ROBERT REICH: This is utter nonsense.

Dear fellow MoveOn member,

Fox News is reporting that Donald Trump is now losing to Joe Biden by a whopping 11 points. On the question of who would do a better job handling the coronavirus, Trump is behind by 16 points.¹

Trump knows he's in trouble. So he and his cronies have begun pushing dangerous conspiracy theories to explain his failures—and, as usual, the media is playing right into his hands.

Rush Limbaugh says the number of COVID-19 deaths is being inflated to hurt Trump politically.² Eric Trump says the lockdowns are being implemented only to stop Trump from holding rallies.³ Trump himself is talking about a nonexistent scandal called "Obamagate."⁴

All of this is utter nonsense, but the corporate media is giving it wall-to-wall coverage, drawn to the latest shiny object from the Trump circus like moths to a flame. Trump is a master media manipulator. That's why, despite everything that's happened, he can still win.

Throughout this campaign, MoveOn has been keeping me posted on their plans, and I love what I'm hearing. But because of the economic crisis, many of MoveOn’s supporters simply can't afford to donate and help pull it off. So if you can afford to give, now REALLY is the time to step up. One of the best ways to help is to begin a monthly donation to ensure that MoveOn has the resources it needs to beat Trump.

Can you chip in $5 a month to help make Trump a one-term president? 

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Trump's evil genius is his ability to shift the narrative with lies and distractions and recast himself as the hero of his own story. That's how he won back in 2016, despite trailing badly in the polls just the way he is now.

When reality doesn't back him up, he just invents his own. But the latest Trump conspiracy theories aren't just dumb and dishonest. They are deadly and dangerous.

And in the right-wing corners of the internet, the conspiracies are even more unhinged, with bizarre claims that the virus was invented in a lab and planned by a shadowy cabal of global elites—including debunked videos that have been watched by millions and a pandemic conspiracy book that's become a top seller on Amazon and The New York Times Best Sellers list.⁵

Trump is pushing these lies for one reason only: to shift blame and improve his chances at re-election. But people are already responding to his lies by cutting back on social distancing. Partisanship is infecting public opinion on health issues in a way that will surely cost lives.

For that alone, Trump's miserable presidency deserves to be kicked to the ash heap of history.

As a former Secretary of Labor, I understand completely how families are forced to cut back on donations during times of economic recession and skyrocketing unemployment. But if you're lucky enough to still have income and the ability to donate, please consider pitching in.

Can you chip in $5 a month to help defeat Trump and the GOP? 

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Here's the latest on what MoveOn has in the works to defeat Trump:

• Make November's election pandemic-proof. Every American must have access to a vote-by-mail ballot and be able to vote without risking their health, life, and the safety of their communities. And polls must also be open and safe for those who need or want to vote in person. But only a handful of states have the necessary policies, infrastructure, and resources to ensure a safe election, and November is just around the corner.
• Turn out 100,000 voters in critical battleground states who otherwise are unlikely to vote. They're focusing on "high-potential voters": young voters, new voters, and voters of color, who tend to be more progressive but are often ignored by campaigns—and who are precisely the voters that the GOP wants to stay home.
• Train MoveOn volunteers to become poll workers. Many of the so-called "poll watchers" that the GOP intends to hire will be off-duty law enforcement, who often show up armed to scare away voters from the polls. This is blatantly illegal, which is why MoveOn will work with their partners to train volunteers to become poll workers who can ensure that any such intimidation is stopped in its tracks.

This is exactly the work that's needed to beat Trump and his army of liars and crooks. But all this work costs money, and with 30 million Americans out of work, we're more reliant than ever on the people who can afford to give. 

Can you chip in $5 a month to help defeat Trump and the GOP? 

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

–Robert Reich

Sources:

1. "As president’s coronavirus approval drops, Biden’s lead over Trump grows: poll," Fox News, May 21, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/130842?t=8&akid=264773%2E3735812%2ETsYCNg

2. "Rush Limbaugh Floats Theory That Coronavirus Deaths Are Being Inflated to Push an Agenda," The Daily Beast, April 2, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/130843?t=10&akid=264773%2E3735812%2ETsYCNg

3. "Eric Trump used his latest Fox News appearance to push an absurd conspiracy theory about Covid-19," Vox, May 28, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/130844?t=12&akid=264773%2E3735812%2ETsYCNg

4. "The shape-shifting genius of Obamagate," The Washington Post, May 20, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/130845?t=14&akid=264773%2E3735812%2ETsYCNg

5. "Judy Mikovits, Disgraced Doctor at the Center of ‘Plandemic,’ Has a Bestselling Book on Amazon," Rolling Stone, May 12, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/130846?t=16&akid=264773%2E3735812%2ETsYCNg

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

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