Claim
In September 2020, Roger Stone said U.S. President Donald Trump should, if he loses the November election, declare martial law.
Snopes Rating – True
Our Rating – False
Justification
This story is all about political bias, but if you look at what was said by Roger Stone, it is clear that each statement he makes needs context and that it is preceded with speculation about a discussion topic. Snopes like the MSM websites jumped on a specific part of Roger’s discussion and twisted it for political gain with their viewers/readers/supporters. For example snopes writes:
Therefore, by prejudging the result of the election — stating that a Trump defeat would be de facto proof of widespread election fraud — Stone was in effect saying that the president, if he loses, could and should, under the auspices of martial law and the Insurrection Act, arrest and charge certain prominent figures with election fraud. The news articles referenced above therefore quoted and reported Stone’s remarks accurately.
Breaking this down
- Roger has not pre-judged the election outcome, but was having a discussion about possible scenarios as part of war gaming a political mire.
- He never stated that a Trump defeat would mean widespread election fraud was proven
- He never used the term Marital Law – this is an interpretation
- Of course the rule of law should be followed in the case of a discovery of fraud, no-one could say this is unjustifiable.
- The quote given by snopes wasn’t the beginning or the end of the discussion and a crucial part was not recorded, which is why context is so important.
Pre-Snopes quotes
Roger was talking about a potential Democratic party coup with Alex Jones and discussed the following.
Roger: The entire coup attempt failed when Nikki Hailey blew the whistle, denied, refused to join the coup and told the president. Not because she’s a hero but because she’s a neo-con looking down the road and understand the popularity of Trumpism within the Republican party
Alex: She knows what happened to the people who stabbed Julius Creaser, it didn’t end well.
Roger: We are now in a situation where they are telegraphing their punches; Trump is going to lose the election, he’s going to refuse to leave the White house, the military is going to replace him. Pelosi has said it, Schumer has said it, Nadler has said it, Schiff has said it, Biden has said it, kamala has.
These statements are scenario discussions based on what has been reported to be said by Democrats. he then war games further:
Roger: You [Democrats] are going to steal the election, and if you think Trump and his supporters are going to stand down and let that happen you are dreaming.
Roger then talks about funding, but concludes by saying
Roger: But I still honestly believe in my heart that if only voters who are entitled to legally vote because they are citizens, vote, and they vote once, Donald Trump will be elected President. The ballots in Nevada on election night should be ceased by federal marshals and taken from the state. they are completely corrupted, no votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if that turns out to be the provable case.
Post-Snopes quotes
After the snopes quote ended the discussion actually continued
Roger: I do not advocate preventive detention, but people who commit crimes and think they can continue to get away with it because we have two tiered justice, are just wrong.
The to and fro between Alex and Roger is simply a “What if?” scenario, at no point does Roger stone say he wants Martial Law or that the president is going to enact it in the event he loses the election.
Evidence
The Infowars show archive is here: https://banned.video/watch?id=5f5ab321af4ce8069e7478a0
An embedded clip of the discussion quoted is here:
The supporting evidence snopes provides is commentary by Democrat supporting news outlets, no other Republican supporting view is offered, and thus snopes bias is revealed.
