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John,
With another close election, Trump is likely to appear to be ahead early in the night thanks to the ‘red mirage,’ and he’s all but certain to use that early lead to falsely claim victory again.
The networks must be crystal clear in explaining what is about to happen to the American people. That starts by exposing the red mirage and Trump’s history of using it to his advantage now.
Check out our video to get the details and then sign and send a message to the CEOs of the major networks demanding they expose the truth before it’s too late.
The red mirage happens because votes are counted by precinct, and Democrats tend to live in more densely populated, urban precincts, while Republicans tend to live in more sparsely populated, rural ones.
Two counties in Georgia provide a good example: the blue-leaning Fulton County has 300 times the population than red-leaning Glasscock County. So it’s hardly a surprise the Glascock County results are ready earlier than Fulton County, hence the red mirage.
It just takes longer to count the votes in a precinct with a lot of people than in a precinct with fewer people.
The major news networks also must report that Democrats are also more likely to vote by mail, and mail-in votes take longer to count. This year though that difference may be minimized by Republicans realizing that discouraging their voters to vote early was a pretty bad idea. That’s why Republicans, as well as Democrats, are encouraging the early vote this time around.
In October 2020, even before the election happened, Trump-ally Steve Bannon predicted Trump would use the red mirage to declare victory before all the votes were counted, and, of course, he was right.
This year, with another close election, Trump is likely to appear to be ahead early in the night, and it's all but certain to use that early lead to falsely claim victory again. The networks must be crystal clear in explaining what is about to happen, and expose it as it occurs.
If the networks explain this “mirage” so the electorate knows what to expect, it will help counter the disinformation and decrease Trump’s power to mislead. Help us tell the network CEOs to be clear with the American people by sending your message now.
The networks need to draw the connection between Trump’s nonsense claim in 2020 that votes counted earlier in the night were more legitimate than those counted later, and the larger version of this falsehood that became the Big Lie.
The 2020 election wasn’t stolen and still it became the ultimate “justification” for the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Let’s do everything we can to try and stop it from happening again.
That starts with the media informing the American people what to expect now. Not after it’s too late.
Thank you for sending your message now.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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