Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft effectively admitted last week that his party has concocted from whole cloth the assertion that election fraud was rampant in the 2020 election and therefore justifies the draconian new voting restrictions that Republicans have been jamming through state legislatures around the country. There was minimal to no discernible fraud. The effect on the election outcome was nil.
But to hear Republican leaders around the country talk about it, election irregularities and fraud required immediate action. The election was stolen. President Donald Trump was robbed of his rightful second term.
It was, of course, utter nonsense. But the stolen-election myth has been repeated so often that nearly 60% of Republicans accept it as fact. So many were convinced of the stolen election, thousands gathered near the White House on Jan. 6 and followed Trump’s instructions to march up to Capitol Hill and “fight like hell” to stop the fraud.
