The 2020 presidential election is over, and the Congressional Republicans are ready to move on. They are trying to placate Donald Trump and his supporters, while also showing sympathy for his lies regarding voter fraud. They are also trying to change the subject for President Joe Biden, and Democrats in Congress. Trump will not allow his party to change gears. He insists on resolving the matter eight months after his defeat. He is threatening to do the same thing in 2022 as he did in Georgia this year, mobilizing Democratic voters and sinking Republican candidates by making him the center of the election.AdvertisementKevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, made a pilgrimage two weeks ago to Trump's resort in Bedminster. He requested that Trump help the GOP retake Congress and nominated Trump loyalists for the investigation into the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. McCarthy's flattery and favors seem to have left Trump unsatisfied. The former president demanded more from Republicans to investigate and reverse his loss in a speech he gave to the Conservative Political Action Conference on July 11.AdvertisementAdvertisementTrump made a mockery of Republicans who begged him to forget the past on Saturday. He told them, "Well, sir. We have to move on to the future." If you don't find out how [Democrats] cheat, your future in 22 and 24 is not possible. While he touched on other subjects, he kept the monologue to himself in each instance. He insisted that the real crime was his crime against himself, and that the cancel culture was the suppression of his fraud claims.AdvertisementTrump ran a nearly two-hour-long tirade, stating a number of bizarre theories, including that postal workers had systematically discarded his supporters' ballots. Trump adds another complaint whenever a court or audit fails in his lie-denials. He cannot find fake mail ballots so he accuses election officials for failing to produce them. He complains that the ballots were printed on thin paper. So he refers only to documents that may have been fraudulent. He cannot find any evidence of electronic tampering so he accuses his adversaries of erasing evidence. He demands the routers and any other pieces of equipment he believes is damning if scanners or voting machines are intact.AdvertisementAdvertisementTrump's madness can be seen in the growing number of Republicans, including state officials and congressional leaders. He has also denounced his own appointees for not validating his lies. After attacking the Georgia governor and secretary-of-state, Trump then went on to attack the governor of Arizona as well as Republican state legislators from Michigan. He has accused Bill Barr and his former attorney general of being intimidated by threats to impeachment. Trump considers any official who fails to prove election fraud evidence evidence of a conspiracy against Trump.A normal politician, even one who is crooked, will look at poor election results and wonder what went wrong. Trump thinks he did everything right and the results are incorrect. Trump claims that his rallies were well attended so it is unlikely his votes were counted. Trump claims that Biden was too inept and Democrats too crazy to win as many votes as they did. They cannot win elections without cheating.AdvertisementAdvertisementTrump cannot believe that those who voted for Republicans on the ballot did not vote for him. He is stunned by Trump's loss in the state elections, where GOP wins were a surprise. He sees two possibilities. He believes that either the legislators were more popular than Trump or election manipulators counted Trump's votes but not his. He concludes that the first explanation is unlikely, and therefore, the second must be true. He recounts the story about a Republican candidate from Arizona, who told him, after outpolling Trump that it was impossible for me to get more votes than you.Trump won't let go of his fraud fantasies. He defines truth through feelings and not evidence. He told the Phoenix audience that you know when you win and lose. He joked at CPAC about how he judge polls. If it's bad, I'll just call it fake. He said, "Thats the most accurate poll possibly ever." But he also stated that he does not judge evidence in this manner. He pointed out that a 2016 poll predicted he would lose Wisconsin. But, he won the state. That's a fake poll. In 2020, however, it was the opposite. His most respected pollster assured him that he would win but he lost Wisconsin. His pollster would be blamed by any other politician. Trump claims his pollster was correct, and the results are incorrect.AdvertisementTrump will not accept McCarthy's talk about taking over the House next year. He is determined to be vindicated immediately. He is suing for fraud in Texas and New Hampshire, and he continues to do so. He is requesting prosecutions and his own reinstatement on the ground that the presidency, just like stolen jewelry must be returned. He implied that Republicans had the right to seize Georgia's electoral votes as the state couldnt accurately count them.Trump could cause serious damage to his party if he retains control over the GOP and makes his demands central to the midterms. There are good reasons to believe that hell do both. He said that the lesson from Georgia was that the party needed to talk more about 2020's alleged fraud. This is absurd, yet Republican leaders continue to praise Trump and laugh at his lies. Partly, they fear him, and partly, it's because he only cost them two seats in Georgia. He could be costing them even more next year.
