Columns

Even though the various claims of evidence alleging a stolen 2020 election — “The Big Lie” — have been exhaustively investigated and litigated and found wanting, a May 21, 2021 Ipsos/Reuters Poll found that over half of Republicans believe Donald Trump is the actual President of the United States. And Trump’s stronghold over the Republican party remains. His refusal to concede the 2020 election and calls of widespread fraud have raised doubts about the integrity of its results among his Republican base. Consequently, 56% of Republicans believe the election was rigged or the result of illegal voting, and 53% think Donald Trump is the actual President, not Joe Biden. 

“The Big Lie” refers to Trump's false claim that the election was stolen from him through massive fraud, and eventually led to Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6. “A big lie (German: große Lüge; often the big lie) is a propaganda technique used for political purposes, defined as "a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body.” This German expression was "coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”  

Larry Elder, the top Republican seeking to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in the September 14 recall election declined before the election to say whether he could accept the results. A website affiliated with his campaign asked visitors to “sign a petition to stop the fraud of the California recall election.” BothTrump and Elder’s campaign falsely claimed fraud even before California votes were counted. You can bet this will be an ongoing Republican tactic. 

That so many gullible Americans would believe The Big Lie in spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and Trump’s history of lying, is irrational. And especially since the Republican Party’s policies are generally unpopular. If Republicans came clean about those policies, they would rarely win free and fair elections. Republicans want to turn back to the Jim Crow era "by keeping Black and brown and other members of Democratic Party’s base from voting.” 

Trump and his sycophants are intent on keeping “The Big Lie” in the public eye as long as possible to undermine the integrity of future elections and give impetus to state voter suppression laws. The Big Lie has given eighteen states justification to pass new voting laws in the past six months. Republican-dominated legislatures have also stripped secretaries of state and other independent election officials of their power. 

In addition, the third audit (or "fraudit" as some have called it) is now being conducted in Maricopa County, Arizona, ten months after the election by the Cyber Ninjas, a company hired by the Republican-controlled Arizona state Senate, who have no experience in conducting election audits. (The name “Cyber Ninjas” itself doesn’t inspire confidence.)  

Other Republican-controlled states will continue this farce unless the U.S. Department of Justice steps in to end this likely violation of federal election laws. For example, a Wisconsin lawmaker has taken the unprecedented step of demanding clerks in two counties turn over all ballots and voting equipment used in the 2020 presidential election for a “cyber-forensic” review of the results. And Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers voted to subpoena Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration for voter records, communication between state and county elections officials, and other documents as they investigate the 2020 presidential election 10 months after Joe Biden’s victory.  

Clearly, Congressional Republicans will oppose any federal voting rights legislation. 

As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” It’s time for Americans to wake up and repudiate Trump and his The Big Lie. Our very democracy is at stake. 

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*. This is an updated version of my The Big Lie Continues. 

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