Nobody is prepared for what happens when this "audit" finds "evidence of fraud". It's going to be ugly.
https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1390352076983521281
The Arizona legislature, which commissioned the "audit", will surely accept its conclusions however wild they are. Perhaps they'll do that via a motion rejecting the 2020 result?
That might also mean a criminal investigation against innocent election officials in Maricopa. No convictions will follow but it'll take months.
Hannity, Tucker, Pirro etc will push the "finding" hard on Fox etc. Trump himself will amplify it every day. Consumers of conservative media will hear about nothing else: finally, "the proof it was rigged"!
As Stefanik's behaviour shows, nationally the GOP will fall in behind the Big Lie too, even some who've previously accepted the election was fair. There will be too much grassroots pressure to resist.
It'll trigger similarly dodgy audits in other GOP-controlled states that Biden won, like WI. Decent chance Cyber Ninjas will get those contracts if they show Republicans they can deliver the 'right' findings.
Moderate Republicans who don't really think the election was rigged might change their minds seeing this tide on Fox, in statehouse and in the country.
Of course, the reality-based community will laugh at the clown show in Arizona. But that doesn't help convince anyone. It just makes us take it less seriously.
Hopefully I'm wrong. The people doing the AZ audit seem crazy rather than evil. They genuinely think there was massive election fraud, which might make them less likely to outright manufacture evidence.
Even without a fake smoking gun, though, you can always generate a report that 'raises concerning unanswered questions' and smells enough like a fraud finding if it isn't read too closely — which it won't be.
I understand the Biden Administration and Dem Party want to govern and not get bogged down in Trump and Trumpism. But as @TheRickWilson says, it's not going away. Ignore it and it'll fester.
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1390646703468994566
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