Right-wingers are dismissing reports of bomb threats originating from Russia and targeting polling sites in the U.S. as a Democrat “hoax.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Tuesday that multiple bomb threats, “many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains,” had been sent to polling locations in various states. None have thus far been deemed credible.
The FBI did not specify which states the threats had been sent to, but local officials in Georgia reported receiving more than a dozen false bomb threats. Officials in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan said polling sites there also were targeted.
In response to the threats, some polling sites in Georgia extended voting hours.
Many on social media were quick to rebuke the apparent Russian-origin threats, with critics dubbing it a “blatant and brazen election interference to steal the election” for former President Donald Trump and “blatant attempts to suppress voters, specifically Black voters.”
But some right-wingers online had a wildly different response to the news: a conspiracy theory.
“Apparently ‘Bomb threat’ is the new Democrat term for ‘we are losing big time, quick send us some more fake Ballots,’” one person on Truth Social theorized.
“So we’re skipping Water-main breaks and going straight to bomb threat this year,” wrote someone else, referencing a widely circulated conspiracy theory from the 2020 election that a burst pipe at a ballot processing site in Georgia allowed election workers to rig the results.
“Bomb threat is the new water main break,” echoed another user.
“That bomb threat was a hoax by democrats to change all the votes,” accused someone else.
“If you believe Russia did a bomb threat in Georgia—you probably believed it when the government told you masks work,” wrote the right-wing account Catturd.
But if the threats were a Democratic hoax to take Georgia, the effort didn’t work, as the state seems likely to flip back to Trump.
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