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(Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

I like to play this mind game: Suppose the Democrats did what the Republicans are now doing, or vice versa? How would the parties react if their positions were reversed?

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Republicans have insisted for years that the results of the 2020 election shouldn’t be accepted. But now it’s getting worse.

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Sniveling cowards are auditioning to be Donald Trump’s choice for vice president. To land the role, people must debase themselves by insisting in ever-louder terms that they won’t believe election results unless Trump wins.

For Trump himself, this is standard fare. In a recent interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he said that, “If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results. … If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”

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For years, Republicans have insisted that the 2020 election results weren’t fair — not because the election results weren’t fair, but because Trump would attack Republicans if they spoke the truth. Now, as folks grovel to become Trump’s vice presidential choice, the bootlicking has become even worse.

Most recently, Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina, joined in Trump’s insanity on “Meet the Press” on May 5:

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Kristin Welker: Will you commit to accepting the election results of
2024, bottom line?

Scott: At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States
will be President Donald Trump. …

Welker: Yes or no? Will you accept the election results of 2024, no
matter who wins?

Scott: That is my statement.

Yes, Tim Scott, we understand. I hope the rest of the country is as unforgiving as I am.

Play my mind game. Suppose Joe Biden said that he wouldn’t accept the result of the 2024 presidential election unless Biden wins. What would Tim Scott — or any other Republican — say?

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First, of course, Republicans would say that Biden’s statement is silly: “If Biden wins the election, he’ll accept the results, but if he loses, he won’t? That’s a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose situation. No sane person could say that. Biden’s obviously mentally incompetent.”

Second, Republicans would crucify Biden for being un-American. The country survives only because the candidate who loses an election accepts that result. If Biden won’t go along with that idea, he must be some kind of commie.

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Lastly, Republicans would insist that Biden’s statement threatens civil war: If the Democrats won’t accept election results when Democrats lose, and Republicans won’t accept election results when Republicans lose, then elections are meaningless. The peaceful transfer of power is impossible. The only question is who controls the military. Biden’s statement threatens to turn the country into a run-of the-mill dictatorship.

The Republicans who would say these things would be absolutely right.

So are the Democrats who are saying these things about Republicans today.

Two closing thoughts:

First, why aren’t Republicans ashamed of themselves for supporting Trump, when he spews stuff that cuts at the heart of what we all supposedly believe in? People can’t be this stupid, so they must be discounting what Trump says; he doesn’t really mean that he wouldn’t accept an electoral defeat. But if you have to discount the most fundamental thing that a presidential candidate says, how can you support that candidate?

Second, will Americans ultimately come to their senses? Twenty years from now, when Trump is long gone, will Scott (and all the rest) turn to their kids or grandkids and say, “I can’t believe I ever spoke such idiocy. I was overcome by an insatiable quest for power and must have taken leave of my senses.” Or will Republicans still be insisting that elections are meaningless? If this is not just the temporary insanity of the Republican Party, how does the country deal with that?

Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].

Topics

2024 Election, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Mark Herrmann, Politics, Tim Scott