Trump's lies about the 2020 elections are a false pretense used to justify voter suppression. tactics

 One of the most consequential lies Trump ever told has become the foundation of his attempt to get and keep himself in power. The lie was that the 2020 election was stolen. It has become a pretense, a false pretense, to justify the suppression of the ability of those voters assumed to be in political opposition to Trump, including justifying threats to put armed ICE agents at polling places in the midterms. After 6 years of commissions, ninjas, special counsels, and his own DOJ-controlled administration using all the powers they have, they never found enough to even show probable cause or evidence to justify more digging to keep keepi the myth alive. A particular case in point: even Trump's administration could not come up with enough evidence, or even questionable evidence by pro-Trump biased researchers, to show that enough non-citizens voted to have changed any outcome. https://www.pbs.org/.../trump-says-these-documents-prove...

Yet it is still a MAGA mantra and Trump's signal slogan, and to repeat such lies is the verification of loyalty to the MAGA cause. An approach, which includes the lie about non-citizens voting, serves two purposes: it appeals to those within the Trump base who are white nationalists, as well as those still approving the SAVE bill who still believe that election fraud committed by Democrats is rampant (lack of evidence be damned). https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/white-christian-nationalism-has-taken.html

This lie has become the rationale for ICE excess and mass deportations of even non-criminals, and for threats to put their icy stare and war-grade visages at swing-state polling places to scare off even rightful citizen immigrants from voting or snatch them into custody for even looking like a suspect. For that reason, the Denver Clerk and Recorder and Latina groups are suing the federal government to prevent armed ICE agents at polling places because they would intimidate legitimate voters trying to cast a ballot at a polling place. It would have a "chilling" effect.

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/2026/09/10/denver-sues-trump-to-block-armed-ice-agents-from-polling-sites/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/01/trump-homeland-security-markwayne-mullin-polling

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-elephant-in-room-of-colorado.html

Trump's lies about the election machines causing the election loss were repeated by FOX host Maria Bartiromo and others, and it cost FOX $787 million when they were sued for defamation and lost in court. 6 years later, that suit appeared to have figured into Bartiromo's "firing" when the FOX brass cautioned FOX hosts to steer clear of comments on election fraud and Trump claims...and the memo got back to the Trump staff, with the leak traced to Bartiromo, per The New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/business/media/maria-bartiromo-fox-news.html