Via Talking Points Memo Evening Briefing:
RNC Makes It Official: Election Denialism Is Part Of Republicans’ 2024 Strategy
Just hours after Donald Trump made it clear on Truth Social that he intends to continue delegitimizing democracy in 2024 if he doesn’t win, The Washington Post published a story on the Republican National Committee’s alarming criterion for new hires.
After RNC staffers were told last month that they were being let go as part of a Trump-backed eviction, staffers were told they could reapply for their jobs. The process for reapplying for those positions has involved sitting down for interviews with senior Trump advisers, according to the Post. Those interviews involve answering questions about whether they think the 2020 election was stolen, people familiar with the interviews said. Per the Post:
“Was the 2020 election stolen?” one prospective employee recalled being asked in a room with two top Trump advisers.
It’s a litmus/loyalty test, as TPM describes it.
The larger conclusion to be drawn from this is that Republicans are going to continue to attack the legitimacy of elections in the country, complete with more CT, intimidation efforts at the polls, and potential violence. Election officials are preparing for the worst with extensive security precautions; a number are retiring. This is one of the symptoms of a failing state.
I for one would be feeling more assured if Attorney General Merrick Garland would announce the DOJ and the FBI would be ramping up a major effort to ensure election integrity — NOW — instead of after the fact. Homeland Security too. Alas, I rather expect Garland would prefer to avoid anything that might be seen as a provocation by the Right. (Someone needs to tell him that ship sailed long ago.) If Democrats keep the White House and can get control of both chambers of Congress, Job One should be passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Even if Trump wins, expect this GOP narrative to be set in stone as ‘official truth’. If he loses, January 6 may end up looking like just a warm-up. Trump and the MAGA Party will be pushing election denial with intimidation and violence as hard as they can. The TPM briefing concludes with this:
Trump and his lackeys at the helm of the Republican Party are telling us loudly and clearly that they intend to do just that.
UPDATE: Digby has more of the WaPo story on RNC Big Lie screening for loyalty.