Joe Hockey, Australia’s former treasurer and one-time ambassador to the United States, appeared to have an extremely crappy Sunday afternoon.
We can tell, because he took to Twitter to battle claims that he amplified President Donald Trump‘s wild and unfounded allegations of voter fraud at last week’s presidential election.
Not a situation you want to find yourself in, generally speaking.
Back on Thursday, well before Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden was officially called as the winner, Hockey spoke to 2GB about the election and what Australia could expect from a new administration.
But host Ben Fordham turned the discussion to Trump’s lingering claims of voter fraud, which the POTUS has wheeled out without any real evidence.
When asked about the Trump’s mounting legal challenges, Hockey said there are “plenty” of good reasons to litigate, and that their voting system is a “dog’s breakfast” across the country.
On the question of voter fraud, and whether there’s a chance it has occurred, Hockey said, “Oh, for sure. There will be.”
“The question is whether it is enough to change the election outcome,” he added. “And I doubt it is, but yeah, absolutely.”
Moments later, he pivoted to the results from his former outpost, Washington D.C., whose voters overwhelmingly sided with Biden.
“Ninety-three percent of the city voted for Joe Biden,” Hockey said. “Ninety-three percent!”
Hockey’s claims were unpicked over the following days.
While Trump refuses to concede, The Guardian reports that Republican state authorities have recorded no vote fuckery.
As for the D.C. thing: yeah, it’s a lopsided result. But more than 90% of the town voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, and a similar margin went to President Barack Obama in 2012.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese had a spray. Then, smash cut to Sunday, when Bob Carr, Australia’s former Minister for Foreign Affairs, claimed Team Biden had noticed Hockey’s claims bubbling up in certain conspiratorial corners of the internet.
Biden’s team tell me Hockey’s outrageous comments about fake votes have appeared in excited Trumpian conspiracy online exchanges quoting an Aussie ambassador that he thinks the election rigged.
— Bob Carr (@bobjcarr) November 8, 2020
Carr did not publicly provide any further evidence to bolster that claim, but it was still enough for Hockey to play defense.
“You should be better than this,” Hockey said, claiming his statement about the scope for voter fraud was based on America’s decentralised voting system (in fairness, compared to the Australian way of doing things, it is a mess – but that doesn’t mean voter fraud is inherently likely.)
As someone who has been in public life you know not to rely on second hand reports. You should be better than this. The US has over 10,000 different voting systems and as I said in @australian complexity makes it susceptible to some fraud but certainly not widespread and not….. https://t.co/bR65cJ5JCh
— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) November 8, 2020
….. to change the result. I also say in @australian that joe Biden deserved to win. Two weeks ago when I predicted it pro trump people ripped in to me. Your personal invective is disappointing and demeans you. https://t.co/bR65cJ5JCh
— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) November 8, 2020
There’s a bit going on here, for sure. But when your former golfing partner is the kind of guy to claim election victory with zero solid evidence, some clearer language is probably a good bloody start.
