The president’s supporters believe that the votes of rival constituencies should not count—even though they understand, on some level, that they do.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 Adam Serwer Staff writer at The Atlantic
Trumpism demands the profession of beliefs that are neither strictly literal nor exactly figurative, but instead statements of ideological values that don’t fit neatly in either category. These statements are not amenable to journalistic fact-checking, because they are not factual claims; they are assertions of identity and political legitimacy that are incontestable on their own terms.
To Trump’s strongest supporters, Biden’s win is a fraud because his voters should not count to begin with, and because the Democratic Party is not a legitimate political institution that should be allowed to wield power even if they did.
Read HERE.
Kim Ward, the Republican majority leader of the Pennsylvania Senate, said the president had called her to declare there was fraud in the voting. But she said she had not been shown the letter to Congress, which was pulled together hastily, before its release. Asked if she would have signed it, she indicated that the Republican base expected party leaders to back up Mr. Trump’s claims — or to face its wrath. “If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’” she said about signing the letter, “I’d get my house bombed tonight.” Read HERE.