The second coming of the Big Lie: 'Planted documents' is the new 'election fraud'

Donald Trump is never subtle. Not in his policies, not in his lies. He makes his talking points simple, and he repeats them over and over. His supporters get those talking points well in advance, and the media dutifully follows along by quoting both Trump and his supporters, making sure that the latest meme reaches media saturation almost immediately.

When it came to election fraud, Trump was on the job months before anyone had a chance to vote. In fact, he barely paused in his claims about fraud in the 2016 election. In both cycles, he pounded into his supporters a message of “the only way I can lose is if they cheat,” with absolute plans for claiming fraud no matter what—a strategy that Steve Bannon gleefully confirmed weeks before the 2020 election. He leveraged that lie into multiple attempts to overthrow the results of the election, with the violence of January 6 being only the most obvious.

Trump’s reaction to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago is no less blatant. But this time, the phrase he’s grinding into his supporters isn’t “election fraud,” it’s “planted documents.” That phrase has already sprung from Trump advisers, from Republicans in Congress, and from right-wing media, as well as from Trump himself.

Just like lies about election fraud, this one has two purposes: protect Trump, and drive a wedge between his supporters and the American government.