On Tuesday, writing for The Washington Post, conservative columnist Max Boot outlined how Republicans are rapidly moving from conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, to making active plans to steal the next one.
"Republicans have spent nearly seven months making bogus charges of fraud in the 2020 election under the banner of 'stop the steal.' Now they have segued into a 'start the steal' offensive to ensure that they will win the 2022 and 2024 elections — even if most voters once again support the Democratic Party," wrote Boot.
This, he noted, is exemplified by the flurry of bills around the country to restrict the vote, one of the most egregious being the bill in Texas that Democrats just temporarily blocked, but also laws in Georgia and Arizona that would make it easier to overturn election results.
"This brings us to a nightmare scenario: a Republican-controlled Congress overturning the 2024 presidential election results to install Trump or a Trump mini-me in the White House," wrote Boot. "In January, 139 House Republicans and eight Senate Republicans voted not to certify electoral college results in at least one state. Since then, the most prominent GOP opponent of the 'big lie,' Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), has been purged from the House leadership. Willingness to lie about election fraud has become a litmus test for Republicans, with the implicit threat of mob violence if they don't go along. Republicans are so scared of Trump and his fanatical followers that most of them just voted against a bipartisan investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol."
And if Republicans take control of the House next year, Boot warned, they theoretically have the power to do this.
"I hope I am being overly alarmist. I really do," concluded Boot. "But after the storming of the Capitol — and the Republican failure to hold the instigators to account — we have crossed a Rubicon. The best way to protect our electoral system is to pass the For the People Act, which would curb partisan gerrymandering and protect voting rights. Senate Democrats have to choose between saving the filibuster and saving democracy. They can't do both."
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