The real - and far scarier - reason Republicans think Biden is illegitimate

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/21/republicans-biden-trump-election-democracy


Earlier this month, Team Trump claimed in court that their efforts to nullify Joe Biden’s victory could not possibly have been fraudulent or be described as a criminal conspiracy, because those in and around the White House had merely been acting on the basis of sincerely held suspicions.

This sparked the latest round in the never-ending debate over whether or not Republicans actually believe that the election was stolen from them. Politically, it is important to push back against the opportunistic ways in which Republicans up and down the country have been using the “big lie”. But if we are trying to understand what is animating the right’s rapidly accelerating radicalization against democracy, binary assumptions of Republicans as either true believers or power-hungry cynics are not very helpful and actually obscure more than they illuminate. In some fundamental way, Republicans are both. What we really need to grapple with is why so many Republicans are convinced the outcome of the election was illegitimate regardless of whether or not there were specific procedural irregularities.

Surveys have consistently indicated that a clear majority, probably about two-thirds, of Republicans consider Biden an illegitimate president. It’s highly likely that many of them are well aware that some of the specific conspiratorial claims emanating from the right – fake ballots? Lost ballots? “Illegals” voting? – are bogus. But they don’t seem to care about the specifics. They just believe Biden shouldn’t be president.

What is most alarming is the underlying ideology that leads so many on the right to consider Democratic victories invalid – even if they concede there was nothing technically wrong with how the election was conducted. It has become a core tenet of the Republican worldview to consider the Democratic party as not simply a political opponent, but an enemy pursuing an “un-American” project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian patriarchal nation into a land of godless multiracial pluralism. Conversely, Republicans see themselves as the sole proponents of “real” America, defending the country from the forces of radical leftism, liberalism and wokeism.

*snip*

[meadowlander]

1. The same reason they hated Bill Clinton.

He won.

How far down into the psychiatry of poor loserdom do we need to delve?

[Boomerproud]

3. Thank you. I don't have enough time left on earth to care about

why they're angry 24/7.

[live love laugh]

57. THIS 👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼... it's simply because Biden STOLE THE STOP!!!

[JHB]

11. Hell, take it back to 1960

The election was "stolen" from Nixon. Doesn't matter that if Illinois has gone Republican, Kennedy still would have won.

Conservatives found it too useful to wave around "they stole it" aggrievement whenever they lost to keep everyone on board and charged up, instead of compromising (that, apparently is for quislings).

[heckles65]

23. To this day you'll hear

that the Democrats won in 1960 by Richard Daley having people go around Chicago graveyards writing down names and then casting those votes on Election Day.

Nixon didn't make himself into the dangerous buffoon Trump did in 2020, but he did believe the 1960 election was stolen from him. The fact is, Republican operatives did investigate votes in Illinois and elsewhere, but found that most fraud favored themselves.

[JHB]

40. Yup. Whenever the subject of "stolen election" is brought up...

...some conservative will reflexively whip out "1960".

[PatSeg]

28. Oh yes

They went after Bill and Hillary Clinton the entire time they were in the White House. Clinton was viewed as an usurper, not entitled to be President. They are the ultimate poor losers. If they can't win, they turn over the board.

[monkeyman1]

38. It's the sore loser syndrome! Lard -ass couldn't handle it !!

[PatSeg]

39. They had the White House for 12 years

and apparently thought it was going to be forever, as if it belonged to them. A lot of republicans were also bitter about Nixon's fall from grace and seemed to take it out on Democrats.

[heckles65]

43. It's funny

but I've hear right-wingers say Clinton was not such a bad president, why can't Obama/Biden be like that? -Talk about gaslighting.

[PatSeg]

51. Yes, once they no longer have any power

and aren't a political threat, then they aren't so bad. Republicans are just terrible losers, so I suppose it should come as no big surprise that they embraced the whole "the election was rigged" routine from Trump. They are the world's biggest whiners.

[FM123]

2. They really do believe this:

"It has become a core tenet of the Republican worldview to consider the Democratic party as not simply a political opponent, but an enemy pursuing an “un-American” project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian patriarchal nation into a land of godless multiracial pluralism."

[Mad_Machine76]

5. Yep

and because they believe all that, they feel completely and totally justified in using whatever means necessary, including subversion of democracy, to prevent that from happening.

[Volaris]

32. The thing is tho, we can all add. We KNOW that 2+2 equals 4

and if they think the answer should be ANYTHING ELSE, I really dont give a fuck what they believe, because ADDING THINGS is how vote counting works in this country.

And if THATS what they dont like, I'm sure theres land in russia they can go live on, as theres plenty of it.

[maxsolomon]

6. There's almost no way to disabuse them of this belief.

The Propaganda supporting it is relentless and protected by the 1st Amendment.

It should be noted that this is what Putin/Russia thinks the West is doing to them as well.

[KPN]

17. That has been obvious to many of us here at DU for

a decade or so now. We have been viewed as an “enemy” of the nation by hardline Republicans for quite some time. Some have been slow to wake up to that. Some still are — especially in the MSM (think Chuck Todd as a great example). Or maybe I give them too much credit — and they see progressives/liberals as “commies” as well.

[PatrickforB]

21. Yes, he does not seem to get that. I have another nickname for the Chuckster.

It ain't pretty, so I won't share here.

But he is a ridiculous little man who does not understand that one entire political party no longer supports this democratic republic.

[OMGWTF]

18. There's no hate quite like Chrisitan love.

[milestogo]

20. And the right wing churches have joined wholeheartedly in this effort.

Never mind that their views of American history and the Constitution are factually incorrect.

[babylonsister]

4. To me this just proves they're delusional

or very uneducated. Who in their right mind thinks violence will change the outcome?

And I'm not a fan of so many generalizations. I suspect there are plenty of republicans who are as disgusted by the clown show we're seeing as we are.

[maxsolomon]

7. The ones that are mostly keep their heads down.

Even R-Money doesn't talk about the crazy much.

[Mad_Machine76]

8. They need to speak up then and say something

If they don't like it, they should be challenging it, even if it just means refusing to vote for the awful Republicans. Otherwise, they are just implicitly accepting it and continuing to perpetuate it. The only way Republicans are going to significantly change there have got to be electoral consequences. They may be able to gerrymander things so that it's hard for Democrats to unseat them but good-meaning Republicans (to the extent they exist) can deprive of them of the votes they still need to win.

[Wednesdays]

25. They are.

The Lincoln Project is a good example. Also people like Ana Navarro, George Will, and Bill Kristol, who are conservative but not Kool-Aid cultists, and are outspoken against TFG. Unfortunately, they're quitting the Republican Party en masse, or are being muscled out of it.

[Mad_Machine76]

29. I was thinking more rank-and-file voters

but those more high profile ones are important too. The problem for me is that they're still supporting Republicans, just not the worst ones. For some of them, it was more of a Trump thing than a Republican thing in general.

[FakeNoose]

9. Some Repukes might actually believe this

Some Repukes might believe that only THEY should be allowed to vote because they're the only TRUE righteous Americans. Chump nurtured this garbage during his run, and still does because he thinks it benefits him. However I cannot believe that enough members of the GOP have actually been completely brainwashed to believe this. It's not possible unless we've already gone through the Looking Glass.

Yes the GOP is maybe 10% - or even 15% - crazy but that's not enough to steal an election. All we need are the faithful Democrats to show up and vote, every single time. Can we count on Dem voters and intelligent independents? I hope so.

[Irish_Dem]

10. The GOP is fighting the Putin battle of autocracy vs democracy here in the US.

It is a proxy war fought on behalf of Putin.

GOP and Putin goals are the same.

[wnylib]

26. The financial elite in the US, our equivalent to

Russia's oligarchs, push the "true Americans" line in order to gain and hold middle and working class voters who will keep the US oligarchs in power so they can serve their own interests.

So they feed the narrative that white working and middle class people EARN their way but minorities get special consideration and benefits that they have not earned and are therefore taking from whites without giving back anything to society. Add to that the belief that American democracy was created exclusively by white Christians and that "the others" are freeloading outsiders and you get the belief that only white Christians are "true Americans."

This is why RWers don't want real history taught in schools. They do not want Americans to think about the national buildings that were built by enslaved Black people, or to know that Black inventors gave us such commonly American things as peanut butter and Jack Daniels whiskey, not to mention their contributions to science like innoculations against disease, and many others not openly acknowledged, although well documented.

They don't want people to know about the contributions to the founding of our republic and to the Constitution by Native Americans like the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) League. They don't want people to know about the contributions to medicines and to botany and other sciences by Native Americans, or their military contributions in war time. They don't want people to know that Asian Americans (mostly Chinese) built the railways across the nation in the 19th century or that they have contributed to science and medicine and continue to do so. They don't want to know or believe that Jews and Muslims were contributing to science, literature and medicine since colonial times.

They cling to a childish narrative that the US was built solely by 3 groups - the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the Puritans at MA Bay, and the colonists of Virginia, with supporting help from the other white Christian colonists.

The financial elite don't care if the white narrative is true. They only care about reinforcing it in order to create a loyal following of voters to keep them in power to protect their own interests.

[burrowowl]

35. You nailed it!

[Love4u]

48. Agreed

Well said.

[Irish_Dem]

42. Exactly, American oligarchs push the GOP party line.

Here is the deal:

- GOP wants total and permanent power.
- Oligarchs want unlimited access to all US wealth.
- GOP voters want white christian minority rule.

And yes GOP leaders and the oligarchs spew the propaganda you outlined so well. All so that the PutinGOP agenda becomes reality.

[czarjak]

56. Sum Game.

[riversedge]

12. I think there is something to this article.

need to read again

[Arazi]

13. Good article. K&R

[tecelote]

14. "...a land of godless multiracial pluralism."

'Sounds good to me.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Me too. . . . . nt

[Pinback]

19. Ha! Was just about to post this when I saw you'd beaten me to the punch.

If only that could be considered a mainstream idea in this country. I plan to spend the rest of my life working toward such a reality.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. "acting on sincerely held suspicions". The Big Lie was promoted as fact, so court filing is bogus

Courts do not like bogus filings, if the specific bogosity is pointed out or is self-evident.

[ificandream]

22. K&R. This is something that doesn't get explained enough.

[zaj]

24. This goes back to radical claims that "America is a Christian nation"...

... and those who claimed that always believed that the godless Democrats (and all their allies) are illegitimate.

It's just spread way past that core radicalized group. And expanded past Christianity into all sorts of bonkers RW ideas.

[Wounded Bear]

27. They've been brainwashed and conditioned to believe that only they can win elections...

Last edited Tue Mar 22, 2022, 11:11 AM - Edit history (1)

only they are legitimate. They think they are in the majority.

[Celerity]

55. That is it in a nutshell.

The chilling thing is every day the percentage of Rethugs and Rethug-adjacents who believe in killing (if need be) their opponents increases. Decades of RW scientific dehumanisation tactics have paid off.

Combine the following 4 things:

White nationalism, an undying theory of life that demands white control of all major levers of power

RW Fundie Christianity and it's endless brutal misogyny/patriarchy

Natural authoritarian, fascist proclivities, and a brainwashed belief in the rule of the rich BECAUSE the RW almost all believe they will soon be rich as well

Brutal hatred and racism against most all minorities, especially blacks and LGBTQ, with a true ultimate (and 'seldom spoken of' as people do not like to run game theory to points that make them uncomfortable to certain levels) endgame of the restoration of chattel slavery along with deportation, and even death if need be.....

and you have the modern RW and Republican Party. It will also only get worse, as they have passed the point of no return, the internet has seen to that.

[TlalocW]

30. I've gone down a rabbit hole of watching prophets - tangentially related to an interest of mine

And I'm convinced that, especially since the creation of the religious right/moral majority/etc., "men of God" have been convincing their parishioners that God agrees with everything they do, and since the creation of these super-Xtians, more and more republican candidates realize to make inroads with them have to claim God wants them to run, and then whoever the nominee is becomes automatically anointed by God, and it becomes a vicious, self-feeding, circle. Also, all the candidates, even the losing ones, have to parrot the Christian line, reinforcing that no matter what God is on their side.

So when Trump, who evangelicals worked overtime to try to get to appear Christian because he would basically do whatever they wanted him to, and he gave them permission to hate even more openly than they had been, lost, it wasn't just an election, but the Devil stealing something from them and thus God.

Seriously, at this point, all they need are belt buckles inscribed with, "Gott Mit Uns," on them.

TlalocW

[LiberalArkie]

31. The weird ones I hear down here outside of Little Rock say that people who should not have

voted are the ones that elected Biden. They mean: non-land owners, coloreds, those not born in the United States and those whose ancestors were not born here.

They really think that.

[Marcuse]

33. After you beat them, join them.

[Joinfortmill]

34. The truth laid bare. It's raw racism.

[ancianita]

36. The godless multiracial pluralism part? That's the part they'll crank up to 11 for Kamala

a core tenet of the Republican worldview to consider the Democratic party as not simply a political opponent, but an enemy pursuing an “un-American” project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian patriarchal nation into a land of godless multiracial pluralism.

[KS Toronado]

37. I hope enough Rs feel the ballot box is against them,

that they'll just stop voting.

[scardycat]

41. From what I heard is they think ....

Joe Biden was assasinated and the Joe Biden at the White House is ...get this...A ROBOT!!! SMH

[EarthFirst]

45. Have they abandoned the Reptilian CT?

Or is that within the Venn Diagram?

[JHB]

52. If it's nucking futs, it's within the Venn diagram

[Takket]

46. i don't even think repukes know what they are mad at.......

they are like a child throwing a temper tantrum that can't even tell you why they are crying.

i certainly saw drumpf as in illegitimate president, but we had good reason. Russian misinformation effecting voters, Russian money flooding his campaign, Russian loans influencing his decisions....... rethugs just hate Biden because they are sore losers.

[Mopar151]

47. A Republican tradition, since Joe McCarthy!

The John Birch Society, "Godless Communists", on, and on, and on.

[usaf-vet]

49. ///

[Kid Berwyn]

50. Ergo, GOP equals treason.

As they no longer preserve, defend or uphold the Constitution.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

53. Great article!

This part is the heart, the core of what they believe:

It has become a core tenet of the Republican worldview to consider the Democratic party as not simply a political opponent, but an enemy pursuing an “un-American” project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian patriarchal nation into a land of godless multiracial pluralism. Conversely, Republicans see themselves as the sole proponents of “real” America, defending the country from the forces of radical leftism, liberalism and wokeism.

It cannot be stated enough.

[GB_RN]

54. I Hate These People.

I have never once seen them as “not Americans”.

UnAmerican, not-American, or unworthy of being American? No.

Crazy as fuck? Hell yes.

But I’m tired of being called the enemy, unAmerican, etc. This shit is how the Soviets and Nazis/fascists operated, FFS.

[Martin68]

58. Republicans have long been contending that being a Democrat is "un-American." Pure McCarthyism.