'2000 Mules' Has Radicalized The 2022 Midterm Elections

In a key scene in this year’s biggest conspiracy theory film, “2000 Mules,” tense music plays as surveillance footage shows the exterior of the Gwinnett County elections office in Lawrenceville, Georgia. And the movie has inspired groups across the country to hold stakeouts at drop boxes and to mobilize again around Donald Trump’s lie that, as the then-president said in August 2020, “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” These pronouncements may have a profound impact on the midterm elections ― not only by activating the conservative base with risible lies, but by building a mandate for these election officials to undertake serious actions against voting rights and fair elections if they make it into office. At that Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association event, Sheriff Calvin Hayden of Johnson County, Kansas ― Kansas’ largest county and a crucial buffer recently against new abortion restrictions ― bemoaned that new Kansans were “bringing some of their politics from the crummy place they lived to my county, and it’s not fun.” Later that week, Hayden and others spoke on a panel called “2000 Mules: ‘Law Enforcement Has To Step In At This Point!’ - Will Sheriff’s Investigate?” Sheriffs and panelists are seen on stage as the screen reads "election fraud has happened" during an event held by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association in Las Vegas on July 12, 2022. “They’re hoping that they can generate enough attention around drop boxes to scare people away from using them, and to deter people from exercising their right to vote,” Burghart said.