Big Lie Republicans are Doubling Down

By DICK POLMAN

You’ve probably never heard of Roger Marshall. After you read this, you may never want to hear from him again.

Marshall is a freshman Kansas Republican senator who punched his MAGA ticket back in January by voting to overturn the free and fair presidential election. Recently, CNN host Pamela Brown asked him to explain himself.

BROWN: “A recent CNN poll found that 70 percent of Republicans continue to believe in the lie that the last election was stolen. You voted to toss out millions of votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania. You also joined the Texas lawsuit attempting to throw out votes cast in four states. I’m curious. Looking back, do you have any regrets about your actions and any concern that they contributed to misinformation about the election?”

MARSHALL: “Look, Pamela, we’re just so ready to move on. I made a decision based upon the facts that I knew at that point in time…but it’s time to move on. It’s time for this country to heal. It’s time for a spirit of forgiveness to be happening. It’s time for this country to work together and focus on the goals that we can solve together…It’s time to move on.”

Let’s pause right there. This guy, who voted to overturn the election hours after MAGA loons lethally stormed the Capitol, is now claiming that Republicans like him should not be held accountable because “it’s time for a spirit of forgiveness to be happening,” and we should all just “move on.”

But there can be no “spirit of forgiveness” if those asking to be forgiven refuse to admit they were wrong. And Marshall still insists he was not wrong. Let’s hit the play button.

BROWN: “As we try to ‘move on’…how does that line up with wanting to throw out millions of votes, the advocating for millions of votes to be thrown out in several states?”

MARSHALL: “Pamela, we want voting to be easier, cheating to be harder … to make sure we (have) safer elections with higher integrity, again, making it easier to vote, but harder to cheat. So in my heart, I did what I thought was the right thing.”

Hang on. What cheating? Didn’t more than 60 lawsuits unearth a dearth of cheating? Didn’t Bill Barr (Trump’s Tom Hagen) admit in a statement that there was virtually no cheating? Didn’t the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (headed by a Trump appointee) announce after the balloting that “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” and that, in fact, the election was “the most secure in American history”?

So how can Marshall claim that Republicans like him want to “move on” when they’re still invested in lying? Let’s hit the play button again.

BROWN: “But there was no evidence of widespread fraud, as you well know … So what (are) you basing that on?”

MARSHALL: “We don’t know how much fraud or cheating there was or wasn’t. All I ever asked for is just get all of the evidence into one room at the same time and have this discussion so that elections – so we could restore election integrity once again. And right now America doesn’t have much faith in the election process.”

BROWN: “But do you see why a big reason they wouldn’t is because lawmakers (keep) sowing doubt … Does it concern you that so many Americans still don’t have faith based on the actions and rhetoric from elected leaders?”

MARSHALL: “Pamela, we’re kind of going in a circular argument and I’m not wanting to make this argument. I stand beside what I said that I thought that there was fraud.”

You see the problem. Marshall and his fellow flunkies don’t want to “move on.” They want to double down.

They’re booing Senator Mitt Romney for his votes to protect democracy. They’re bent on ousting Liz Cheney from the House leadership team because she’s had the temerity to warn her party that the MAGA mentality is “poisoning our democratic system.” They’re willing hostages to a cult of (twisted) personality, with no apparent route of escape. And the best they can do is go on TV and lie anew while seeking “forgiveness.”

How much can President Biden do to heal this country when one party won’t even acknowledge that his democratic ascent was legitimate? When one party doubles down on lies and flirts with authoritarianism?

Long ago, we were warned that we might face “despotism” if a sizeable share of citizens sought “security and repose in the absolute power of an individual,” thus leading to “the ruins of public liberty.” So said George Washington, upon leaving office in 1796. Only when our democracy is secure can we truly “move on.”

Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at dick polman7@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2021

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