Former President Donald Trump has solidified his control of the Republican Party nearly a full year after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
In a new analysis for TIME magazine, Philip Elliott says the GOP is "beholden to All Things Trump and fearful of seeming to give him or his allies even a moderate setback."
"Since Election Day of last year, the GOP has been in sustained panic. Trump lost handily at the polls in an election that saw him compete for bombast but not technocratic accomplishments. Trump banked on the false belief that loud superseded competent and came up short. In defeat, he decided to claim the election was stolen. Trump tried—with zero success or credibility—to argue the whole affair was rigged and should be set aside," he explained.
He cited a new study by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution.
"More than two-thirds of Republicans believe it. For those who watch Fox News, that number is 82%. For consumers of far-right news—think Newsmax and OAN—that number reaches near universal belief, at 97%," he explained. "The findings follow a similar May survey from the same pollsters and suggest a hardening of the belief that Trump is the rightful winner of the 2020 vote. In other words, the grievance is growing and the misinformation metastasizing."
Read the full analysis.
