Social Media Takes On Jill Stein's Recount

If you're a political progressive who's active online, then you've probably already heard what the Green Party;s 2016 presidential nominee is up to. Jill Stein is crowdfunding an effort to finance recounts in the crucial swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and she's already blown past her initial fundraising goal of $2.5 million, and a subsequent goal of 4.5 million. But is she on the level? Opinions on social media vary pretty widely ― here are 13 tweets about Stein's election recount mission, from people who're excited, cautiously optimistic, and of course, suspicious the whole thing is an elaborate scam or a troll game.

It's not hard to see why someone would take the latter route. Stein made no secret of her disdain for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton throughout the 2016 campaign, routinely launching attacks against Clinton with more vigor and passion than those she made against Trump, even once remarking that "the answer to neofascism is to defeat neoliberalism." The notion that she would take this action to try to benefit Clinton at Trump's expense, while intoxicating for many progressives, does not seem like a safe bet.

Suffice to say there's been a varied reaction to the news on Twitter, especially as the deadline for Wisconsin is upon us (the last day to file for a recount there is Friday, November 25th). Here are 13 tweets about the Stein recount effort, some laudatory and some, shall we say, skeptical.

1. Nothing Is Surprising Anymore

2. Audit The Academy Awards

3. An Unforeseen Purpose

4. Her New Folk-Rap Album

5. Make Jill Stein Do It

6. A Few Thousand Votes

7. Jill Stein Next Week

8. Weird, Isn't It?

9. A Shadowy Hero

10. That's A Lot Of Cereal

11. What A Difference Twelve Hours Makes

12. The Liberal Ben Carson?

13. If It Was A Scam

Suffice to say, at the same time as there's a lot of anticipation about the impending recount filings, there's also a lot of suspicion that Stein's efforts can't be trusted. Wherever you fall on that scale, though, you should keep in mind that with the margin of victory Trump enjoyed in Pennsylvania ― more than 60,000 votes ― it'd be a virtual miracle for a recount to change anything.

As such, you may want to halt some of these last-ditch, fantastical hopes running through your mind and start settling in for the long, hard slog of the Trump era, because progressives over the next four-to-eight years are going to need to fight tirelessly to preserve rights and norms that have long been taken for granted.