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Although 2020 was probably an outlier in the volume of shouting and shenanigans about stolen elections, I'm pretty sure partisans, even moderately respected ones, have made "stolen election" claims about every presidential campaign since at least 2000.
Not like Trump did. He refused to concede and he and his close associates pushed all manner of blatant nonsense that failed to get any traction because of a stark lack of evidence.
As with many things, it’s not that no one else in politics has ever done Bad Thing, it’s that Trump finds a way to take things to a new level.
Like Mrs. Clinton's ginned-up "collusion" theories in 2016? Those managed to derail half a presidential term.
This is a hilariously weak whataboutism.
The evidence for election rigging was nonexistent.
At least Russiagate had enough evidence to put a few people in jail.
“Derail half a term”
Oh come on. What derailed a whole term is that Trump is an incompetent leader and he ran a clown show. Trump was the biggest setback for Trumpism.
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This rhetoric is indistinguishable from the rhetoric we get served by the media about every Republican candidate every election.
Except this time it’s true.
And one can prove that by ignoring the media rhetoric and listening only to longtime Republicans and former Trump officials who have condemned Trump for a very long list of his personal and professional failings.
It’s funny because one thing so many Trump fans like about him is that he isn’t like normal politicians and doesn’t comply with various norms that supposedly made regular GOP politicians weak. Problem is, some of norms Trump has violated involved actual breaches of the law.
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If Trump really believed the election was stolen he would have launched a civil war.
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