Last Wednesday’s debate between five Republican gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota was fascinating. When moderator Hugh Hewitt asked if anyone on stage believed Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election, none of the five said yes. One came close, but did not actually say it.
Given this dynamic I have to ask: Will the four GOP primary losers accuse the winner of rigging the election? Will they claim the election was stolen? Will they demand a recount? Worse, if they don't like the recount results, will they demand another one? If all this sounds absurd, it shouldn't.
Months before the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump began telling his supporters the only way he could lose the presidency is if the Democrats rig the election. Over time, that message morphed into "Stop the Steal."
Two months after the November election, thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 in hopes of overturning the election results. That was the same day rioters stormed the steps of the U.S. Capitol in an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. If only that afternoon had been peaceful. More than 140 police officers were injured trying to quell the rioters.
Relative to the Biden question, the answers the five Minnesota candidates gave should be a wake up call to every American who professes to love this country. When my childhood friends and I were growing up in the 1950s, we firmly believed in the concept of majority rule. That's how kids my age got elected hall monitor or to student council.
Today, it's only a matter of time before some outraged parent publicly challenges the election results of his or her 3rd grader. Don't laugh. I predict the fever that currently is infecting our national, state and municipal elections is going to be diagnosed in elementary schools soon. I hate to say it, but when this happens, our coveted democracy will be at the breaking point.
So here are my two questions for the Republican faithful: First, will you ever support the Constitution like Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are doing; and second, have you ever thought the former president's repeated claims of voter fraud would so tarnish the integrity of elections that, as a candidate, you might end up helping him destroy democracy?
It's too bad Hewitt didn't ask the five Minnesota candidates running for governor these two questions.
-DF