Election Counting and Trump's Fraud Claims

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The state of Maine In the northeast of America, the far northeast bordering Canada is at the center of a fierce debate within the party, the consequences of which are potentially seismic. Democrats looking to win back control of the Senate in this November's midterms need to win Maine, but can they do it with the candidate they have picked? Graham Platner are an oyster fisherman from Maine, no political experience multiple allegations about his conduct and his behavior particularly towards women in his past, He says he's changed I've made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret that I live with that I continue to learn from And I'm still Far from perfect But every day I wake up and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than I was the day before Everyone agrees is not a typical candidate for the Democrats, and Graham Platner is going to be running against the Republican's longest serving female senator. Will the Democrats massive gamble pay off or have they potentially messed up their chances of taking back the Senate Welcome to Americost Americaast from BBC News. You hear that j? I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover up, and this administration is engaged in it. This guy has Trump arrangement syndrome. for you turn the volume up Hello, it's Anthony and I'm here in the BBC Bureau in Washington, DC, but that's not where I started my day. I woke up at the crack of dawn this morning in Banger Maine. And it' Justin in the Worldwide headquarters of Mmercast in London, England. and the time in Britain is just ten past three or so in the afternoon on Wednesday and Anthony What a trip. I mean what a time to go there because oh my goodness, you've witnessed istory in the making and something that un let's be blunt about it, this could be enormously influential what you've just seen and experience when it comes to November and the Democrats' chances. Yeah, we've talked about this race before. Of course, it's the Graham Platner race to become the Senate Democratic nominee to take on Susan Collins, the incumbent who has served in the Senate for thirty years now. This is the high stakes race in the upcoming midterms. This is the state that could decide which party controls the Senate after November's midterm elections. and that's because this is the one state that Kamala Harris won in twenty twenty four that are Republican senators up for reelection. and in fact Republican hasn't won for president statewide won the state of Maine since nineteen eighty eight. So this has been a state that has been on Democrats target for quite some time. and Susan Collins keeps defying gravity, but they think that this is the year And if they can get Maine to flip, then it'll make it much easier to find the three other states, Republican states they need to flip to take back control of the Senate. And just set the main scene because you've gone a fantastic time of year, haven't you? And I I mean, it's not all politics, is it to put it mildly, whichich is kind of quite important actually for what we're going to be talking about, but it's just such an amazing place. mostly My memory of it's got a lot of C and then Canada pretty much, I mean it's hardly attached to the rest of the United States The northeastern tip of the United States, and it's very rural. and it's bigger, I think than a lot of people imagine geographically, but still very small as far as the population goes, one point four million people, I think, spread out over the state. A lot of them are around Portland and the western portions of the state that are essentially suburbs of Bon I flew into Portland on Sunday night. It's an artsy kind of town, a really cool hip place. They have a lot of breweries, good little lobster roll places if if you're a lobster fan and live music and things and then you drive out east, which is just where the state stretches on and you get out aboutout a three hour drive from Portland. That's where I was last night Blue Hill Maine, which is Graham Platner's birthplace. It's a tiny little town on the coast. and I think it Platner picked that as the site of his electionite watch party. It's a big YMCA gymnasium there because he wanted to emphasize the fact that he comes from rural, Maine. In fact, that's what he says time and time again, He's a product of Maine product of rural Maine and these are the people that he wants to give a voice to, not just the blue haired hipsters in Portland Hm. Yeahah And it seemed like such a good idea And they seem to be absolutely to fixed on something, the Democrats that not only They were so proud of in Maine, but they were saying actually, this is the way to do it right around in other places as well, because we found someone who isn't a politician etceta, etcetera, etcera. And as you say, his oyster farmer he's done what four tours of duty, hasn't he as a marine and as a soldier as well? Afghanistan and Iraq Tough guy, etcetera, etcetera But I beset with allegations about his past conduct. and I want to sort of divide it up because there's loads of stuff that was already known. he's got this tattoo This Nazi tattoo which he then had covered up, didn't he? and he got when he was a in the forces. He's also got all sorts of social media posts in the past In a sense, everyone kind of accepted, didn't they and on both sides, they had it out and he was still very much the guy and he very much was always going to win primary But it's fair to say, isn't it, Anthony, that in recent days, things have got worse for him and worse potentially for the Democrats Yeah, just in the last week and a half or so, there's been a one, two punch from major media outlets. Punch one was a Wall Street journal report where we heard revelations that Platner had been sending text messages after he married Amy, his wife to a woman over a dating app. and the wife actually found out about these. and she told the campaign about it And the campaign, a campaign advisor who has since had a falling out with a with Platinner took those stories to the Wall Street Journal and they published them. So it was more recent certainly than some of these Reddit posts we've talked about and certainly more recent than the Nazi tattoo. So it re aired some of these concerns about Platinner and his personal behavior That was the Wall Street Journals. that was punch number one. punch number two came from the New York Times and that was the New York Times went back and talked to a bunch of Platinner's ex girlfriends in the two thousand teens and thereabouts, including one who is now a Republican operative, but it was a girlfriend of his at the time in Washington DC that said that he was sometimes threatening towards her, that he sometimes grabbed her by the shoulders, that he one time pulled her out of the car by her wrist enough that it bruised her. She felt intimidated and threatened. Other of his exes said that he was sometimes a little problematic, sometimes a little sketchy and not always the best boyfriend and someone who has had a problem with alcohol and could be verbally verbally intimidating. So that was what came out and that put him on MS now, the liberal network here in the U. S trying to explain away all of this and saying that that's not who he is now and that he has changed. And there's another allegation, isn't there in the New York Times that this tattoo that he had, the so called Nazi tattoo that he has said, o, I didn't know what it was when I first had it, etcetera, et ccera. And when I found out when I was told, I covered it up. Actually, he's got a girlfriend now who's saying that he did know because he used to refer to it as my Toten cop, which is the name of the two, the symbol. and that I mean, in a way alongside the other allegations, but in a sense more seriously, it does suggest that he was properly dishonest then about this T too. and in a way that is actually causing him some difficulty now with people saying not only that he's got a past but that he he's properly tried to cover it up. Right. And the girlfriend shared messages that she sent to other people talking about the tattoo and saying he had a Nazi tattoo, which corroborated at least the fact that she knew it was a Nazi tattoo well before Platner admitted or said that he found out about it. So Platinner's response is that, well, he had this tattoo and he wore it. The reason it became revealed is he took off his shirt at a friend's Jewish wedding or a family Jewish wedding He never would have been covorting about with a Nazi symbol on his chest if he if he knew that. But but yeah, it undercuts Uh, his Believability on this and your honesty and your reputation when you're trying to knock down these kind of stories is the best defense. And if that gets undercut, then you could be in real trouble. Well let's hear what he says about all of this now because he's hit back in the past and he he's defended himself and defended himself, it should be said pretty successfully because he's got this far But he did his victory speech, didn't he Redemption is not just some simple or easy destination It's a journey I've made mistakes in my life, mistakes that I regret that I live with that I continue to learn from And I'm still Far from perfect And every day I wake up and I try to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder. than I was the day before And if you give me the chance I will be a senator for the people who cannot afford to buy a senator. Now the national pundits, the political establishment, they keep looking for that one story that one headline, that one moment in my life that they can define the campaign by. But in trying so hard to understand me, they fail to understand that this is not about me at all. Now the truth is Susan Coones doesn't serve us She serves Donald Trump She serves the Epstein class She serves her corporate donors in the corrupt political system that has rigged the economy against us She does not serve us, and so we will defeat Susan Colls So Justin, that was Platinner's victory speech at that YMCA that I attended last night. And he looked a little different actually during that speech. He was wearing business slacks like suit pants and a white collared shirt. He did have his sleeves rolled up so you could still see the tattoos and he was also reading off a teleprompter I think listen to that. you could sounded like a pretty well delivered speech and it hit the notes that he wanted to. This, you know, it's not about me. it's about us thing. whoo does that remind you of A recent unconventional politician who was dogged by scandals and managed to shake them off? Yeah, I mean there is there's a wider reason, isn't there why Democrats, some Democrats, and we'll talk a bit about the split that there is in a second, but why some Democrats, including people like Bernie Sunders left wing senator veryy much a fan of Platner and absolutely saying he's sticking by him. And just making the point that He's not a perfect guy, but he's going for the billionaire class, exactly the point that Platner just made. And that put me in mind of supporters of Donald Trump, because you and I have both met them all around the states, haven't we Anthony and peopleople say to you, Yeahah, and they quite often use quite rude words about him, don't they? He's going to do what we want to do. And you know, back in twenty sixteen it was about people who wanted to reduce abortion rights, wasn't it? and thought he's He's not a perfect vessel for us, but we're going to go for him anyway. and in the other elections as well, people have found reasons to vote for Donald Trump in spite of who he is. And I think there is certainly a view, isn't there among many Democrats that for Platina, it's going to be the same. It will be in spite of who he is or who he was. Right. And you could hear early in that clip we played what he's trying to do there, which is to try to paint a redemption arc that he he had problems that he came back from, which it has to be said, Donald Trump's never done Yeah, never done. So I mean, he's trying a slightly different twist on this, I suppose. But you know, there's redemption Arc and that he has changed. He's a change manan. He's trying to be better. If we can change politics in this country, then you have to believe that we can a person can change too. And he actually, we didn't hear in the clip, but he attributed the force for that change, the person who has helped him realize that change was Amy, his wife we brought up on stage and and kissed must of five or six times on stage at various different times. Also believe that people can change And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it And the reason that I have lived it is because of my wife No A me me me. I talk to someone someone, Amanda Littman, who her job is to recruit novice political candidates for office. people who may not think about politics, people who haven't run for office before and to run for local, state, federal elections. And she says, you know, a lot of the people that she brings in They have skeletons in their closet. They're not perfect. They never thought they were going to run for office. So they may have made mistakes in their lives. And she said that the thing that was most important was for them to be honest about it. For them to paint this kind of redemption arc, they learn from their lessons. they're a new person now. And the thing that is most dangerous is if after you do that and more stuff comes out, then it starts feeling like you're just making excuses that this is not an authentic kind of acknowledgement of your past, but something you're throwing out there to get the the media off your sent. And she wasn't thrilled with Platinner. She thought there should be have been more choices running for Senate besides Platner and Janet Mills, the governor. But she she is grudgingly saying this is the this is the candidate the Democrats have picked and she feels like she has to support him ultimately to beat Susan Collins There's another problem though, running against Susan Collins, isn't there? So he said in that clip we were just listening to, The truth is Susan Collins doesn't serve us. She serves Donald Trump. I don't think Donald Trump would say that, would he? And the record shows that she doesn't always serve Donald Trump and quite often doesn't, I mean genuinely doesn't and his She's known for anything in the US and she is quite a well known senator, isn't she? It's because she's independent minded So they're trying to portray her as a sort of Trump tool and suggests that independent minded voters should vote pllatina, but it just seems to me that there is potential issue that they have that Susan Collins simply does seem like the moderate And independent minded voters in Maine who have voted for her again and again and again and again might go the same way. Yeah, that's going to be the challenge with trying to unseat her. She voted to convict Donald Trump after he was impeached in twenty twenty one. And interestingly enough, the Trump people haven't come after her for it the way they came after, say, Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican senator who just got voted out of office in that state's primary because Trump backed someone knock them out. I think that's an acknowledgement of the tenuous situation that Collins finds herself in in Maine So when you weren't eating oysters or basking in the sun Did you have a moment to talk to anyone? Any real people, as we used to say on the BBC? I don't think we do anymore, quite rightly, but did you give us a sense a flavour. of what people are saying about all these things we've just been talking about. Yeah I got out and talked to a bunch of maine voters first at a Platiner toown ha event on Sunday night. That's where I spoke with Kevin, the first person you'll listen to. And then I went to a polling place in Portland and started grabbing voters who were coming out. And these were all pllatinner supporters, but you can hear in these various clips, some of the trepidation, some of the concern they have. And I will add I do my own audio here. I'm not an audio technician so I apologize for The quality of some of these, I'm a writer. I do the best I can Everybody wants him to lose because he isn't the established Democrats. He isn't seventy five years old He didn't grow up in politics. He hasn't been groomed right from some of these guys go in there at twenty three and stay until they're eighty eight He is not that person the stuff in the news recently that doesn't really Yes, it concerns me art. What concerns me more is Susan Hollenss going back to Washington Hi, my name is Julia. I'm a nurse at Main Medical Center and I voted for Grand Platinner to Palbar fight for Universal healthcare I mean, we've definitely seen some more under the nose issues coming from Platner like rising up, but I still think that it really is Like a There is no else at this point Yeah. and the issues that you're see in the stuff about his personal life. Does that affect you or considering you at all going into November I think it's unfortunate because I believe that that his wife came out with a statement saying that we're working through this privately. I do not want like more public pieces about this. so glad that' there working through that. My name iss Fiona Coleman. I'm twenty four. I'm from Portland Maine. I voted for Grand Platner I saw him speak multiple times and I really appreciated his commitment to the working class as well as as well as immigrants and people of color in Maine. Have any of the reports that come out recently and major media? H that concerned you at all the things about his past girlfriends or anything like that Yes, definitely. And u I've had to think about that a lot and had discussions with family. I don't want anyone to think that I'm okay with any of the things that he's been about accused of I'm just very anti Susan Collins. And I will take anybody that isn't her. So again, absolutely not okay with anything that he's been Thankused st. It's really striking listening to that, Anthony I mean that is what Trump people said again and again. I'm not okay with the things that he did. I don't like the way he's treated women, etcetera, et ceter. But you know, we're electing a president, etcetera, etcetera. and we're going. And there is a kind of There are some Democrats aren't who are worried about the hypocrisy, potentially or the accusation of hypocrisy here, that people are very, very upset about Donald Trump and the things that he has said Done in the past And facing now, it's not the same stuff. and you could argue convincingly I think, it's not the same level of stuff, but nonetheless, it's stuff And it's a double standard, potentially Yeah. And you there were people I talked to, some who did not want to be quoted on the record who said they were Mill supporters The governor, they did not like Platner. They were very worried that he was not going to be able to beat Collins and also worried about what it says about Democrats that they would like you say still support someone who cuts against a lot of the things they say are reprehensible in personal behavior and in politics. So I also talked to a woman named Maureen who was an independent And she said she knew Susan Collins. she had met Susan Collins before, that she generally supports her. But what she said was she didn't know enough about Platner to make up her mind yet and that she's going to have to do some research. She barely pronounced his name right. And I think that shows what's going to happen over the next month and two. It's going to be a real battle. by the Republicans, by Susan Collins, by all these groups that are going to be pouring negative ads into Maine to try to define Platner before he is able to define himself and to paint this redemption story and to try to explain all of these other things that have come out. And if he can do that, then he has a chance. He is just swept away in a sea of money and people make up their minds that this guy is someone they don't want to send to replace Susan Collins and in the Senate, then he's going to be in real trouble. Or if something else comes out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was the thing. Platner was here last week here in DC last week and he spoke with Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Ward kind highigh level strategy session with the top senators, Democratic senators here. And one of the things accordney reports, they all asked him was, is this it? Is there anything else that's going to come out or you know, there any allegations of domestic violence? And he assured them no You know, that that that this is it. There's nothing that he's going to be attacked and people are going to pick through things he said, but that there's no notothing that could be a fatal blow to his campaign. So I think there are a lot of Democrats here in Washington that are going okay and they're crossing their fingers and they're hoping for the best. But you know we've heard that before from different politicians and it doesn't always work out that way It's fascinating, isn't it how someone is picked as well because I mean obviously there was some degree of vetting, but we're listen in a second to the people who sort of in charge of the vetting. and an extraordinary interview actually that they gave to the Wall Street Journal. But just before we get to that, Anthony, because it's not clear in my mind Do you have to be? Well, what do you have to be in order to run? as a Democrat in a state primary, or does it vary from state to state? If I want to put myself forward What do I have to convince people apart from that I got the money to do it? Well, you know typically, you have to convince the party officials. You don't have to get them to sign off on it, but getting their support, getting the party's support building relationships whether it's a local race or a statewide race. that is the key. Oftentimes the national partarty which has committees like the Democratic Congressional campaign Committee and the Senate leadeadership commommittee, they will go out and actively recruit people. They think this is someone an ex veteran, for instance or someone who is one locally and has a following or someone who kind of fits their idea of what a winning candidate could look like. They go off and encourage them to run. I mean, that's what the Senate leadership did with Janet Mills, the governor of Maine in this race. They twisted her arm told her to run. I don't think she really wanted to, but they said, you know, we're we're going to clear the field for you. all everyone accept this Platinner guy and you should be able to get the nomination and a walk. That's the way It often works. What the way it has worked more now and what some people within the progressive left of the Democratic Party and in the Tea Party on the right as well are trying to do is bypass those institutions, those kind of centers of power and advance find their own candidates, convince them to run, help fund them through you know national donation network and social media and elevate their status and then get them to try to win a seat even if the party doesn't have their back in the initial days. Well, let's listen to these two people who apparently got him to runs. they're not from Maine themselves, Daniel Maraff and his fiancee, Lanne Fan were impressed, they said, of a video of Grain Planner rally against a proposed Norwegian salmon farm in Maine, big local issue, apppparently did it very well. They argued it would devastate the local economy, etcer. Last July, They drove to his house, unannounced, they said, to convince him run. So this is the Wall Street Journal's interview with them or a clip of the Wall Street Journal's interview with them about the kind of vetting process that they then went through for Graham Patner How did you go about vetting him Why did you we paid yeah, we paid we paid a nice firm a whole chunk of money and Got some stuff back Some of what you've seen on the news, we got that, other stuff we didn't. Um Did the vetting process turn up the tattoo that became so controversial No the Reddit post, did that turn up in the vetting process Firm sent us And it had some of the p, but it didn't have all of them And what did you think about that? How did you think your way through The fact that he had posted these things on social media. I said none of this will or should stop him from becoming a US Senator. And what was your thinkingary? I think if what the voters wanted were people who were grown in bats and had never done or said anything that they might regret their entire lives, we'd have a very different country Part of our thesis here is that people do not want their candidates grown in bs. They want people who are real human beings and they want people who do not look and sound like the backrown people who've been leading this country off a cliff for the last century. and that was Graham. Convincing Anthony? you know, that is maybe they should find a different APo research firm because clearly they missed some stuff. I mean, all campaigns do this. they dig up the dirt on their own candidate in order to find out what up and they can prepare themselves and clearly they missed some things here and they dismissed some things. It sounds like they didn't think the Reddit post would be a big deal. And maybe and maybe he's right. mayaybe they won't be a big deal in the same way that you know, stuff in Trump's past ended up not being a big deal. But you know, you could see know they they were also trying to bypass the establishment and find someone who they agreed with or they could put up. but Yeah, it sounds like there were some holes in their in there in their operation Yeah. well some holes in the operation and some silences in that interview that I think thought spoke pretty eloquently themselves. There is a wider thing here, isn't there? I mean, number one M, as we've said, Nain is massively important. If the Democrats lose in November, that's it. they're almost certainly not going to take the Senate and that's a big blow given that in recent months, they've been pretty hopeful that they could. But number two businessusiness of candidate selection is a really big deal, isn't it, nationwide? Because this is in a sense This is an experiment, isn't it, Anthony, to see whether you could really go for it And go for non politicians and go for exciting, interesting local people and just throw the rule book away and get rid of all the Washington big wigs or the elderly people who run the party, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. and really kind of recreate it from the grassroots up in an exciting way, which is what those two were effectively talking about. Yeah, it's a high risk and in theory, high reward. I mean, if Platinner wins, they're going to have an early forty year old progressive politician kind of the mold of Bernie Sanders, who's going to be there for quite some time and is a very as we heard in his speech, a very effective advocate for these type of positions for a wealth tax for universal health care for free college education. he is he would be a prominent voice in the Senate if he wins, but it is a gamble because as you say, this is such a key race for Democrats. They have to win this And, you know, maybe they the theory is that they've been advancing traditional politicians now against Susan Collins every six years, mayaybe a nonraditional is the way to go. I guess that is going to be the test as you say Yeah. So another interview along those lines from the Wall Street Journal They interviewed Maurris Katz, a political strategist who led The media on Zaran Manddani's New York Merl campaign, so that very, very, very successful campaign came from absolutely nowhere, of course. to win and he is working with Platinner and he says this If you believe that the only people who should be able to run for office are people who've planned their entire lives, then that is one kind of veting standard. If you believe that we should have people who never before thought they'd run for office, but who want to step up for their communities who want to serve, whether they be a harbor master or an ironworker, they're going to have said like anyone else, they will have said things that they will have regretted broader for our politics. I think it's incoherent to believe that you how many think pieces have been written about how do we win back angry young men and we have someone who was one of them and who made it out the other side, who's uniquely equipped to bring them back into our fold And the idea that we should dismiss them or that that's disqualifying, I think is that doesn't quite make sense of the way we talk about who we want to be as a party and how we want to expand our coalition. That really interested me, Anthony, that line about the men and the angry young men, because of course men, particularly young men, particularly angry young men have been going foronald Trump, haven't? They been going to the Republican side of the ledger and young women increasingly going for the Democrats. And we did a whole episode recently about the plight of men and particularly young men in the US that they need them back in the Democratic Party and they think potentially that having damaged candidate as he would accept himself a damaged candidate, but nonetheless as Morris Katz was saying, someone's come out the other side, that that's the way they could do it. Right. He in his speech last night said that he was broken. that he came back broken from Afghanistan and Iraq and he said that it was Maine peoplee of Maine who put them back together again who who healed himip. We ought to talk a little bit about California as well, if only because It is just strange to anyone who's British. It is so strange that Steve Hilton who we know as being a someomeone who worked very closely with David Cameron, Wh was a conservative, yes, he was a conservative prrime Minister, but a kind of touchy feey conservative back in the day, believe very much in You know, climate change is an important issue and all the rest of it. Hugging hoodies was his was his big thing, and actually Steve Hilton was on that side of the party as well, when he was When he was here, but my goodness, he's reinvented himself for you lot, hasn't he? Yeah, not just for his taste and tacos as we've talked about in the past, but he's going to be on on the general election ballot running against Xavier Bisera, the Democrat, former cabinet seecretary for for Biden. So he made the cut. He made the top two in the California jungle primary as they call it. So now he's going to have a chance to make the case to. the California population wr large that he is an alternative to the Democrats who have controlled California state politics for gosh, I'll going all the way back to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the early two thousands. It's been a while So they have this jungle primary. And at one stage and we talked about this didn't we, the Democrats were actually worried that because of the nature of the primaries so everyone stands and just the top two go through that potentially they could not be in So at least they got Bassara through. so they got their candidate, although I think as we were also saying he's not The most amazingly light everyone on fire kind of Milk toast. Milk toast is the word that you used famously. ye. So we got milk toast on the on the Democratic side. for Steve Hilton, he's got this Trump endorsement. that may have helped him, I suppose get this far Republicans out to vote for him in the prary but I wonder if that does for him basically, I suppose what I'm saying is could Steve Hilton be Ar Schwarzenegger Mark I? Unlikely. It's still an uphill climb in California. There are a lot of Republicans in California, but there are a lot more Democrats. I mean, it's a sixty forty Democratic state by by most accounts. So he's going to have to find some kind of way of convincing Democrats and independence, but even some Democrats to cross the aisle and vote for him. And he may have to do that in a way that separates him from Donald Trump, and I'm not sure he's capable of doing that because Donald Trump is very unpopular in California. So there's it's a narrow path, particularly this November when it seems like If there are political wins there blowing against the Republicans and not at their back. And the other subplot is this business of I mean, we're able to say now that Hilton and Biser have gone through. But it's I mean light years since they actually held the election, isn't it? It's just It's absolutely crazy that we're any able to say it Now and Donald Trump hasn't he has seized on that. I mean, that in itself is one reason why they shouldn't have done this, but my goodness, it takes them. What is it with counting in Californians? You know, I mean, it's the way the system is set up. If you mail a ballot and it's postmarked on election day, then it can be counted and a lot of people vote by mail in California and then there's a system in place to verify all of these ballots. So there's a lengthy process to making sure that the ballots are legal, that this is the only ballot that this voter has been has cast tr each ballot has a barcode. It's tracked like like a FedEx package. So it's it has a unique identity. and so it takes a while in this state with tens of millions of people, it takes a while to just get through it. Now you could just not have mail and voting. A lot of states don't have that kind of system. Florida has early voting, but it doesn't really have mail voting the same way where you can do things on election day and turn around quickly. But if you're going to make the rule that if you pop a pop up ballot into the post on the election day, then you do have to wait a while for all of these things to trickle through the system. But as you say, it does open it up to allegations of mischief particularly when Republicans tend to vote on election day and a lot more Democrats vote by mail. Right. So you see all the votes mounting up and you think, oh goodness, or you could at least pretend to think, oh goodness, the Republicans are going to win this. and then they count all the others they haven't And then Donald Trump can say this. The election was totally rigged. It was a rigged eion justust like they're rigging the election right now, it looks like in California. Can you imagine It's four days. And they still aren't even close to telling you who won. You know why? Because they're rigging the election. That's why. You're gonna be waiting weeks to get these votes It's corrupt. Somebody said it's incompetent. I said, no, just the opposite. It's unbelievably competent if you happen to be a Democrat politician. becausecause with their policies the only way they can get elected is to cheat Yeah, I suppose we should say there is absolutely no evidence at all that there was treating in the California election. but there is plenty of evidence that it is oddly slow. And we've actually had a question, which I would have put to you, Anthony from Jeremy who asks, Has Donald Trump not already dismissed the results of the midterms as electoral fraud, that's why he's really not that bothered because he won't accept the results. What does the team think? Well, we're the team today or you're the team When it comes to this. I mean it's an interesting point, isn't it? that actually he is just going to say what we've just heard him say about all the results in November Yeah, the next election where Donald Trump doesn't say that there was fraud and that he got more votes or Republicans got more votes than were actually counted. It will be the first. He is he does this all the time. He did this when he lost Iowa that was a Republican caucus and wasn't even you know, Democrats casting ballots there. So this is this is his this is his thing. He does not like to acknowledge any kind of defe particularly at the ballot box. So I think we could rest assured that if Democrats do well in November, that he is going to dismiss this. The question, I think is Will he try to do anything to stop say legislators from California, Congress peopleople from California from being seated or to challenge the results in closely contexted elections elsewhere. And I think that is a big concern Among Democrats because people may have shrugged what Donald Trump was saying after the twenty twenty presidential election that he wasn't really going to do anything. He was just kind of letting off steam. and then january sixth happened. So that is kind of worst case scenario. And I think that is the back of a lot of people, a lot of Democrats' minds. Interesting that Steve Hilton actually. says there isn't evidence of vote ringing in California which would have pleased would't have pleased his backer Donald Trump, but still he's gone without. Yeah, I mean, Californians have faith in their electoral system. I mean They know how the system works. They see how the ballots come and they know how to to mail them. So it is it is more puzzling from a distance and I can understand