Why do so many former Trump aids say he is lying about election fraud?

Why do so many former Trump aids say he is lying about election fraud?

Donald Trump’s recent announcement is causing Republicans to assess whether he is a desirable candidate for 2024. As a Republican, having voted mostly for Republican candidates, I am not biased against the Republican Party or Trump’s policies. But as an academic, and one who studies intellectual honesty and the pursuit of truth through non-biased, rational inquiry, I would like election deniers to please answer the following questions before voting for Trump again:

1. In the Republican Iowa primary in 2015, Donald Trump tweeted “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it … Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.” Ted Cruz’s response was “What Donald does, when he loses, is he blames everybody else. … It’s never Donald’s fault.”

Do you honestly believe that Ted Cruz “stole” the Iowa election and committed “fraud?” If “yes,” then why hasn’t the Republican Party, and authorities, pursued this to gather evidence and charge Cruz with a crime? If no, then doesn’t that mean Donald Trump is willing to lie about election results when he doesn’t like them?

Trump, as president of the United States, had more control over preventing election fraud than anyone because he appoints:

• The director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (Trump appointed Christopher Krebs). The director’s organization is responsible for “election infrastructure security.” This includes ensuring that voting machines work properly and cannot be hacked. Krebs reported that the election was “secure” and that “President Trump’s claims of interference are false.”

• The attorney general (Trump appointed Bill Barr). This person leads the Department of Justice, which has responsibility to investigate and prosecute claims of election fraud. Barr reported that the DOJ invested all claims of election fraud and found “no widespread voter fraud.” Barr says he told Trump “The problem is this stuff about the voting machines is just bulls—.”

• The director of the FBI (Trump appointed Christopher Wray). This person leads the bureau responsible to investigate claims of election fraud. Wray reported “no evidence” of fraud and that the FBI has been “vigilant” about investigating any potential fraud.

Credible sources of information are people who don’t have a bias (no stake in the outcome) and are trained to gather, analyze and interpret information. Krebs, Wray and Barr fit that definition. And they were all appointed by Trump.

If there was widespread voter fraud, as asserted by Trump, why would these three Trump appointed, non-biased officials assert that even using all of the resources of their respective agencies, they could find no evidence of voter fraud? If Trump actually had credible evidence, wouldn’t he have provided it to these individuals who essentially worked for him?

2. Trump and allies filed 62 lawsuits claiming election fraud and brought that evidence to bear in front of judges in a court of law. Roughly half of these judges were Republican, with many appointed by Trump. Trump lost 61 of 62 cases challenging the election results. The lone victory was a “small one” — affecting few votes.

If, as asserted by Trump, there was so much real evidence of election fraud, why did Trump lose 61 of 62 claims challenging the election results when supposed “evidence” was brought to judges, many appointed by Trump, who ruled that there was no credible evidence of election fraud? Do you honestly believe all (or most) of these judges, including those appointed by Trump, are corrupt?

3. Donald Trump claims he hires “only the very best people.” Listen to their comments about Trump:

• Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney feneral: “The absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill. He stopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails. He surrounded himself with sycophants, including many whack jobs from outside the government, who fed him a steady diet of comforting but unsupported conspiracy theories.”

• John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor: “Trump is a Putin-loving Moron who thought Finland was part of Russia. … His comments about election fraud are disgraceful. … he’s provided no real evidence of election fraud.”

• Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president: “The president’s words [on January 6, 2021] were reckless and his actions were reckless. The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building.” Reporter David Muir asked Pence: “Did you ever point blank say to the President, ‘I will not do this. I will not intervene. We lost this election.’ Pence’s reply: “I did, David. Many times.”

I could provide similar quotes from more than two dozen other former appointees.

Do you believe all (or even most) of these individuals — who were chosen directly by Trump and who worked directly, and closely, with him — are lying when they say these things about him?

All credible sources of information point to Trump lying about election fraud. We should never elect someone who lies about something as important as our democratic elections. Republicans, it’s time to move on.

Jeff Dyer is professor of strategy at Brigham Young University and at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.