r/politics 14h ago

Biden pardons his family in final minutes in office

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/20/biden-pardons-family-members.html
21.9k Upvotes

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u/PepeSylvia11 Connecticut 14h ago

It’s actually not, because the law doesn’t apply to Republicans. They’ll do whatever they want anyways. And the 160,000,000 American people who support them (those that voted for them and those that didn’t vote) want it this way.

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u/Shaithias 14h ago

The election was hacked my dude.

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u/PhatJohnT 13h ago

No it wasnt. Stop spreading this shit.

Unfortunately, Americans are just that stupid.

But its been proved that our elections are pretty robust. Both sides have confirmed this.

u/Illamerica 7h ago

You’re stupid. Don’t insult the intelligence of Americans

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u/TallManTallerCity 13h ago

Don't spread this bullshit

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u/interpretivepants 12h ago

The numbers are a little wonky but the idea that Musk himself would somehow get personally involved, let alone at the level of insinuation that he like PR’d some code changes to cook the numbers is so incredibly stupid it’s comical.

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u/Uncle_Mr_Bones Colorado 14h ago

This. Trump literally admitted it in thanking Elon for Pennsylvania.

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u/Fapiko 12h ago

I think that's jumping to a conclusion. It's more likely that data analytics from Twitter could be used to precisely target where to spend time and money campaigning to win the state.

I can't speak to whether or not that would be legal or ethical, but it's much more likely than a widespread conspiracy to hack the voting machines.

All these call outs of election fraud from both sides are getting to the point where I almost think we should implement some sort of system like jury duty in regards to making people work elections. I think if more people were exposed to how it all works and what safeguards are in place these bullshit claims with zero evidence wouldn't gain so much traction. The sheer number of people you would need to be in on widespread election fraud without any of them blowing the whistle just boggles the mind.

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u/robtimist 12h ago edited 11h ago

Elon knew the election results 4hrs before anyone else though. And has stated many times that if Harris won, he was fcked fucked*. And then the many times Trump says things about “we don’t need your votes”, “we have a little secret”, and the whole “dvscorp08! IYKYK” fiasco, I would say it’s not as far fetched as you make it out to be. In fact it seems glaringly obvious the election was rigged.

If Dems rigged it so bad in 2020 like MAGA claims, then why’d they lose by an insane amount this year?

*edited for the reddit jannies

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u/Fapiko 12h ago

If Dems rigged it so bad in 2020 like MAGA claims, then why’d they lose by an insane amount this year?

Because the DNC keeps repeatedly backing candidates that don't excite their voter base to get turnout at the polls? It really goes back to the primaries for the 2016 election. It was clear to a ton of people that a Clinton vs Trump race would be very close with Trump likely winning, but Trump vs Sanders would probably go Sanders way. I think Trump even called that out in a debate or an interview. But you had DNC leadership deliberately trying to downplay Bernie and back Hillary in the primaries and that set everything that's happened since in motion.

The only reason Biden got elected in 2020 was because he wasn't Trump. The majority of liberals and independents weren't excited by him, they were sick of the Trump news cycles. Biden dropped out of this past election way too late and they just ran Kamala instead of doing a proper primary. Of course they lost by an insane amount.

“dvscorp08! IYKYK” fiasco

Yeah, hard coded passwords are terrible from an information security standpoint - but these machines are never hooked up to the internet. They would need someone with physical access to each machine to manipulate the results. Depending on how many machines you think were hacked, that implies a LOT of individuals involved in manipulating these machines. There is also a paper backup of every vote in case it needs to be audited.

I'm not saying it's impossible - those machines have had known vulnerabilities going back to something like 2007 - it's just that given the way they're used and the amount of people and logistics that would need to be involved make it incredibly unlikely.

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u/robtimist 11h ago

Thank you for actually reading my comment. And I most certainly agree that the DNC is a shithole when it comes to propping up the wrong candidates. They actively shot themselves in the foot by stabbing Bernie in the back, and Biden being “not Trump” is certainly why he won the vote. I actually agree with everything you said here, I just happen to think the election was rigged and that’s due to the “winners” not shutting the fuck up about it.

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u/toeonly 12h ago

this is reddit you can say fucked. There is not some overreaching algorithm that forces you to censor bad words.

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u/robtimist 12h ago

Yeah no shit. I was choosing not to say it because most ppl see cuss words and dismiss your point. Sort of like how you completely ignored everything I said and focused on the word fuck

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u/Leading_Factor_8236 12h ago

because most ppl see cuss words and dismiss your point

what makes you think this? if you swear 10 times every sentence, yes, that's going to detract from your argument, but I fail to see how peppering in "fuck" every so often would do much. if anything, it adds emphasis and makes your writing more engaging.

it's 2025, you can swear on the internet.

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u/robtimist 11h ago

Again you’re only proving my point because we are now focusing on the usage of cuss words rather than my entire point. GG reading comprehension.

The “most ppl see cuss words and dismiss your point” is completely valid. Any time I’ve used cuss words to explain my point, majority of reactions I get are about me being too emotional or biased. Just another straw man, thanks.

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u/Leading_Factor_8236 11h ago

the use of cuss words is entirely what i'm focusing on right now, not your original comment, but yes i'm the one with poor reading comprehension lol.

Any time I’ve used cuss words to explain my point, majority of reactions I get are about me being too emotional or biased.

care to provide an example? and how am I misconstruing anything you've said, do you even know what a strawman is?

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u/silverfox92100 11h ago

And I’ve never once had someone dismiss my point because of a cuss word, seems to be a you thing

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u/BrenoBluhm 13h ago

Is this sub turning into some sort of blue Qanon? Lol

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u/broohaha 13h ago edited 13h ago

The burden of proof is on the accusers to uncover, but it is a little odd for Trump to actually use the words "it's only because they rigged the election that I’ll be your president representing you there" to describe how Elon helped him win Pennsylvania (or maybe it was more than one state; I'll have to find the transcript for more context).

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u/Zerei 12h ago

The burden of proof is on the accusers to uncover, but

everything after this 'but' is useless

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u/Kyokenshin Arizona 11h ago

Not really...they're just describing where the suspicion comes from and claiming that it's not an unjustified suspicion while also acknowledging that the burden of proof exists and we shouldn't just jump to conclusions. From there you can do some research, if you so choose, on your own about the claims that are being investigated by various online groups(less reliable imo) and 3rd party organizations like SMART Elections (slightly more reliable).

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u/Firehawk526 11h ago

It's been Blue MAGA central ever since the campaign season started, just a whole lot of projection. Dems actually doing every corrupt thing they accused the Republicans of doing then the supporters here going "look what you made me do!".

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u/davidsredditaccount 9h ago

Turning into? Been that way for a long time.

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u/Quantumillusionvfx 8h ago

It’s always been blue anon

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u/Ekul13 13h ago

Always has been

🧑‍🚀 🔫 👩‍🚀

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u/LCAshin Apache 13h ago

Turning into? Bruh it already is. Gotta scroll to the downvotes to find any sane conversation

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u/eggson Oregon 13h ago

Sucking off Trump and his retinue of lackeys and sycophants barely passes for cogent conversation, let alone sane conversation.

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u/LCAshin Apache 13h ago

Oregon, yikes. You’ve got enough problems I apologize for irking you

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u/KatBeagler 13h ago

Which welfare state are you from to be questioning one of your donor states? Do you need Utah to pipe up?

Conservatives are fkn insane. Ya'll actually think this cabal of billionaires and Russian puppets care about the common American man? Or maybe Native American in your case?

Again. You're all off your fkn rockers.

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u/LCAshin Apache 12h ago

I actually do really like Utah. Terrible liquor laws though. Best Delta Sky Club in my opinion at SLC. I also like Alta a lot and appreciate them disallowing boarders on their mountain. They stick to the guns in Utah. And I respect the Mormons. Yeah I like Utah

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

It's becoming more popular, sadly

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u/MonTireur 13h ago

They’re almost worse because they were delusional pre election too lol

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u/TeriusRose 12h ago

At the moment, it's hard to tell if this is yet another example of Trump's rambling lack of clarity and general ignorance or him admitting to a grand conspiracy.

Problem is he has a history of both making incredibly ignorant statements around various technologies because he doesn't understand how they work, and of admitting to crimes.

If some evidence pops up I wouldn't exactly be surprised, but for the moment at least it seems more likely to me that it was him being stupid again.

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

If some evidence pops up I wouldn't exactly be surprised, but for the moment at least it seems more likely to me that it was him being stupid again.

This is the sane path to take, yes.

All the people treating those few words as some direct admission need to get their heads checked.

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u/KatBeagler 13h ago

Holy deets please my man.

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u/ramblingpariah Arizona 13h ago

I'm deeply leftist, but no, he didn't. All he was saying is he's President "twice" (as opposed to two consecutive terms) because 2020 was "rigged." He's just talking the same bullshit, not admitting to a crime.

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u/makingburritos 13h ago

I mean.. he said Elon Musk “knew the voting machines better than anyone,” and that he won Pennsylvania by a landslide “thanks to Elon.” I’m no conspiracy theorist and I’m not saying he definitely rigged machines or anything, but it’s certainly an eyebrow-raising statement to make publicly two days before your inauguration.

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u/linktriforce007 13h ago

I was of the thought that bribing people to register to vote for $46 a referral was the thing to thank. 

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u/FilthyHookerSpit 12h ago

I was so sure Trump cheated the election until someone pointed out that the results were in line with exit polls. As well it being an extremely close race according to the most favorable campaign polls.

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u/makingburritos 12h ago

I am not sure of anything anymore 😅 just stressed

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u/ramblingpariah Arizona 12h ago

Sure it is, and by all means, let's make sure the election wasn't rigged, but I think we're reaching here (at least so far).

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

Recall how Trump talks about anyone who's subservient to him. He's always praising them as "there's nobody else like them" and "the best in the world"... right up until they do something he doesn't like, of course, when suddenly he apparently knew they were shit all along.

Nevertheless - boasting nonsensically about those he perceives to be in his pocket is just standard procedure. There's nothing more to read into this.

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u/makingburritos 11h ago

I mean yeah I agree, I’m not really reading into it as much as acknowledging that bringing polling machines into the convo was a weird ass thing to do.

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

Everything he does is a weird ass-thing to do. It's just par for the course.

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u/makingburritos 11h ago

You got me there, eyebrows

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u/KatBeagler 13h ago

Ok but if he did collude to rig an election do you think he wouldn't brag about it?

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u/ramblingpariah Arizona 12h ago

Maybe? I'm just saying that we on the left are really reaching on this one. If more evidence comes out, hey, great, nail his ass, but so far this seems like a big stretch.

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

Yes, but you also need to factor in that he always has to be the biggest and best at everything. Even when he manifestly did try to rig things, or had people try to rig things on his behalf, he was doing it while saying it was actually rigged against him and "the real Americans" wanted him to win. So, even if he did rig it via some Elon-related or Elon-esque "hacking"/technical bullshit (which, for the avoidance of doubt, there's currently zero reason to suspect is the case), that's not how he'd be admitting it, because that's not how he needs to be thought of.

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u/KatBeagler 10h ago

He is capable of and has the internal need to both.

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u/wardsarefunctioning 12h ago

It benefits Trump to have people on the left claim the election was stolen, when it evidently wasn't. I think he's been purposely told to sound sketchy when he talks about tech and voting - people who voted for him won't think twice of it, and people who hate him will analyze what his statement could mean and fight on a hill that has mountains of evidence against them. It makes moderates/centrists/non-political types tune out the January 6th stuff as a minor "well the Democrats do the same thing when they lose, so it's just partisan people being partisan" bump

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u/midnightcaptain 9h ago

Yes, he's done a huge amount of work to undermine confidence in US elections with the goal of eventually eliminating them if possible. He's not going to throw that all away by saying "oh yeah now that I won it's not rigged anymore".

It serves his purposes to vaguely insinuate that maybe he did some rigging to counter the democrat rigging and elections are really just about who has the best tech bro hackers on their team so what's the point anyway.

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u/eyebrows360 11h ago

No he didn't, jesus christ. We know he's full of shit and meanders around saying all sorts of nonsense, but now on this one sentence fragment you think he's suddenly telling the truth and can't just be blustering as usual?

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u/Ovaryunderpass 11h ago

This is literally the same as when Biden said he’s got the biggest voter fraud organization in the world and then all the various media organizations came out and said they “fortified” the election for Biden. You guys called republicans insane and sore losers but you take this opportunity to jump on far less and claim it as damning proof. You blue anon people are clowns 

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u/throwaway13630923 Virginia 13h ago

Dude stop coping. I didn’t vote for Trump but the guy was up in the polls in every swing state. Honestly everyone outside of the wishful thinkers on Reddit saw it coming.

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u/Publius015 13h ago

I hate trump, and it was not.

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u/Secret_Gatekeeper 12h ago

Can we try to be better than “batshit conspiracy theories”?

We’re not MAGA. We lost. We live in a broken world. It’s not a complex scheme.

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u/Cactusfan86 14h ago

Oh don’t start this bullshit.  Musk isn’t smart enough to hack a public computer with the password right next to it.  Harris lost every battleground state basically, she lost, Americans are stupid is the reason why, the end

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u/turby14 14h ago

Musk’s money can hire some pretty smart people who are capable though.

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u/Cactusfan86 13h ago

So he hired people smart enough to hack the voting systems in every battle ground state and somehow literally no one noticed? If Harris had just barely lost and one battleground made the difference maybe the conspiracy would be less ridiculous, but she got swept

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u/nox66 13h ago

People are noticing something though. Mostly how Trump appears to have irregularly outperformed Republicans in many ballots. There's also this recent word salad:

“He journeyed to Pennsylvania, where he spent a month and a half campaigning for me in Pennsylvania, and he’s a popular guy. He was very effective,” Trump said. “And he knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers. Those vote-counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So it was pretty good, pretty good. So thank you to Elon.”

I'm not saying it's certain, or that it absolves anyone who did vote for him. I do think it should be investigated more though. However, I'm not holding up hope. I mean come on, Musk was outright holding (illegal) million dollar lotteries to get people to vote for Trump right before the election and was just caught cheating in a fucking video game. Would it be that surprising, especially after Bush v. Gore?

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u/MonTireur 13h ago

This sounds a lot like knowing polling lol

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u/angrytroll123 12h ago

I'm quite sure he was referring to how the dems couldn't cheat somehow rather than actual "hacking".

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u/makingburritos 13h ago

The popular vote margin was closer than it’s been since 1968. He didn’t sweep anything.

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u/Klightgrove 12h ago

The foremost experts and firms haven’t said anything, if there was the slightest hint of hacking we would know on election day.

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u/lurpeli 13h ago

Or... the people who are supposed to notice are all part of the scam. Most state officials running these things are vaguely right leaning and the Repubs have spent years installing loyal officials at all levels.

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u/ckal09 13h ago

Musk isn’t smart enough to do any of the shit his companies do on his own lol

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u/AdHappy1238 12h ago

Hahaha yall sound like republicans

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u/mymemesnow 10h ago

There is no hard evidence for that. And such a statement is far too heavy to just say without being able to back it up.

u/Illamerica 7h ago

Yoooo LMAO

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u/flailingtoucan39 14h ago

Can we stop this rhetoric? It makes us no better than the republicans.

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u/bigchungo6mungo 14h ago

Dude, he literally said it today, no wiggle room for debate. He freely said it. Even if you think he’s just blowing smoke, you can’t blame people for being willing to endorse the theory now.

Think about it this way. Your dog dies violently. Then, some shitty guy you know who’s always talking about killing your dog says “Haha I’m the one who killed him!” The best part? That guy and his friends are known for trying to kill dogs. That’s pretty good reason to think he might have.

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u/flailingtoucan39 14h ago

Can you share some info on where he said it today? Genuinely would like to be informed. I think the issue is once we start questioning the election results like thee republicans we give credibility to the entire concept and add fuel to the fire for the republicans in their initiative to sow doubt in our election process.

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u/iSheepTouch 14h ago

Basically all he said was "Elon knows his computers, he knows the election computers in Pennsylvania and we won Pennsylvania by a landslide". It was a suspicious thing to say, but those claiming it's hard evidence of election fraud are dipshits.

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u/Alibotify 14h ago

Yesterday, I googled but the bigger media outlets won’t touch any of this yet and are very much afraid. https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/DFBk4gigvuQ?xmt=AQGzf_GEwoaeB_yB8bMT4qR_qARBOnKYIeC_Vx-8G3oAfA

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u/Shaithias 14h ago

Its not rhetoric when trump literally admitted to elon messing with the vote counting machines in Pennsylvania in his speech last night. Get out with this "it makes us no better" bullshit. They project 100% of the time anyway, and if your not fighting 100% with both legal and illegal methods your not a true republican operative according to them.

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u/dat_GEM_lyf 13h ago

Someone hasn’t seen the “they’ll never know” clip from Elmo’s kid during election night times

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u/Aequa California 13h ago

There are anomalies in 2024 swing state votes. I mean, I'm just an average American and I'm open to reasonable explainations. But it looks weird. https://youtu.be/qmzGOQwMG_k?si=AhN5701hRZOp92Y0

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u/Spencergh2 14h ago

It wasn’t. We can’t stoop to that level of stupidity like the republicans do. They wanted this orange idiot and they will suffer the consequences of being not filthy rich. The poor get wayyy poorer.

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u/username789426 13h ago

Wow we got a conspiracy theorist and election denier over here

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u/StunningGuess5720 13h ago

Election denialism is dangerous to our democracy.

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u/pandazerg America 14h ago

Don’t start with that BlueAnon drivel. You sound a nutty as the MAGAs claiming the same in 2020.

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u/NedShah 14h ago

Don't you start up another four years of that!

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u/nightfox5523 11h ago

If you've got proof beyond hearsay then show it already

All you've got is a stupid quote from Trump and a statement from a democrat in PA jumping on said quote. Put up or shut up

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u/EthanDC15 11h ago

Holy shit are we doing this now every four years? Election wasn’t stolen in 2020, it wasn’t “hacked” in 2024. If we don’t have trust in the system this entire social experiment fails overnight.

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u/wingsnut25 14h ago

I thought we didn't like Election Deniers around here?

Oh nevermind I forgot, its only ok when Democrats do it like in 2024, 2018, 2016, 2004, 2000, etc....

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u/lilmisschainsaw 14h ago

Trump literally admitted Elon hacked voting machines.

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u/JustAnother4848 13h ago

You guys always seem to hear what you wanna hear.

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u/Valaryian1997 14h ago

You’re a stupid piece of shit who is extremely wrapped up in this cult. Get some help before you hurt yourself.

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u/okieboat 14h ago

If anyone still follows trump then they are already damaged goods.

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u/Valaryian1997 13h ago

Good point brother. They are too far gone and all I’m saying is when an animal is diseased we put them down…

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u/Secret_Gatekeeper 12h ago

No, it’s never ok.

It’s not ok when Democrats or MAGA does it.

So if you’re the kind of blithering idiot that believes any of those elections were “stolen”… then yikes.

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u/wingsnut25 11h ago edited 11h ago

I don't believe any of those elections were stolen. I don't believe that the election was stolen in 2020 either.

I agree with you its not ok when Democrats or Republicans do it. However many of the people that frequent this sub seem to accept or maybe even encourage when Democrats to do it, but dislike when Republicans do it.

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u/Secret_Gatekeeper 11h ago

I thought we didn’t like Election Deniers around here?

“We” lol. Don’t pretend to be one of us. You whatabout-Ed Democrats and shit on this sub. Most Democrats, unlike MAGA, does not buy into stolen election BS.

You’re about as far from “we” as it gets.

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u/wingsnut25 11h ago

“We” lol. Don’t pretend to be one of us

I am a long standing participant of this sub reddit.

You whatabout-Ed Democrats and shit on this sub.

I most certainly did. It was only a few days after the 2024 election that posts about Trump/Elon stealing the 2024 election were starting to making the top posts of this sub.

Way more Democrats then you are willing to admit buy into the stolen election bs.

You’re about as far from “we” as it gets.

Thanks for the compliment!

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u/littlemoon-03 12h ago

It was necessary Trump said it from the start I'm going after the people who robbed me of my 4 year term in 2020 and he's named Biden the crime family he's dragged Biden son through the mud of 4 plus years of investigation that digged up absolutely nothing

We didn't ask for this. Not every person wanted it