Trump retweets supporter who peddles conspiracy theory on BBC news
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Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to delegitimize the US electoral process has expanded to include ridiculing the UK and retweeting conspiracy theories.
On Saturday, the president retweeted a video shared by Alex Brueswitz, a conservative political strategist who spoke during the "Million MAGA March" in Washington over the weekend.
In the tweet, Mr Brueswitz said that the BBC - which he called "fake news" - reached out to him for an interview, and that he agreed to the discussion.
In a video attached to the tweet, a BBC journalist begins the interview asking why Mr Brueswitz would accept Mr Trump's victory in 2016 on Election Day but would not accept President-elect Joe Biden's.
Mr Brueswitz begins his reply by attacking the BBC.
"I just want to make one thing very clear, is that your country's opinion stopped mattering in our country in 1776," Mr Brueswitz said.
The US and the UK are close allies and have maintained that relationship through both Democratic and Republican presidential tenures.
Mr Brueswitz went on to call the BBC "fake news."
"So when you're putting this fake news on your network saying these unsubstantiated claims that's completely out of line and you should be ashamed of yourselves," he said.
The "unsubstantiated claims" Mr Brueswitz accused the BBC of airing were the projected results of the 2020 US election.
The host takes Mr Brueswitz opening salvo in stride and zeroes in on the "unsubstantiated claims." The presenter explains that an agency within the US Department of Homeland Security put out a statement confirming that the 2020 election was the most secure in the nation's history.
🚨🚨🚨
Fake News @BBCWorld reached out for an interview.
I agreed.
I let them know that their country’s opinion stopped mattering in the US in 1776.
I will ALWAYS fight for @realDonaldTrump and for FREE & FAIR elections. pic.twitter.com/iBLAfxJM2I— Alex Bruesewitz (@alexbruesewitz) November 15, 2020
Mr Brueswitz initially brushes off the statements as rebellious acts made by junior agency officials, but the presenter rejects that, which causes the conservative political strategist to launch into an already-debunked conspiracy theory that Dominion voting machines were turning Trump votes into votes for Democrats.
During his speech in Washington DC on Saturday, Mr Brueswitz told a crowd that they are fighting for a "revote."
Invalidating the results of a US general election and replacing it with a second attempt has never happened in US history and - as there is no legal precedent to look to - it is unclear if it would even be constitutional.
Though unconfirmed reports from within the White House have suggested that Mr Trump is aware that his campaign is over and that his obstinance is just political theatre for his followers, he has shown no signs of letting up his attack on US democracy.
In addition to retweeting a man who was peddling debunked conspiracy theories, Mr Trump has twice in the last 12 hours tweeted the phrase "I won the Election!"
As the count stands currently, Mr Trump has 232 electoral votes, and Mr Biden has 290 electoral votes. Mr Biden also leads Mr Trump in the popular vote count by 5.6m votes.
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