Scott, in his role as Trump surrogate, replied“The liberal media has done a better job of spreading misinformation than any candidate I have seen so far.”

Of course, that was completely insane. In fact, if the senator were actually interested in these “fake news spreads”, I might refer him to the man he is trying to put in the White House. THE The Washington Post reported on the latest pre-election campaign rally held by the Republican Party’s nominee for the nation’s highest office.

Earlier today, reporting on an event in Pennsylvania, The New York Times added“Trump is once again trying to sow doubt about the election results, making unfounded accusations that Democrats rigged the election, based on his debunked lies that they did so in 2020. “They will try , and they’re trying,” Trump told his supporters. ‘You know that.’

Those monitoring the former president’s speech know that the final day of pre-election campaigning was not an aberration. The GOP candidate has spent every day Lately, he’s been trying to preemptively delegitimize the 2024 election for the most obvious reasons: Trump realizes he might lose, so he laid THE preparatory work now so he can discredit a possible defeat.

We can say this with some certainty, because it is exactly what he did before.

Just as remarkably, he gets a lot of help. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like, was on Fox News this weekend, falsely accuse Democrats of cheating. The Washington Post recently published a disturbing analysis which reveals: “Nearly half of Republican candidates for Congress or the highest state offices used social media to sow doubt about the integrity of the 2024 elections… highlighting a pervasive effort within of the Republican Party to undermine public confidence in voting before November. 5.”

The party receives support from predictable sources. The post office also reported“More than two dozen popular podcasts have spread claims casting doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election, spreading unsubstantiated claims on a popular media outlet that operates largely outside the view of tech industry observers. “

Certainly, reality-based officials have tried to promote the facts. When Trump lied about Pennsylvania’s election system, local officials pushed back. When he lied on the ballot in Georgia, residents pushed back again.

But if recent history is to be believed, Republican voters will believe Trump and his allies, instead of the evidence and those who tell the public the truth.

We already have given some of the consequences such tactics, and there is every reason to worry about a sequel. NBC News reported on the latest news from the Proud Boys: “Like Donald Trump once again tells his supporters he can only lose on Tuesday if there is massive voter fraud and as he accelerates violent rhetoric about Democrats and other “enemies,” Members of the far-right group that put the most “boots on the ground” at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 say they are mobilizing.”

Watch this space.