"Moreover, the mainstream Republican position is that the 1/6 rioters were right in principle even if wrong in practice—that is to say: the election was stolen . . ." Is this right? I don't follow US politics super closely but my understanding was that this was a minority position (albeit a substantial minority). Who are the mainstream figures arguing this?
In multiple polls, a clear majority of Republicans say Biden's election was either certainly or probably illegitimate. Here's an example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/07/republicans-big-lie-trump/. I think Republican officials vary in how they deal with this widespread point of view. Few endorse wild conspiracy theories about hacked voting machines or ballots coming from China. Far more common are claims that actions by courts, election officials and nonprofits to make voting easier during the pandemic amounted to theft because in practice they boosted Democratic turnout. Here's an example from Senator Rand Paul: https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1475542595673763848. Then of course there is the former president, who has repeatedly made the most outrageous and demonstrably false claims, and routinely refers to the election as having been stolen.
To a considerable extent I think there's a semantic two-step going on, where both Democrats and Republicans want to blur the line between disagreement over what constitutes a fair way to run an election and whether an election result was legitimate. Democrats want to blur that line in order to anathematize Republican views on voting rights. Republicans, though, want to blur it in order to cater to their Trumpist base.
I think this two-step is extremely destructive and needs to stop. Democrats can fight furiously to protect and expand voting rights, and call that a defense of democracy, without suggesting that anyone who favors voter I.D. laws implicitly approved of storming the capitol. More important, though, Republicans have to be unequivocal that while they may have disagreed with the fairness of decisions made by various parties in 2020, the election was not stolen and Biden's victory was not illegitimate. Moreover, they have to join hands with Democrats in passing legislation to make sure that there is no partisan interference with the conduct of future elections by *either* party.
"Moreover, the mainstream Republican position is that the 1/6 rioters were right in principle even if wrong in practice—that is to say: the election was stolen . . ." Is this right? I don't follow US politics super closely but my understanding was that this was a minority position (albeit a substantial minority). Who are the mainstream figures arguing this?
In multiple polls, a clear majority of Republicans say Biden's election was either certainly or probably illegitimate. Here's an example: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/07/republicans-big-lie-trump/. I think Republican officials vary in how they deal with this widespread point of view. Few endorse wild conspiracy theories about hacked voting machines or ballots coming from China. Far more common are claims that actions by courts, election officials and nonprofits to make voting easier during the pandemic amounted to theft because in practice they boosted Democratic turnout. Here's an example from Senator Rand Paul: https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1475542595673763848. Then of course there is the former president, who has repeatedly made the most outrageous and demonstrably false claims, and routinely refers to the election as having been stolen.
To a considerable extent I think there's a semantic two-step going on, where both Democrats and Republicans want to blur the line between disagreement over what constitutes a fair way to run an election and whether an election result was legitimate. Democrats want to blur that line in order to anathematize Republican views on voting rights. Republicans, though, want to blur it in order to cater to their Trumpist base.
I think this two-step is extremely destructive and needs to stop. Democrats can fight furiously to protect and expand voting rights, and call that a defense of democracy, without suggesting that anyone who favors voter I.D. laws implicitly approved of storming the capitol. More important, though, Republicans have to be unequivocal that while they may have disagreed with the fairness of decisions made by various parties in 2020, the election was not stolen and Biden's victory was not illegitimate. Moreover, they have to join hands with Democrats in passing legislation to make sure that there is no partisan interference with the conduct of future elections by *either* party.