Stop the Steal is a right-wing campaign in the United States[1] promoting the conspiracy theory that widespread electoral fraud took place during the 2020 presidential election for the purpose of denying incumbent President Donald Trump victory over former vice president Joe Biden. Trump and his supporters have asserted without evidence[2][3] that he is the winner of the election, and that large-scale voter and vote counting fraud took place in several swing states.[3] The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, NBC News, The New York Times, and Fox News projected Biden as the president-elect, having surpassed the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory.[4][5] A New York Times survey of state election officials found no evidence of significant voting fraud, nor did the United States Justice Department, and dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his proxies to challenge voting results in several states have failed.[6][7][8][9]
Background
"Stop the Steal" was created by Republican political operative Roger Stone in 2016.[10] A Facebook group with that name was created during the 2020 counting of votes by the pro-Trump group "Women for America First" co-founder and Tea Party movement activist Amy Kremer.[11] Facebook removed the group on November 5, and described it as "organized around the delegitimization of the election process".[11][12] It was reported to have been adding 1,000 new members every 10 seconds[13] with 360,000 followers before Facebook shut it down.[14][15]
All subsequent "Stop the Steal" groups have since been removed from the website by Facebook moderators due to discussions of extreme violence, incitement to violence, and threats, all of which are violations of Facebook's community standards.[16][17][18] Several "Stop the Steal" groups were founded by right-wing extremists[3] after Trump published tweets on Twitter encouraging his supporters to "Stop the Count".[19] Since then, many of these unorganized "Stop the Steal" groups have started protesting in several U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C.,[20] Detroit[21] and Lansing, Michigan,[22] Las Vegas, Nevada,[23][24] Madison, Wisconsin,[25] Atlanta, Georgia,[26] and Columbus, Ohio.[27] Several of these protests have included members of extremist groups such as Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers, which CNN reported was an illustration of "the thinning of a line between the mainstream right and far-right extremists" to those who track such groups.[28]
Protests
In Michigan, on December 7, 2020, "Stop the Steal" protestors gathered outside the private home of Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to shout obscenities and chant into bullhorns threatening speech. President-elect Joe Biden's Michigan win by 154,000 votes was officially certified by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers in November.[29]
On Saturday, December 12, 2020 post-election protests were held in Washington, DC in which at least nine people were transported from the protest by DC Fire and EMS workers for treatment in hospital. Among the injured were four people who suffered stab wounds and said to be in critical condition. Two police officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and two people with minor injuries. An additional 33 people were arrested, including one arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon. Earlier in the day large groups of protesters and counter protestors assembled outside the Supreme Court and Freedom Plaza. Although small fights broke out periodically, in general the protests were mostly peaceful. Most participants did not wear masks, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.[30]
Social media response
Attempts by Facebook and other mainstream social networks to restrict groups that spread false election claims led to a surge in the popularity of Parler, a right-leaning alternative social networking site which has attracted supporters of Stop the Steal.[31][32]
See also
- 2020 United States election protests
- Big lie – Propaganda technique
- List of lawsuits relating to the 2020 United States presidential election
- Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of 2020 election fraud
References
- ^ Multiple sources:
- Triomphe, Catherine (November 6, 2020). "Explaining 'Stop the Steal', Trump supporters' viral offensive to discredit the election". America Votes. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- Romm, Tony; Stanley-Becker, Isaac; Dwoskin, Elizabeth. "Facebook bans 'STOP THE STEAL' group Trump allies were using to organize protests against vote counting". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- Ghaffary, Shirin (November 5, 2020). "Facebook took down a massive 'Stop the Steal' group after its members called for violence". Vox. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- "Facebook blocks hashtags for #sharpiegate, #stopthesteal election conspiracies". TechCrunch. November 5, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- "The Next 2020 Election Fight? Convincing Trump's Supporters That He Lost". NPR. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- Sullivan, Mark (November 5, 2020). "The pro-Trump 'Stop the Steal' movement is still growing on Facebook". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- Beckett, Lois (November 6, 2020). "Tea party-linked activists protest against election fraud in US cities". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- Doerer, Kristen. "Right-Wing Operative Ali Alexander Leads 'Stop the Steal' Campaign". Right Wing Watch. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ Frenkel, Sheera (November 13, 2020). "Beware of this misinformation from 'Stop the Steal' rallies this weekend". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c Breland, Ali. "Meet the right-wing trolls behind "Stop The Steal"". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ "Biden officially secures enough electors to become president". AP NEWS. December 5, 2020. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ Athas, Eric; Carlson, Seth; Keefe, John; Miller, Claire Cain; Parlapiano, Alicia; Sanger-Katz, Margot. "Tracking Which News Outlets Have Called the Presidential Race in Each State". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid J.; Rutenberg, Jim (November 11, 2020). "The Times Called Officials in Every State: No Evidence of Voter Fraud". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- ^ "Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud". AP NEWS. December 1, 2020. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ Polantz, Katelyn. "With Trump and allies headed to the Supreme Court, elections cases still dead on arrival". CNN. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ "Donald Trump's brutal day in court". Politico. Archived from the original on December 6, 2020. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
- ^ Kuznia, Rob (November 14, 2020). "Stop the Steal's massive disinformation campaign connected to Roger Stone". CNN. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- ^ a b Wong, Julia Carrie (November 5, 2020). "Facebook removes pro-Trump Stop the Steal group over 'calls for violence'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ Frenkel, Sheera (November 5, 2020). "The Rise and Fall of the 'Stop the Steal' Facebook Group". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
- ^ Culliford, Elizabeth; Satter, Raphael (November 5, 2020). "Pro-Trump Facebook group protesting vote count adding 1000 members every 10 seconds". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Dickson, E. J. (November 5, 2020). "A Pro-Trump 'Stop the Steal' Group Rapidly Grew on Facebook". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Schulberg, Jessica; Cook, Jesselyn (November 5, 2020). "Nationwide 'Stop The Steal' Protests Are Being Pushed By GOP Operatives And The Far-Right". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ "Facebook Has A Metric For "Violence And Incitement Trends." It's Rising". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ "Community Standards". Facebook. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ "Violence Brewed in Facebook Groups Ahead of 'Stop The Steal' Protests". Snopes.com.
- ^ Rupar, Aaron (November 5, 2020). "Trump's desperate "STOP THE COUNT!" tweet, briefly explained". Vox. Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
- ^ Yancey-Bragg, N'dea. "Trump supporters plan rallies in Washington DC, experts warn extremists may attend". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ "'Stop the count': Crowd tries to storm Detroit convention centre". The Independent. November 4, 2020. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ LeBlanc, Beth. "Trump supporters dispute Michigan vote count at 'Stop the Steal' rally on Capitol lawn". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Komenda, Ed. "Nevada election 2020: Vote challengers gather outside election department in Las Vegas". Reno Gazette Journal. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ "'Stop the steal' protest outside Clark County Election Center Office". KTNV. November 8, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Rickert, Chris; Wroge, Logan. "Trump supporters, counter protesters clash at Madison rally". madison.com. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ "Demonstrators rally for Trump in front of Georgia Capitol". WSBTV. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Thomas, Matthew; Smith, Mary (November 7, 2020). "Trump, Biden supporters rally at Ohio Statehouse after Biden projected to win election". WSYX. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
- ^ Jones, Julia; Snider, Sara (November 15, 2020). "MAGA March brings together Trump voters, far-right leaders and counterprotesters, ending in some clashes". CNN. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
- ^ "Dozens of armed 'stop the steal' protesters threaten Michigan Secretary of State outside her house". CBS News. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ Koenig, Lauren. "Several people stabbed and 33 arrested as 'Stop the Steal' protesters and counterprotesters clash in Washington, DC". CNN. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Lerman, Rachel (November 10, 2020). "'Stop the Steal' supporters, restrained by Facebook, turn to Parler to peddle false election claims". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ Brandom, Russell (November 9, 2020). "Parler, a conservative Twitter clone, has seen nearly 1 million downloads since Election Day". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020.