"Republican leaders in Pennsylvania are freaking out about the possibility that GOP voters on Tuesday might nominate candidates whose election denialism could lead to defeat in November. If that happens, they have only their cowardice to blame.
Republican voters widely believe the myth that the 2020 election was stolen despite an utter lack of convincing evidence. In private, Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), have angrily denounced former president Donald Trump’s fevered fulminations. In public, however, few say what they know to be true: Trump lost because he alienated too many GOP-leaning, college-educated suburbanites. Most have demurred from confronting Trump, allowing election lies to spread.
The result is that a vocal minority of Republicans want to rectify 2020 in the coming midterms. These people are not a majority; if they were, former senator David Perdue of Georgia would be winning his challenge against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp rather than trailing him badly in the polls.
Still, the 20 to 30 percent of the party dedicated to the untruths of a stolen election can carry the day in multicandidate races with no runoff. That’s what could happen in Pennsylvania, where state Sen. Doug Mastriano and Kathy Barnette could capture the party’s nods for governor and U.S. senator, respectively.
Both candidates attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot, although there’s no evidence that either participated in the violence. They also organized buses for others to attend, and Mastriano has continued to agitate for audits of the election in Pennsylvania and Arizona. These candidates are not people who were duped by disinformation and have since moved on; they are active propagandists of a myth that serves no purpose other than to undermine faith in American democracy.
It didn’t have to be that way. Republican leaders could have come out publicly in December 2020 after Trump’s court challenges failed to produce even the slightest evidence of fraud. They could have united to say that voters have spoken and that it’s our patriotic duty to rally behind the result, even if we disagree with it. Many did that in private, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who lobbied his caucus against challenging the electoral college results. But most Republicans shrank from an open challenge to Trump, wrongly believing his anger would eventually subside.
Even the Capitol riot failed to roust them from their stupor. No GOP leader has made speeches from the floor presenting evidence to disprove Trump’s lies. No third party has been surreptitiously engaged to fight the battle for public opinion in conservative media. Trump’s continued fixation on 2020 is obvious to all, yet no one in any leadership position will push back when he tries to make his toxic claims the central issue of the midterms.
The fault does not simply lie with political leadership. No major conservative media outlet has systematically tried to push back against the lies. Imagine if Fox News had invested resources into reviewing Trump’s claims and showed how spurious they are. Imagine if one of its hosts had commissioned an investigative report airing these facts. Trump once said he would love to debate someone on 2020 fraud; imagine the ratings bonanza that could have been. No one on the right took up the offer.
Now Republican leaders might have to face their worst nightmare: having to choose between backing prominent election denialists or running away from their own nominees. If they choose the former, they raise the profile of an issue they know will push moderates away from the GOP, even if those voters disapprove of President Biden’s performance. If they choose the latter, they do so without any plausible explanation for voters who have been allowed to believe the lie of a stolen election. Why should they believe party leaders who belatedly declare such beliefs as beyond the pale for the party?
Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying that Americans can be trusted to do the right thing only after they have tried everything else. Republican leaders have tried everything else and failed to suppress the stolen election myth. Maybe it’s time for them to do the right thing."
Henry Olsen
Trump hurt himself, hurt the Republican party, and forever tarnished the electoral process in this country by repeating the "Big Lie" falsehood every time he opened his mouth, despite all the dismissed court cases and all the evidence that there was zero widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election when he lost to Biden.
Kmgw9v wrote:
"Republican leaders in Pennsylvania are freaking out about the possibility that GOP voters on Tuesday might nominate candidates whose election denialism could lead to defeat in November. If that happens, they have only their cowardice to blame.
Republican voters widely believe the myth that the 2020 election was stolen despite an utter lack of convincing evidence. In private, Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), have angrily denounced former president Donald Trump’s fevered fulminations. In public, however, few say what they know to be true: Trump lost because he alienated too many GOP-leaning, college-educated suburbanites. Most have demurred from confronting Trump, allowing election lies to spread.
The result is that a vocal minority of Republicans want to rectify 2020 in the coming midterms. These people are not a majority; if they were, former senator David Perdue of Georgia would be winning his challenge against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp rather than trailing him badly in the polls.
Still, the 20 to 30 percent of the party dedicated to the untruths of a stolen election can carry the day in multicandidate races with no runoff. That’s what could happen in Pennsylvania, where state Sen. Doug Mastriano and Kathy Barnette could capture the party’s nods for governor and U.S. senator, respectively.
Both candidates attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot, although there’s no evidence that either participated in the violence. They also organized buses for others to attend, and Mastriano has continued to agitate for audits of the election in Pennsylvania and Arizona. These candidates are not people who were duped by disinformation and have since moved on; they are active propagandists of a myth that serves no purpose other than to undermine faith in American democracy.
It didn’t have to be that way. Republican leaders could have come out publicly in December 2020 after Trump’s court challenges failed to produce even the slightest evidence of fraud. They could have united to say that voters have spoken and that it’s our patriotic duty to rally behind the result, even if we disagree with it. Many did that in private, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who lobbied his caucus against challenging the electoral college results. But most Republicans shrank from an open challenge to Trump, wrongly believing his anger would eventually subside.
Even the Capitol riot failed to roust them from their stupor. No GOP leader has made speeches from the floor presenting evidence to disprove Trump’s lies. No third party has been surreptitiously engaged to fight the battle for public opinion in conservative media. Trump’s continued fixation on 2020 is obvious to all, yet no one in any leadership position will push back when he tries to make his toxic claims the central issue of the midterms.
The fault does not simply lie with political leadership. No major conservative media outlet has systematically tried to push back against the lies. Imagine if Fox News had invested resources into reviewing Trump’s claims and showed how spurious they are. Imagine if one of its hosts had commissioned an investigative report airing these facts. Trump once said he would love to debate someone on 2020 fraud; imagine the ratings bonanza that could have been. No one on the right took up the offer.
Now Republican leaders might have to face their worst nightmare: having to choose between backing prominent election denialists or running away from their own nominees. If they choose the former, they raise the profile of an issue they know will push moderates away from the GOP, even if those voters disapprove of President Biden’s performance. If they choose the latter, they do so without any plausible explanation for voters who have been allowed to believe the lie of a stolen election. Why should they believe party leaders who belatedly declare such beliefs as beyond the pale for the party?
Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying that Americans can be trusted to do the right thing only after they have tried everything else. Republican leaders have tried everything else and failed to suppress the stolen election myth. Maybe it’s time for them to do the right thing."
Henry Olsen
"Republican leaders in Pennsylvania are freak... (
show quote)
More BS, Republicans are not freaking out lol. Lefties are freaking out because they know their time in power is almost at it's fascist end.
Kmgw9v wrote:
Trump hurt himself, hurt the Republican party, and forever tarnished the electoral process in this country by repeating the "Big Lie" falsehood every time he opened his mouth, despite all the dismissed court cases and all the evidence that there was zero widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election when he lost to Biden.
Hey, Kmg, the democrats are in for a woopin come November, you can deny all you want but I suggest that you stock up on Kleenex tissues.
Kmgw9v wrote:
Trump hurt himself, hurt the Republican party, and forever tarnished the electoral process in this country by repeating the "Big Lie" falsehood every time he opened his mouth, despite all the dismissed court cases and all the evidence that there was zero widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election when he lost to Biden.
The "BIG LIE" is the Lefties manufactured Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy BS.
Racmanaz wrote:
The "BIG LIE" is the Lefties manufactured Trump/Russia collusion conspiracy BS.
Ha! What are the Dems going to do if there's finally proof the "Big Lie" was the "Huge Truth"? Whether there was enough voter fraud to beat Trump, there was certainly a big, fat media thumb on the scale of public perception. If they had showed Biden for exactly the man he is, Putin himself could have beat him.
Blurryeyed wrote:
Hey, Kmg, the democrats are in for a woopin come November, you can deny all you want but I suggest that you stock up on Kleenex tissues.
This how corrupt the repukes are
dirtpusher wrote:
This how corrupt the repukes are
What, winning elections and addressing the needs of the middle-class I guess if you are a Biden progressive that would seem a bit corrupt to you.
Blurryeyed wrote:
What, winning elections and addressing the needs of the middle-class I guess if you are a Biden progressive that would seem a bit corrupt to you.
Not hardly how bout big lie that never happened gerrymandering an few other
dirtpusher wrote:
Not hardly how bout big lie that never happened gerrymandering an few other
Cry me a river, Democrats take Dirty Lying Politics to new levels year after year.
InfiniteISO wrote:
Ha! What are the Dems going to do if there's finally proof the "Big Lie" was the "Huge Truth"? Whether there was enough voter fraud to beat Trump, there was certainly a big, fat media thumb on the scale of public perception. If they had showed Biden for exactly the man he is, Putin himself could have beat him.
Media helped Biden out my a*s. Trump got more free press in the 2016 election than anyone I've ever heard of. In the 2020 election he took every advantage of being president that he could. What has Biden done wrong that you would have done better? He's not a perfect president, but who is? Trump sure wasn't and whoever succeeds Biden won't be either.
Blurryeyed wrote:
Cry me a river, Democrats take Dirty Lying Politics to new levels year after year.
That your demonics Talkin now
thom w wrote:
Media helped Biden out my a*s. Trump got more free press in the 2016 election than anyone I've ever heard of. In the 2020 election he took every advantage of being president that he could. What has Biden done wrong that you would have done better? He's not a perfect president, but who is? Trump sure wasn't and whoever succeeds Biden won't be either.
You are such a deceptive little liar. Yes, Trump did get more free press in 2016, but the mass majority of the free air time was negative against Trump. That's hardly a benefit towards Trump.
How many Republican maps were tossed?
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