CNN: “It is an internet battle cry: Stop the Steal has swept across inboxes, Facebook pages and Twitter like an out-of-control virus, spreading misinformation and violent rhetoric — and spilling into real life, like the protest planned for DC this weekend. But while Stop the Steal may sound like a new 2020 political slogan to many, it did not emerge organically over widespread concerns about voting fraud in President Donald Trump’s race against Joe Biden. It has been in the works for years.”

“Its origin traces to Roger Stone, a veteran Republican operative and self-described ‘dirty trickster’ whose 40-month prison sentence for seven felonies was cut short by Trump’s commutation in July. Stone’s political action committee launched a ‘Stop the Steal’ website in 2016 to fundraise ahead of that election, asking for $10,000 donations by saying, ‘If this election is close, THEY WILL STEAL IT.’ He first trotted out the slogan during the 2016 primaries – claiming a ‘Bush-Cruz-Kasich-Romney-Ryan-McConnell faction’ was attempting to steal the Republican nomination from Donald Trump – before re-upping Stop the Steal for the general election. ‘Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are going to steal the next election,’ his website said that October. Stop the Steal briefly resurfaced around the midterms in 2018 – with the GOP employing the hashtag during a recount in a neck-and-neck Florida senate race – but it wasn’t until 2020 that it really caught fire.”