Marc Elias: “Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s useful idiot. He was their useful idiot when he turned over the selection of federal judgeships to the Federalist Society. He was a useful idiot when he became the improbable candidate of the white evangelical movement. But, nowhere has his idiocy paid greater dividends for the Republican Party than in his contributions to voter suppression and undermining elections. He was the GOP’s useful idiot when he refused to concede an election that Republicans knew that he lost. By doing so, he deprived President Biden of the traditional transition and, more importantly, slowed the momentum a new administration needs to set the public agenda and move their people into agencies. Commentators correctly criticized his allies and his legal team when they unleashed frivolous lawsuits aimed at the outcome of the election.”

“In hindsight, the Republican Party’s interest in those bizarre courtroom displays was as much about undermining confidence in the election process moving forward as it was about reversing the results. By undermining confidence in our elections, Republicans achieve several interrelated goals. First, Republicans want to create a sense of grievance among voters to motivate them to turn out in 2022 when Trump will not be on the ballot. Second, the GOP wants to offer its supporters and elected officials excuses to further limit voting rights under the guise of ‘security.’ Third, Republicans want to normalize the abnormal by making frivolous claims debatable and despicable political figures more mainstream. Finally, the party wants to create a sense that the outcome of elections is unknowable and subject to different interpretations depending on who counts the ballots, setting up the argument that state legislatures and partisan officials should step in and decide close elections.”