They knew right from the start.
The Trump campaign knew it had lost Wisconsin to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. But new audiotapes first published by the Associated Press confirm Trump operatives decided to ignore reality and instead “fan the flame” by spreading false allegations of fraud.
Yet more evidence, as if we even needed more evidence.
Those fraud allegations were repeatedly debunked and discredited, even as Donald Trump repeatedly demanded that the Wisconsin election be overturned, demanded costly recounts and then sued (and lost) multiple times in court. No evidence of significant fraud was ever found.
The audio tapes obtained by the AP show that on Nov. 5, 2020, two days after the election, Trump operatives acknowledged that Biden had won the Badger State by about 21,000 votes. Yet more evidence, as if we even needed more evidence.
On the tapes, the head of Trump’s Wisconsin campaign, Andrew Iverson, is heard saying:
“Here’s the drill: Comms is going to continue to fan the flame and get the word out about Democrats trying to steal this election. We’ll do whatever they need (inaudible) help with. Just be on standby in case there’s any stunts we need to pull.”
No one on the conference call suggested that Trump had actually won, or that the election had been stolen.
“At the end of the day, this operation received more votes than any other Republican in Wisconsin history,” Iverson says on the tape. “Say what you want, our operation turned out Republican or DJT supporters. Democrats just got 20,000 more than us, out of Dane County and other shenanigans in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Dane.”
In all honesty, these tapes should come as absolutely no surprise. Other Republicans in the state have previously been recorded similarly acknowledging reality.
In 2021, Sen. Ron Johnson was also caught on tape admitting the election results did not appear “obviously skewed.” In a video posted by activist gadfly Lauren Windsor, Johnson said: “If all the…
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