Conservative Writer Calls Out Republicans for Avoiding Basic Truth About 2020 Election Results

Conservative commentator Ramesh Ponnuru, known for his usual sympathy towards Republican complaints about media bias, took a firm stance against GOP reluctance to acknowledge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ponnuru criticized Republicans for labeling questions about the election results as “gotcha” moments, especially given former President Donald Trump’s continued insistence that he won.

Ponnuru began by pointing out that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) struggled with a question that, in his view, “should not have fazed a high-schooler with a moderate degree of civic awareness.” He highlighted that the inability of Johnson and other Republicans to admit President Joe Biden’s victory stems from Trump’s ongoing claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

“He recently claimed he won Michigan in 2020,” Ponnuru wrote. “He did not. A few weeks ago, he even said that only fraud had kept him from winning California.” These statements, Ponnuru argues, illustrate how Trump has turned the 2020 election into a central issue for the 2024 race, forcing Republicans to navigate his falsehoods.

Ponnuru believes that this fear of Trump’s backlash is unnecessarily harming Republican candidates. He urges them to acknowledge the truth about the 2020 election results and then pivot to making their case for a change in the White House in the upcoming election. He argues that facing reality would better serve their campaigns than continuing to indulge Trump’s claims.

However, Ponnuru acknowledges that this straightforward approach is complicated by the party’s decision to nominate Trump for a third consecutive election cycle. “Modern parties usually abandon presidential candidates who lose,” he notes. “Trump’s barrage of falsehoods about the election saved him from that fate and helped him cruise to the Republican nomination.”

He further points out that the broader voting public may be growing weary of the GOP’s alignment with Trump’s 2020 election narratives. “The larger voting public, in 2022, seems to have held Republicans’ indulgence of 2020 mythology against them,” he writes, referencing a recent poll showing that 63 percent of respondents believed Biden won legitimately in 2020.

Ponnuru’s commentary suggests that the GOP’s continued reluctance to confront Trump’s election claims is not only undermining their credibility but also potentially alienating voters who are ready to move forward.

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