November 12, 2018

Trump Demands Florida Elections Be Called in Favor of Republicans

While baselessly repeating his claims of voter fraud.

Emilee Mcgovern/ZUMA

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As Florida scrambles to complete recounts in three bitterly contested races, President Donald Trump on Monday demanded that two of the elections be called in favor of Rep. Ron DeSantis and Gov. Rick Scott—the Republican candidates in the respective gubernatorial and Senate elections.

Trump also claimed, without evidence, that the ballots had been “massively infected,” “missing,” or “forged.” The baseless claims come on the heels of his accusations last week that Democrats were attempting to “steal the election” with the recounts. As he failed to do last week, Trump on Monday did not offer any evidence supporting his assertions. 

Many noted that Trump’s tweet, which came on Veterans Day, could essentially invalidate ballots cast by military members stationed abroad.

Trump’s claims are part of a larger Republican narrative suggesting that widespread voter fraud is tampering with Florida’s election results. As Mother Jones‘ Pema Levy reported, while there is no evidence to support those claims, the insinuations alone have done enough to cast significant doubt among voters. Here’s a scene from Sunday’s protest outside the office of the Broward County supervisor of elections:

One of the two people kept outside, a Broward County Republican Party official who gave her name as Michelle, was allowed inside the police perimeter but then not let inside. She came back out with a shocking allegation: The people inside had accused her of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan and turned her away. The woman refused to be interviewed by Mother Jones to explain the allegation, but it was relayed to a protester who told the KKK story through a megaphone. The crowd grew angrier. 

Meanwhile, Democrats have insisted the recounts are aimed to ensure that every vote is counted. Election officials have until a state-mandated Thursday deadline to complete the recounts. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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