The political world’s worst kept secret:
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) revealed what election deniers actually say behind closed doors as a slew of reality-defying candidates run as Republicans in next week’s 2022 midterms.
“It was always a lie. The whole thing was always a lie. And it was a lie meant to rile people up,” the Texas Republican said of the lie that Donald Trump was cheated by widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election during the latest episode of his “Hold These Truths” podcast.
“I’ve talked about this ad nausea, it really made me angry,” the former Navy SEAL told election reform advocate Nick Troiano. “Because I’m like, the promises you’re making that you’re gonna challenge the Electoral College and overturn the election, there’s not even a process for you to do that. It doesn’t even exist.” [HuffPost]
But it’s worth noting that this is a logical and dishonorable consequence of what I’ll call The Gingrich Dictum, which, summarized, is Win at any cost! Deny the Democrats any victory! By putting victory over honesty, over honor, we end up in seeing Crenshaw’s observation, people who may think they’re doing something for the good of the country, or are just pursuing power, position, and ego, but are, instead, endangering the country because they’re empowering interfering Russians, discouraging the electorate’s confidence in our long-developed systems, and causing intense divisiveness.
This arrogance needs to be stopped.
