One thing that distinguishes Trumpite election denialism from earlier versions is that it starts with Trump's narcissistic pathology and turns it into a political doctrine immune to evidence. Trump said beforehand that if he lost, it was necessarily fraudulent. His cult followers took the same position: that Trump couldn't conceivably lo…
One thing that distinguishes Trumpite election denialism from earlier versions is that it starts with Trump's narcissistic pathology and turns it into a political doctrine immune to evidence. Trump said beforehand that if he lost, it was necessarily fraudulent. His cult followers took the same position: that Trump couldn't conceivably lose a fair election, because they revered him and couldn't believe that so many people detested him.
It's a religious faith, which evidence cannot break through. Some, when questioned, have actually said that nothing would persuade them that the election wasn't stolen -- just as some said that nothing Trump did could ever make them stop supporting him.
On top of that is the sweeping distrust of American institutions that runs through the MAGA right wing, which has been intensified by Trump's disdain for institutional norms and laws. When institutions have attempted to hold him to the rule of law, Trumpites accuse them of perfidiously hamstringing or attacking the Duly Elected President who represented the Will of the American People.
When longstanding institutions, including a fair number of Republican officials, attested that the election was not stolen, Trumpites had their rejoinder teed up: It was all the Deep State waging an unholy war on Trump, and those GOP officials were backstabbers. So MAGA world - in the name of "draining the swamp" - is aiming to seed the institutions with MAGA loyalists who would not commit the sin of putting institutional integrity or rule of law above the wishes of Donald Trump or any of his acolytes.
One thing that distinguishes Trumpite election denialism from earlier versions is that it starts with Trump's narcissistic pathology and turns it into a political doctrine immune to evidence. Trump said beforehand that if he lost, it was necessarily fraudulent. His cult followers took the same position: that Trump couldn't conceivably lose a fair election, because they revered him and couldn't believe that so many people detested him.
It's a religious faith, which evidence cannot break through. Some, when questioned, have actually said that nothing would persuade them that the election wasn't stolen -- just as some said that nothing Trump did could ever make them stop supporting him.
On top of that is the sweeping distrust of American institutions that runs through the MAGA right wing, which has been intensified by Trump's disdain for institutional norms and laws. When institutions have attempted to hold him to the rule of law, Trumpites accuse them of perfidiously hamstringing or attacking the Duly Elected President who represented the Will of the American People.
When longstanding institutions, including a fair number of Republican officials, attested that the election was not stolen, Trumpites had their rejoinder teed up: It was all the Deep State waging an unholy war on Trump, and those GOP officials were backstabbers. So MAGA world - in the name of "draining the swamp" - is aiming to seed the institutions with MAGA loyalists who would not commit the sin of putting institutional integrity or rule of law above the wishes of Donald Trump or any of his acolytes.