Clarion Ledger: “Rumors that the Democratic National Convention would have Beyoncé as a special guest ricocheted through the media last month.
Alas, despite her song “Freedom” being the official Harris-Walz theme song, Beyoncé did not make an appearance at the DNC. Was it a mistake that, because of the pop icon rocket fuel driving it, achieved escape velocity and took on a life of its own? Was it a trick? Former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer thought he knew, saying, “the Beyoncé rumor was just a Harris ploy to inflate ratings.”
Such gamesmanship would only be the latest in a long tradition. Political trickery can range from benign — booking rally venues with a max capacity of 75% of the estimated turnout to create an illusion of overwhelming demand is a classic tactic — to nefarious — the release of the forged Zinoviev letter four days before the 1924 British general election which falsely purported to be a letter from the head of the Communist International created an illusion of foreign meddling that changed the election outcome — to world changing — see the anecdotes on Darius the Great and Caesar Augustus below.”