But proof of fraud is not the point of this claim or any other Paul, Trump and various Republicans have made over the last year — or, really, over the last decade. As Paul’s tweet stated more clearly than Republicans typically do, their claims about voter fraud, stolen elections and “election integrity” are merely euphemisms for the GOP’s actual belief that “people voting for Democrats” is enough to render an election entirely illegitimate. A Democratic victory is, by definition, the result of theft.
This is the core belief of the modern Republican Party, which reacted to the 2020 election by spreading lies about election fraud, attempting to overturn Trump’s loss, and fomenting a riotous insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, all because Trump lost what numerous Republican, Democratic and independent election observers have repeatedly called the safest, most secure and most audited election in American history. When that didn’t achieve their desired result, they institutionalized the aims of the insurrection, passing more than 30 new laws to restrict voting rights and asserting new levels of partisan control over local and state election systems ahead of the next presidential contest. |
