The consistent Republican narrative since 2016 has been that elections can be rigged by outside forces, even in Republican-controlled states. This rampant election rigging and voter fraud, as they often erroneously call it, is such a problem that they have lined up Secretary of State candidates committed to rigging elections the “right way.”
But there’s a pitfall to claiming every election is fraudulent, as some Republicans are starting to see. If you tell people over and over for years that elections are rigged and there’s no way to fix the tampering, then you end up sending two messages. The first is that you are ineffective. The second is that there is no point in voting—the vote tallies are lies and no one in power cares.
All of this came together as a die-hard follower of the former guy caught the attention of far-right-wing Republican Dan Crenshaw and picked a fight about the big lie.
You created this monster, buddy. This is the result. Your own base now no longer trusts you. Prepare for some brutal Republican primaries.
In related news, Mike Dewine, the Republican governor of Ohio, thought he had made inroads with Trump conservatives after serving as state chairman for the Donald J. Trump re-election campaign. Nope. The moment Gov. Dewine acknowledged Joseph Biden’s victory, Trump cast him out. And now, Dewine will face a Republican primary that could turn bitter quickly, and will certainly link Dewine directly to problems in Ohio.
Even college Republicans are busy tearing themselves apart in arguments about who is right and what to do next.
The Republican primaries and in-party disputes in 2022 will be significant. The Conservative News Service has openly called to primary Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill, blaming them for the abject failure of Trump’s infrastructure initiative. They do leave out the part where Trump never actually proposed anything for any legislator to really look over and work on. It was just something that would be coming, at some point, any day now.. and then, it never came through.
Will Republican voters be fed up in 2022 and vote against the senators who signed on and primary them? It’s possible. It may be why several voted against it. They created a monster in their own party. Now, the question is: Do they know what will happen, or, are they prepared to have it tear them into pieces?