âTrump won!â they roared. âTrump won!â
The former president agreed. âWe won the election twice,â he said, âand itâs possible weâll have to win it a third time.â
Eight months after he lost convincingly to President Joe Biden, Trump and his followers are studiously maintaining an alternative reality â and having remarkable success keeping the fiction alive. Almost two-thirds of GOP voters told pollsters in one recent survey that theyâre still convinced the election was stolen â a number that hasnât changed much since November.
This isnât a harmless exercise in political puffery; it deepens the polarization of American politics and weakens democracy. The charge that the election was stolen doesnât merely flatter Trump; itâs also an attempt to delegitimize Biden. It makes it politically dangerous for Republicans in Congress to collaborate with the administration â for why would anyone loyal to Trump negotiate with a usurper?