Election Result Denying 2.0 - Here we go

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, an Arizona election fabulist of the highest order, made that abundantly clear Sunday on CNN, refusing, well in advance, to accept the result of November’s election – unless she wins.

“I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” said Lake, presumably enjoying a life unbound by rules or common sense.

Then let’s brace ourselves because there are hundreds – literally hundreds – of Kari Lakes running for office. And I don’t think Americans are prepared for the destructive tornadoes of lunacy that will touch down in the wake of the November midterm elections.

A recent New York Times investigation put the number of Republican candidates who have “questioned and, at times, outright denied the results of the 2020 election” at more than 370.

Per the report: “The Times investigation found that about 70 percent of Republicans running for Congress had questioned the election of President Biden, who won seven million more votes and 74 more electors than Mr. Trump. Of those, nearly two-thirds are favored to win their races, according to the Cook Political Report, which provides race ratings for Congress and governor.

We are right to be worried about the election-denying candidates who might win their races, as they can never be trusted to choose country over party. But what about the ones who lose, whether it’s the aforementioned Republicans seeking congressional seats or other I-win-or-they-cheated right-wingers vying to become secretaries of state or state attorneys general?

Imagine dozens upon dozens upon dozens of mini-Trumps scattered across the country, all screeching, without one scintilla of evidence, that an election was stolen from them. Our republic has held despite Trump’s best efforts to destroy it to salve his fragile ego, but can we really expect our judicial and legislative guardrails will hold up to a small army of Trumpian clones with egos of their own to protect?

So what will we see once the votes are counted in November? Every election denier declared the winner will celebrate a free and fair election. Every election denier who loses will scream “FRAUD!” and refuse to accept the results. In some states you’ll have two candidates saying opposite things about the same election, depending on whether they won or lost.

It won’t make sense to those who believe in democracy, but those who’ve embraced the cult-like mindset of election denialism will buy into it, and they’ll cheer the chaos that ensues.

So what can Democrats, Republicans who haven’t let Trump’s lies melt their brains, and reasonable people in between do when the post-election tornadoes of lies and garbage start spinning and threatening the already weakened structure of our democracy.

For starters, vote. Whatever your political leaning, a candidate who refuses to believe fact from fiction or accept the results of our electoral process has no business getting elected, and it will take a multitude of right-thinking voters to deny them. Vote them into dust.

Next, loudly defend reality. Most of the election deniers running for office are opportunistic grifters selling out both country and soul for a chance at power. Some actually believe their own nonsense and are hermetically sealed in a conspiratorial echo chamber.

The only way to stop any of them is to shout them down, to shun believers of this dangerous fiction, to make clear there’s no room in civil society for people who have the audacity to say the kind of things Kari Lake said Sunday on national television: “I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result.”

What? Are you serious? That isn’t how we do things in this country. Not even close. Pack that gibberish in your suitcase and don’t let the door hit you on the way out, weirdo.

We need to stand firm against what’s coming. We need to anchor ourselves to the truth and face these post-midterm tornadoes head-on.

Because make no mistake, they’re coming. And they’re a danger we can’t ignore.