Exposing a ‘rigged’ election
Documentary looks into alleged GOP dirty tricks
One could say Greg Palast is ahead of the curve. Especially when it comes to the recent presidential election. In fact, his documentary “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” actually predicted the outcome.
Now he wants people to see how it happened.
“Nobody believed me that this would happen,” he says. “People thought I was nutty because I was telling them how Donald Trump would win the election.”
Palast says, “When Donald Trump says, ‘This election is rigged,’ he should know. His buddies are rigging it.”
Palast is no stranger to investigative work.
In 2000, while with Rolling Stone, he busted Jeb Bush for stealing the 2000 election by purging black voters from Florida’s electoral rolls.
In his new documentary, Palast is back to take a deep dive into a Republican dark operation called Crosscheck, which he says was designed to steal a million votes by November. (The film was released in September, well before Election Day in November.) The film will screen at the Guild Cinema on Tuesday, Jan. 16, through Jan. 20.
Crosscheck is controlled by a Trump henchman, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who claims his computer program has identified 7.2 million people in 29 states who may have voted twice in the same election — a felony crime.
The catch? Most of these “suspects” are minorities — in other words, mainly Democratic voters. Yet the lists and the evidence remain “confidential.”
Palast and his investigative sidekick, Badpenny, do what it takes to get their hands on the data, analyze it and go find some of these 7.2 million Americans tagged “suspects” and “potential duplicate voters” whose votes were threatened.
“You wouldn’t believe how corrupt this system is,” he says. “It targets groups of people — blacks and Hispanics.”
The duo hunt down and confront Kobach with the evidence of his “lynching by laptop.”
Then they are off to find the billionaires behind this voting scam.
The search takes Palast from Kansas to the Arctic, Africa and a swanky Hamptons dinner party held by Trump’s sugar daddy, John Paulson, aka “JP The Foreclosure King.”
Palast says he and Badpenny stake out top GOP donors, the billionaire known as “The Vulture” and the Koch brothers, whom Palast nails with a damning tape recording.
“This real-life detective story is told in a film noir style with cartoon animations, secret documents, hidden cameras, and a little help from ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ detectives Ice-T and Richard Belzer,” he says. “I wanted the documentary to be informative and fun. It’s a story that needs to be told, and I wish more people would have seen it before the election.”
Palast’s long career as an investigative journalist has brought him to the Land of Enchantment.
In the 1980s, he did work for former Attorney General Paul G. Bardacke, who held the position from 1983 to 1986.
“I found New Mexico to be the most corrupt state in America, behind Alaska,” he says. “You have a lot of rich people and a lot of vulnerable people. There is suppression of the Native American and Hispanic vote. And there are parts explained in the film.”
SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.