The Theme of the RNC Is Already Clear: Any Election Where Trump Doesn't Win Is Illegitimate

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

26 August 20

The president* arrived Monday to lay the foundation of the week

ou may not have noticed, but the president* was renominated early Monday afternoon. Then he accepted the nomination and spoke for almost an hour. So that means the Republican National Convention is over now, right? Right?

Right?

Damn.

I watched the Roll Call of the States. I was treated to a parade of pitchpeople standing in front of one of those coach’s postgame interview banners that you see on the local news’s coverage of that Sunday’s NFL home game. (I was amused by veteran ratfcker David Bossie, announcing Maryland’s votes, momentarily confusing “segregationists” with “abolitionists,” which figures.) With every vote, a small but noisy claque of Trumpers would hoot and holler in a ballroom in Charlotte that was gussied up and looked like a student’s civics-project facsimile of a national convention. I swear they stuck the loudest yahoos they could find next to all the C-SPAN crowd mics.

And then, to everyone’s apparent surprise, Himself showed up to say thanks and to speak...and speak...and speak. Almost a full hour’s airing of all the usual grievances, and a serious emphasis on what is going to be the theme of this week’s festivities—namely, that any result in November that does not result in his winning will be illegitimate.

They are trying to steal the election like they did the last time with the spying...This is stealing millions of votes. We’re in courts all over the country and hopefully they give us a fair count, because the only way they can take this election away from us, is if this is rigged election.

Earlier Monday, at the House Oversight Committee hearing at which Postmaster General Louis DeJoy proved himself to be one of the smuggest SOBs ever to appear before Congress, Rep. Jim Jordan gave away a little more of the game away. It is clear that, if there's one second in which the president appears to be ahead after, say, 10 p.m. Eastern time, they will declare victory, demand Joe Biden concede, and then run to every courthouse they can find to stop the counting of legitimate ballots after election day.

Can we know what this is about? We all know what this is about. This is about these guys wanting chaos and confusion...I think you know this. They know that, on Election Day, President Trump is going to win. They know come the Election Day vote count, President Trump is going to win and they want to keep counting six weeks, four weeks...That's what they want.

It is imperative that we keep an eye on this through line all week and throughout the 60-odd days remaining until Election Day. It’s what they have.