It’s tough to know who is the weakest cog in the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the US election result.

There’s Donald Trump himself, whose 46-minute speech earlier in the week was a clear illustration of just how out of touch with reality he has become.

Then there’s Rudy Giuliani, who shouts and sweats but achieves very little of substance.

We won’t dig deeper into the other members of the campaign’s legal team, because it’s a wild ride, but we must talk about Melissa Carone, who appeared before a Michigan house panel on Wednesday.

Carone claims she was working on election night at the TCF Centre in Detroit as a contractor for Dominion Voting Systems, which has been at the centre of baseless claims of voter fraud and vote switching.

Her performance was compared to a Saturday Night Live character, with VICE saying she “is an absolute trainwreck”.

Tough to disagree, but before we see her in action, let’s set the scene:

The hearing in Lansing on Wednesday evening was part of the Trump campaign’s latest gambit to try and keep the president in office. With lawsuits being laughed out of court on an almost daily basis, Giuliani’s latest tactic is to try to convince lawmakers in states President-elect Joe Biden won to flip their electoral college votes to Trump (Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes).

To do this, they’re trying to convince the lawmakers that the vote was rigged. To do this, Giuliani was granted permission to question witnesses, a highly unusual situation given that lawmakers typically question those who come before the committee.

First, he called on this woman, who had an interesting take on voter fraud:

‘I think all Chinese look alike. How can you tell? If some Chow shows up, you can be anybody and you can vote.’ — A witness called on by the Trump campaign and Rudy Giuliani during a hearing at the Michigan state house. pic.twitter.com/9m0lPy9Yla

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) December 3, 2020

“If some Chow shows up, you can be anybody and you can vote.”

That didn’t go well, and there was Carone, who claims she saw widespread fraud at the TCF Centre.

You know things are going pearshaped when Rudy himself leans over and tells you to shush:

I mean, she’s actually slurring, and even the Republican questioning her is incredulous.

Fun fact – Trump himself thought Carone was so credible that he shared another clip of her performance on Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/VDJRAW94ki

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2020

Imagine touting all the witnesses you have, and this is the best you can trot out:

Carone told the state representatives in Lansing on Wednesday night that she’s “had to get rid of social media.”

However, a quick review of her Facebook page, which has a #Trump2020 hashtag in its bio, shows that she updated her page late on Wednesday evening with a picture of her alongside a beaming Giuliani, and updated her cover photos with a screenshot of her appearance on the Lou Dobbs show on Fox News on Wednesday.

Again, it would all be so laughable if it didn’t have real-world consequences for those caught up in the lies.

[sources:vice&washpost]