'Shut down the circus': Wisconsin paper decries Trump's voter fraud conspiracies as even key GOP figure distances himself

On Wednesday, the Wisconsin State Journal Editorial Board tore into former President Donald Trump's ongoing conspiracy theories about the presidential election in an editorial demanding the GOP "shut down the circus" of Arizona's partisan "audit" — and noted that even one of the most powerful Republicans in the state has started to run away from the nonsense.

"Gullible Trump believers have spread the conspiracy theory that tens of thousands of ballots from China were dumped into Arizona's vote total so President Joe Biden could win," noted the board. "Despite no evidence to support the wild accusation, Arizona has gone on a state-sanctioned search for bamboo fibers in the paper of ballots in Maricopa County, where most Arizona voters live."

Even Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos, a far-right Trump ally who hired former police officers to help investigate election conspiracy theories, is starting to back away from this, noted the board.

"Rep. Dave Murphy of Greenville, one of four GOP lawmakers who made the trip to Phoenix, is so deep into Trump deception that last week he criticized his own Assembly leader for his skepticism. Murphy called Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, 'foolish' for joking about" the Arizona China theory, the board wrote. "The Arizona audit — appropriately dubbed a 'fraudit' on social media — won't be completed until later this summer by Cyber Ninjas, an unqualified and provocatively named company whose top executive is a Trump supporter."

Some Republicans have been pushing to do similar audits in other states that President Joe Biden carried narrowly — but now the whole thing has become an embarrassment.

"Instead of traveling to Arizona and trying to bring its ginned-up political drama to Wisconsin, Murphy ... and the others should focus on the real challenges facing Wisconsin citizens, such as the dire workforce shortage, looming evictions, rising gun violence and polluted waterways," concluded the board. "Murphy and his pals should focus on Wisconsin's future, not Trump's tired past."

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