Cory Booker lies on a very regular basis, but what is unusual this time is that Glenn Kessler nailed him with four Pinocchios for saying that Hillary lost Michigan because of the Russians and GOP voter suppression.
Not because she was a terrible candidate and not because she totally ignored Michigan in 2016. Booker said that voter suppression caused Blacks in Michigan to record fewer votes in 2016. But, he based that on the number of Blacks who voted for Obama in 2012.
Michigan like every other state had fewer voters go to the polls because Obama was no longer on the ticket. Also, they did not like Hillary Clinton.
“Election experts say they see little or no evidence that the activities by the Russians and the Trump campaign actually swayed the election in Michigan,” fact checker Glenn Kessler wrote.
So why did Booker say it? It appears he was stretching to connect some actual facts surrounding the election as having a direct connection to Clinton’s loss.
There is evidence that Russian election interference operations heavily targeted black voters in an attempt to sway them toward not voting, and there are quotes from President Donald Trump and Roger Stone about monitoring for voter fraud in minority communities, but there’s no reason to believe those things cost Clinton the state, Kessler wrote.
The reality is, there were fewer black voters casting ballots in Michigan in 2016—but that was more likely because former President Barack Obama wasn’t on the ballot, and black voters were far less excited about Clinton.
“African American turnout in Michigan was down from 2012 to 2016, partially because it had previously risen for Barack Obama,” an expert told The Post.
“…[Booker is] wrong to claim the Russians and the GOP were responsible for Clinton’s loss in Michigan,” Kessler concluded, giving the senator four Pinocchios, which is defined on the rating scale as a “whopper.”