The election fraud lawsuits have started again.

But Trump chose to stoke the flames Wednesday morning, posting on Truth Social that “Pennsylvania is cheating, and getting caught, at large scale levels rarely seen before.”

“Law enforcement must act, NOW!” he added.

Bucks County officials confirmed to NBC Philadelphia that they had been notified of the lawsuit, but did not provide further comment. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, meanwhile, shot back at the Republican presidential nominee, highlighting that Trump and his allies have spent the last four years actively corroding public trust in U.S. elections—and that they are currently warming up their second conspiracy to undermine the 2024 election results.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    “Gish Gallop.”

    It’s a debate technique. You overwhelm the opposition with an endless stream of half truths, exaggeration’s, lies, and tangents that make it impossible for them to get their point across.

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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      2 months ago

      Bannon during Trump’s term referred to this as “flood the zone with shit”. Essentially just putting out such a large volume of nonsense that people just give up, you break their will to vote/argue/oppose you/fight back/correct the record.

      • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        The thing that sucks is that it’s so effective. It literally lead to Biden dropping out of the race. Trump spewed a bunch of bullshit really fast in their debate and Biden just froze up because it was so much.

        I liked how Kamala handled it in their debate by basically saying “Look, I told you this guy was going to spout a bunch of nonsense.” You’ve gotta call out the technique when you see it.

          • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Barely. It’s almost impossible to fact check against the gish gallop technique, because Trump just spits out a dozen lies a minute.

            • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              You just call it for what it is, bullshit. Just call it out right there. “You may Gish Gallop as much as you wish, but I am going to talk policy to the people.” Its fucken crazy anyone entertains that sewage.

        • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          Trump made Biden scream “we beat Medicare” over and over? Biden didn’t face pressure to step down because he “froze up.” Don’t believe your lying eyes, I guess?

          I legitimately can’t imagine why anyone would think the election would be going better right now if Biden hadn’t stepped down.

          • Laurel Raven
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            2 months ago

            He didn’t “scream” it, and he said it one time, clearly tripping two thoughts together.

            Whatever else you might think about him or what that says about him, at least get that much right, lying about him “screaming” that “over and over” does nothing to help your point

            • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              The clip I saw might have had a bad audio quality or something or I might just be misremembering, it sounded like yelling when I watched it the last time it was relevant (months ago, when he was still running). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

              Either way, pretending it didn’t happen by way of downplaying it is ridiculous.

              • lemonmelon@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                “I stated a patently false thing that can be easily refuted as a fact, but you… YOU are being ridiculous!”

                That’s you. That’s what you sound like right now.

                • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  2 months ago

                  Sorry my obvious acknowledgment that my memory of the exact tone someone (who is no longer even a politics main character) used months ago could be faulty wasn’t good enough for you.

                  Doesn’t change that Biden said something obviously insane and had no idea how to recover from it on stage, or the incredibly obviously tepid enthusiasm voters had for a second Biden term, even in the face of a second Trump presidency.

    • stonerboner@lemmynsfw.com
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      2 months ago

      We see Trump consistently make an outright lie, and in the same breath pivot to a personal attack such as “she’s a nasty woman.” This is another technique that adds something controversial after the lie so that the focus is on the controversial topic instead of the lie.

      It makes it harder to peel what he says apart and puts space between the current point of conversation and the lie

      • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The most fucked up thing is that Trump isn’t doing this necessarily intentionally. He’s just so crazy, that this is how his brain works.

        • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Trump once said that his personality hasn’t changed since was a child.

          He talks like a little kid; words just spew out without any rhyme or reason.

        • stonerboner@lemmynsfw.com
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          2 months ago

          I absolutely believe he is doing it intentionally. He will lie and promote violence any time he thinks it will help him do as he pleases or avoid consequences.

          Yes, it’s in his very nature, but let’s be honest: he knows exactly what he’s doing

          • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I just can’t believe that he’s that intelligent or in control of the things coming out of his mouth.

            • stonerboner@lemmynsfw.com
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              2 months ago

              He can be a stupid, racist, sexist miser and evil at the same time. And there’s a 200% chance he’s not the smart one strategizing everything. He’s, as you say, not that smart. But smart enough to follow simple directions and regurgitate his hateful shit on cue.

          • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            He isn’t required to understand his behaviors in order to perform them. All his behaviors could have been shaped through early trial and error. Behaviors that got him a desired result became reinforced. He could’ve tried a lie+insult combo as a kid and got exactly what he wanted.

            Repeated enough, the behavior could become second nature.

    • EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Sealioning is the layman’s unmoderated form. If you don’t let the other person speak or respond you always get to ‘win’.

      It’s interesting how adversarial the nature of some people is.