Conservative lays out a game plan for defeating 'Big Lie' promoters in the 2022 midterms

Liberal and progressive critics of GOP-sponsored voter suppression bills have been slamming them for the many ways in which they make voting more difficult and inconvenient, such as reducing early voting or limiting absentee ballots and voting by mail. And it is no coincidence that Republicans in state governments are trying to make voting harder in areas that lean Democrat; Texas Republicans, for example, have been singling out Harris County (which includes Houston) and Travis County, two of the most Democrat-friendly counties in the Lone Star State.

But as bad as those things are, something much more sinister and nakedly authoritarian is coming from the voter suppression movement: an effort by “Stop the Steal” MAGA Republicans to take over the administration of elections and put themselves in a position to simply throw out any election results they don’t like. Some promoters of the Big Lie — the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump — have been winning GOP primaries in their states, from far-right Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano to Jim Marchant, the QAnon ally who is Nevada’s GOP nominee for secretary of state. Far-right conspiracy theorist Kari Lake, the frontrunner in Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial primary, is campaigning on the Big Lie.

Nevada Trump conservative and Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin, in her June 19 column, lays outs some ways in which Big Lie promoters and “Stop the Steal” candidates can be defeated in the 2022 midterms.

“More than 100 Republican election deniers, according to a Post analysis, will be on the ballot in November,” Rubin explains. “The question now is what we as a country must do about that.”

Rubin continues, “As a preliminary matter, no one should doubt that election deniers must be kept from public office. Republicans who continue to fan the ‘Big Lie’ of a stolen election are either nincompoops or liars, and are therefore a threat to two essential elements of democracy: the sanctity of elections and the peaceful transfer of power. They are incapable of abiding by the oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and should be disqualified from office.”

Rubin warns that a “full-court press” to “defeat election deniers running at the state level for secretary of state, attorney general and governor” is “essential to prevent a rerun of Trump’s attempted coup in 2024 and beyond.”

“‘No election deniers running elections’ seems a simple enough message,” Rubin writes. “As of yet, there seems to be no coherent plan to achieve that basic goal. Hoping the nuttiest contenders in these contests for election-related posts will lose is not a viable plan; it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Rubin goes on to lay out some ways in which “the media, Democrats, independents, sane Republicans, donors and retired officials” can help “defend the sanctity of elections”: (1) “The media has an obligation to identify the election deniers running for these critical roles, confront their lies and refuse to treat them like ordinary politicians”.… (2) “Democrats from President Biden on down must focus their fire on election deniers and persuade voters that no policy issue justifies putting these people in office”…. and (3) “Responsible Republican politicians” such as Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and “sober Republican donors” should “use their influence to defeat the deniers.”

“In an ideal world, this sort of unified campaign would be marshaled against election deniers running for all offices, including for the House and Senate,” Rubin explains. “But given the sheer number of candidates who pose a threat to the country, democracy defenders would do well to focus on those running for posts with the power to certify elections.”

Rubin continues, “The most immediate concern should be to safeguard the country from future coups. Is it too much to hope that a broad coalition across party lines could commit to defeating candidates who have made clear they don’t respect truth or elections? If so, our democracy is on life support.”