The “fraud” denounced by Donald Trump is a box office success in American theaters

A new film that fuels dubious and widely debunked conspiracy theories that reinforce former US President Donald Trump’s fraud claims became a box office hit.

Despite the warnings of the experts, the film “2000 mules”led by Dinesh D’Souza – who was convicted of violating electoral finance laws, before being pardoned by the former president -, raised over $ 1.2 million at the box office since its premiere in late May.

Carrying large buckets of popcorn, a group of elderly spectators flock to outside a Virginia movie theater for a morning screening.

Leaving aside adventure titles such as “Doctor Strange” or the latest premiere of “Sonic”, the group opts for the documentary that promises to “expose widespread fraud and coordinated the 2020 elections, just enough to change the overall result “.

conspiracy theories

The film opens with anonymous voters enthusiastically shoving their ballot papers into ballot boxes decorated with the American flag, while D’Souza tells the audience that “elections are the lifeblood of our democracy.”

But, says the director as the background darkens, the 2020 election “haunt the American mind”.

Like millions of Americans, including Trump, D’Souza feeds the debunked theory that the Democrats have rigged the results of the last presidential elections, leveraging the widespread use of postal voting during the covid-19 pandemic.

“We can’t go on if we don’t know the truth,” continues the director in his voiceover.

In an attempt to prove the theory, rejected by all relevant authorities in the United States, D’Souza is filmed telephoning to make an appointment with the group. “True vote”based in Texas, which claims to “uphold election integrity”.

In a kind of hangar equipped with computer servers, two members of the aforementioned group they claim to have evidence of the existence of a well-planned operation by a group that, “like a cartel”, it assumed ‘mules’ fill the ballot boxes in several key states for Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

To validate their hypothesis, they rely on large amounts of anonymous location data from smartphone apps, as they claim shows the comings and goings of these “mules” between the offices of the various NGOs and the polling stations.

It’s a “theft” and a “crime,” D’Souza says indignantly.

Sold

and to see itall items from a Virginia cinema they are sold.

“It’s like a nuclear bomb,” says one viewer.

The theories promoted in the film have been seriously questioned by multiple disinformation experts.

They argue that a delivery boy, a taxi driver or a postman could be considered part of the network of “mules” who made these routes.

But for Trump and his supporters this is is the ultimate proof of the fraud they have been reporting for a year and a half.

“They rigged and stole the 2020 election, we can’t agree, we just can’t go on,” D’Souza says at the end of the film.

And while the first notes of the national anthem of the United States play, the director calls for mobilization: “The America we love needs us now more than ever.”

AFP agency

PB