Which is a shame, because the GOP does have a lot to offer. It is unreasonable to expect a Democrat to believe that a Republican plan is offered in good faith – or grounded in fact – when a large majority of the GOP is going along with, or even espousing, a baldfaced lie. It robs Republicans of credibility and prevents many of their legitimately good ideas from being considered, let alone enacted. Yet as bad as election denialism is for Republicans, it is worse for the country. The losing streak is both recent (in May, Jacksonville elected a Democratic mayor for just the second time in 30 years) and long-term (Republican presidential candidates have won the popular vote just once since 2004, and even that was almost 20 years ago.) In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate and aggressive election denier Doug Mastriano was trounced by 15 points in a swing state.Įlection denialism is not only unpopular it is preventing Republicans from taking an honest look at why they keep losing elections. It is not surprising that, in 2022, the candidates who leaned hardest into election fraud – like Herschel Walker in Georgia, Kari Lake and Blake Masters in Arizona, and Adam Laxalt in Nevada – lost races in states where other Republicans who downplayed election conspiracies managed to win. Even among Republicans who believe the election was stolen, 48% admit there’s no evidence to prove it. Roughly 65% of Americans believe that the 2020 election was free and fair, according to a slew of polls. Most cynically, it harms Republicans in elections. Now, it is up to a different Republican to show some courage and break another spell, this one of Trump’s making: that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. They had credibility again, and thus could meaningfully contribute to national security. They no longer had to lie and tell voters that up was down and a mistake was a victory. Republicans no longer had to tie themselves to an unpopular war. Bush, a Republican, decided to invade Iraq, and most Republicans then still abided by Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” military personnel killed or wounded (and the thousands more who would commit suicide back home), the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead, and the three trillion dollar price tag were such overwhelming costs that no outcome in Iraq could possibly justify them.Īnd yet, Trump had the courage to say what everyone knew was true and wasn’t allowed to say. He stood up, in the middle of a GOP primary debate, and said “ the Iraq War was a big, fat mistake. For Party and Country: The GOP Must Call Out the Election Lie – In 2016, Donald Trump did the Republican Party – and America – a huge service.
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