Eric Lutz, writing for Vanity Fair:
“One of the frightening things about all this is how easily these lies go down, how little effort is required of the people selling these fictions to get the base to buy them. A CNN poll released Sunday found that 59% of Republicans say believing Trump won the 2020 election is at least a somewhat important part of being a Republican. It’s not just that Trump has never provided evidence in court to support his fraud claims; it’s that he’s never defined what the fraud is supposed to be.”
“But this is what makes the conspiracy theories so durable: By never fully nailing down what, precisely, he’s accusing his opponents of doing, their efforts to disprove his allegations can never quite extinguish them. Those lies may not have helped Trump against Biden in 2020—despite the efforts of 139 House Republicans, who, notably didn’t challenge their own victories last November—and they may not help Elder and his fellow GOP hopefuls against Newsom now in 2021. But the more Republicans invest in these insidious lies now, perhaps, the more likely is that they will pay off for them down the road.”
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