28 minute read
Indiana’s Bellwether Voters
The Vigo County Courthouse in Terre Haute, Ind., serves as a landmark of consistency when it comes to presidential elections.
PHOTO BY JUDSON MCCRANIE/CC BY-SA 3.0
ELECTIONS Indiana’s Bellwether Voters
The voices of voters from one of America’s most reliable bellwether counties
By Michael Sakal
igo county, ind.— When it comes to being a good indicator of voting for the winning presidential candidate, Vigo County in west Indiana is “The Real Thing.”
That was the advertising slogan Coca-Cola had in the 1970s, which perhaps is appropriate for what’s considered to be the most reliable bellwether county in the United States.
The county seat of Vigo County is Terre Haute (pop. 60,673), and it’s the birthplace of the iconic contour Coca-Cola bottle that has been featured on many of the soft drink’s signs and ads since 1915.
Since 1888, Vigo County has missed voting for the presidential winner just three times—in 1910, when it supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan over Republican William Howard Taft; in 1952, when it picked Democrat Adlai Stevenson over Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower; and in 2020, when it selected Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Joe Biden, 24,545 votes to 18,123 votes.
FOR 60 YEARS, Vigo County hit the mark in 16 straight presidential elections, from 1956 to 2016, perhaps showing that Democrats and Republicans vote in sync for whoever they believe would do the best job in the Oval Office.
However, while 18 of the 19 top bellwether counties in the United States had a perfect record between 1980 and 2016, there was only one that got it right in 2020—Clallam County in Washington state. Biden defeated Trump there and ultimately became president.
In the 2016 Presidential Election, Trump won Vigo County by defeating Hilary Clinton 21,937 votes to 15,931 votes.
Nestled in the heart of the heartland in the Midwest, the county seat of Terre Haute is literally at the Crossroads of America. Wabash Avenue and 7th Street in the city’s downtown was the original gateway to the west and part of the Federal Highway Transportation System in 1926.
The county’s smaller cities include West Terre Haute, North Terre Haute, Tecumseh, Allendale, and Toad Hop (pop. 216).
More than 90 years ago, the railroad tracks near the Wabash River were the inspiration for the song “The Wabash Cannonball,” which is about the roar and rumble of a mythical train that takes hobos on their last ride and carried their souls to heaven. The tune remains a signature song of the Indiana State University Sycamores and the Purdue All-American Marching Band.
The song, which was made popular by country singer Roy Acuff, is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 songs that shaped rock and roll, and it’s the oldest song on the list.
THE AREA ALSO was the home of Eugene V. Debs, a champion for workers’ rights who ran for president as a socialist five times in the early 20th century, and the home of Indiana State University and the Candles Holocaust Museum.
Vigo County, which has a population of slightly more than 107,000, also supported Trump in the 2016 election. The median age in the county is 36 years old, and the median household income is $52,364 as it holds steady with an unemployment rate of slightly less than 2 percent, according to information from Chapman Jay Root, who owned the Root Glass Company in Terre Haute, and a team of his workers designed the Coca-Cola contour bottle in 1915. The bottle is considered the most recognizable container in the world.
Vigo County. The median home price in the county is $130,000 and has risen slightly over the past two years.
Now, during the second year of Biden in the White House, residents are feeling the belt of inflation tightening, and it’s expected to get worse.
People are beginning to cut back on food at the grocery store. Gas prices are hovering at about $4 per gallon in the county as the U.S. oil reserves are being used.
The contents being loaded from shopping carts into vehicles were reduced as residents with good incomes or retirees with good jobs in the past spoke about reconfiguring their budgets because of getting much less bang for their buck.
Unlike many counties in other states, the Indiana Elections Board doesn’t di-
Like most mid-size cities throughout the Midwest, Terre Haute in Vigo County once was home to many factories and businesses that were household names and provided good-paying jobs.
vide up its county’s political parties by its 73,419 registered voters.
“In Indiana, you’re a voter,” said an employee of the Vigo County Elections Board. “We don’t divide it up. In our primary elections, you don’t have to vote along party lines. You can vote the way you want.”
Like most mid-sized cities during the first half of the 20th century, many of Terre Haute’s companies and manufacturers were household names—Clabber Girl Baking Soda, Pillsbury, Sony, Columbia House which made records and tapes, the Root Glass Company, Stran Steel, and Bemis which made plastic bags. There were also the factories that lined the Wabash River, which is now seeing some waterfront development.
But many of those places are long gone, and residents are currently excited about a planned Hard Rock Casino and hotel project scheduled to break ground in June and create hundreds of jobs.
The former site of Root Glass on the corner of U.S. 41 and Voorhees Street— where the Coca-Cola bottle was designed and was selected by the soft drink giant in a competition in Atlanta in 1915, is now where a Thorntons gas station and convenience store is located.
MANY OF THE county’s residents are aware of its fame in both being the birthplace of the contour Coke contour bottle and consistently voting for the candidate who wins the White House.
“Vigo County is known for that,” Steven Perry of Terre Haute told Insight of the county’s bellwether status. “Our picks are sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
He showed his true political color, which was similar to the overall mood of people who weighed in on the area’s and country’s state of affairs on the blustery days of April 18 and 19: blue.
Perry, 59, retired from the receiving department of Pfizer in 1999 after working there for 18 years. His father retired from Stran Steel after 31 years.
“My family is a strong, politically minded family,” he said. “We’re a Democratic family. Would I vote for Trump? Never. Never Trump and hopefully, Trump never again. He’s got money, he’s got power, but I don’t think he was good for the country. I think the presidency for him was just another notch on his belt.
“I voted for Joe Biden, and I voted for Hillary Clinton. I always vote Democratic. My family would roll over in their graves if I voted Republican.”
Perry said he believes that Vigo County votes largely based on how the economy is going.
“HERE, WE’RE NOT happy with the price or housing,” he said. “The roads are bad, pollution is bad—there’s a smell to Terre Haute—it smells like raw fish. There’s a lot of homeless people here, I never used to see so many homeless people.
“Those people don’t care about themselves. We need to get back to creating jobs. We really don’t have any industry here.”
Perry said he believes that the Democrats are doing a “great job.” Many others disagreed.
As other residents left the Vigo County Courthouse, Walmart, the Meijer superstore, and gas station parking lots on April 18 and 19, they talked about the issues that they thought were important heading into the May 3 Primary Election: the pain of paying at the gas pump and not getting as much food at the grocery store for their money because of inflation.
Crystal, a woman who works as a cardiovascular technician with her husband at a hospital in Terre Haute, was also as unhappy as Perry. She told Insight that she didn’t want to give her last name and that she wasn’t happy with the current political party in the White House and with control of the House and Senate.
“I’m not happy with the way things are at all,” said Crystal, who grew up in Illinois. “I don’t care for the president. I think Joe Biden is incompetent and a puppet.”
She said she and her husband lean toward favoring Trump. They voted for him in 2016 and 2020.
“We vote for whoever would be best for the country,” Crystal said. “Donald Trump had a no b.s. attitude and that
was helpful. I hope he runs again in 2024. It would be good for the country if he were president again. We would vote for Trump.”
On Vigo County being a pretty accurate bellwether county, she said she had recently heard something about that and said she believes it’s because of the low-income area and most people being affected by the economy.
“We don’t have a problem with basic needs, but we’re being affected by the high price of gas, electric, and groceries,” Crystal said. “We’ve had to cut back on social things. We want to keep our savings where it’s at.”
ROGER FENNELL OF Terre Haute, who remembers when a gallon of gas cost 27 cents, fell more in line with the county’s bellwether reputation. He retired six years ago from the Gartland Foundry, where he ground castings and did other jobs for 38 years.
“I vote for the man I want in there,” Fennell, 66, told Insight. “I don’t get too deep in the election or anything, but I’ll tell you what—those people in office are going to have gas up so high, people are going to go back to bicycles.
“I’ve cut way back on buying stuff. I buy food that’s cheap and quick to fix. I believe people here vote the way they do [depending] on how the economy is doing.
“I wouldn’t say I lean one way or another politically, you just have to vote for the person you think will do the best job. You gotta give people a chance in life.”
The sentiments of Alicia Bendekovich of Terre Haute echoed Crystal’s.
“It’s a struggle,” Bendekovich, 48, told Insight. “I’ve cut back on gas, groceries— everything. We’re having to pay more for everything—gas, groceries—air in your tire. There’s a lot of homeless here, and it never used to be that way. There’s not a lot for the kids to do here but get in trouble.”
Bendekovich, who’s employed as a housecleaner and used to work for a Walker Dairy Queen for 19 years until it closed, told Insight that she hasn’t voted in recent elections, but plans to vote for Trump in 2024 if he runs for president.
In the first presidential election she voted in, she said she voted for Bill Clinton in 1992. She also voted for George W. Bush in 2000.
Roger Fennell, resident
Alicia Bendekovich, resident
Steven Perry, resident
Janice Capps, resident
“I think the Republicans are more down to earth, and they know about and pay more attention to peoples’ struggles,” Bendekovich said. “I know every vote counts, and I’ll likely vote in 2024. The world is just something right now. Everything’s a mess.”
Growing up in the 1940s and ‘50s, Linda Cooper remembers when the world was a kinder and gentler place, especially in Terre Haute.
Cooper, 86, who has served as a volunteer at the Vigo County Historical Society’s museum for four years, said she never knew Vigo County was the top bellwether county until recently.
“I was surprised I never knew that,” she said. “My mother had political jobs, and I never heard her say anything about it. There used to be a saying, ‘As Maine
Vigo County is considered the top bellwether county in the United States. Since 1888, the county has only missed the mark of voting for the presidential winner three times.
goes, so goes the nation.’”
An independent, Cooper said she’ll vote in the May 3 Primary Election to support a new high school in Terre Haute.
The building where Cooper greets museum visitors was once Ehrmann Manufacturing, which made pants and coveralls boasting the slogan “Never Wear Out.”
She worked as a supervisor in the shipping department at Pillsbury for 14 years, until it closed. She moved to Indianapolis, where she worked in customer support at Universal Music from 1979 to 1993, retiring from there.
She now lives on Social Security and has come to realize that she can’t do the little extra things that she did five years ago.
“I don’t have any extra anymore,” Cooper told Insight. “I don’t do anything extra. I used to be able to go to see community theater. I used to be able to go out to eat. I’d like to go see the Terre Haute Symphony, but I can’t afford it.”
When she worked at Pillsbury, she would look out the cafeteria window at the Wabash River.
“I used to think how there wasn’t much out there,” Cooper said. “When I moved back from Indianapolis in 2016, I was kind of surprised. I discovered they were doing some things along the riverfront.
“During COVID early on, the museum closed for three months. Now, with some things added to downtown and the casino that they will break ground on in June, things are picking back up.”
Carrie Moffit, 29, who grew up in Poland, Indiana, and has lived in Terre Haute for the past 10 years, said she isn’t so sure about how things will shake out in the United States.
A DENTAL ASSISTANT who makes $15 per hour while working 32 to 36 hours per week, Moffit isn’t happy with the current president and believes there needs to be a more affordable health care system in place and that Americans need to be better taken care of as opposed to sending money overseas.
Moffit, who drives a Hyundai Sonata with more than 230,000 miles on it, said Bernie Sanders was her first choice as president because he supported affordable health care and college loan forgiveness.
“I am doing my best to get by,” she told Insight. “I’ve been careful on my spending. I can’t afford a car payment or for car repairs. I have chronic health issues, but I seldom go to the doctor.
“I know we have to take COVID and the situation overseas with Ukraine into account, but this country needs to take care of its own people so we don’t have to fight to make ends meet.”
Janice Capps, who’s a retired supervisor from the Westridge Health Care Center nursing home in Terre Haute, said she and her husband weren’t happy with the state of affairs throughout the world or in the United States.
CAPPS SAID SHE and her husband, who are on a fixed income, are tired of seeing the two main political parties failing to work together in the best interest of the country and tearing each other apart.
Inflation has caused the couple to cut back on everything, including food—especially meat.
“Whenever I go to the store, I have to ‘bill budget,’” she said. “We’re not getting as much for our money as we used to.”
Capps and her husband voted for Donald Trump in the past two presidential elections. She said she likely would vote for him again, but she wants to see what each candidate is saying.
Being true to Vigo County’s bellwether reputation, she told Insight that she has been both a Democrat and a Republican and that she has voted for a presidential candidate in each party.
“I’m about ready to become an independent,” Capps said. “The Democrats and Republicans need to lay things aside and work the issues out.
“The voting process needs to be improved. There needs to be more of a paper trail when it comes to the ballots.”
Like many people throughout the United States, she said she’s concerned about the cognitive ability of Biden. The concern has been increasing among Americans, especially in recent months.
“The things I’ve seen on Biden, I feel as though his family should not have let him run for office because of his shaky mental stability,” Capps said.
“We’re supposed to be the strongest country in the world, and it doesn’t look like it right now. Something needs to be done. We need to change.”
Maricopa Food Pantry CEO Jim Shoaf (R) and warehouse manager Tim Bennett stand in front of a pile of the remains of food burned in an electrical fire, in Maricopa, Ariz., on March 28.
COMMUNITY LOSS
Fire Destroys Arizona Food Bank
Key food pantry in Maricopa County picking up pieces after massive fire
By Allan Stein
Maricopa, ariz.—maricopa Food Pantry CEO Jim Shoaf said the devastating pantry fire on March 28 in Maricopa, Arizona, couldn’t have come at a worse time of peak demand and concern about food shortages.
The electrical fire started at noon inside an old battery-powered pallet jack; by sunset, six parked trailers and 48,000 pounds of storage food lay in smoldering ruins.
“Once it went up, it went up,” Shoaf said. “We lost everything but the box truck, two forklifts, and one pallet jack. It just spread from trailer to trailer. Every trailer we had was filled with diesel. I had 600 gallons of diesel on this property.”
The diesel fuel and a propane tank went up in flames.
Shoaf called it a “terrible time” for the nonprofit food pantry at Maricopa, Arizona’s Mountain View Community Church, which he and his wife Alice started 20 years ago.
They still plan to expand into a new warehouse, which they hope to build on the site; however, project funding is now in doubt.
“I was storing up food because I think there will be a food shortage later this year,” Shoaf
said. “All our backup burned down.
“We do have some backup. Rather than put $350,000 into semis again, I’m just going to put it into the warehouse. We had about $15,000 in our reserve budget. The insurance companies maxed us out at $46,300.”
Near the pantry’s outer perimeter, a large pile of charred embers, twisted metal, and scorched cans are all that remains of the trailers’ cargo.
Warehouse manager Tim Bennett said the fire spread quickly and out of control—even when doused with a fire extinguisher.
“The fire extinguisher basically wouldn’t cut it. So I ran to the church to get the water [hose]. All I had was a garden hose; I knew I didn’t have much time. We saved the church, the box truck; we saved both forklifts.”
In the fire’s aftermath, Shoaf and his crew of 40 volunteers picked up the pieces and moved forward with help from various church organizations and other food banks.
A huge boost came from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, which donated 80,000 pounds of food to the pantry.
Each Saturday and Monday, pantry volunteers prepare food packages in an assembly line for nearly 1,200 families in Maricopa and surrounding communities—about 5,000 individuals in total.
The six temperature-controlled trailers served as food storage containers instead of an existing warehouse. Shoaf said the trailers held dry goods and canned foods, fresh beef, pork, and chicken.
“We stored everything in semi-trailers, and then this line is where we made up our baskets for Sat-
urdays and Mondays,” Shoaf told Insight. The pantry now operates with three trailers on loan from a nearby church. The pantry continues to be a vital food distribution “hub” for the community amid growing concern over food shortages, he said. “We give out anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of food a week. We give out a lot of food. We lost almost about a week’s worth.” 48,000 Since the fire, there have been conspiracy theories as to how the fire may have started, following a rash of fires at POUNDS critical food the country. industry facilities across of storage food lay in According to news reports, in the smoldering ruins after the electrical fire broke out at Maricopa Food Pantry. first half of 2022, at least 16 major fires broke out at essential food industry plants and warehouses. In Dufur, Oregon, a fire destroyed Azure Standard’s headquarters on April 19. The company is a leading independent distributor of natural and organic food. On Feb. 1, thousands fled when a fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, caught fire. Another fire recently destroyed a potato processing plant that employs 175 people in Belfast, Maine. “There are theories going around here, too. Somebody told us that somebody bombed us. We knew it wasn’t true,” Shoaf said. Shoaf said the new warehouse should solve a few key logistical problems, even with the uncertainty of project funding. “We have a little bit of money that has come in, but we still need another $300,000. I don’t see why we should quit at this point. All we can do is start over.”
The pantry distributes food for nearly 1,200 families in Maricopa and surrounding communities—around 5,000 individuals in total.
The fire at the Maricopa Food Pantry destroyed six semi-trailers of food. The pantry lost everything but the box truck, two forklifts, and one pallet jack, the CEO said.
A still from Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary “2000 Mules.”
PHOTO BY SALEM MEDIA GROUP/ SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES
ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY IMAGES Sterling heights, mich.—a new movie by conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza exposing illegal vote trafficking in battleground states in the 2020 election opened in more than 250 theaters on May 2.
The documentary explores an investigation that used cellphone geolocation data, digital geo-fencing, and video surveillance tapes of absentee ballot drop boxes to show that paid intermediaries called “mules” unlawfully gathered and delivered hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots in Democrat strongholds across much of the nation in the 2020 election.
D’Souza told Insight: “2000 Mules will settle the issue beyond a shadow of a doubt by using two powerful, independent modes of investigation. The evidence is so conclusive, so decisive, that it leaves nothing to argue about.”
Cellphones emit a unique and identifiable signal or “ping.” Trillions of pings were analyzed by investigators to reconstruct the movements of thousands of mules as they went about their work in the weeks prior to the 2020 presidential election, the documentary claims.
Investigators also sifted through millions of minutes of video surveillance footage and were able to capture on tape numerous mules stuffing absentee ballot drop boxes, D’Souza said. The videos show the mules taking selfies of themselves as proof of services rendered to their employers in order to be paid, he said.
“Not all the drop boxes were under video surveillance, but enough were to provide incontrovertible evidence, much obtained from government entities,” he said. “‘2000 Mules’ contains a lot of never-before-seen footage depicting glove-wearing mules moving from county to county delivering absentee ballots to drop boxes, often in the dead of night.”
Michigan Debut
A capacity crowd of about 200 people filled a theater in Macomb County, Michigan, to view D’Souza’s documentary motion picture “2000 Mules.”
On his way into the Macomb County showing, a retired IT manager, who asked not to be identified, told Insight that he had heard much about alleged fraud in the 2020 election, but had seen very little evidence.
“I’m open-minded going in,” he said. “I have not yet seen enough proof.”
On his way out of the movie, the same man told Insight: “I am 95 percent convinced. I think law enforcement needs to go after these mules and prove a case against them in court.
“Will this ever happen? I’m not sure because too many people don’t want this to come out. Too
(Top) True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht. True the Vote has been investigating since 2020 the illegal ballot harvesting operations that took place across six different states during the presidential election. (Above) Gregg Phillips, whose investigation into voter fraud is featured in “2000 Mules.” many people have too much to lose if it does.”
Jacob Ries, 13, came to see the movie with his parents and grandparents.
“This movie is the compass that will steer and influence the younger generation. It influenced me in the right direction,” he told Insight after watching the film.
“I know the truth now. It’s the truth the government is trying to hide.”
Jacob’s father, Scott, said he found the film to be “eye-opening” and feared that “our American constitutional republic may collapse from the inside.”
“I would never have thought we would ever live in a country that would do something like this,” he said.
Jacob’s grandmother, Sue Vandeberghe said: “This is not about Democrats and Republicans anymore. It’s about right and wrong. It’s about saving our country.
“Yes, saving our country for all people, even those with closed minds and that disagree with us.”
Union Members in Attendance
Retired public utility union member and Republican precinct delegate Gary Vallance said he was 100 percent for D’Souza and what he’s doing.
Looking at the present condition of the country, he said, “I can’t understand why the union is always promoting Democrats.”
Jason Mueller, a United Auto Workers (UAW) member from Wales Township, said, “I’m here A still from Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary “2000 Mules.”
IN-DEPTH
INVESTIGATION
Investigators analyzed trillions of pings, or signal emitted by cellphones, and sifted through millions of minutes of video surveillance footage to track the activities of mules in the 2020 election.
Much of the film focuses on the state of Georgia, where 242 metro Atlanta mules made 5,668 stops at drop boxes in late 2020.
tonight to see how and what they were able to steal in the 2020 election.”
UAW member Anthony Stella of Macomb Township said: “We’ve known for a long time that the 2020 election was stolen. I’m here tonight because I want to see exactly how they did it.”
Phillip Sinta, a UAW member from Ferndale and a Trump backer since 2016, said of D’Souza: “He’s a straight shooter. I trust him to tell the truth. I have seen all of his previous movies.”
Kim Turcott told Insight: “I’m glad they showed the geo-tracking. We know more now, having seen the movie. I thank God for the people that continue to do these investigations every day.
“Drop boxes are bad and have to go. We’ve got to keep a closer eye on our relatives in nursing homes around election time.”
Jill Rebar admired the use of technology in providing the details of the investigation and wondered what she could do to help.
“I found the movie awesome, interesting, and sad,” Rebar said.
Colleen Kendro said, “Everybody should see this movie no matter who you voted for.”
Paula Badalamente said, “People who don’t know about this stuff need to know.”
A handful of volunteers were in front of the theater circulating a petition demanding the decertification of the 2020 election in Michigan, where the illegal activities of 500 mules were uncovered in Wayne County.
Among them was Vietnam veteran Dan Landon of Saline.
Landon, a retired 34-year veteran special education teacher and a member of Michigan’s largest teachers union, said he wasn’t there to see the movie, but to work for change.
“In the 2020 election, I received three applications for absentee ballots mailed to my house with the names of three different people on them—all supposedly living at my address,” he said. “As a Republican poll watcher, I was kicked out on election night, and it took a lawyer to get me readmitted. (Top) Investigators were able to capture on tape numerous mules stuffing absentee ballot drop boxes, D’Souza said. (Above) Cellphone pings were analyzed by investigators to reconstruct the movements of thousands of mules, the documentary claims.
“We’ve got to save our country and bring it back the way God intended it to be.”
4.8 Million Votes
Much of the film focuses on the state of Georgia, where, according to True the Vote—the organization that conducted the investigations—242 metro Atlanta mules made 5,668 stops at drop boxes in late 2020.
Similar illegal activities were found in Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Michigan, according to the group. True the Vote estimates that at least 4.8 million votes were trafficked nationally. The studies were funded by the human rights organization First Freedoms.
Election fraud has been committed by both parties throughout U.S. history, and therefore “cannot be considered abnormal,” D’Souza said. “The Democrats have a particular history of committing specialized election fraud in urban areas.
“The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity to do fraud on a scale not imagined before. The avalanche of absentee ballots sent out and the drop boxes presented much greater opportunity.”
D’Souza said he’s worried about the
Democrats’ push to centralize how elections are conducted at both the state and national levels.
“A united Republican opposition is the only thing thwarting Biden, Pelosi, and the Democrats from enacting their plans,” he said. “Across America, the Democrats are trying to get rid of election security measures imposed by the states. They want to legalize fraud.”
New York Premier
“2000 Mules” also debuted at a Times Square multiplex theater in Manhattan, where the audience erupted into applause as the final credits rolled.
“I think it’s wonderful,” fitness trainer and copy editor Linda Minarik told Insight.
Minarik sees the documentary as “another avenue” to approach the issue of the integrity of the 2020 election.
Before seeing the movie, she said she had misgivings about the election, caused by evidence
Sue Vandeberghe,
audience member of misconduct that she had seen previously.
Minarik said she came to the movie expecting it to make a strong case.
“I was hoping for some proof,” she said.
According to Minarik, the film delivered it.
Asher Schwartz called the movie “thought-provoking.”
Schwartz said that before he had seen the film, he had leaned toward the conclusion that the election result was illicitly affected.
“If I had to bet my life on it, I’d say it was stolen,” he said.
Schwartz said the evidence presented was convincing, but he still reserved his final judgment on it, noting that it would need to be picked up by law enforcement.
Kelly M. said she was impressed by the movie, although she wished more of the evidence would have been directly shown on screen in order to fortify it against criticism.
One woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing business, hoped more people would see the movie.
She said she was convinced the election results were illegitimate even before seeing the film.
“It was ripe for fraud,” she said, because of the unprecedented widespread use of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Unable to reconcile how Trump could perform significantly better in 2020 than in 2016 and still lose, she said it “just didn’t make sense.”
Cancel Culture
Mindful of the power of cancel culture, D’Souza said great care has been taken to release the film on what he calls “un-cancellable platforms.”
“It’s hard to believe we have reached that point in America, but alas, we have,” D’Souza said.
“Through the movie ‘2000 Mules,’ we are taking on the ultimate taboo in American politics today—saying that the 2020 election was stolen by systematic, organized fraud committed by the Democrats and the left.”
When asked why he’s willing to subject himself to possible cancellation, D’Souza said, “I am defending the system which made it possible for an immigrant from India, a boy at the bottom, to make my way up—a system that makes this kind of upward economic and social mobility possible.”
(Top left) Movie-goers discuss the film “2000 Mules” in Sterling Heights, Mich., on May 2. (Left) Union workers (L–R) Jason Mueller, Anthony Stella, Phillip Sinta, and Gary Vallance attend the premier of “2000 Mules” in Michigan.
Perspectives
People walk past the Twitter headquarters in downtown San Francisco on April 26. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after buying the social media platform, said he wants to expand Twitter from a “niche” platform to one used by most Americans.
PHOTO BY AMY OSBORNE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
THE CNN THAT WAS With CNN+, the network clearly misread the appetite of the public. 44
Twitter’s take-private deal would be one of the largest in recent decades. 47
The fund’s empirical studies show that radical-left proposals don’t work. 48
