The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Remembering Donald Trump's 2016 Voter Fraud Claims - These American Lies

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta unpack President Trump’s claim that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're rolling. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Lying. It's as American as Apple Pie, or getting in a fist fight over a chicken sandwich.

And it's especially American now that the president is a ninja-level liar. Donald Trump lies so often that even his biggest lies can get lost in the fray. This is these American lies. Have you ever told a lie? Let's admit it. We all have. Just this morning I was talking to the doorman in my co-op and he said, Michael, do you know my name? And I said, of course I know your name. Don't be silly. In reality, I have no idea what my doorman's name is. I think it's something Italian like credenza or

Gabagool. So I lied to him. Today's show is about lies. People lie about all sorts of things. They lie about their age, they lie about their weight. They lie about their whereabouts the night their neighbor's charcoal grill went missing. But some people lie more often than others. One of those people is the president. And we're going to look at one of his biggest whoppers. The 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election. From WTDS in New York, I'm Michael Costa.

And Credenza, if you're listening, I apologize for not knowing your name, buddy. You're listening to The Daily Show Presents, these American lies. Part 1. What's 3 to 5 million illegal voters among friends? I'm here with producer Desi Lydick. Desi, it's been a while. I saw you on Saturday. You crashed your car into my mailbox. So, you're here to talk about the voter fraud lie.

Right. The lie this week is that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election. Wait, what? Do people know about this? No, it's a lie. Costa, we're on these American lies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Okay. So the voter fraud lie is still important today. Republicans use fears of voter fraud to restrict voting. We've seen it in swing states like Georgia, Virginia, and Wisconsin, where 200,000 people were recently purged from the voter rolls by a circuit judge.

And to understand this lie, you really have to know about this guy, Donald Trump. Donald Trump has lived a pretty incredible life. He's been a real estate developer, a mail order stake salesman, a two-time Emmy loser. And in 2016, he became the president of thiiiiiiiii thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tho-s, tho-s, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. theeeean. thean. thean. thean. toean, thean, thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean, thean,-time Emmy loser, and in 2016 he became the President of the United States. It is now official. Donald Trump has won the electoral college. Now, most people would be happy to win the presidency, but for Trump, winning wasn't enough. Donald Trump won with 306 electoral votes, even though Hillary Clinton got nearly 2 and a half million more popular votes.

See, Trump won the electoral college, but he lost the popular vote. So it's like he won the lottery, but only because he stole the winning ticket from a 7-Eleven cashier. No, not at all. Tell me more about that. Trump won the election, even though he got almost 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. And you gotta understand, Donald Trump has a fragile ego. At his Comedy Central roast in 2011, he told the comedians who were roasting him there was one thing they couldn't make fun of. Do you know what that was?

His enormous ass. His wealth. He's got thin skin, especially when it comes to having less than others. So rather than admit he won fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, Trump did what came natural to him. He lied. He told members of Congress that maybe three to five million people voted illegally in the most recent presidential election. It's a claim the president repeated during his first official White House meeting with

congressional leaders, telling them he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton only because millions of illegal ballots were cast. The same claim he made on Twitter after his win, saying, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. It's a stunning claim. Right, it's kind of like saying I want it scrabble, but only because I th th th th th th th th th because because because th thi thi thi the thi thi the thi thi the thi thi the their of people who voted illegally? It's a stunning claim. Right, it's kind of like saying I wanted Scrabble, but only because I kicked my opponent in the crotch. I can do the rest of the story myself if you just want

to take off. Great, I'm gonna go microwave a taco. Every lie starts somewhere, and this American lie was born in one of the birthplaces of American democracy. Long Island, Massachusetts. The state's the to the number. How do you like them at? The state flower is a Dunkin' Donuts coffee bean, and the state's song is an Irish guy puking outside a baseball stadium. And now, this state has another claim to fame, a professor whose work inadvertently ignited the voter fraud controversy.

Brian Schaffner, one of the academics behind the study told CNN Trump is misinterpreting the study, calling Trump's claims absurd and not even plausible. I'm Brian Schaffner. This is Brian Schaffner. I'm a professor of political science at Tufts University. He's a professor of political science at Tufts University. He's a professor of political science at Tufts University. Why are you repeating everything I say? Schaffner's a smart guy, even if he doesn't know how podcasts work.

I'm a principal investigator for the cooperative congressional election study, which is a data set that has caused all these problems. Every election year, Schaffner's group surveys internet users about their political views. The survey doesn't specifically ask about voter fraud, and yet... There's a question included in the survey that's not really meant to look for non-citizens, but there's a response option that respondents can select that would identify them as non-citizens. And that essentially led to this big controversy. There were over 30,000 respondents to the survey in 2008, and among that group, there are a little over 300 who identified themselves as non-citizens

when they responded to the survey. 38 of those supposed non-citizens claimed to have voted. So we've got this internet survey taken in 2008. Now flash forward from 2008, that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois will be the next president of the United States. He defeated to 2014. 30-year-old Jeremy Meeks, also known as the hot felon, because that's when this data set evolves from a curiosity to you by Warby Snarker. Do you find it difficult to come up with the perfect quip when you're bantering with your friends? Try Warby Snarker. We send you four snappy witticisms that you can try out at home.

Only keep the ones you find clever and incisive. Whether you're at a dinner party where everyone supports Elizabeth Warren, you're discussing the new Tanahasi-Coats article exclusively with white people, we've got the perfect rejoinder. With Warby Snarker, we guarantee your friends will say, damn, now that guy's finished infinite jest. Warby Snarker. Don't leave your brownstone without it. Hi everyone, we're back with Part 2, A Rough Lie. And I just wanted to say, for anyone listening at home, that the next part of our podcast contains severe profanity in extreme graphic descriptions of sex acts.

What? No, it doesn't. If you're listening with your children, you better turn it off unless you want those kids to grow up fast. Okay, just ignore him. Okay, so it's 2014. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. thi. thi. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. theu. theu. the the the the theuuuu. toeu. toeu. toe. toeu. toe. toe. toe. unless you want those kids to grow up fast. Okay, just ignore him. Okay, so it's 2014. Jesse Richmond, a researcher at Old Dominion University or ODU, comes across the survey. Richmond takes the responses to that final question about being a citizen and extrapolates that anywhere between 38,000 and 2.8 million non-citizens voted in 2008. There's only one problem with Jesse Richmond's conclusion. Jesse Richmond has been dead for 50 years. Uh, no.

Here's Brian Schaffner revisiting his 2008 survey that became the basis for Richmond's work. We did a study where we actually re-contacted the people who had claimed to be non-citizens, and a lot of them, when we asked the same question again, change the people who had claimed to be non-citizens and a lot of them when we asked the same question again changed their answer and among the people who actually claimed to be non-citizens both times we asked none of them were voters, none of them. Brian Schaffner had renounced his own findings but by this time it's too late. Right-wing media members are using the ODU survey to claim that voter fraud is an enormous problem, even though it's based on one study's interpretation of a flawed data set.

So I guess, Desi, just one question remains. Right. How did this lie get to Trump? Oh, I was going to ask, is it 15 minutes in the microwave too long for a single taco? But that's good too. Your question is good one. So it turns out, Trump may true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true true th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thu, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th, th, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, the the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th. thi. thi. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the. the, Trump may have been turned on to voter fraud and his natural habitat. Four! A golf course. Five days after Trump's inauguration, he hosted dinner for Republicans and Democrats. He tells his guests that he would have won the popular vote if it hadn't been

for the three to five million illegal votes. So according to the New York Times, a Democrat at the dinner asked Trump, where are you getting this information? And Trump cites a guy named Bernard Longer. Oh, I loved him in Das Bout. Bernard Longer is a German professional golfer. He won the Masters twice. It is not often you smile after a miss, but you can if you're Bernard Longer, and the master's champion of 1993.

He's now 60 years old. So apparently, Trump went golfing with Longer some time between Election Day 2016 and this dinner on January 23rd, 2017. And on the golf course, Longer told Trump about his experience on Election Day in Florida. Longer went to vote, and he was told that he wasn't eligible to. Because he's been dead for 50 years. Because he's German and not a US citizen. But Longer looked at other voters in line who he said looked as if they should not be allowed to vote.

Because they've been dead for 50 years. No one's been dead for 50 years. Boris Karloff has been dead for 50 years. He died February 2, 1969, complications from pneumonia. Boris Karloff has been dead for 50 years. So Trump's got this idea on his head from longer. People are illegally voting because this German golfer told him so, and he's upset that he didn't win more votes than Hillary.

So instead of investigating this claim, instead of checking with any election officials, he just starts saying in public. Millions of illegal votes. That is something that is extremely fundamental to our functioning democracy, a fair and free election. You say you're gonna launch an investigation into this. Sure, done. What you have presented so far has been debunked.

It's been called false. I called the author of the Pew report last night. And he told me that they found no evidence of vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote, the vote, the vote, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the Pew report. I called the author of the Pew report last night, and he told me that they found no evidence of voter fraud. He said no evidence of voter fraud. Then why did he write the report according to Pew report? Then he's... That Pew report he was mentioning? He was probably confusing it with the study from Old Dominion,

which, remember, has been debunked, which remember doesn't really matter because now this lie has been supercharged. He continues to make this assertion that there were somewhere between three and five million voters that voted illegally in the last election. He's got a spokespeople lying, citing the survey. I, as I said, I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies information he has. But you made it about the media. The president's lies about voter fraud. About wiretapping. His repeated lies about those issues.

And of course, his friends at Fox News repeat the lie back to him. President Trump continues to claim that an an th. th. th. the th. th. the th. I thii, the thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, to the thi, thi, thi, the thi, thi, thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I thi, as I the thi, as I the president I the president I the president I the president the president the president the the the the the thi, I I I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. I'm thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the lie back to him. President Trump continues to claim that anywhere from three to five million undocumented immigrants across the country voted costing him the popular vote. A lot of people think and remember about the president's comment about three to five million votes illegal in this country. All this because of something that happened on the internet in 2008. That's like a scandal breaking today because the president thought a Chuck Norris fact was real. Desi, I just want to break in here and warn our listeners.

The next section of the podcast contains several slurs about the Irish and audio taken from a hardcore pornographic film from Japan. What script are you reading from? Anyway, Donald Trump doesn't just let this lie go. Oh no. In May 2017, he does this. Donald Trump just signed an executive order creating a commission on election integrity to investigate alleged voter fraud. Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Chris Kobach will chair it. That's right. This lie created jobs. Real people kissed their kids goodbye in the morning and went to work in service of this lie.

That's crazy though. People are kissing their kids? But it turns out this commission was a mistake because after a year of work, the commission disbands. They couldn't find any evidence of widespread voter fraud. He formed a commission to investigate his lie. That's like lying to your friend about how much you weigh and then insisting on stepping on to a scale. Actually that, oh yeah now that is a good metaphor. And then you step off the scale, kick the guy in the crotch, steal his wallet. Nope, you lost it again. Trump's Department of Justice was also investigating and was able to find just 19 illegal voters in North Carolina. So three to five million

illegal votes in the 2016 election, that's just a lie. A lie with humble beginnings that worked its way from an internet survey to a Virginia University to a right-wing website to a German golfer to the president of the United States. Desi Lydic is a producer at These American Lies. She recently unfriended me on Facebook. No hard feelings, Desi. I'm Michael Costa. We'll be back next week with more fibs,

falsehoods, and fabrications on the Daily Show presents. These American lies. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at.

That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17.