Start the Steal

Submission 230

Part of a series on Stop the Steal. [View Related Entries]

About

Start the Steal or #StartTheSteal is an ironic online movement and hashtag used by Democratic voters to jokingly suggest that they are blatantly and purposefully rigging the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election in favor of Kamala Harris by voting multiple times, destroying ballots and other means. The memes are a response to the 2020 Stop the Steal movement and began appearing online in the following years. They were largely popularized in early November 2024 leading up to Election Day in the U.S.

Origin

The term "start the steal" in reference to knowingly and purposefully stealing an election started to see increasing use after 2020's "Stop the Steal" movement, a response largely from Republican voters to Joe Biden's 2020 election win, that stemmed from the unfounded belief that Biden unfairly won.

Between 2020 and 2024, the term was largely used to criticize the movement and flip it on its head by suggesting that, ironically, the Republicans wanted to steal the election back from Biden in response to his legitimate win.^[1]

The phrase also started to become the subject of memes in which Democratic voters ironically encourage people to rig the election in order to win. For example, on March 8th, 2021, TikToker^[2] @stephenofthe90s posted a video in which he jokingly suggested that progressives "start the steal," garnering around 4,200 views in three years.

The meme started to become notably popularized in the days leading up to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. For example, on October 28th, 2024, X^[3] user @fthnr200004 posted, "START THE STEAL," garnering around 60 likes in a week. This is the earliest known, relevant use of the term relating to the 2024 election.

Spread

The phrase and hashtag "#StartTheSteal" continued to grow throughout November 2024. On November 1st, 2024, X^[4] user @Shark3ozero posted, "Start The Steal," garnering over 380 likes in four days. On November 4th, X^[5] user @FreonCat posted a comic in which a character votes multiple times, writing above the comic "start the steal," garnering over 2,300 likes in a day.

Later that day, X^[6] user @Punished_Jess posted an image of the U.S. electoral college map colored mostly blue under the hashtag "#StartTheSteal," garnering over 400 likes in a day. On November 5th, X^[7] user @awawawhoami posted, "START THE STEAL," garnering over 43,000 likes and 3,000 reposts in under a day.

Also on November 5th, 2024, X^[8] user and content creator @jaubreyYT posted a selfie, writing, "Just voted 76 times in Pennsylvania #StartTheSteal," garnering over 30,000 likes in under a day.