The ‘big lie,’ loyalty to Trump – and the defense of democracy

The “big lie” may be getting bigger.

With former President Donald Trump pushing down from the top, and voters from his base pushing up from their states and local areas, the stolen-election falsehood has spread beyond the presidential level into lower political contests.

• In California, Trump-backing talk show host Larry Elder posted a “Stop Fraud” page on his campaign website where voters could post affidavits of suspicious activity prior to the Sept. 14 recall, won handily by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. 
• In Nevada, Senate candidate Adam Laxalt – whose father and grandfather were senators – has talked about mounting preemptive legal challenges, 13 months prior to elections. 
• In Pennsylvania, gubernatorial candidate Lou Barletta wrote that “we’ve always known that dead people have voted in Pennsylvania elections, but recently we’ve made it so they don’t even have to leave the cemetery to do so.”

The bottom line is that false fraud charges have sown real mistrust about U.S. elections – and further polarized an already divided country. Going forward, it seems likely that the battle for more political offices won’t end on Election Day.  

“We’re entering a period in which what were once nonpartisan and widely accepted means for determining election outcomes are now becoming partisan and contested,” says David Hopkins, a political scientist at Boston College.

Washington

The “big lie” may be getting bigger.

Former President Donald Trump has long claimed without evidence that Democrats stole the 2020 election, a falsehood that his opponents have dubbed the “big lie.” At a rally in Georgia last week, Mr. Trump expanded this claim to hint – also without evidence – that former President Barack Obama actually lost his reelection race in 2012.

“Nowadays with these elections, who knows if he won?” said Mr. Trump to the roars of supporters gathered at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry.

It has been almost 11 months since last November’s presidential vote. Since then, Mr. Trump has worked hard to broaden and deepen the reach of his false election night statement that “frankly, we did win this election.”

He has continued to push for reexamination of the votes in key states, despite the recent “forensic audit” in Arizona’s Maricopa County,  increasing President Joe Biden’s winning margin. In many states, he is pushing preferred candidates for secretary of state, a post that oversees elections.