Trump’s California election conspiracy

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Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is fueling a new voter fraud conspiracy.

What’s happening? California held its primaries last week, and a week later, votes are still being counted in some of the biggest races, including for governor. That’s pretty normal; California always counts slowly, thanks to an exceptionally voter-friendly system and a heavy reliance on vote-by-mail.

Trump, however, has seized on the slow count — and the loss of Republican candidates like Spencer Pratt, who was vying to advance to the general election in the Los Angeles mayoral race — as evidence of something nefarious. “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections,” he posted on Monday.

Other Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Ted Cruz, have also leaned into the conspiracy.

What’s the context? Pratt, a former reality TV contestant who lost his house in the Palisades fire early last year, was initially in second place in the LA mayoral race as votes were being counted.

Over the week, however, Pratt gradually lost ground to LA City Council Member Nithya Raman, and on Monday evening, the AP called the race for the second spot in November’s general for Raman. (California uses a top-two jungle primary system, rather than partisan primaries. In heavily Democratic cities like Los Angeles, that means it’s possible to end up with two Democratic candidates and no Republicans in a general election.)

Why does this matter? For the time being, this is peanut-gallery stuff from Trump. He has no real power over California’s elections, which will play out — slowly — whatever he says (though a Trump-appointed assistant US attorney in California is soliciting “evidence” of voter fraud on conservative podcasts).

But renewed, more mainstream Republican enthusiasm for election conspiracies is a concerning preview for the midterms. The stakes will be far higher, and Trump’s rhetoric is already laying the groundwork for a more serious challenge.

Yesterday’s newsletter, about how Trump’s immigration policies are already impacting the World Cup, was a bit of a bummer. But the World Cup itself isn’t, as these videos of fans greeting the Egyptian and Algerian national teams in the US capture (from the excellent football publication Men in Blazers). I hope you enjoy them, too, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!