2000 Mules: Big if true, but why does it cost $29.99?
This week, the Big Lie is back in the news, but don’t worry; it’s still not true. Of course, you are not likely to hear Dinesh D’Souza, the man behind the new “documentary” 2000 Mules, about how the 2020 election was stolen, or Lee Roy Mitchell, the founder of Cinemark and promoter of both Donald Trump and the Big Lie, admit that the Big Lie is just a lie. They have tickets to sell, and revealing their documentary is fraudulent would go against that goal.
Writing for Popular Information, Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby report on the claims of the 2000 Mules and also debunk the entire premise of the film. In 2000 Mules, True the Vote, a right-wing group with a history of making false claims about the 2020 election, “says it has purchased ’a trove of geolocation data obtained from electronic devices.’ True the Vote says this data shows 2000 people came within a 100-foot radius of a ballot dropbox ten times or more between October 1, 2020, and November 3, 2020.” This claim is the primary evidence that True the Vote, D’Souza, and Mitchell offer to prove that the election was stolen.
But, as Legum and Crosby point out, this claim is entirely bogus. As Popular Information states, dropboxes are placed in high traffic areas, so it is not odd that someone would walk near one multiple times in a month. Beyond that, going within 100 feet of a dropbox only means you were within 100 feet of the dropbox. That’s it. Being that close does not imply that you deposited one, let alone multiple, fraudulent ballots. Also, and perhaps most notable, the film does not show one person going to multiple dropboxes. Given that the geolocation information is bogus and the video evidence shows regular voting activity, it is safe to say that this documentary is a scam.
D’Souza and Mitchell find something of value in the documentary. However, not everyone will agree with that assessment. The cynic in me says they appreciate the ability to make money off folks who have bought in hook, line, and sinker to The Big Lie. And it is this that I think we would all do well to focus on. It is not likely that disproving the film’s claims will convince anyone that the documentary is false. We know that people double down on their beliefs despite the evidence when faced with facts that disprove their ideas.
So what is a way to combat The Big Lie as told by 2000 Mules? The simplest solution might be to ask why this film is not free. If the claims of 2000 Mules are valid, that is a big deal. If this film is this important, why is D’Souza selling it for $29.99 on Rumble while Mitchell is selling tickets for whatever tickets go for in your area? If these men are great patriots, rather than grifters, would they not want to make the barriers to seeing the film as low as possible? It is not likely that facts will dissuade anyone who wishes to see 2000 Mules from believing the claims of the film. But people also do not like to feel as if they are being taken advantage of. If it is possible to cast doubt on 2000 Mules, convincing people that D’Souza and Mitchell are looking to profit from them may be the only way forward.
2 More Things
1) The New York Times has a reported story, and Mona Charen at Bulwark has an opinion piece that pairs well together, even though the picture they paint is not a rosy one. The NYT reports that 44% of state legislators in the nine states where the 2020 presidential election was narrowly decided have “used the power of their office to discredit or try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.” For many of these legislators, the facts state that the election was stolen. This is, in part, why Mona Charen argues that now is the time to prevent the next coup attempt in America. Mona points out that Trump is dabbling in state races at a granular level with the hope, as Steve Bannon puts it, of “taking over the Republican party through the precinct committee strategy... It’s about winning elections with the right people—MAGA people. We will have our people in at every level.” Thankfully, this effort was not successful in Georgia on Tuesday as Brad Raffensperger won reelection as secretary of state against Trump-endorsed Jody Hice. Charen argues that it is for this reason Democrats should not be wasting their money trying to unseat Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, or Marjorie Taylor Green. Instead, it is of the utmost importance to pay attention to these local-level politics to ensure that trustworthy men and women with integrity are running state legislatures. America’s democracy may depend on it.
2) As bad as things may be at some state levels, Politico has two reports that show that all is not yet lost. Reporting on Kellyanne Conway’s new book, Meredith McGraw writes about how Conway told President Trump that he had indeed lost the 2020 election. Conway says, “I may have been the first person Donald Trump trusted in his inner circle who told him that he had come up short this time.” Conway’s side of the story ultimately paints her positively, but it is still good to see big names in Trumpworld tell the truth. Finally, David Siders reports that things are normal between Pennslyvania Republican Senate hopefuls Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. A week after their primary, the race is still too close to call, and while Dr. Oz is slightly ahead, he has not called victory. Likewise, McCormick has not cast doubt on the votes. Even though Trump and Sean Hannity are attempting to meddle in the results, both candidates are patiently waiting to see what happens. This normalcy, along with Trump’s inevitable failure to back the winner of the Georgia governor race, shows there may be a limit to Trump’s reach.