NBC News recently caught up with Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, who assured the public that her party is no longer interested in litigating her father-in-law’s 2020 defeat.
“I think we’re past that. I think that’s in the past,” she said, adding, “The past is the past.”
I believe it was Faulkner who famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Two weeks ago, for example, The Washington Post reported that the RNC has effectively adopted a litmus test for new employees, demanding to know during job interviews whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen. Or put another way, the RNC needs employees, and only election deniers and “big lie” proponents need apply.
I assumed the reporting would face significant pushback from within the party. It did not. As Axios reported soon after, Trump campaign officials conceded that prospective RNC hires have been asked about their support for election conspiracy theories, though the campaign officials added that the questions were intended to determine whether applicants are “curious” and can “think through complex problems.”
No, really, that’s what they said — as if embracing transparent nonsense for which there is literally no evidence is emblematic of someone who excels in critical thinking.
But wait, there’s more. CNN reported: The Republican National Committee last week sent out a scripted call to voters’ phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump saying Democrats committed “massive fraud” in the 2020 election. It’s the latest example of how the RNC under the former president’s daughter-in-law is perpetuating lies about the 2020 election, even as prominent Republicans say the party needs to look forward to win in 2024.
What was that Lara Trump was saying about the party leaving its bonkers conspiracy theories “in the past”? Stepping back, there’s no shortage of Republican insiders who desperately want Donald Trump and his team to move past their focus on 2020, if for no other reason than to appeal to mainstream voters who have no use for such a message. But for reasons the former president and his political operation haven’t yet explained in a coherent way, they just can’t seem to help themselves.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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