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'Rigged!' Trump And MAGA Furious Over Pratt's Defeat In Los Angeles Primary

President Donald Trump and his movement of MAGA Republicans are venting their rage online after Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt lost to two Democrats, Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Because Trump has accused all of the politicians he opposes of cheating, tracing all the way back to the 2016 Republican Iowa caucus, he naturally has accused Bass and Raman of cheating Pratt. MAGA Republicans online are taking notice.

"I'm at the rare intersection of: - Was rooting for Pratt - Thought he was good for the LA political conversation - Dislike California's election administration laws and policies - But understand how the process works,” posted an X user named Stephen Richer.

Similarly Republican pollster Frank Luntz observed "reality TV star Spencer Pratt says he ‘will be done with trying to live in LA’ if he doesn't win the mayoral election. Yesterday, he was surpassed in the Los Angeles mayoral primary for the second run-off spot in November."

Another Republican wrote going by Dr. Terry Simpson on X wrote that "I'm a Republican. Los Angeles is roughly 50% Democratic and about 10% Republican. Any candidate who wants to lead this city must win support well beyond the Republican base. Spencer Pratt didn't lose because voters didn't understand he was independent. He lost.”

Other Republicans reacted with the outrage that Trump is trying to stir up, even though there is no evidence that anything illicit is occurring in the California election.

"A 43,000-vote swing just handed Nithya Raman the edge over Spencer Pratt in LA,” an X user who goes by jay plemons posted. “The exact size of the city's homeless population. Ballot harvesting from shelters, universal mail ballots, and late drops made it happen. Coincidence?"

Similarly X user Mark Mendlovitz wrote, "The large variance of Pratt and Raman but not Bass should be setting off screaming alarm bells."

Even House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested there might be fraud in California, despite the fact that he also acknowledged there is no proof. Instead he cited the absence of evidence as being in itself suspicious.

“I'm not saying it's rigged,” Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday. “I'm saying it stinks to high heaven. And everybody knows that. Let's remove the appearance of impropriety. Let's have, what a concept, let's have votes on an election the day of the election. That's what many states are able to do. I think California is playing around with this.”

After Raju asked Johnson if he had proof the election was improper, he admitted that “I don't — some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream that it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here. And that's a concern. We need people to believe in the integrity of our election system.”

Trump, who attempted a coup after he lost the 2020 presidential election to then-Vice President Joe Biden, is reportedly falsely accusing the California election of being stolen as a preparation for denying the results of the 2026 midterms, which are also expected to swing against him.

“By baselessly framing Ms. Raman’s rise as a Democratic scam, Mr. Trump extended his long-running project to erode public faith in elections — and gave an unusually clear preview of how he could greet any disappointing results for his party in November, when control of Congress is at stake,” wrote The New York Times' Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman on Monday. “He has been anything but subtle about his desire to limit the ability of Democrats to vote by mail, implying, with no evidence, that simply choosing that widely used means of casting a ballot is inherently suspect.”

Swan and Haberman added, “Addressing a gathering of Republican lawmakers in March, he said the way to hold their majority was to pass a strict voter identification law cracking down on mail ballots. ‘It’ll guarantee the midterms,’ he told them, warning that failure would bring ‘big trouble.’”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Trump's Stooge: Tainted Federal Prosecutor Stirs California Election Conspiracies

There he goes again. As Democrats predicted before the first votes were in, President Donald Trump is, as is his way, challenging the results of the elections in California. With absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, he took to Truth Social twice on Wednesday.

"The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS," Trump posted

"There's BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???"

Trump knows exactly why the delay. It's because the state relies heavily on mail-in ballots, which must be postmarked by election day but may not arrive until days after. And then they are hand-counted, with signatures verified and corrected if necessary. It's part of making sure that as many people participate as possible, and that every vote is counted. Another word for it is democracy.

You'd think that if Democrats were stealing the Governor's and Mayor's race, they'd be doing a more effective job of it; in fact, Trump's favored candidates are doing better than expected. But there is a method to Trump's madness: the popular theory, backed up by some practical evidence, that late-deciding mail-in ballots tend to break Democratic and progressive.

Four years ago, Rick Caruso, the popular developer, held a comfortable lead over Karen Bass on the morning after the election, only to see their positions reversed by the late ballots. Does that mean that Spencer Pratt and Steve Hilton, the TV hosts turned politicians, will lose their spots in the run-off? Probably not. But the feds are ready to prosecute, just in case.

More troubling than Trump's social media rants are the actions actually being taken by his ardent loyalist, who is the "first assistant U.S. Attorney" for the Central District of California — a loophole method of having a non-confirmed and non-confirmable appointee run the office. First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, on Friday morning, said his office "has multiple election fraud investigations underway," in coordination with the FBI in Los Angeles. Essayli's office confirmed that Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert Renner was at a Los Angeles County ballot processing center Friday "to observe the vote counting process."

Essayli's office has earned the reputation, under his "leadership," of losing. He has distinguished himself for his vigor in pursuing the Trump agenda, prosecuting protestors, immigrants and activists, with surprisingly little success. There is an old expression that a good prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Essayli and his lieutenants are not, by that standard, very good prosecutors.

The judges of the Central District could select a new U.S. Attorney to fill the vacancy in the Central District, but they haven't moved to do so. One explanation is that they are simply letting Essayli and his team fall on their faces. Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor and veteran defense attorney, suggested to the Los Angeles Times that the federal judges' inaction with Essayli might be a clever act of resistance. "If you're a judge and displeased with what DOJ is doing and the shenanigans they're pulling ... you let the Essayli appointment play out," Blanco said. "No one has seen a U.S. attorney's office lose the way this office is losing now."

Opening investigations to suit the president's partisan whims is the secret to success in the Trump justice system. It is what won Bill Pulte, the housing chief who, based on his willingness to scour the mortgage applications of Trump's enemies, the spot of Director of National Intelligence. It is all that Trump values, and it is a terrible abuse of power. In prior times, presidents could face impeachment for such abuses. In this world, we have come to accept it as business as usual. It should not be.

Susan Estrich is a celebrated feminist legal scholar, the first female president of the Harvard Law Review, and the first woman to run a U.S. presidential campaign. She has written eight books.

SAVE Act Swindle: Susan Collins Raising Money Off Election Fraud Lies

Last year, Maine voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would’ve required photo ID at the polls. Now, Sen. Susan Collins is supporting a Trump-backed bill that would impose the restriction anyway.

Collins said in a fundraising email this month that she supports the SAVE Act, a bill that would require voters nationwide to present a photo ID before casting a ballot. It would also eliminate most forms of mail-in voting and require people to provide proof of citizenship when registering, such as a passport, birth certificate, or military ID.

“I announced that I will vote for the SAVE America Act because the law and the Constitution are clear: Citizens of other countries should not be voting in American elections,” the email said.

President Donald Trump used the same argument when he urged House Republicans to pass the legislation during a policy summit last month.

“Our elections are crooked as hell, and you can win—not only win elections over that and not only win future elections—but you’ll win every debate because the public is really angry about it,” the president said.

Despite Trump’s and Collins’ claims, a review by the Department of Homeland Security found that instances of noncitizen voting are close to nonexistent and have no impact on election outcomes. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register to vote or participate in most elections.

The SAVE Act passed the House with mostly Republican votes on Feb. 11. It is unlikely to reach the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate unless Republicans suspend the filibuster, which is reportedly being considered.

Collins would likely be the deciding vote if Senate Republicans tried to bypass the filibuster.

Voting rights advocates warn that the SAVE Act could jeopardize ballot access for more than 21 million Americans. Married women who have changed their names may be especially vulnerable because of mismatching details on their identifying documents.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, one of the Democrats challenging Collins in this year’s election, blasted Collins for backing the bill.

“The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy, and Maine is proud to have one of the highest voter participation rates in the nation,” Mills said on Feb. 14. “But Susan Collins is once again appeasing Republican leadership and caving to pressure by backing a dangerous Trump-backed voter suppression bill that will disenfranchise voters across Maine and America.”

Graham Platner, another Democrat challenging Collins, critiqued her as well.

“Under this terrible bill, if you get married and change your name—or if you can’t find your passport—you could be turned away from the polls,” Platner said in a video posted to Facebook.

Collins is the only Senate Republican seeking reelection in 2026 in a state that Trump didn’t win in 2024.

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News

Prominent Conservatives Issue Massive Report Debunking 2020 Election 'Fraud'

A who’s who of political conservatives – former federal judges, U.S. senators, and Republican Party election lawyers – have issued a report that is the most extensive rebuttal yet of Donald Trump’s stolen election claims in six of 2020’s battleground states.

The report, Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election, refutes the 187 claims made in Trump’s 64 post-election lawsuits, as well as erroneous conclusions in several post-election reviews that pro-Trump state legislators outsourced to pro-Trump contractors. (Trump lost every lawsuit except one that involved a non-election issue.)

But the report’s most intriguing aspect may be the short summaries where it described how sufficient numbers of otherwise loyal Republican voters in six states turned away from Trump in 2020 compared to 2016, causing his loss.

Those summations, coming from conservatives, echo the House Select Committee’s testimony, from mostly Republican witnesses, which polling has found to be persuasive in moving political independents to reject Trump’s ongoing election-denial claims and to frown on 2022’s election-denying candidates.

“Our conclusion is unequivocal: Joe Biden was the choice of a majority of the Electors, who themselves were the choice of the majority of voters in their states,” the report’s introduction said. “Biden’s victory is easily explained by a political landscape that was much different in 2020 than it was when President Trump narrowly won the presidency in 2016.”

“President Trump waged his campaign for re-election during a devastating worldwide pandemic that caused a severe downturn in the global economy,” it continued. “This, coupled with an electorate that included a small but statistically significant number willing to vote for other Republican candidates on the ballot but not for President Trump, are the reasons his campaign fell short, not a fraudulent election.”

Lost Not Stolen was co-authored by former U.S. Sens. John Danforth (Missouri) and Gordon Smith (Oregon), former federal judges J. Michael Luttig, Thomas B. Griffith, and Michael W. McConnell, former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, Republican election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg and David Hoppe, former chief of staff to ex-House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Here are excerpts summarizing the ticket splitting in the six battleground states.

Trump Did Worse Than 2016 In Arizona

“Biden outperformed [Hillary] Clinton’s 2016 results, and Trump performed worse than he had in 2016,” the report said, before parsing Biden’s 10,457-vote margin.

“Disaffection for Trump among Republican voters led to ticket-splitting that hurt Trump and helped Biden,” it said. “Nearly 60,000 voters did not vote for Trump even though they voted Republican down-ballot; of these, 39,000 voted for
Biden. Considering only the two most populous counties in the state, more than 74,000 disaffected Republicans did not vote for Trump in 2020; 65% of these (48,577 votes) voted for Biden; those 48,577 votes alone represent 4.6 times Biden’s margin of victory over Trump.”

Bigger Turnout In Georgia

Biden beat Trump by 11,779 votes, making Biden the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.

“Biden capitalized on grassroots organizing, a rapidly diversifying electorate, significantly increased turnout, and suburbs growing in population and becoming inhospitable to 2020 Republican candidates,” the report said. “Democrats have made slow and steady gains in Georgia, with candidates focusing on bringing out Democratic voters who did not vote in previous election cycles, thus closing the gap with Republicans in recent elections. In addition to bringing out Democratic voters, Biden also succeeded among swing and suburban voters.”

Michigan Suburbs Went Blue

In 2016, Trump won by 10,700 votes. In 2020, Biden won by 154,188 votes.

“Biden’s victory is attributed to gains in suburban counties, especially those in Detroit suburbs, as well as strength in urban cores and small metropolitan areas,” it said. “Trump increased his share of votes in 63 of the state’s 83 counties, winning 73 counties; but Trump won fewer counties than the 75 he took in 2016, and the counties he did win are sparse in population. In addition, support for third-party candidates dwindled from five percent of the vote in 2016 to just 1.5% in 2020.”

Latina Women Boosted Biden In Nevada

Though not widely covered nationally, Trump’s allies filed 10 suits that claimed that “thousands and thousands” of people voted illegally.

“President Biden carried Nevada by a margin of 33,596 votes over Trump, out of nearly 1.4 million votes cast,” it said. “Biden’s win in Nevada, like Clinton’s, is attributable to a reliable base of Democrats in southern Nevada [greater Las Vegas]. He performed far better with Latina women than Latino men and outperformed Trump with independents.”

Biden Outdid Clinton In Pennsylvania

In 2016, Trump won by 44,292 votes, compared to 2020 where Biden won by 80,555 votes out of 6.9 million votes cast.

“While Biden’s largest vote margins came from dense population centers with large Black populations, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, he made gains in Republican counties and outperformed Clinton in counties she won in 2016,” it said. “Democrats saw increased support in suburban Philadelphia counties (as compared to 2016), while Republican gains in suburban Pittsburgh were not as great.”

Winning Suburbs In Wisconsin

In 2016, Trump won by 22,748 votes. In 2020, Biden won by 20,682 votes.

“Biden’s win has been attributed to improved performance in Wisconsin suburban and smaller metropolitan counties, as well as traditional Democratic strength in urban areas,” it said. “Republicans’ margins in Milwaukee’s suburban counties were lower than in 2016, while Democrats made gains in urban cores and large suburbs and reduced their losses in small metropolitan areas.”

Enough, Conservatives Say

The Lost Not Stolen report states bluntly that Trump’s repeated stolen election claims are baseless and harm public confidence in American democracy. It quoted numerous court decisions where judges were extremely critical of Trump, such as this excerpt from a federal court ruling in Michigan:

This lawsuit represents a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process. It is one thing to take on the charge of vindicating rights associated with an allegedly fraudulent election. It is another to take on the charge of deceiving a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed, without regard to whether any laws or rights were in fact violated. This is what happened here.

The report’s co-authors urged conservatives to shun Trump’s continuing claims that the 2020 election was stolen and to instead focus on better candidates in 2022’s midterm and 2024’s presidential election.

“We urge our fellow conservatives to cease obsessing over the results of the 2020 election, and to focus instead on presenting candidates and ideas that offer a positive vision for overcoming our current difficulties and bringing greater peace, prosperity, and liberty to our nation,” it concluded.

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