Deeley, then the chair of the Philadelphia board of commissioners, was subjected to threats from Trump’s supporters that for a time required her to have a security detail. “It was the most unbelievable experience,” Deeley told me. “It should never happen.” Her account is, of course, just one frame in America’s never-ending feature of election chaos.
” America got a taste of those circumstances on January 6, 2021, as months of “rigged election” conspiracy theories, harassment of election officials , and underhanded schemes to overturn Trump’s election loss gave way to violent insurrection.