You’re a paid member—thank you. This one’s open, so feel free to share it anywhere. Quick boost that really helps: ♥ + Restack + a short comment. BREAKING: Trump Just Invented a Venezuelan Election Hoax — And This Time, It’s Not About 2020 The BIG lie is coming back. And this time, Trump's using blaming Maduro for helping BIDEN "rig" the election. Dean Blundell Jan 6 Donald Trump is posting fake videos again. Not memes. Not hyperbolic screeds. Fabricated “evidence.” Deeply unserious content, presented with deadly seriousness, claiming that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen because Joe Biden paid Venezuela to hack American voting machines — with Nicolás Maduro personally “in on it.” YOU power this Substack, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Take advantage of our “Unlimited Access Sub Special!” Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber now through January 31, and get unlimited access to ALL of our content for 25% off an annual subscription and lock that discount in for life. I’d LOLZ if I wasn’t intently keen on his intention. Yes. That Venezuela. Yes. Those voting machines. Yes. That lie. And no — this is not Trump re-litigating the past because he can’t let go. This is not grievance politics or nostalgia for his greatest hit of authoritarian gaslighting. This is pre-authorization. This is Trump laying the narrative groundwork to criminalize elections, punish political enemies, and strip legitimacy from any democratic outcome he doesn’t control — starting in 2026 and rolling forward from there. The lie isn’t the point. What the lie enables is. Why This Lie? Why Now? Trump didn’t pick Venezuela at random. Venezuela is the perfect villain in the MAGA cinematic universe: foreign, socialist, brown, oil-rich, endlessly demonized, and familiar enough to sound plausible to an audience trained to confuse Fox News graphics with facts. And then there’s Smartmatic — the voting-technology company Trump world has been lying about for years. Here’s the inconvenient truth Trump desperately wants you to forget: Smartmatic was not used in the states Trump claims were “stolen.” Courts have said this. Repeatedly. Under oath. With evidence. So convincingly, in fact, that people who pushed these lies are now facing catastrophic legal exposure. Which is exactly why Trump has escalated. When facts don’t work, invent video. When courts don’t cooperate, rewrite reality. When accountability looms, turn the lie into policy. This Is Not About 2020 Let’s be absolutely clear: Trump already lost every meaningful legal challenge over the 2020 election. More than sixty court cases. Republican judges. Conservative states. Trump-appointed officials. That battle is over. What Trump is doing now is something far more dangerous: weaponizing the idea of a stolen election to justify future repression. Because if the public can be convinced that: Democrats are foreign-backed, Elections are compromised, Voting infrastructure is treasonous, Then anything can be justified in response. Federal “investigations.” Political prosecutions. Seizure of election oversight. Criminal charges for election officials. “Emergency” controls in the name of national security. This is not theory. It’s a well-worn authoritarian playbook. The Maduro Distraction Dragging Nicolás Maduro into this isn’t just lazy propaganda — it’s strategic. Trump wants a foreign villain he can point to while he dismantles democratic norms at home. Venezuela isn’t the culprit. It’s the permission slip. By claiming the U.S. was the victim of foreign election warfare, Trump isn’t just denying his loss — he’s reframing democracy itself as a national-security vulnerability. And once elections are framed as threats, not rights, the solution is always the same: Control them. Override them. Or cancel them outright. Fake Videos, Real Consequences The most dangerous part of this moment isn’t the absurdity of the claim — it’s the medium. Fake videos aren’t meant to convince everyone. They’re meant to radicalize enough people, enough of the time, that reality becomes optional. By the time courts rule, the damage is done. By the time journalists debunk, the base is locked in. By the time accountability arrives, Trump will claim persecution. This isn’t misinformation. It’s information warfare, aimed inward. What Comes Next (If This Isn’t Stopped) If this narrative sticks — even partially — here’s what follows: Calls for DOJ action against political opponents Federal “oversight” of state elections Criminalization of Democratic Party governance Attacks on international election monitors The branding of dissent as foreign-aided sabotage At that point, elections don’t need to be canceled. They just need to be rendered meaningless. That’s the endgame. The Media’s COMPLETE F****** Failure Here’s the most damning part: none of this is new. Trump has told us who he is, how he operates, and what he intends to do. Over and over again. But each escalation is still treated as a novelty. Each lie is covered as content, not threat. Each warning is softened by false balance and breathless “what does this mean?” panels. Chasing bullshit nuance, not calling this what it really is: a BREATHTAKING lie, built on the staged kidnapping of the President of a foreign country to We know what it means. It means the lie is now the policy, and that policy is treated as legitimate. Chasing bullshit, calling it “nuance,” not calling this what it really is: a BREATHTAKING lie, built on the staged kidnapping of the President of a foreign country to change the reality of the American people and the criminality of America’s rapist President. Final Truth Donald Trump is not trying to prove the 2020 election was stolen. He’s trying to ensure the next elections don’t matter. The fake Venezuela-Smartmatic hoax isn’t about the past. It’s about authorizing the future. And if Americans — and the institutions meant to protect them — don’t recognize that in real time, they won’t get another chance to argue about facts later. Because by then, the lie will already be law. YOU power this Substack, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Take advantage of our “Unlimited Access Sub Special!” Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber now through January 31, and get unlimited access to ALL of our content for 25% off an annual subscription and lock that discount in for life. Enjoyed this? Quick ways to help: • Tap the ♥ • Leave a comment (even a quick “reading!”) • Restack to Notes • Forward to a friend who’d like it • Consider upgrading to paid to support the work —Dean