These sorts of claims are treated, outside the hardcore Republican base, as real banana-bonkers shit. A May Reuters/Ipsos poll found that independent voters believed the 2020 election was legitimate by a 53–16 margin and disagreed with the claim that Jan. 6 protesters were “mostly peaceful” 56 to 22; more than 60 percent of independents said Trump was “at least partly to blame” for the riot. Even if this and similar polls are underestimating Trump support by the margins by which pollsters missed the mark in 2020, this remains a super-losing position for Republicans... Basically, what is going on is like if Democrats in 2002, fueled by 90-minute Al Gore rally speeches and sycophantic MSNBC interviews, had run on the position that Bush really did 9/11 and that America deserved it. Does it mean that Republicans absolutely can’t gain House seats? Maybe not, because half the states in the country have been gerrymandered into absurdities like “the city of Austin is represented by multiple hard-line conservatives,” and every state legislature Republicans control is passing laws making it illegal to vote unless you have identified yourself, via driver’s license or embossed “Platinum Select VIP Card,” as a member of a Trump golf club or “elite-tier Buffet Access Tranche.” It’s uncharted territory, and perhaps swing voters will, in fact, decide that it’s more important to punish middle-of-the-road House Democrats for the existence of cringey “white privilege” trainings than to address the threat to the country presented by the party whose leader is constantly requiring its members to join him in making literal threats to the country. Certainly, stranger things have happened—hell, Donald Trump was the president for a while!