Walker is not the only Republican Senate candidate in Georgia to question the legitimacy of the 2020 results. But Walker has been particularly prolific and specific in his election-related dishonesty, and is by far the most megaphone. great. Walker has uttered false conspiracy theories on both Fox News and Twitter, where he has more than 445,000 followers.
And his dishonesty has not been limited to the issue of elections. Walker has also promoted false conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and about Democrats.
Walker’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment on this article.
Conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections
A false statement about Biden’s votes
During a Fox News appearance in December, Walker said, “I can guarantee you, Joe Biden didn’t get 50 million people to vote for him. But even so, people think he’s won this election.”
Biden won the election, with more than 81 million votes.
False allegations of mass fraud
In a
tweet on Jan. 4, two days before Congress met to count the 2020 election votes, Walker falsely alleged that there was “nationwide election fraud.” Walker asked Trump and “TRUE PATRIOTS” to do a “total cleanup” (he didn’t explain what he meant) and continued, “Let’s go back to the real law and order and prosecute all the bad actors. Whatever it takes to do the work “.
Even senior Trump administration officials have acknowledged that there was no widespread fraud or that it would change the results in the 2020 election. But Walker said or suggested several times that the fraud was widespread and that unspecified people had manipulated elections.
In a Nov. 6 tweet, three days after Election Day, Walker
he wrote“To be the man, you must defeat the man, not deceive the man.” In a
tweet on Jan. 6, after the Capitol was attacked for pro-Trump riots, Walker said he wanted Trump to get to the bottom of “who stole these elections.”
Walker
he said on Twitter in December, Georgia should refuse to certify Biden’s victory there because of “serious electoral fraud,” asking in a video “how can we certify something we know is wrong.” In another
tweet in November, Walker wrote that “people who play with these elections must be punished for breaking the law.”
An unfounded call to vote again
On an additional November 6
tweet, Walker unfoundedly suggested that the voting results in seven key states, including six won by Biden, were undemocratic. He proposed that the country cast all the votes in these states.
“Instead of fighting and going to court, why don’t we vote again in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin? We can do it in a week and maintain our democracy,” he said. he wrote.
A conspiracy theory about altered votes
On Nov. 8, Walker tweeted, “Anyone who uses HAMMER SCORECARD to alter the vote in our election in America should be prosecuted.”
No one used anything called “HAMMER SCORECARD” to modify the votes in the election. This is a totally unfounded conspiracy theory, about an alleged vote-stealing software created by American intelligence, whose origins have been related to a man with a history of false claims.
Chris Krebs, a senior cybersecurity official appointed by Trump, said Hammer and Scorecard claims “
a deception, ”
“nonsense” and “it’s not a real thing“in the days leading up to Walker’s tweet (Trump fired Krebs less than two weeks later for his public discredits of false fraud claims).
The conspiracy theory Dominion and Sidney Powell
In late November, Walker
he tweeted that if pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell was right “knowing that some of our elected officials knew about Dominion they still didn’t do anything and didn’t say anything … they need to step down and never run for office. another charge in the US and maybe some end up in prison Our democracy is at stake! “
Conspiracy theories about the voting technology company Dominion Voting Systems had already been widely discredited at the time. Dominion has filed defamation lawsuits against Powell and others who promoted false claims about the company.
The day after this Walker tweet, the Trump campaign disallowed Powell, who had been widely mocked for making especially extravagant conspiracy statements about the election. But Walker was not discouraged. He
he tweeted, “I still have a lot of faith in Sidney Powell.” Later that day, Walker
he tweeted, “All doubters will be shocked when @ SidneyPowell1 sets SMACKDOWN to many of the people you trust for years!”
A false statement about Georgia ballots
In December, Walker
he tweeted a photo of a voting application for Georgia’s absence and a photo of an envelope addressed to someone at a state county jail. He wrote, “So now do we find votes sent by GA to prisons?” He asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, “how many things need to be exposed before investigations.”
Walker was wrong; nothing had been “exposed” here.
First, unlike absentee voting, Georgia voting applications can be printed by anyone, not just election officials, and mailed to anyone else. This app was mailed by an independent group, not by Raffensperger.
Second, there is nothing inherently wrong with a county jail being sent a request for a vote or even a vote in itself. Only people who serve felony convictions are not eligible to vote in Georgia. Voting is allowed for people convicted of misdemeanors or awaiting criminal trials (i.e., the type of people who are often imprisoned in county prisons).
Other conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory about why the Capitol riot occurred
On the afternoon of January 6, Walker
he tweeted a false suggestion that the Capitol riot was orchestrated by people who wanted to stop the discussion about election fraud.
“Did you notice that now they weren’t talking about electoral fraud and electoral integrity? It looks like this was well planned to shut it all down and run the clock,” Walker wrote.
A nonsense. The riots were perpetrated by Trump supporters, not by people who wanted to silence Trump supporters. The Department of Justice has so far charged more than 575 people.
A conspiracy theory about the participants in the riot
In another January 6 tweet, Walker
published a photo of the Capitol featuring riot police including Jacob Chansley, a “shaman QAnon” dressed differently. Walker falsely suggested that these people were not actually supporters of Trump, calling them “Trojan horses” and saying “they don’t look like MAGA.”
Walker also posted an image enlarging the tattoo of the hand of a man standing next to Chansley in the first photo, William Watson. Some others on the right had it
claimed that the tattoo was of a communist symbol of hammer and sickle.
In fact, both Chansley and Watson were supporters of Trump. And as the Alabama Political Reporter website noted, Watson proceeded to personally disprove false theories about his motivations and tattoo, explaining to Snapchat that the tattoo is a symbol of a video game (called Dishonored).
A conspiracy theory about Black Lives Matter and the Democrats
In a
Twitter video in September, Walker tried to push through a confusing and baseless conspiracy theory about sending money from the Chinese government to Black Lives Matter and then to the “Democratic Party.”
“Why does it seem like I’m the only one who comes up with this?” Walker said in the video, which was reported in March by conservative website The Bulwark.
Maybe because the theory doesn’t make sense. Walker’s claim was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of ActBlue (an online fundraising platform for a wide variety of Democratic candidates and progressive entities) and, if we understood it correctly, a false claim that a Chinese group -American in California is a “China company.”
