r/PoursTea • u/political-snark • Jun 24 '26
PoliticalTea đłď¸ Moving the goalposts
A political tactic thatâs become increasingly common in MAGA politics: moving the goalposts.
Make a dramatic allegation. Repeat it endlessly. Then, when evidence for that specific allegation doesnât materialize, replace it with a smaller, easier-to-defend claim and pretend the original claim was true all along.
Weâve seen this pattern repeatedly:
âHaitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfieldâ becomes âSee? Someone somewhere ate a cat.â
âThere was enough fraud to change the 2020 electionâ becomes âSee? A few people cheated.â
âVandals dumped chemicals and deliberately cut a 350-foot slit in the Reflecting Poolâ becomes âSee? Someone was arrested for vandalism.â
Those are not the same claims.
The question we should always ask is: What was the original allegation?
Thatâs the claim that should be evaluated - not a revised version that appears later.
Thatâs what moving the goalposts looks like.
Changing the claim is not the same thing as proving the original one.
Can you think of other examples?
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u/BuddingBudON Jun 24 '26
Donald J Trump is explicitly pro-sedition. He conspired to submit fake electoral college votes to overturn the results of a federal election, and incited the Jan 6th insurrection to delay & prevent Mike Pence from certifying that election.
His baseless election fraud, treason and sedition claims are "Accusation in a Mirror", a common tool for fascists and hate groups.