Where Things Stand: You Made Your Bed, Boys

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Charlie Kirk speaks at Culture War Turning Point USA event at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio on October 29, 2019. The organizations mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promot... Charlie Kirk speaks at Culture War Turning Point USA event at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio on October 29, 2019. The organizations mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote conservative principles. - They like his straightforward speaking style, his policies on immigration and the economic boom achieved during his administration. They are still teenagers, or just past 20. In a year from now, they will vote in their first presidential election in key swing state Ohio -- and they're giving Donald Trump their support. (Photo by Megan JELINGER / AFP) (Photo by MEGAN JELINGER/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS

November 29, 2022 6:15 p.m.

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Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has been going off the deep end with the best of them the last several days, hyping various conspiracy theories oozing out of the public comment section of a Maricopa County meeting that took place before election officials certified the midterm results in Arizona’s most populous county this week.

He’s fixated on the same conspiracy theory that Kari Lake and Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh have been clinging to for days — that a printer issue that several polling sites in the district faced on Election Day is somehow evidence the election was rigged. As we’ve noted repeatedly, voters impacted by the glitch were told to submit their ballots to a drop box or vote at another precinct. The problem was solved within hours. Maricopa officials have already issued reports affirming that the glitch did not prevent residents from voting.

I explain all of that to say, Kirk is just doing his usual thing and Steve Bannon is giving him the airtime to do it. It’s all noise and typical tantrum throwing over the fact that their candidate lost the election. But during an interview with Bannon on his War Room podcast today, Kirk made a rather entertaining admission (I have no idea where he is getting these numbers from and cannot confirm them, so take it all with a mountain of salt):

“400,000 people that voted for Trump in 2020 did not show up or vote for the midterm election. I believe it’s because a lot of people do not trust the system,” he said. He went on to deliver another screed about Maricopa County, claiming people don’t trust the system because of something something printer issue, but the broader point rings true. Your followers may believe you when you tell them not to trust a system. And it’s a problem the Big Liars have run into before.

I noted this yesterday, but the New York Times reported Monday that both Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign agreed that it was best for Trump to stay away from the Georgia runoff election. Trump had reportedly been planning to head to the Peach State to hold a rally in support of Walker ahead of the runoff next week, but now he’s settled on doing a phone call with Walker supporters instead. The calculus in this situation was simple — Trump’s presence might energize more Democrats and even moderate Republicans to get out and vote for Sen. Ralph Warnock (D-GA). But there’s also a broader issue in Georgia. Trump is largely the person Republicans blame for the GOP losing the Senate in 2021, primarily because he spent the weeks leading up to the 2021 runoff election convincing all of his supporters that the election was rigged, especially in the state of Georgia.

Why participate in the very system your dear leader has spent weeks railing against?

Kirk and the rest of his ilk are just now being forced to face the same music as they hide behind printer issues.