Donald Trump’s discredited allegations about a stolen election did nothing to save his presidency months ago
WASHINGTON — Allegiance to a lie has become a test of loyalty to Donald Trump and a means of self-preservation for Republicans.
Trump’s discredited allegations about a stolen election did nothing to save his presidency when courtrooms high and low, state governments and ultimately Congress — meeting in the chaos of an insurrection powered by his grievances — affirmed the legitimacy of his defeat and the honesty of the process that led to it.
Now those “Big Lie” allegations, no closer to true than before, are getting a second, howling wind.
Republicans are expected to believe the falsehoods, pretend they do or at bare minimum not let it be known that they don’t. State Republican leaders from Georgia to Arizona have been flamed by Trump or his followers for standing against the lies.
Only a select few Republicans in Washington are defying him, for they, too, know that doing so comes with a cost.
Trump led his party in an election that cost Republicans the presidency and their Senate majority while leaving them short of taking over in the House. For all that, the party’s brute-force Trump faction is ascendant as Republicans place their bets on the energy and passions of his core supporters in the approach to the midterm elections next year.
That bet requires a suspension of disbelief when Trump makes his fantastical claims about a rigged election.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trumps-big-lie-imperils-republicans-embrace-77585639